a magical life: growing up fernandina

NOLA PEREZ is one of the few native islanders left standing in historic Fernandina Beach, Florida, on Amelia Island, where she grew up in a beach house facing the Atlantic Ocean. Proud to be a child of a barrier island, she took this identity with her to subsequent lives abroad in France and Belgium, in Caracas, Venezuela (and that strangest of all USA venues North Miami Beach) always writing from the contagion of a Southern perspective. She lived in Atlanta for twenty years, during which time she was awarded publication grants from Georgia Council of The Arts, and City of Atlanta, Bureau of Cultural Affairs. Her prizewinning poems have been widely published in literary journals and magazines; such as, Poem, The University of Windsor Review, The Chattahoochie Review, Crossroads: A Journal of Southern Culture, and others. She was a Finalist in The National Poetry Series and won first prize in competitions in Vermont, Florida and Canada. She has written thirteen books of poetry (three of which were published in Paris during the four years she lived there) three Atlanta poetry chapbooks and three Memoir: Excerpts from a Journal, Cruising with the Kir Queen, The Movement of Bones, and now, presenting her current memoir/biography, A Magical Life Her poems have been presented in multimedia theatre productions in Atlanta at Seven Stages and at The Fernandina Little Theatre. She has been involved with the Amelia Island Book Festival since its inception.