A conversation with David Powell, Jose Valiente and Craig Pittman
A conversation with David Powell, Jose Valiente and Craig Pittman
June 5, 2022 [St. Petersburg, FL] - Bringing together an unprecedented number of extensive personal stories, Ninety Miles and a Lifetime Away shares the triumphs and heartbreaking moments experienced by some of the first Cubans to come to the United States after Fidel Castro took power in 1959. It is a moving look inside fifteen years of migration that changed the two countries and transformed the lives of the people who found themselves separated from their homeland.
Author David Powell will be at Tombolo to share more about these oral histories with St. Pete author and journalist Craig Pittman. Powell and Pittman will also be joined by special guest, Jose
Valiente, whose story is featured in the book!
- When: Tuesday, June 28, 2022, from 7:00pm-8:00pm
- Where: Tombolo Books – 2153 1st Ave South, St. Petersburg, FL 33712. Parking for the event is
available on Central Avenue. - Free event open to the public
- Light refreshments will be served, and masks are required. To RSVP, visit:
https://tombolobooks.com/?q=h.calevent&eid=17643
A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, David Powell began his professional life as a reporter for the Associated Press in New York, Miami, and Tallahassee. After earning a law degree from Florida State University, he practiced law for thirty years. In his work and through civic organizations he met many Cuban Americans and was moved by the stories of their lives. In 2016, David began recording interviews about their memories, first in Florida, and then elsewhere. David finished his interviews with fifty-four narrators in 2020. In 2021, the University of Miami acquired his interview recordings, transcripts, and workpapers for the university’s Cuban Heritage Collection. David and his wife reside in Tallahassee, Florida. For further information,
visit www.ninetymilesbook.com.
Jose Valiente was born in Cuba. He moved to the United States in 1962 settling in Tampa, Florida. He graduated from the University of South Florida in 1973 and has been in the practice of public accounting and consulting for 40 years. He is licensed to practice as a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Florida and was one of the founding partners of ValienteHernandez P.A. ValienteHernandez merged with the national accounting and consulting firm, LarsonAllen LLP on November 1, 2008. On January 2, 2012, LarsonAllen merged with CliftonGunderson, creating CliftonLarsonAllen, which is now the eight largest CPA firm in the US. Jose Valiente retired as Tax Partner from CliftonLarsonAllen on December 31, 2013.
"The Cuban diaspora is an epic of heroic deeds, thrilling escapes, and dangerous journeys to a new land. But it's also an intensely personal story, as David Powell ably conveys in his oral history told by Cuban exiles themselves. These vivid accounts remind us that history is lived by ordinary people, whose memories are invaluable."—Alfredo José Estrada, author of Havana: Autobiography of a City
For more information about this event and other Tombolo events please contact: Kelsey Jagneaux
Events Coordinator
events@tombolobooks.com