Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/category/books/page/23/)
Before you visit the Growing Up exhibit at Mineapolis Central Library – and before you read or re-read any of the books in that exhibit – take time to listen to the NPR interview with Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor. The delightful interview is a remarkable testimony to the power of books, reading, youth, and coming of age in the life of a poor immigrant kid living in an NYC tenement. Continue Reading
I have lived in Saint Paul most of my life, and I’d say my favorite place in Saint Paul is the St. Anthony Park Public Library. With its many shelves and millions of stories, each one unique, each one special in its own way, there is no place like it in the world. I love going to the library after school for hours on end, looking at the books.The St. Anthony Park Library is unique because of its architecture. Continue Reading
Luke Wilcox of the Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project told TCDP about the January 24 reception for U.S. vets and Iraqi refugees who told their stories through the Veterans Book Project. The reception will be 7-9 p.m. at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business, Schulze Hall Atrium, 1000 LaSalle Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55403Iraqi immigrants living in Minnesota and U.S. veterans of the Iraq war told their stories in books and videos, through the Veterans Book Project.How did this project start?The director of the Veterans Book Project, Monica Haller, a local artist — she and I had conversations with visiting Iraqi artists who were participating in an art exhibit that IARP organized in 2010 in Minneapolis.These visiting Iraqi artists said they did not think Iraqis had a voice in American media or consciousness — the stories of just ordinary Iraqis were not being heard by Americans.Monica’s project — the Veterans Book Project — had been creating books with veterans. She and I decided to expand that project to add Iraqi voices, to include both Iraqis and American veterans to tell how the war had impacted, affected and changed lives.So we applied for a grant and got some funding through the Minnesota State Arts Board to work with local Iraqis. Some had been here a while, some grew up here — a variety of Iraqi voices here, who had experienced war in different ways. Continue Reading
Just one more dayA yellow daisy dayA too hot sidewalk, barefoot dayA last mosquito dayA sunset at the beach dayOne scorcher day to hold midwinterAt bayMarcie Rendon, White Earth Anishinabe: Saint Paul was her first home in the urban area in the infamous Selby-Dale area of the late ’60s, early ’70s. American Indian Movement and Marvin Gaye combined to raise her poetic awareness. Now the Sunday Saratoga poets help nudge her words onto the page. Marcie is published in many Native anthologies.Coverage of issues and events affecting Central Corridor communities is funded in part by a grant from the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. Continue Reading
“It’s harder than I expected it to be,” said Claire Burgoyne, one of about 15 people who brought their Kindle e–readers to the Columbia Heights Public Library to learn how to access eBooks on Saturday, Jan. 5. While most of the new users were older, young Cheyenne Mercier was also wrestling with getting on line with her new device.Later in the afternoon, 10 people brought their iPads. Most of the iPad users left pretty confident they would be able to master their new tools, said Jill Smith, Adult Services Manager for the Anoka County Library system. “For the Kindles, many still have to do it on their own computer, so I hope if they get stuck they’ll give us a call and we can walk them through it.” The Kindle Fire has direct wireless access to internet; other types of Kindles require a user to download a book on their own computer and transfer it to the device.“You can have five things checked out at one time, and you’ll have a choice of seven or 14 days,” said Smith. Continue Reading
“Pho all the way around,”The leather jacket boy saysWhile the girls compare nail polish.The steaming bowlsWith plump shrimp swimmingBetween the transparent noodlesAnd beef slices arrive. ThenThe click of chopsticks,The happy slurp from spoons.Loren Niemi is a storyteller, poet, performer, public policy consultant, and trainer who either has a short attention span or multiple converging interests. He is also author of The Book of Plots and coauthor, with Elizabeth Ellis, of Inviting the Wolf In: Thinking About Difficult Stories. Loren is part of the Saratoga Studio A.M. Sunday Writers, which meets every other Sunday morning in a small studio above a garage in St. Paul.Coverage of issues and events affecting Central Corridor communities is funded in part by a grant from the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. Continue Reading
The old man was not really in a rowboatunder the Mississippi River bridge.He was in the process of turninginside himself, as we all will do one day.Inside, he was finalizing the finishedand unfinished business of his life.I just made up the part about him in a rowboat,fishing being some of his best times.In the rowboat, he tied a hook on a line,fashioned a slab of plywood into an oar,nailed, plugged, chopped, and weldedall the materials of his backbreaking years.This was great work for him and his facewas pinched with effort. Beads of sweatglinted on his forehead as he gently laideach of the items back into the waterfrom which they came, I imagine. The riverwas grateful and in return rocked himin its faithful current downstreamtoward home,which was a warm house filled with sistersand all his old friends and Ma right there.There, baking bread in the wood stovefrom a recipe in her head.Linda Back McKay is a St.-Paul-born writer and teaching artist. Her books include Choppers (youth nonfiction), Ride That Full Tilt Boogie (poems), Iron Horse Cowgirls: Around the World with Women Bikers, and Shadow Mothers: Stories of Adoption and Reunion (both nonfiction). She lives in (gasp) Minneapolis.Coverage of issues and events affecting Central Corridor communities is funded in part by a grant from the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. Continue Reading
When Minneapolis author D.R. Martin, 61, first tried to find a literary agent, in the 1990s, he didn’t succeed—“but in those days, even when you were rejected you’d get a constructive response saying what they didn’t like and what they did.” Then he tried again, recently. “I submitted to over 50 agents by e-mail. I got 25 form rejections, and 25 non-responses. Not a single personalized response out of 50. I thought, I am not going to get through these gatekeepers. Continue Reading
“The brain may die, but my compulsion for useless trivia lives on.” Continue Reading
When asked about his forthcoming book, Lao American writer Bryan Thao Worra recently replied, “I wanted to work with the acclaimed Lao American artist Vongduane Manivong to rebuild an appreciation