MHS Author in the News

Have fun exploring the tastes, sights, and smells at the Minnesota State Fair with the Fabulous Fair Alphabet game inspired by the book by Debra Frasier.

From the website: “Pick up a Fabulous Fair Alphabet game card from any State Fair Information Booth or download one here.  Look for words in what you SEE, HEAR, READ, FEEL–and certainly in what you EAT–at the fair! Write these words on the card, recording two words for each letter of the alphabet. (For example: Write a word that begins with “A” beside the printed A. Remember that X’s are rare–simply look for words that contain an X.) Bring your completed card to the Alphabet Forest in Baldwin Park and win a blue ribbon!”

On Thursday, September 1, meet David LaRochelle, the Minnesota home-grown author for the day featured in Baldwin Park as part of the Fabulous Fair Alphabet festivities, sponsored by the Children’s Literature Network. David is the author of several children’s books, including Minnesota’s Hidden Alphabet with photos by Joe Rossi. Books will be available for purchase in Baldwin Park (across from the 4-H building) as well.

While you are strolling the fair looking for letters, check out the Minnesota State Fair History Walking Tour. You can also stop by the MHS booth on the main floor of the Grandstand for information on MHS programs and sites. (And fun goodies related to our forthcoming 1968 Exhibit: mood pens, anyone?)

Klecko, CEO of the Saint Agnes Baking Company in St. Paul, hosts the bakery’s daily cooking demonstrations in the Creative Activities Building. This year’s theme at the Saint Agnes demo kitchen is “At the Euro Table,” where  Klecko will be joined by some of Minnesota’s best chefs, bakers, and journalists. Guests include fellow MHS Press authors Lee Svitak Dean (Star Tribune Taste editor), Kim Ode (Star Tribune Taste), and novelist Nicole Mary Kelby. (For dates and times, enter “agnes” in the search box here.)

The breads of master baker Klecko have been served in some of the finest restaurants in Minneapolis and St. Paul. With decades of international culinary experience, Klecko has baked for presidents, rock stars, and professional athletes. But perhaps his most appreciative clients are dogs: he shares his favorite recipes in our book K-9 Nation: Baking for Your Best Friend.

And finally, on Sunday, September 4, celebrate Minnesota History Day in Carousel Park, sponsored by the Minnesota State Fair Foundation and the Minnesota Historical Society. We will feature entertainment, contests, crafts, and more.

See you at the fair!

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We are delighted to be back in our offices after a nearly three-week Minnesota state government shutdown!

As a segue into our regularly scheduled Tuesday and Thursday posts, here is a mini-roundup of some recent MHS Press/Borealis Books news:

The hot weather did not deter some of us from attending the taping of a future episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern at the VFW in Minneapolis’s Uptown area. Ann Burckhardt, author of Hot Dish Heaven, was the celebrity judge for the show’s hot dish contest. And what was for dessert? Why, entries for the best Jello salad, of course. We won’t reveal the winners. Let’s just say there were some creative entries!

Johnny Michaels, bar manager at La Belle Vie, was recently featured on Esquire’s Eat Like a Man blog and consulted by Minnesota Monthly as to whether beer on the rocks is permissible. Look for North Star Cocktails by Johnny Michaels and the North Star Bartenders Guild this November.

Tomorrow (Wednesday, July 27) Anton Treuer will appear on the nationally syndicated radio program Native America Calling. The Assassination of Hole in the Day, now out in paperback, is the show’s Book of the Month selection.

The City of St. Paul sponsors a bimonthly StoryWalk to “walk, read, learn, and have fun.” Last Sunday our book Minnesota’s Hidden Alphabet, written by David LaRochelle and with photographs by Joe Rossi, was featured at Lake Phalen.

Borealis Books author Sarah Stonich has been hitting the road to share her newest book, Shelter, with readers around the state. She’ll be at Magers and Quinn in Minneapolis on Tuesday, August 9, at 7:30, along with Ellen Baker, author of I Gave My Heart to Know This.

And don’t forget to check out our Summer E-book sale!

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A veritable who’s who of Minnesota’s best-known writers of books for children and young adults will testify to the special significance of libraries in their lives this Thursday, April 21, at 7:00 p.m at the Minneapolis Central Library’s Pohlad Hall to celebrate the publication of Libraries of Minnesota.

With images by Doug Ohman, photographer of the Minnesota Byways books, which include the well-loved Barns of Minnesota and Cabins of Minnesota, and essays by Will Weaver, Pete Hautman, John Coy, Nancy Carlson, Marsha Wilson Chall, David LaRochelle, and Kao Kalia Yang, Libraries of Minnesota is a rich exhibition of Minnesota’s beloved libraries. The book is a cooperative project of the Council of Regional Public Library System Administrators and the Minnesota Historical Society Press, funded by the Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

Thursday’s event is sponsored by the Library Foundation of Hennepin County, the Metropolitan Library Service Agency, and the MHS Press. Doug will give a visual presentation of photos from the book, followed by anecdotes from the contributors. Books, including select titles by the authors, will be available for purchase at the event courtesy of Magers & Quinn Booksellers, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Library Foundation of Hennepin County.

Last week’s Star Tribune Variety section featured a slide show and excerpt from the book. You can also see a preview of the book on the KARE11 website: Doug and Pete talked about the project on the air this past Saturday.

The image below is not from the book but is featured today on the popular website boingboing and originally comes from the L. A. Library via the Boing Boing Flickr pool from Bart King. Since it features a kid in a library with a copy of a book by another beloved Minnesota author and illustrator, Wanda Gag, we thought it worth sharing!

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Lynne Rossetto Kasper, well-known host of The Splendid Table, recommends our cookbook, Come One, Come All: Easy Entertaining with Seasonal Menus, by Star Tribune Taste editor, Lee Svitak Dean. Kasper writes, “Come One, Come All is comfort between two covers for all who love the idea of bringing friends and family together around the table, but rarely have the time and energy to pull it off. Dean clears the way with her usual smart shortcuts and dynamite recipes. . . . This is a keeper!”

Hosting Thanksgiving at your house this year? It’s not too late to buy the cookbook, which has an approachable, tasty, step-by-step guide to cooking the grand meal. A game plan, if you will, that includes a chart of what can be done ahead. For instance, four days ahead of Thanksgiving (today!) you prepare the brine for your turkey and make the fabulous Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie for store-ahead freezing (one of Dean’s family favorites). Tomorrow you begin brining your turkey. And Wednesday, well, she has the list all ready for you, along with carefully tested recipes and cook’s notes for the feast.

Can’t get out until this weekend to buy the book? That’s okay. Dean has seasonal menu ideas for other friends-and-family gatherings, including a holiday cocktail party and a last-minute winter party (those last-minute get-togethers sometimes end up being the best of the holiday gatherings!) Cheers!

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The Assassination of Hole in the Day continues to garner wonderful attention as Anton Treuer fields interview requests and gives readings across the state, spreading the word on this fascinating Anishinaabe leader. Treuer was interviewed by Richard LaFortune and Laura Waterman Wittstock on First Person Radio on November 10, and he appeared on TPT’s Almanac on November 12. You can see him in person at readings, now through January, in Walker, Little Falls, Longville, Blackduck, Minneapolis, Cass Lake, and Bemidji.

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City Pages has a fun article and slide show on the pumpkin carving of children’s book author and illustrator David LaRochelle. See more amazing pumpkins on David’s own website.

David is the co-author of Minnesota’s Hidden Alphabet, a new MHS Press book for kids featuring lush nature photography by Joe Rossi.

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A piece by Jim Ragsdale published in last week’s Pioneer Press titled “The Hmong in St. Paul” profiles Paul Hillmer, author of A People’s History of the Hmong. Ragsdale writes, “the Hmong story is the American immigrant story on fast-forward, happening in our backyard, and likely to happen again.”

While Hillmer’s book is a look at the political and cultural history of the Hmong, for a literal taste of Hmong culture, head on over to Hmongtown in St. Paul. Located at Como Avenue and Marion Street, the indoor-outdoor venue features a farmers market, “food court,” Hmong arts and crafts, videos, health and beauty items, jewelry, clothing, and over two hundred vendors.

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Photographer Wing Young Huie was named Best Public Artist in Minnesota Monthly’s Best of the Cities 2010 list. The magazine notes:

“The Minneapolis photographer’s six-mile-long “University Avenue Project” is the most ambitious public-art exhibition in Minnesota since, well, his last one, the seminal “Lake Street Project.” In fact, Huie has taken things even further this time, not only papering the corridor with massive images of neighborhood residents but also hosting monthly cabarets with local performers, transforming an entire section of the city into an outdoor art space.”

Look for The University Avenue Project Volume 2 in bookstores next month. This forthcoming book features images of people experiencing the exhibit and events at the Project(ion) Site, as well as an introductory essay by art historian, critic, and curator Patricia Briggs about Huie’s creation of “relational art experiences.” Huie also shares stories about people’s reactions to the exhibit and how he communicated and interacted with the people he photographed.

The next University Avenue Project cabaret is this Saturday, August 28. Check out the great musical lineup!

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Earlier this week, Cathy Wurzer, host of MPR’s Morning Edition and author of Tales of the Road: Highway 61, interviewed historian Annette Atkins about the life and works of African American architect Clarence W. “Cap” Wigington, who was the lead designer in the office of St. Paul’s city architect from the 1920s through the 1940s.

Wurzer and Atkins, who is a professor of history and the author of Creating Minnesota: A History from the Inside Out, met at the Wigington Pavilion on Harriet Island and had a lively conversation about Wigington’s work (the Highland Park Water Tower is Atkins’s favorite) and his remarkable achievements—including designing Winter Carnival ice palaces. Read more about him in Cap Wigington: An Architectural Legacy in Ice and Stone by David Vassar Taylor and Paul Clifford Larson, which features lovely color reproductions of some of his drawings.

Wurzer is seeking suggestions for further history topics. What untold Minnesota history tales would you like to hear explored on the radio? Send her an e-mail (cwurzer@mpr.org) or message via Twitter (@CathyWurzer).

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Congratulations to Joy K. Lintelman, author of “I Go To America”: Swedish American Women and the Life of Mina Anderson, for winning the Minnesota Book Award for General Nonfiction, and to Cary J. Griffith, author of Opening Goliath: Danger and Discovery in Caving, for taking top honors in the Minnesota category!

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