Kick off National Poetry Month at the Loft in downtown Minneapolis this Thursday at 7 p.m. St. Paul poet Greg Hewett will be reading from his new book, darkacre, published by Coffee House Press.

From Coffee House:

“Greg Hewett is the author of The Eros Conspiracy, To Collect the Flesh, and Red Suburb, which was an Indie Bound Poetry Top Ten selection, Publishing Triangle Award winner, and Minnesota Book Award finalist. He has received Fulbright fellowships to Denmark and Norway and has lived in Japan and France. A former HIV interviewer for the Centers for Disease Control, he is currently Associate Professor of English at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. “ 

Lightsey Darst of Minneapolis will read from her first collection of poetry, Find the Girl.

 Again, per Coffee House:

“From Snow White to the Yde Girl and Helen of Troy to JonBenét, this lurid and lyrical debut explores the transition from girlhood to womanhood and America’s almost pornographic fascination with missing and exploited children. Topical and timely, Darst’s poems draw from both the oldest tales and the current vein of child / young woman endangerment horror–recalling and responding to true-crime exposés, pulp detective fiction, classic fables, modern novels like The Lovely Bones, and TV shows like Law & Order.”

Paul Hillmer’s A People’s History of the Hmong offers a rich narrative history of the worldwide community of the Hmong people, exploring their cultural practices, war and refugee camp experiences, and struggles and triumphs as citizens of new countries. The author describes how he came to write the book in the video linked below.

Professor Hillmer will give the keynote address at the Third International Conference on Hmong Studies at Concordia University on April 10.

He will also speak and sign books at the Rondo Community Library on Wednesday, April 14, at 7:00 p.m.

Thank you to our former design intern, Eric Reiger, for creating this video.

With Saturday’s open house at the new Target Field, followed by the Gophers­-Louisiana Tech game, we’re reminded of the many terrific baseball stories in Swinging for the Fences: Black Baseball in Minnesota,edited by Steve Hoffbeck. Here’s a fun sample: “Willie Mays with the Minneapolis Millers, 1951.”

As promised, Kathy Sletto, author of Keeping Watch. sent in some footage of a two-day-old Shetland lamb. Enjoy!