Key West Library to host acclaimed writer Maxim Loskutoff on April 22

The Key West Library gave Monroe County readers a free seat with Maxim Loskutoff, the fiction writer and essayist whose books have earned national attention from NPR, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus and other major outlets. His appearance at 700 Fleming Street on April 22 at 6 p.m. stood out as a direct, no-cost chance to hear from an author whose work centers on the contemporary West but whose career now reaches well beyond Montana.

Loskutoff arrived in Key West with a track record that made the program more than a routine library event. His debut collection, Come West and See, won the High Plains Book Award and was selected as a New York Times Editor’s Choice, while NPR and Amazon each named it one of the year’s notable books. His novel Ruthie Fear drew the Montana Innovation Award, another High Plains Book Award, starred reviews from Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist, and finalist recognition for the Reading the West Award. His most recent novel, Old King, published June 4, 2024, was named a Best Book of Summer by the Boston Globe and Minneapolis Star Tribune and a Best Book of the Year by NPR and Publishers Weekly.

The library setting added another layer of local interest. Loskutoff was in Key West during his April residency as a Peyton Evans Artist in Residence at The Studios of Key West, tying the reading to the island’s broader arts calendar. For Monroe County, the event also highlighted a public building that serves more than one purpose: the Florida Keys History Center is inside the Key West Library, making the site both a lending library and a local-history archive.

Practical access details made the event especially easy for residents and visitors. The Key West Library is at 700 Fleming Street, Key West, FL 33040, with a main phone number of 305-292-3595. Monroe County lists Kim Rinaldi as senior branch manager and Kimberly Matthews as senior director of strategic planning and libraries. The library is open Wednesdays until 8 p.m., and the county notes that the small parking lot behind the building is reached from Elizabeth Street. Transit options also include the Lower Keys Shuttle, which serves Key West, the Lower Keys and Marathon.

Loskutoff’s appearance fit a library that routinely anchors both literature and local memory in the same building. On one night, Key West had a nationally recognized writer, a free public venue and a literary event with enough name recognition to travel well beyond the island.