There’s a lot to look forward to at the second annual St. Peter Book Festival. All events will be held at the St. Peter Community Center.
Brunch With the Authors, 10:00-11:45 ($20, register here)
Book Festival, 1:00-5:00 pm (free to all)
The St. Peter Book Festival will feature a brunch with local authors. Attendees will enjoy a keynote address from William Kent Krueger, author of the Cork O’Connor mystery series, who will introduce his new stand-alone novel, Ordinary Grace.
In addition to Krueger’s talk, the brunch includes a moveable feast of authors to meet, and a scrumptious meal.
The cost is $20.00. Register through Community Education for the brunch – and don’t delay, as seating is limited.
About Ordinary Grace [from the publisher]:
All the dying that summer began with the death of a child . . .
New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961. The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were selling out at the soda counter of Halderson’s Drugstore, and Hot Stuff comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president. But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a grim summer in which death visited frequently and assumed many forms. Accident. Nature. Suicide. Murder.
Frank begins the season preoccupied with the concerns of any teenage boy, but when tragedy unexpectedly strikes his family, which includes his Methodist minister father, his passionate, artistic mother, Juilliard-bound older sister, and wise-beyond-his-years kid brother—he finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal, suddenly called upon to demonstrate a maturity and gumption beyond his years.
Told from Frank’s perspective forty years after that fateful summer, Ordinary Grace is a brilliantly moving account of a boy standing at the door of his young manhood, trying to understand a world that seems to be falling apart around him. It is an unforgettable novel about discovering the terrible price of wisdom and the enduring grace of God.
Are you an author? register here.
Are you a publisher? register here.
Did you know Minnesota is a publishing hotbed? It is – particularly for children’s books, but with many other award-winning publishers in all genres. You might just get to meet some of them at this spring’s St. Peter Book Festival, now in its second year.
To register as a publisher or author to participate in the April 6th event, there’s a form available for publishers and another one for authors.
Authors, mark your calendars: April 6th. That’s when the second St. Peter Book Festival will happen at the St. Peter Community Center. Download a registration form and send it in with a $25 registration fee by February 15, 2013 for an opportunity to meet readers, sell your books, and network with other authors. Questions? Contact Molly Yunkers at 507-933-7588 or myunkers@gustavus.edu.
If you would like a printable flyer for this event, you can download one here.
Join the community in reading and discussing The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore, a journalist who explored the ways the life of a man with the same name took a different path – and why.
Some events to put on your calendar – and ALL of them are free and open to the public!
. . . and if you’re really thinking ahead, you can include the fact that the second annual St. Peter Book Festival, Saturday, April 6, 2013.
Author Wes Moore
Once you’ve read The Other Wes Moore, you might be interested in reading these books, too:
Losing My Cool: How a Father’s Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-hop Culture by Thomas Chatterton Williams, 2010
A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison by R. Dwayne Betts, 2009
The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2008
Flat Broke with Children: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform by Sharon Hays, 2003
American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation’s Drive to End Welfare by Jason DeParle, 2005
There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in The Other America by Alex Kotlowitz, 1992
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, 2010
The Kid by Sapphire, 2011
It’s coming soon! Authors and publishers will be on hand, and there will be panels of adult and young adult authors speaking at 1:30 and 3:00. For the full poster, including participating authors, generous sponsors, and the schedule, click here.
For more information, contact Molly Yunkers at 507-933-7588 (myunkers @ gustavus.edu).
St. Peter Reads will be hosting a celebration of local talent with a Book Festival on April 28th, 2012, from 1-5 pm at the St. Peter Community Center. Authors will have a chance to connect with readers, sell books, and network with other writers. Even better, the local community will have a chance to discover how much talent there is right in our own back yard.
It’s not too late to sign up! To reserve a spot, fill out and return this application form (.pdf) with a $20 application fee. Questions? Contact Molly.
image courtesy of Spell With Flickr.
It’s Tuesday, lucky September 13th – that won’t be too hard to remember.
Meet author Kent Nerburn at the St. Peter Public Library that day from 10:30 to 11:30 am. He will be informally chatting with readers and signing books. This is a great chance to meet him in person. Then at 7pm, come hear him speak in Alumni Hall on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus. The talk is free and open to all.
For a sneak preview, hear what the author has to say about his life and his writing.
A head’s up for September: St. Peter Reads will once again be joining with Gustavus for a common reading experience. The author will be giving a free public lecture on September 13th, so mark your calendar and stay tuned for further details. Meanwhile, you can browse the author’s website where there is information about the book and excerpts from it.
Fortunately, our Winter Reads author is now able to come to St. Peter to discuss his book, Blind Your Ponies. Join us on Saturday, May 21, 2:00 p.m. Senior Center at the Community Center for a chance to meet the author. We hope to see you there!
