State of the Arts Category Archive: Books

Creating and celebrating a child's world

Posted at 5:31 PM on November 13, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books

Illustration by Barbara Knutson from "Love and Roast Chicken"

The University of Minnesota is celebrating 60th anniversary of it's collection of children's books with an exhibition. The Kerlan Collection contains more than 100,000 children's books as well as original manuscripts and artwork for an additional 12,000 children's books.

Gustaf Tenggren illustration for "Saggy Baggy Elephant"

The Kerlan Collection was established in the 1940's by University of Minnesota alumnus Dr. Irvin Kerlan (1912-1963). Dr. Kerlan was a researcher for the U.S. FDA who collected rare books as a hobby. Soon his interest focused on children's books.

Dr. Kerlan organized exhibitions and shipped them to libraries and art galleries in North America, Europe, and the Far East. In 1949, he made arrangements with the University of Minnesota, his Alma Mater, to provide a permanent home for his collection. Since then, the University of Minnesota libraries have supervised the collection's development.

Tomie dePaola's illustration for "Shhh! We're Writing the Constitution!"

The University is marking the exhibition's opening with a talk Sunday afternoon by Children's literature critic Leonard S. Marcus. The talk is free and open to the public.

Featured in the exhibit will be materials from notable children's and young adult literature authors and illustrators, including "Goodnight Moon" illustrator Clement Hurd; National Book Award finalist Walter Dean Myers; Newbery Medal winners Kate DiCamillo, Katherine Paterson, and Lois Lowry; and Caldecott Medal winners Stephen Gammell and Chris Van Allsburg.

The exhibit will be open to the public through Thursday, Dec. 31; exhibit hours and directions to Andersen Library can be found here.
Wanda Gag's illustration for "Frog Prince"

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Jason Reitman on film, family, and Diablo Cody

Posted at 3:42 PM on November 10, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Film

Jason Reitman says as the son of "Ghostbusters" director Ivan Reitman he felt uncomfortable about following his father's footsteps into the film business.

"Right when I got to college I started getting nervous that I shouldn't be a director," he said today during a visit to the MPR studios.

"I was well aware about the presumptions about the children of famous people, that if you are the son of a famous film director, most likely you are a spoiled brat, you have no talent, and more than likely you have an alcohol or drug problem. And I thought why go into a career where these are the presumptions going in? Best case scenario I live in my father's shadow. Worst case scenario I fail on a very public level."

So he went to college as a pre-med student.

Then his father stepped in.

"He's the first Jewish dad in the history of Jewish dads to tell their son 'Don't be a doctor. Be a film maker,'" Reitman smiled.

It turned out Ivan Reitman was following in his own father's footsteps who had advised him against sinking money into a submarine sandwich shop he was considering.

"There's not enough magic in it for you," Jason Reitman says quoting his grandfather. Ivan Reitman, who was a music major who ran a film club, began developing his interest in movies and eventually became a hugely successful director. He told Jason that he would be immensely proud of him if he did decide to be a physician.

"But," says Jason, now quoting his father,"'There's not enough magic in it for you. You have to follow your heart. You have to be a storyteller.'"

Three days later Jason Reitman was out of his pre-med classes in New York, and talking his way into English classes at USC in Los Angeles. He made short films, and in time was able to parlay that into feature films.

First there was "Thank you for smoking," which was funded by David Sacks, one of the guys who had just sold PayPal to eBay, and had some money to invest in a film as a result.

"I've been accused my entire life of having a career that undoubtedly came from nepotism," Reitman laughs. "And nepotism didn't deliver. It was supposed to bring me a career and it didn't work! Come on nepotism! It ended up being an internet millionaire from San Francisco who started my career."

Then came his meeting with Diablo Cody.

"I remember being very intimidated to meet her. She's covered in tattoos, and she's kind of hyper-cool. And I'm the last thing from that," he said. "I just kind of fell in love with her because she is just so funny and so direct. Her ability to come up with clever dialog in the moment was unmatched by anyone I've ever met."

That meeting resulted in "Juno," and a shower of Oscars.

Now Reitman is publicizing "Up in the Air," a dark comedy about a man who makes his living travelling the country firing people, starring George Clooney. It's based on a Walter Kirn novel

When asked about his apparent attraction to writers with Minnesota ties he responded "I really should live here. I don't know why have been avoiding this so long. I seem to be a natural. Maybe it's because I'm Canadian."

In all seriousness though he says he learned a lot about the trauma many people are going through as a result of the losing their jobs.

"Of the 27 people fired in "Up in the Air," 22 of them are real people who actually just lost their jobs. They are not actors," Reitman says. The film makers recruited the people through a newspaper ad, and then had them come in to be interviewed and then fired again on camera.

It's a tough sequence to watch. Reitman says he had assumed that the worst thing about being fired was the loss of income.

"But it wasn't that. It was actually a loss of purpose. The question they would ask was 'I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Where am I supposed to go after this interview? I get in my car but I don't have anywhere I'm supposed to be."

The film doesn't fit easily into categories. It's funny in parts, and quite dark in others.

On that note, it's intriguing to take a look at the two trailers for the film available one line. The first one focuses much more on the tougher edge of "Up in the Air."

The second, which is in theaters at present is much lighter, although you can still see the edge.

"Up in the Air" opens in the Twin Cities on December 4th. We'll air the interview closer to that time.

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Meet a man who had a man who stares at goats stare at him

Posted at 6:18 PM on November 5, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Film

George Clooney (left) and Jeff Bridges star in the new film adaptation of Jon Ronson's book "The Men Who Stare at Goats." (Image courtesy Overture Films)

Jon Ronson says initially it didn't occur to anyone that there was an irony in hiring Star Wars star Ewan McGregor to play a role in "The Men Who Stare at Goats."

The movie is based on Ronson's non-fictional account of efforts within the US military to train soldiers to develop paranormal powers and become what the military called Jedi warriors.

"Nobody had sussed it out," Ronson said to me during a phone interview today. "Only after Ewan had been offered the role did he mention it. Total coincidence. May God strike me down if I am lying," he laughed, and then quickly admitted he doesn't believe in God.

It's just one of the many strange things about Ronson's story. He is a writer and documentary maker who began his explorations into the psychic soldiers shortly after 9/11 when he ran into the infamous silverware bender Uri Geller who had long claimed to be a psychic spy.

When Ronson asked him about it, Geller would only say a) that he had been 're-activated' and b) he would deny making his first statement if Ronson told anyone.

This set Ronson off on a series of adventures meeting some of the people who had tried to do such things as pass through walls, make clouds disperse, make people forget about what they were thinking (especially if that thought was about killing you,) and yes, trying to kill goats, and possibly people, by staring at them.

Ronson knows people will be skeptical about the story. "My own skepticism is utterly intact," he says. "I firmly believe that all the things I say happened in the book did happen, but what I don't believe for a second was that any of this paranormal stuff actually worked."

Such was his confidence in this he actually submitted to being a subject by one of the 'goat-starers.' The man said he would enter Ronson's mind and make him so fearful that when he touched him Ronson would fly across the room.

"And indeed that's what he did," Ronson says.

However on reviewing the videotape he had made of the interaction Ronson saw something different happening. He described the soldier in question as 'an enormous Special Forces martial arts trainer.' he describes himself as being quite small. On the tape he saw that the soldier actually hit him quite hard and it wasn't surprising he flew through the air.

"It was an interesting lesson in a kind of pragmatic application of paranormal techniques, which was basically freak somebody out and they will be debilitated and you'll be able to have your way with them," he says.

The movie based on Ronson's book opens with a declaration "More of this is true than you would believe." The film takes Ronson's true tales of paranormal experimentation and builds a fictional story of a mildly hapless journalist Bob Wilton (McGregor) who stumbles across the remnants of a disbanded supersecret psychic soldier group, including Lyn Casady (George Clooney) who takes him into Iraq. Along the way Casady relates the history of the First Earth Battalion and its founder Bill Django (Jeff Bridges.) Things don't go terribly well, all in all.

Ronson says he was advised by his friend Nick Hornby that he should just relax and not worry about the whole film making process. He decided to just enjoy the adventure.

"I think they have made a really nice film," he said. "It's a very sweet, funny warm film that I think people will engage with. Even though my book is quite dark, the film is light. And I think that is fine."

"Because I am such a sceptic, I don't believe for a second that people could actually have these paranormal powers, " he continued. "But I loved that the movie toyed with it: that you don't really know at the beginning of the movie whether its going to change into a kind of X-Men and these people will have these amazing powers and they kind of toy with that possibility in a very funny engaging way."

The movie opens this weekend across the country, and anyone eager for a brush with stardom can meet one of the goats used in the film at the Mall of America this evening. Word is you can try to 'drop the goat' yourself if you are so inclined.

But Jon Ronson isn't holding his breath.

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Independent publishing in the modern age

Posted at 8:24 PM on October 28, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books

In the fast moving world of publishing, Coffee House Press has adapted to the digital age while still remaining true to its original artistic vision.

Coffee House Press is on the eve ofcelebrating its 25th anniversary as an independent publishing house. Just making it this far is quite an accomplishment; senior editor Chris Fischbach can count on his hand the number of other independent presses that have lasted this long (two of the other top independent literary presses in the nation are based in Minnesota - more on that in a bit). But Coffee House Press has not just survived - it's doing well.

Fischbach credits CHP's success in part to technology:

The internet has allowed us to reach more people and tell them about our books. In some ways the internet levels the playing field. Our books are on Amazon in the same way more or less that a big house's books are.

While the financial crash that occurred in the wake of 9/11 has had a lasting effect on publishing houses, CHP has managed to end the last few years in the black, and in this past year has been able to erase its deficit, thanks to a bestseller (Sam Savage's book "Firmin").

Fischbach says the press is poised to get even stronger in the coming years. It's just received a Bush Foundation grant which will allow it to both revamp its website and work with a distributor to release its books as "e-books" available for download.

Coffee House Press associate publisher Chris Fischbach

Fischbach says the key to Coffee House Press' long term success has been a combination of staying true to its vision (strong design, new voices and compelling stories) while remaining nimble when it comes to new means of doing business.

Our primary focus now and in the foreseeable future is the printed book, and the other things are extra experiences around the book, such as author interviews on the website, podcasts,etc.

Coffee House Press founder and publisher Allan Kornblum has been both savvy and pragmatic in his running of his company. While he still prints broadsides (limited edition prints that usually draw from CHP authors or poets), he was quick to embrace computers. And now he's gradually transferring the running of the press to Fischbach.

Coffee House Press publisher Allan Kornblum stands next to a Gem paper cutter, a stack of broadsides in his arms.

Fischbach says while he doesn't expect e-books to be a significant part of CHP's revenue for years to come, he does imagine that changing reader habits will force the literary industry to evolve. He imagines in decades to come the printed book will become more rare, and as a result, more precious:

Publishers like us have an opportunity to further establish [printed books] as objects of worth. We're showing the work respect, by giving it a design that's worthy of the content. And that's what we want to do going forward, wherever the book goes.

Coffee House Press is not the only Minnesota publishing house to celebrate a major anniversary this year. Milkweed Editions turns 30, and Graywolf Press turns 35. The three are co-celebrating their anniversaries with a literary scavenger hunt.

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Wizards and witches vs vampires and werewolves: who wins?

Posted at 1:36 PM on October 15, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Film, Writing

Okay, the comparative literature geek in me thinks this is just brilliant. This month the Hennepin County Library is hosting two "literary smackdowns" in which teams of teenagers will debate and defend their favorite fantasy series/publishing & film phenoms -- Harry Potter or Twilight. The audiences will pick the winning team. And of course, teens are encouraged to wear costumes supporting their favorite characters. The public debates take place on October 20 at Central Library and October 27 at Ridgedale Library in Minnetonka.

Either way, Robert Pattinson wins, doesn't he?

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Twin Cities Book Festival tomorrow

Posted at 9:46 AM on October 9, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Events

Just a reminder - the Twin Cities Book Festival takes place tomorrow at Minneapolis Community & Technical College from 10am - 5pm. If you're at all bookish, this event is for you, featuring author talks, a storytelling circle for kids, and lots of books and literary magazines for sale. For more information on the featured authors, see my previous write-up here.

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The danger in believing the stories we're told

Posted at 11:20 AM on October 7, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Culture

Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie recounts her own experience growing up with "single stories" - in other words believing there is one truth, instead of many truths. The daughter of college educated parents, she grew up reading American and European novels. The result? When she started writing her own stories, they featured characters with white skin and blue eyes who ate apples and played in the snow. Adichie didn't know her own story was a valid one to tell.

In the United States, Adichie encounters people who have their own "single stories" when it comes to life on the African continent. How does she know how to speak English so well? One student, after having read one of Adichie's novels, expresses sadness that African fathers are so abusive to their children. Adichie retorts that she just finished reading "American Psycho" and isn't it a shame all young men are mass murderers?

The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete...The consequence of the single story is this - it robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.

Adichie argues eloquently for the importance of having a diversity of stories, and for readers to never assume that the story they read is the "single story."

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Historical novel "Wolf Hall" wins Booker Prize

Posted at 6:11 PM on October 6, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books

"Wolf Hall" which was the hot favorite to win this years Booker Prize took the prestigious award in London this evening.

Hilary Mantel's novel of Tudor intrigue doesn't go on sale in the US until October 13th, but winning the Booker all but guarantees major sales here, and across the world.

"Wolf Hall" beat novels from double Booker winner J.M. Coetzee, past winner A.S. Byatt, and bestseller Sarah Waters.

Being the favorite has been an impediment for some books in the past, as the decision is made just hours before the announcement, and some judges have apparently not taken kindly to the odds being placed at the bookies. (Turf accountants as they are known in the UK don't limit betting to the horses, and are willing to take bets on just about anything.)

As in years past the Guardian newspaper has provided excellent coverage of the final decisions which you can read here. And if you don't have time to read all the books the Guardian also provides a tongue-in-cheek digest of all the finalists here.

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What's on your bookshelf?

Posted at 11:02 AM on September 17, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Technology

A friend of mine recently convinced me to check out Shelfari, the website for book lovers. Shelfari was inspired by the simple pleasure of perusing your friends' bookshelves. The website allows you to do this virtually, so you're not limited to what they own. You can see what they've read, what they're currently reading, and what's on their "to read" list.

The site is also incredibly useful to people who want to chart their progress on their own reading lists, or who are interested in seeing just how well-read they are. Readers can post reviews about a book, or partake in an online discussion.

There are a couple of downsides to the site: there are many different listings for the same title - one for each edition. This can make navigating what you have and haven't read tedious (I know I've already clicked on Wuthering Heights three times!). The site also requires a pretty steep initial time investment, as you try to remember just how many of those classics you read in high school and college.

Have you tried Shelfari out? If so, what do you think? Any tricks or features I should know about?

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The simple inspiration behind Pete Hautman's new novel

Posted at 6:04 PM on September 8, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books

The simple story behind National Book Award-winner Pete Hautman's new novel is a teenage girl just told him what she wanted to read.

He was with a group of teens, trying to divine their reading tastes.

"And there were all kinds of different answers: 'I like to read girlie books,' or 'I like books about dragons,' or about vampires or whatever," Hautman says.

However he says he was stopped short by a young woman who made a simple statement.

"She said, 'I'm 14 and my life is really boring and I just want to read about a girl like me who goes out and steals a car.' And there was like a flash in my head," Hautman says. "This is bringing the teen reading experience down to its most basic element. They want to know what it is like. They want to know know what everything is like, even things they never expect to do or hope never to do. They want to know what it is like to battle a dragon. And reading brings this to them. So I wanted to write a book that was about that."

And that's how "How to Steal a Car" came to be.

Of course Hautman's tale about Kelleigh, a 15 year old Twin Cities girl is a lot more complicated than a single car boosting.

He has spent a great deal of time thinking and writing about the teen experience, and fan reaction to hs many books including "Sweetblood" and "Godless" which won the National Book Award.

Hautman takes Kelleigh through a series of adventures over the course of a summer. She learns a lot about car theft, but she also learns a great deal about friends and friendship.

"Friendships that are made in childhood don't need to be based on anything other than proximity," says Hautman. "But as we grow older and a person develops more interests, the interests diverge and it tears friendships apart. And that's part of what Kelleigh is experiencing. She's entering a larger world, but she hasn't found it yet."

Now it's "How to Steal A Car" which is entering a larger world. Hautman says most of the reviews he's seen so far are from adults, as they are the people who get advance copies. Now he's waiting to see what his teen readers will say.

He has a couple of readings coming up, which may attract different readerships. He's be at the Red Balloon bookshop in St Paul on Friday September 18th, and then at "Once Upon a Crime" in Minneapolis on Saturday September 26th.

We'll have him on the air at MPR early next week.

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Can a literary trend do harm?

Posted at 8:18 AM on August 28, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Culture

When it comes to the "going green" movement, Elizabeth Kolbert thinks so, and she writes about it in the New Yorker.

Kolbert takes issue with the spate of books in which people document their attempts at voluntary simplicity. A few examples from the genre:

In "No Impact Man," author Colin Beavan lives with out electricity, a car, and even toilet paper in New York City, as he seeks to reduce his carbon footrpint over the course of a year.

In "Farm City" Novella Carpenter documents her attempts at keeping a farm in the middle of downtown Oakland and ultimately attempts to survive eating only from her urban lot for a month.

And in "Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100 mile diet," Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon attempt to source everything they eat within 100 miles of their Vancouver home.

So what's wrong with inspiring others through example? Kolbert argues that these are merely stunts. She says they are the modern equivalent of Henry David Thoreau's time on Walden Pond, aimed, just like Thoreau's, at selling books.

The nouveau Thoreauvians have picked up from "Walden" its dramaturgy of austerity. Their schemes require them to renounce (if only temporarily) various material comforts--cars, elevators, Starbucks--that their neighbors take for granted. Renunciation sets them apart and organizes their lives in the name of some higher purpose. The trouble--or, at least, a trouble--is that it's hard to say exactly what that purpose is.

Kolbert goes on to say that each of these books comes with a structure it must adhere to - a month or a year of making no carbon impact, eating from your yard, or eating locally. The problem is that these conceits drive the authors to do things that make no sense. The authors of "Plenty" end up making a 12 hour journey to the sea to harvest their own salt. Colin Beavan turns off his radiators, and lives off the residual warmth from his neighbors' apartments. What's the point? According to Elizabeth Kolbert, "The real work of "saving the world" goes way beyond the sorts of action that "No Impact Man" is all about."

What's required is perhaps a sequel. In one chapter, Beavan could take the elevator to visit other families in his apartment building. He could talk to them about how they all need to work together to install a more efficient heating system. In another, he could ride the subway to Penn Station and then get on a train to Albany. Once there, he could lobby state lawmakers for better mass transit. In a third chapter, Beavan could devote his blog to pushing for a carbon tax. Here's a possible title for the book: "Impact Man."

However what Kaiser fails to address is the impact of each of these authors' books. While standards are being put in place for the energy efficiency of buildings, and the fuel efficiency of cars, it's much more difficult to legislate an individual's consumption. No one likes being told what they can and cannot do. So if one person's actions manage to inspire 500 or 1000 or maybe even 10000 others to take steps to consume less, who's to say they didn't make a difference?

The other frustration in all these attempts to "go green" is the math. People are constantly trying to calculate their impact, but it's almost impossible to do.

For instance, these environmental authors, for all their good intentions, are sending millions of people to websites, selling hundreds of thousands of books, and are each engaged in national book tours involving numerous plane flights and time on the road. How can they possible figure out whether they've done more good than harm?

How can any of us, really?

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A new literary press opens its doors in Minnesota

Posted at 8:48 AM on August 26, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Writing

It's called Replacement Press and its goal is to publish "culturally engaged fiction by new and emerging writers."

Replacement Press is out to discover the "voices of a new generation" but is not giving that generation any age limits. Instead the founders, Andrew and Sarah De Young, say it's about a fresh voice and a new perspective.

What we're looking for are stories that place their characters in a dynamic social setting. Make connections between the personal and the communal, find that place where individual lives collide with the wider world around them, and then live in that space.

Currently, Replacement Press is accepting submissions and plans to release its first book in Winter 2009. In the meantime, the De Youngs say they want to start a conversation on the future of literary publishing. That shouldn't be a problem, since the Twin Cities are already home to several nationally recognized literary presses: Graywolf, Milkweed Editions, and CoffeeHouse Press.

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Twin Cities Book Festival announces featured authors

Posted at 7:49 AM on August 19, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Events

Each year the Rain Taxi Review of Books organizes the Twin Cities Book Festival. This year the festival takes place on October 10 from 10am-5pm on the campus of the Minneapolis Community and Technical College in downtown Minneapolis.

The day long event features, amongst many other things, readings and talks by acclaimed authors. This year ten authors will talk about their most recent works, covering not just fiction and poetry, but pop culture, nature and food.

Here's the complete list, from the press release:

Award-winning novelists who inspire, challenge, and entertain:

NICHOLSON BAKER is the author of a dozen works of fiction and nonfiction, including the novels The Mezzanine and Vox. He has loudly campaigned against the destruction of printed matter in the digital age, and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for his book on the topic, Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper. His new novel, The Anthologist, is narrated by a little-known poet; in this and throughout his work, Baker is a champion of things otherwise unsung, like elevators and the word "lumber."

ROBERT OLEN BUTLER is the author of sixteen novels and short story collections, a book on the creative process, and several plays and screenplays. His work has been honored with Pulitzer Prize, among many other accolades. He has, at various points, worked as a translator, counter-intelligence officer, editor, and professor. His newest novel, Hell, allows the ever-inventive Butler to cast many surprising historical and contemporary characters down into the underworld.

LORRIE MOORE is the author of three short story collections and three novels, the recipient of fellowships from the NEA and the Guggenheim, Lannan, and Rockefeller Foundations, and the winner of the Rae Award for the Short Story and the Irish Times International Fiction Prize. A Gate at the Stairs, her newest novel and her first book since 1998's acclaimed Birds of America, is an ambitious and visceral examination of racism, war, young love, and employment as a part-time nanny.

Celebrated poets from different countries and different aesthetics:

Acclaimed poet, novelist, and essayist ADAM ZAGAJEWSKI is one of Poland's most famous literary figures, and his talent has influenced many English-speaking poets as well. In addition to such acclaimed poetry volumes such as World Without End, Mysticism for Beginners, and Canvas, he has also published the memoir Another Beauty and two prose collections. His newest volume of verse, Eternal Enemies, came out earlier this year.

The sound poet CHRISTIAN BÖK can read very fast. He can willingly enslave himself to the tyranny of a single vowel. He can build books out of toys. He can create and translate alien languages, having worked as a xenolinguist for Gene Roddenberry and Peter Benchley. And his Eunoia--the single bestselling Canadian poetry book of all time--won the Griffin Poetry Prize and is newly released here in the states. Listen carefully...

Acclaimed writers on the art and beauty of the everyday:

DIANE ACKERMAN is a poet, essayist, naturalist, and the author of two dozen works of nonfiction and poetry. She is the recipient of the Orion Book Award, the John Burroughs Nature Award, the Lavan Poetry Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. (Fun fact: the molecule dianeackerone, a sex pheromone in crocodilians, is named after her.) Her most recent work of literary naturalism, Dawn Light, explores what life is up to when the sun comes up.

RUTH REICHL has been writing about food since the book Mmmmmmmm: A Feastiary in 1972. Her acclaimed food memoirs now include Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me With Apples, and Garlic and Sapphires. The recipient of numerous awards, she was the restaurant critic for the New York Times and is now Editor in Chief of Gourmet Magazine; her books for them include The Gourmet Cookbook and the newly released Gourmet Today.

Wildlife artist DAVID ALLEN SIBLEY started birding at the age of seven. He is now the author and illustrator of more than a dozen acclaimed books and field guides on American avian life, including the fastest selling bird book of all time, The Sibley Guide to Birds. Lightning is bound to strike twice with the soon-to-be-released Sibley Guide to Trees. Mr. Sibley will give a visual presentation on how he researches and illustrates these amazing books.

And pop culture experts on comics and geekdom:

GABRIELLE BELL was born in England, raised in California, and currently resides in Brooklyn. Not ten years ago she was self-publishing her own mini-comics; since the turn of the century she has published the acclaimed autobiographical work Lucky, placed her work twice in the Best American Comics series, and appeared in the prestigious Yale Anthology of Graphic Fiction. Her newest collection, Cecil and Jordan in New York, includes a story that Bell and noted film director Michel Gondry adapted for Gondry's latest film, Tokyo!

ETHAN GILSDORF's book Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks is a travel-memoir quest that explains and celebrates fantasy and gaming subcultures, whether inspired by fictions like The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, or by role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons and World of Warcraft. Gilsdorf will introduce some of the characters he encountered in his journeys across this world and other worlds; he will then invite audience members to share their "geekiest moment" onstage. PS: the audience is also encouraged to attend in costume--prizes will be awarded!

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Arthounds: things to consider

Posted at 12:02 PM on July 30, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Film, Theater

Carolyn Pool and Shanan Wexler rehearse their show "2 Sugars, Room for Cream" for the Minnesota Fringe.(Picture Euan Kerr)

The summer arts scene explodes tonight with the opening of the Minnesota Fringe. Fringe Executive Director Robin Gillette can provide the numbers off the top of her head.

"There are 162 different companies, doing a total of 847 performances," she says.

Other important numbers: 11 days, 22 venues (including one in St Paul!) We'll have a piece on the air later today on ATC.

Also how about some laugh-out-loud cinematic satire? Armando Iannucci's "In the Loop," (not to be confused, as some have, with the fine MPR podcast of the same name,) pokes fun at the political relationship between the US and the UK in the fun-up to an invasion of an un-named Middle Eastern country. The film opened to strong reviews on the coasts last week and now comes to the Twin Cities.

The readings at local bookstores are always of interest to the MPR newsroom, because it allows tremendous access to writers who have interesting things to say. Case in point is next Tuesday evening Common Good Books in Cathedral Hill in St Paul is hosting a reading by retired Macalester professor Mahmoud El-Kati of his new book "The Hiptionary: A Survey of African American Speech Patterns with A Digest of Key Words and Phrases." It's a fascinating work on the origins and usage of words and phrases, backed with history and insight.

Also check out the recommendations of the Art Hounds, as told to Chris Roberts. And remember we are always looking for more Hounds. Want to try?

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Kate DiCamillo's latest: The Magician's Elephant

Posted at 12:29 PM on July 21, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books

One of the great joys of being an arts reporter is the occasional surprise package that shows up in the mailbox. Often it contains stuff not worth a mention, but today I opened one up to find an uncorrected proof of "The Magician's Elephant," Kate DiCamillo's latest work. It's the story of an orphan boy in search of his sister, and a strange fortune that sends him on an even stranger journey.

Flipping through, I found this lovely bit of prose, which I thought you might like:

She dreamed that she was flying high over the world, her habit spread out on either side of her like dark wings.

She was terribly pleased because she had always, secretly, deep within her heart, believed that she could fly. And now here she was, doing what she had long suspected she could do, and she could not deny that it was gratifying in the extreme.

Sister Marie looked down at the world below her and saw millions and millions of stars and thought, I am not flying over the earth at all. Why, I am flying higher than that. I am flying over the tops of the stars. I am looking down at the sky.

And then she realized that no, no, it was the earth that she was flying over, and that she was looking not at the stars but at the creatures of the world, and that they were all, they were each - beggars, dogs, orphans, kings, elephants, soldiers - emitting pulses of light.

The whole of creation glowed.

The Magician's Elephant is published by Candlewick Press and appears on bookshelves this September.

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Sense and Sensibility...and Sea Monsters

Posted at 11:26 AM on July 16, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Books

The conversion of Jane Austen's romances into horrorific tales more worthy of Mary Shelley continues. From the creators of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" comes "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters." Here's their video trailer for the new book:

Evidently Quirk Books is also at work on "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter."

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Summer Reading

Posted at 7:47 PM on June 29, 2009 by Marianne Combs (3 Comments)
Filed under: Books

It's the time of year when Minnesotans love to sit outdoors and enjoy the great weather, and many of us prefer to do it with a book in hand, whether it's on the deck or by the lake.

Today on Midmorning, Kerri Miller discussed the best bets for summer reads with Washington Post book editor Ron Charles and Los Angeles Times book reviewer Sarah Weinman. Their conversation resulted in a list of books they (and Midmorning callers) think would make for time well spent.

So what are you paging through this summer? And what would you vote for as the perfect summer read? (My choice? Anything by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.)

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Neil Gaiman: Author turned interviewer

Posted at 3:04 PM on June 23, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books, People

Neil Gaiman, author of Coraline, Anansi Boys, The Sandman and so many other wonderfully creepy tales, is sitting in one of the MPR News studios at this moment. Except he's not here to be interviewed. Instead he's interviewing British character actor Martin Jarvis about the art of voicing audiobooks. Word has it he's doing a series of interviews for National Public Radio, which should air on Morning Edition in the next few weeks.

Gaiman actually lives not far outside the Twin Cities. MPR's Euan Kerr interviewed him earlier this year when Gaiman won the Newbery honor with his work "The Graveyard Book."

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Vatican's ties to Minnesota grow ever stronger

Posted at 12:31 PM on June 17, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Culture

Minnesota author (and former MPR reporter) Leif Enger was interviewed in yesterday's edition of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. Enger is the author of two acclaimed books, "Peace Like a River" and more recently "So Brave, Young, and Handsome," the latter of which has just been published in Italian. Seeking atonement for one's sins is a major theme in the novel.

This on the heels of the announcement that the Vatican has declared the Cathedral of St. Paul a national shrine.

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