Now that we can actually see the sidewalks in the Twin Cities, if you are poetically inclined, consider entering the Annual St. Paul Sidewalk Poetry Contest. Winning poems will be permanently published in city sidewalks. Submissions are due by March 28.

METRO Magazine profiled Marcus Young, the St. Paul City Artist in Residence and creator of the “Poems for a City Sidewalk” contest, which is funded by Public Art St. Paul.

The MHS Press is tickled to announce that the Saint Patrick’s Association has named Ann Regan the 2010 Distinguished Irish Woman. She is one of several dignitaries who will particpate in the St. Patrick’s Day parade on Wednesday, March 17, at noon in downtown St. Paul. Ann is the editior in chief for the MHS Press and the author of Irish in Minnesota.

Click here to read Ann’s thoughts on her experiences with Irish history, published this month, along with the photo at left, in the Irish Gazette.

March is Women’s History Month, and WARM, the Women’s Art Registry of Minnesota, is holding its twenty-sixth annual juried exhibit beginning tomorrow, March 4, through March 27. The exhibit, at the Northrup King Building in Minneapolis, is free and open to the public. For viewing hours, visit WARM’s website.

For more information about WARM and its history, check out the book WARM: A Feminist Art Collective in Minnesota by Joanna Inglot, published by the University of Minnesota Press.

Our authors are winners! We are pleased to announce that our book, Twin Cities Picture Show: A Century of Moviegoing by Dave Kenney and the Minnesota History magazine article, “Constructing Suburbia: Richfield in the Postwar Era” by Lisa Plank and Thomas Saylor are winners of the 2010 David Gebhard Award from the Minnesota Chapter of the Society for Architectural Historians.

In addition to being a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award, N. M. Kelby’s A Travel Guide for Restless Hearts won the Florida Book Award  Gold Medal for best general fiction.

And finally, today you can vote for your favorite book nominated for a Minnesota Book Award in the Reader’s Choice category. Click on the link and vote!