Events of the Library Foundation of Hennepin County

A group of America's award-winning literary women have come together to tackle a topic close to their hearts: Mom. Riding Shotgun is a disarmingly honest and poignant collection of essays that explores one of the most common and complex human experiences, being a daughter. Looking behind the cliché of motherhood, these honest narratives tackle the personal experiences of motherhood. Edited by Kathryn Kysar, the 21 diverse stories in Riding Shotgun are beautifully crafted, alternately tender and tormented, and shockingly intimate. In an advance celebration of Mother’s Day, Talk of the Stacks hosts the book launch of this highly-anticipated anthology. Participating authors: Barrie Jean Borich is the creative nonfiction editor of Water Stone Review and the author of My Lesbian Husband and Restoring the Color of Roses. Shannon Olson is the author of Welcome to My Planet: Where English Is Sometimes Spoken and Children of God Go Bowling. Wang Ping is a poet, essayist, and fiction writer with seven books, including her most recent story collection, The Last Communist Virgin. Faith Sullivan is the author of eight novels, including Gardenias, What a Woman Must Do, and The Cape Ann. Anne Ursu is the author of two novels, The Disapparation of James and Spilling Clarence, and the children’s trilogy, The Cronus Chronicles. Ka Vang is a Hmong playwright, fiction writer, and poet. Her play, From Shadows to Light, was produced by Theatre Mu. Kathryn Kysar is the author of a book of poetry, Dark Lake, and the editor of this collection of essays, Riding Shotgun.

In 1989, author Will Weaver received the Minnesota Book Award for Best Fiction for A Gravestone Made of Wheat & Other Stories. Sixteen years later screenwriter and director Ali Selim adapted the title short story from this collection to create the critically acclaimed movie, Sweet Land. In this unique installment of Talk of the Stacks moderated by The Rake's Cristina Cordova, Selim and Weaver will discuss fiction writing, film making, and the process of adapting a short story to a feature-length movie. Will Weaver writes for adults and young adults. His novels and short stories have earned praise from reviewers coast to coast for their realism. Weaver’s debut novel, Red Earth, White Earth, was produced as a CBS television movie and several of the stories were performed on National Public Radio. Formerly an English professor at Bemidji State University, Weaver was described by the Los Angeles Times as a writer of uncommon natural talent. Saint Paul resident Ali Selim (son of a German-American mother and an Egyptian-born father) has been directing advertising commercials since 1989. Selim has received the Gold Lion, advertising’s most coveted award from Cannes Advertising Film Festival. Ad Week magazine listed Selim in the top 1% of most sought after directors in the country and the Star Tribune named him the Minnesota Artist of the Year in 2006. Recorded live on March 28, 2008 from the Minneapolis Central Library's Pohlad Hall. The Talk of the Stacks is presented by The Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library and US Trust.

In his 25-year career as a fiction writer, Charles Baxter has established himself as one of our great contemporary American novelists. Perhaps best known for his National Book Award-nominated The Feast of Love (which will be released this fall as a major motion picture starring Morgan Freeman), Baxter is the author of four novels, four collections of short stories, three collections of poems, and a collection of essays on fiction. In his new novel, The Soul Thief, Baxter delivers a beautifully wrought and unexpected work of fiction about Nathaniel Mason, a graduate student living in Buffalo, who through a chain of illusive relationships and complex events learns his identity may in fact not be his own. Acutely observed in its emotional and terrifying detail, The Soul Thief explores the slippery nature of identity in American culture. In addition to telling us about the book's haunting inspiration, Baxter reflects on writing and takes audience questions. Recorded live on February 28, 2008 from the Minneapolis Central Library's Pohlad Hall. The Talk of the Stacks is presented by The Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library and US Trust.

Award-winning graphic design pioneer Chip Kidd is credited with changing the way modern books are packaged. Having designed more than 1,500 book covers and counting, Kidd has been called "the closest thing to a rock star" in graphic design today by USA Today. His work has been featured in Vanity Fair, The New Republic, TIME, The New York Times, and countless other publications. With 'The Learners', the fascinating follow-up to his national bestselling debut 'The Cheese Monkeys', Kidd again shows that his writing is every bit as original and memorable as his celebrated book jackets. This time, Kidd conjures up a remarkable story about advertising, electro-shock torture, suicide, a giant dog, potato chips, and the Holocaust. Written in sharp, witty prose, and peppered with absorbing ruminations on the presence and importance of graphic design in our everyday lives, 'The Learners' is as entertaining as it is thought provoking. In this insightful and hilarious presentation, Kidd reads from 'The Learners' and takes audience questions. Due to the audio-only nature of this recording, portions of Mr. Kidd's presentation that relied heavily visuals have been edited from this podcast. Recorded on February 27, 2008 from the Minneapolis Central Library's Pohlad Hall. The Talk of the Stacks is presented by The Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library and US Trust.

Sisters Lise, Heid, and Louise Erdrich grew up together in Wahpeton, ND (where their parents taught at the Bureau of Indian Affairs school) and each of them became accomplished writers. Coming together for a rare public appearance in celebration of Lise's debut story collection, Night Train, the three sisters will discuss their craft, life, and Native American writing. Lise is the author of several children's books, including Sacagawea and Bears Make Rock Soup: And Other Stories. Her debut story collection, Night Train, is hot off the press from Coffee House. A sharp-humored collection set in the small towns and reservations of Northwestern Minnesota and North Dakota, Night Train was described by Sherman Alexie as "beautiful and rowdy, this book challenged, entertained, thrilled and scared me." Heid is the author of three collections of poetry, National Monuments (forthcoming), The Mother's Tongue, Fishing for Myth, as well as co-editor of Sister Nations: Native American Women on Community. Her books have each been nominated for the Minnesota Book Awards and she has received numerous grants and honors. She co-founded the Turtle Mountain Writing Workshop with her sister Louise. Louise is the author of eight novels, including the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Love Medicine and the National Book Award Finalist The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, as well as poetry, children's books, and a memoir of early motherhood, The Bluejay's Dance. She owns a small independent bookstore, BirchBark Books, in Minneapolis. The Talk of the Stacks is presented by The Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library and US Trust. Recorded live on February 12, 2008.

According to the 2000 census, more than 42,000 Hmong live in Minnesota and the Twin Cities has the largest number of Hmong persons of any metropolitan area in the nation. Dr.Chia Vang (a refugee from Laos, assistant professor of history at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, and author of Hmong in Minnesota) will recount the colorful, intricate history of Hmong Minnesotans, many of whom were forced to flee their homeland of Laos when the communists seized power during the Vietnam War in the mid-70s. Through personal stories from immigrants, Vang will offer a unique perspective into the lives of the Minnesota Hmong population - exploring the immigrants' struggle to adjust to new environments, build communities, maintain cultural practices, and make their mark on government policies and programs today. Presented by The Friends and the Marquette Financial Companies on January 31, 2008.

This winter, the Guthrie Theater will present Peer Gynt, a timeless and rarely-produced masterpiece, with a newly commissioned translation by prolific poet and Minnesota native Robert Bly. Bold, raucous, and satirically funny, this charming fantasy play captures the misadventures of the charismatic Peer Gynt on a journey to find his place in the world. Get the inside scoop on the newest production of the Guthrie Theater when Carla Steen (Literary Department) discusses the text, Craig Pettigrew (Assistant Technical Director) talks about building the set, the Property Mistress discusses the props, and Amy Schmidt (Costume Director) talks about the costumes for this eagerly awaited production. Moderated by Louise Chalfant, Associate Director of Education and Community Programs at the Guthrie Theater and presented by The Friends and the Marquette Financial Companies on January 24, 2008.

Kevin Kling is a storyteller, playwright, and regular contributor to NPR’s All Things Considered. His plays have been seen at the Guthrie Theater, Second Stage, Seattle Rep, the Goodman Theater, the Spoleto Festival, and the HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. For the 2007 Friends Holiday Toast, Kling performed stories from his new debut book, The Dog Says How, a collection of classic and never-before-told stories about his eclectic life - from hopping freight trains, getting hit by lightning, performing his banned play in Czechoslovakia, to growing up in Minnesota. In Kling's world, "the mundane becomes magical, the fantastic becomes accessible and through it all his profound sense of curiosity about the world transforms the everyday to the timeless" (Queen Anne News).

Garrison Keillor described Bill Holm as "The tallest radical humorist in the Midwest and a truthful and graceful writer. The award-winning author of nine books (both poetry and essays), Holm lives in Minnesota half the year teaching at Southwest State University and spends his summers in Iceland on the Arctic Circle. Poet, musician, and polemicist Bill Holm brings us his most ambitious book to date, in Windows of Brimnes, a long essay that reflects on the state of America today as seen from the window of his home in the small fishing town of Brimnes, Iceland. Holm contrasts Iceland’s warmth, community, secularism, pacifism, and love of nature and poetry with America’s seemingly permanent state of war, fundamentalism, and pervasive violence. Bill Holm delivers a straightforward and often comical reflection on the state of our country today.

Arvonne Fraser is senior fellow emerita of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, co-founder and director of the Institute’s Center on Women and Public Policy, former director of the International Women’s Rights Action Watch, and former ambassador to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. Political activist, prolific leader, and founding mother of the women’s movement, Fraser is the author of countless publications, articles, and books. Now is her newest work, She’s No Lady, she brings us a spirited memoir of a Minnesota farm girl who became founding mother of the worldwide women’s movement. Recounting her Depression-era upbringing, the early days of the DFL Party, her marriage to Don (former Congressman and Minneapolis Mayor), and her career in the non-profit sector, Fraser let’s the reader into her fascinating and inspiring life. In celebration of the publication of this historic memoir, Lori Sturdevant (editor and friend) will join Arvonne on stage in a conversation about life, politics and everything in between.

Presented by Dr. Juanita Garciagodoy, Professor at Macalester College and author of Digging the Days of the Dead. In this illustrated lecture about interpreting Mexico's Days of the Dead, Dr. Garciagodoy will consider the practices and paraphernalia of the fiesta in order to tease out some of its philosophical implications. According to the celebrant, what is a human being and how does she fit into her community? What obligations do the living have towards the dead and vice versa? How does this festival both use and resist the homogeneity of a globalized world? At the end of the lecture audience members will be invited to build an ofrenda to our dead at the library -- bring a photo or name-card of your dead, plus a representation (or item) that was of significance to them, such as their favorite food, clothing, or pastime.

Steve Almond is the author of Candyfreak (named a Best Book of 2004 by Booksense, Amazon.com, Time Out and Library Journal), My Life in Heavy Metal, The Evil B.B. Chow, and Which Brings Me to You, co-written with Julianna Baggott. The San Francisco Chronicle described Almond’s language as "rendered in precise strokes with metaphors so original and spot-on that they read like epiphanies." In (NOT THAT YOU ASKED), Almond gives us a provocative, universally offending, and wickedly entertaining collection of essays that explore the moral dilemmas of our age - tackling topics such as chest waxing, Kurt Vonnegut, ham at Chanukah, Oprah’s Book Club, homoerotic nature of professional sports, reality television, and much more. Contains some adult language. Recorded on October 11, 2007.

Frank Niepold, Climate Education Coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, delivers a presentation on ground-breaking work to ensure resource managers, policy makers, and the general public understand how to cope with climate variability and change. Annual temperatures are now approximately 1 degree warmer than at the start of the 20th century and the past nine years have all been among the 25 warmest years on record for the contiguous United States. Improved satellite and climate observation technologies, coupled with media interest and the internet, have allowed scientists to share their findings with a broader public audience.http://www.supporthclib.org/ Mr. Niepold frequently refers to his Power Point presentation, available at http://www.friendsofmpl.org/events_listen.html Presented in collaboration with the Minnesota Planetarium and Space Discovery Center. Recorded on October 2, 2007.

With his fifth book, Out Stealing Horses, Per Petterson has become an international literary sensation. Out Stealing Horses, published by the Twin Cities’ Graywolf Press, has won International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, Norwegian Booksellers Prize, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and has been translated into 24 languages. The New York Times calls it, "a gripping account of such originality as to expand the reader’s own experience of life." Out Stealing Horses is the story of Trond, a man who has settled into a rustic cabin in eastern Norway to live the rest of his life with quiet deliberation. A meeting with his only neighbor, however, forces him out of isolation to reflect on a fateful childhood summer. Recorded on September 27, 2007 at 7:30pm.

Steven Pinker is one of TIME magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World Today" and a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist. A professor of psychology at Harvard, his books include The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, and The Blank Slate. A frequent contributor to TIME, The New York Times, The New Republic, and other publications, Pinker serves on the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary. With irreverent wit, elegant style, and examples from popular culture and everyday life, Pinker's latest book, The Stuff of Thought, takes on a wide range of scientific and everyday questions. Please note: Although used in an academic context, this program contains strong language.