Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/category/books/page/13/)
Readers relax and refresh! Popular reviews, awards and stacks of soul-less bestsellers are no measure of a reading culture. Turn to the indies – the publishers and the booksellers – who know a good read when they read one and who make sure the words and ideas of creative writers reach the reading public. Continue Reading
Over the last few millennia we’ve invented a series of technologies – from the alphabet to the scroll to the codex, the printing press, photography, the computer, the smartphone – that have made it progressively easier and easier for us to externalize our memories, for us to essentially outsource this fundamental human capacity. -Joshua Foer Continue Reading
When I was growing up as a white middle-class Minnesota kid in the 80s, there was no shortage of books about children from other cultures. The general message was that though superficial details varied—dress, food, whether Santa came on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day—but fundamentally we were all the same. Call it the “Small World” model of cultural variation. Obviously the world is a lot more complex than that, and yet it remains important to show kids (and the rest of us) some of the fundamental similarities among us all. Marcie Rendon’s Powwow Summer is an accessible but gently nuanced introduction to the powwow tradition as celebrated by the Anishinaabe. The book, recommended for ages 8 to 12, was originally published in 1996 and has now been republished in an affordable paperback edition by the Minnesota Historical Society Press.Rendon’s text, accompanied by Cheryl Walsh Bellville’s photographs, introduces us to the Downwind family as they prepare for the Leech Lake Memorial Day powwow. Continue Reading
As autumn settles in and the world settles down, serious readers regroup. Passionate readers begin to hear the resonant voice of a debut author; they prowl the indie bookstores, comb the alternative media for book fairs and readings, check the library for what’s forthcoming in their genre-of-choice. Soon will come the crucial gathering of the minds when The Book Club will choose The Book, the tome that will ignite the group to delve into the syntax, symbolism and significance of a shared read. Continue Reading
When people hear the word “Yiddish,” images of the Holocaust, Chassidic Jews or even Tevya from Anatevka may come to mind. In its prime, Yiddish was a language spoken by millions of Jews. However, its popularity, and perhaps necessity has died along with various immigration waves and Hitler’s destruction of European Jewry. Continue Reading
This week throughout the USA libraries are celebrating: Banned Book Week Celebrating the Freedom to Read. If you go to many of the local libraries you may see a display of books on a table with paper wrapped around it saying banned. Continue Reading
The Hmong Cultural Center has completed a major project initiative involving the translation into English and production of two books -Tshoob Kos (Wedding Procedures) and Kev Cai Pam Tuag (Funeral Procedures). Earlier versions of these books were compiled in the Hmong language by Tougeu Leepalao, the Cultural Consultant of Hmong Cultural Center between 1995 and 2005. Hmong Cultural Center’s goal with theTshoob Kos (Wedding Procedures) and Kev Cai Pam Tuag (Funeral Procedures)Translation project is to help preserve and disseminate key elements of Hmong ceremonial culture to current and future generations of the Hmong community in Minnesota and beyond.
Cave Paper and The American Craft Council will sponsor a poetry reading by Stuart Kestenbaum when he visits the Twin Cities in October. A reading and book signing will take place on Saturday, October 5 from 7:00 to 8:00 pm, at the American Craft Council Library, located at 1224 Marshall Ave in Minneapolis. An author’s reception will begin at 6:30 pm. The event is free and open to the public.The event will celebrate the release of Kestenbaum’s latest book, A Deep Blue Amen, which was published by Amanda Degener, co-proprietor of Cave Paper. It is letterpress-printed calligraphy scribed by Jan Owen on indigo-dyed handmade flax paper made by Degener. Continue Reading
The bibliophiles at the National Book Foundation like to hold their cards close to the chest, playing one card a day to the anxious literary world. Though they have one more card to play (tomorrow, September 19) the first three days have brought some great news to members of the Minnesota community of the book. Under new rules for 2013 the National Book Award nominations are announced in what is henceforth to be known as a “long list” of nominations in each of four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry and Young People’s Literature. Continue Reading
Growing up, I was always raised with the myth of Laos as a tranquil, serene land. A land of a thousand smiles, a realm of a million elephants, a lost Eden or Shangri-La. Continue Reading