Books

The Palabristas will be slinging words this Friday at the Loft Literary Center in celebration of their new chapbook, Outside the Lines. The event celebrates the voices of a diverse group of Latino poets and spoken word artists tackling topics of love, loss, politics, and more. MORE »

Critic Jan Swafford has called the music of Bach “indestructible”—whether performed on harpsichord, on piano, on Moog synthesizer, or by jazz vocal group, the master composer’s soaring counterpoint never fails to impress. Shakespeare’s plots have a similar quality: the Bard’s precisely judged character studies have served as sturdy skeletons for everything from prep-school melodramas to sci-fi creature features. The newest addition to this kissing-cousin canon is also one of the most self-conscious: Lin Enger’s novel Undiscovered Country, which sets Hamlet in the north woods of Minnesota. MORE »

In Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire, David Mura explores the tension between forgetting and remembering. Mura, who has gained fame as a poet and spoken-word performer, now tries his hand at narrative prose with this complex novel about a man unearthing his past, the past of his family, and the truth of the history of his own community. MORE »

If there’s a more interesting guy than Terrance Griep, yours truly has yet to meet him. One day, I walked onto the set of MTN’s issues-oriented forum Spectator as a guest on the show and swiftly found myself becoming a fan of Griep, who co-hosts the show with Bill Boreas. I was first amused by Griep’s smart-ass wit, then became increasingly fascinated with just how broadly versed one person can be. MORE »