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.

. . . whose novel, Blind Your Ponies, has been chosen as the St. Peter Reads Winter Read for 2011. There will be a chance to meet the author and get books signed at the St. Peter Public Library from 4:30 – 5:30 on March 8th; then join us at the Melva Lind Interpretive Center at the Gustavus Adolphus College Arboretum at 7 p.m to hear the author speak.

Publisher’s description:

Hope is hard to come by in the hard-luck town of Willow Creek. Sam Pickett and five young men are about to change that.

Sam Pickett never expected to settle in this dried-up shell of a town on the western edge of the world. He’s come here to hide from the violence and madness that have shattered his life, but what he finds is what he least expects. There’s a spirit that endures in Willow Cree, Montana. It seems that every inhabitant of this forgotten outpost has a story, a reason for taking a detour to this place–or a reason for staying.

As the coach of the hapless high school basketball team (zero wins, ninety-three losses), Sam can’t help but be moved by the bravery he witnesses in the everyday lives of people–including his own young players–bearing their sorrows and broken dreams. How do they carry on, believing in a future that seems to be based on the flimsiest of promises? Drawing on the strength of the boys on the team, sharing the hope they display despite insurmountable odds, Sam finally begins to see a future worth living.

Author Stanley Gordon West has filled the town of Willow Creek with characters so vividly cast that they become real as relatives, and their stories–so full of humor and passion, loss and determination–illuminate a path into the human heart.

Read an excerpt and reader comments or check out the Star Tribune review.

Join community members in reading and discussing Jamie Ford’s novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Ford will be speaking in Alumni Hall at Gustavus Adolphus College on Sept. 14th at 7:00 p.m. The talk is free and open to the public. The author will also be signing books at the public library from 3-4 p.m. – your chance to get to speak with him personally.

Join us too for a follow-up book discussion on Sept. 23rd at the historic Locust Street Hotel (at the corner of Locust and Minnesota Avenue!) at 7:00 p.m., also free and open to all.

From the publisher’s website:

In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.

AND THERE’S MORE!

October 14^th – 15^th — – St. Peter Reads sponsored author event. Catherine Friend, author of Hit by a Farm will give talk at Trinity, 7:00 p.m.  She will also be talking with the St. Peter High School Ecology Class while here and reading her picture book, The Perfect Nest, at Storytime at the St. Peter Public Library. This event will tie in nicely with the Nobel Conference theme, Making Food Good.

October 28^th - 29^th – The Book Mark along with the Treaty Site History Center are sponsoring James Nelson, author of Remains of Company D on  Oct. 28^th 7:00 p.m. at the Treaty  Site.  He also does a book signing at the St. Peter Public Library and does two class visits – Cleveland Elementary and St. Peter High School.

November 4^th – Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois, authors of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day - sponsored by St. Peter Reads. They will be doing book signings at the St. Peter Public Library and the Food Co-op along with a community presentation at 10:00 a.m. at the Community Center and a 7:00 p.m. presentation at Gustavus.

This project is made possible by a grant provided by the Traverse des Sioux Library System and is funded in part, or in whole, by the Minnesota  Arts & Cultural Heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature, with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

Erin Hart’s new mystery is about shape-shifting and duality, lies and truths, seals that turn into maidens, people who might not be what they seem. Nearly every character has a secret, which makes “False Mermaid” a wonderful page-turner filled with red herrings and head scratches.

Hart, a former nonfiction writer who now writes novels, is a bit of a shape-shifter herself.

Read on to learn more about our upcoming speaker.

• Erin will conduct writing workshop with 5th graders at North Elementary
• There will be an Irish traditional music workshop by Chulrua at the Senior Center at 1:30 pm
• The public is invited to a book signing at the public library from 4-5 pm
• At 7pm there will be a free public performance that combines a reading and Irish music at Trinity Lutheran Church
• And two community book discussions! These will be held on March 25th, with one at noon at the public library and the second at 6:30 pm at the Co-op.

Join the community in a celebration of page-turning stories and great Irish music!

Some of you will remember that we chose Erin’s first book, Haunted Ground, back in 2004 and enjoyed a wonderful evening with her and her husband, Irish musician Paddy O’Brien. Since then another book in the series, Lake of Sorrows,  has been published, and the long-awaited third book in the series – False Mermaid - will be published in early March. If you haven’t read Haunted Ground or Lake of Sorrows, you have time to catch up before False Mermaid hits library and bookstore shelves.

This project is made possible by a grant provided by the Traverse des Sioux Library System and is funded in part, or in whole, by the Minnesota  Arts & Cultural Heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature, with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

Kling, a playwright, author, and storyteller, is well known for his humor and insight, often shared with a wide audience through stories told on National Public Radio. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, “Kling has an enviable gift for storytelling, a sense of humor rooted equally in pain and whimsy… and an uncanny ability to transform intensely personal memories, especially those of family life, into something instantly recognizable and, at the same time, strangely exalted.”

This special holiday treat is brought to you by St. Peter Reads and the Friends of the St. Peter Public Library.

If you want to get a head start on reading the book, they can be borrowed at Community & Family Education, St. Peter Herald, St. Peter Public Library, St. Peter Food Co-op,  and Whiskey River Emporium or can be purchased at the Arts Center of Saint Peter, Book Mark at Gustavus, Community & Family Education, Nutter Clothing, River Rock Coffee, St. Peter Public Library, Swedish Kontur, Treaty Site History Center, or Waldo’s Coffee Co.

• Tuesday, Sept. 22: Book discussion facilitated by Gustavus Academic Librarian Barbara Fister. 6:30 p.m. at the St. Peter Food Co-op

• Wednesday, Sept. 23: Latin American cuisine class with Sonia Ramirez. 6 p.m. at the St. Peter Food Co-op

• Saturday, Sept. 26: Screening of the movie Sin Nombre. 2 p.m. at the Treaty Site History Center. (Movie rated R in Spanish with English sub-titles)

• Monday, Sept. 28: Meet the author and book signing. 3-4 p.m. at the St. Peter Public Library

• Monday, Sept. 28: Public lecture by Sonia Nazario. 7 p.m. in Gustavus’ Alumni Hall, located in the O.J. Johnson Student Union

• Tuesday, Sept. 29: Panel discussion on immigration and related issues. 7 p.m. in room 300 at the St. Peter Community Center

You may also want to stop by the Jackson Student Union at Gustavus some day soon to view the amazing photos hanging in the hallway. These pictures were taken by Don Barletti of the Los Angeles Times who covered Enrique’s story with Sonia Nazario. They are truly amazing and add a whole extra dimension to the book.  You can preview some of them here.

And if you have an interest in immigration issues, Alisa Rosenthal of the Gustavus Political Science Department will lead a discussion of immigrants’ rights and the U.S. Constitution on September 17th at 3:30 in the Folke Bernadotte Memorial Library.