Friends of the Hennepin County Libray

Club Book with Swati Avasthi

PAST EVENTS: Tuesday, November 9, 2010, 7 PM
Roseville Library, 2180 North Hamline, Roseville

Swati Avasthi has received numerous writing honors, including a Loft’s Mentor Series Award, the University of Minnesota’s Thomas Shevlin Fellowship, and DeBourg Fellowship. Her short fiction has been nominated for The Best New American Voices and a Pushcart Prize. Split, her acclaimed debut novel, is a powerful and gripping story about a teenaged boy who is thrown out of his house by an abusive father and goes to live with his older brother, who ran away from home years ago to escape the abuse. Prior to writing Split, Avasthi coordinated a domestic violence clinic, where she interviewed thousands of women who were seeking order of protection.

Club Book with Sandra Benítez

PAST EVENT: Monday, May 9, 2011, 7 PM
Shakopee Library, 235 Lewis St. South

Sandra Benítez has spent her life moving between the Latin American culture of her Puerto Rican mother and the Anglo-American culture of her father. Her acclaimed first novel, A Place Where the Sea Remembers, won the Barnes and Noble Discover Award and a Minnesota Book Award for Fiction. Her second book, Bitter Grounds, set in El Salvador, won an American Book award and was nominated for Great Britain’s prestigious Orange Prize. Recipient of the 2004 National Hispanic Heritage Award Honoree for Literature, her books have been translated into half-a-dozen languages. Her other titles include The Weight of All Things, Night of the Radishes, and most recently Bag Lady: A Memoir, The Triumphant True Story of Loss, Illness and Recovery.

Club Book Meeting with Kate DiCamillo

PAST EVENT: Saturday, June 19, 2010, 11 AM, Galaxie Library, Apple Valley

Missed the talk with Kate DiCamillo? You can listen to her talk on MPR's Midday.

Kate DiCamillo is the author of Because of Winn Dixie (winner of a Newbery Honor and Josette Frank Award), The Tiger Rising (a National Book Award finalist), and The Tale of Despereaux (winner of the 2003 Newbery Medal), and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (winner of the Boston Globe Horn Book Award). In addition she has recently completed a series of six early chapter books about a pig named Mercy Watson and has also author to picture books. From literary success, came Hollywood success: Because of Winn Dixie and Tale of Desperaux were made into successful acclaimed full-length films, and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and Magician's Elephant have now been optioned to be made into films. She lives in Minneapolis.

Club Book with Mark Doty

PAST EVENT: Saturday, April 2, 2011, 2 PM
Saint Paul Central Library, 90 4th St. W.

Mark Doty is the only American poet to have received the T.S. Eliot Prize in the U.K. Recipient of numerous other awards and fellowships including the National Book Critics Circle Award, two Lambda Literary Awards, the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction, Guggenheim fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and others. Doty’s Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems won the National Book Award for Poetry in 2008. Widely anthologized, he has published eight books of poems, including School of the Arts, Source, and Sweet Machine, as well as four volumes of nonfiction prose including the New York Times bestseller Dog Years.

Club Book with Heid Erdrich

PAST EVENT: Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 7 PM
Roseville Library, 2180 North Hamline

Heid Erdrich is the author of three poetry collections including National Monuments, Fishing for Myth, and The Mother’s Tongue. She has received two Minnesota State Arts Board fellowships and has been nominated four times for the Minnesota Book Award which she won in 2009. Co-editor of the book, Sister Nations: Native American Women on Community, she is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwa. She and her sister Louise Erdrich co-founded a non-profit clearinghouse for indigenous language-centered literature called Birchbark House.

Club Book with Anne Fadiman

PAST EVENTS: Monday, May 7, 2012 7 PM
Highland Park Library Auditorium, 1974 Ford Parkway, Saint Paul Hosted by Saint Paul Public Library

Anne Fadiman is an award-winning author, essayist, editor, and teacher. It is the 15th Anniversary of her first book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, which chronicles the trials of an epileptic Hmong child and her family living in Merced, California. The book won a National Book Critics' Circle Award and The Washington Post called it “an intriguing, spirit-lifting, extraordinary exploration.” In 2009 it was chosen by the Young Adult Library Association as one of its recommended titles for all students. She has also authored two best-selling essay collections: Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader and At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays, both to great critical acclaim. For seven years Anne Fadiman edited The American Scholar and her essays and articles have appeared in Harper's, The New Yorker, and The New York Times, among many other publications. She has won National Magazine Awards for both reporting and essays.

Club Book Meeting with Neil Gaiman

PAST EVENT: Sunday, April 18, 2010, 2:30 PM, Stillwater Junior High School

Missed the talk with Neil Gaiman? You can listen to it online at Minnesota Public Radio.

Best-selling author Neil Gaiman has long been one of the top writers in modern comics, as well as writing books for readers of all ages. He is listed in the Dictionary of Literary Biography as one of the top ten living post-modern writers, and is a prolific creator of works of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics, and drama. His award-winning and world renowned works includes the books for adults, American Gods, Anansi Boys, Good Omens, among others. His works for young readers include Mirrormask and The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish. His international best-selling children's novel Coraline (published in 2002) received numerous awards and was made into an acclaimed animated movie by Director Henry Selick in 2009. He is also well-known as the writer and creator of the DC Comic series, Sandman.

Club Book with Elizabeth Gilbert

PAST EVENT: Friday, February 11, 2011, 7 PM
Burnsville Performing Arts Center, 12600 Nicollet AvenueHosted by Dakota County Library

Missed the talk with Elizabeth Gilbert? Listen to her live interview on MPR's Midmorning.

Gilbert is best known for her 2006 memoir Eat, Pray, Love, an international bestseller, translated into over thirty languages, with over 7 million copies sold worldwide, and a movie version starring Julia Roberts. Her other celebrated works include Stern Men, The Last American Man, and Pilgrims. Her newest work, Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, interweaves a history of marriage across centuries and cultures with a personal account of her attempts to come to terms with her own impending marriage.

Club Book Meetings with Jane Hamilton

PAST EVENTS: Thursday, June 3, 2010, 7 PM, Southdale Library Friday, June 4, 2010, 7 PM, Chaska Community Center Saturday, June 5, 2010, 2 PM, Highland Park Library

Missed the talk with Jane Hamilton? Check back soon for a recording of the event from MPR's Midday.

Jane Hamilton’s first novel, The Book of Ruth, won the PEN/Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award for best first novel and was a selection of the Oprah Book Club. Her second novel, A Map of the World, was chosen as an Oprah Book Club book as well and named one of the top ten books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, and People. Her other critically-acclaimed books include The Short History of a Prince, Disobedience, When Madeline Was Young, and Laura Rider's Masterpiece.

Club Book Meetings with Patricia Hampl

PAST EVENTS: Thursday July, 8, 2010, 7 PM
Southdale Library, 7001 York Ave. S., Edina Friday, July 9, 2010, 7 PM
Chaska Community Center, 1661 Park Ridge Drive, Chaska

Patricia Hampl is the author of five award-winning memoirs (A Romantic Education, Virgin Time, I Could Tell You Stories, and Blue Arabesque) and two collections of poetry. She has received fellowships from MacArthur, Guggenheim Foundation, Bush Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts (twice, in poetry and prose), and others. Four of her books have been named "Notable Books" of the year by The New York Times Book Review and her writing has appeared in many publications, including The New Yorker, Paris Review, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Best American Short Stories. Hampl is Regents Professor and also McKnight Distinguished Professor at the University of Minnesota.

Club Book with Paul Harding

PAST EVENTS: Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 7 PM
Stillwater Library, 224 Third Street North
Wednesday, February 16, 2011, 7 PM
Southdale Library, 7001 York Ave. S, Edina

Musician and author Paul Harding’s debut novel, Tinkers, won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowship for Writers. Tinkers has been recognized as one of the best debut fiction books of 2009 on the lists of The New Yorker, National Public Radio, San Francisco Chronicle, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Star Tribune and Amazon.com. His short stories have appeared in Shakepainter and The Harvard Review. Harding has taught at the University of Iowa and Harvard. His second novel, which will be published in the summer of 2012, returns to some of the characters in Tinkers.

Club Book with Deborah Harkness

PAST EVENT: Wednesday, January 18, 2012, 7 PM
Central Park Amphitheater, 8595 Central Park Place, WoodburyHosted by Washington County Library

Last year, Deborah Harkness’s first novel, A Discovery of Witches, debuted on bestseller lists across the country and was sold in over 34 countries. Releasing in paperback in January 2012, A Discovery of Witches is a sophisticated fairy tale for adults about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together. In addition to writing fiction, Harkness is a history professor and has received numerous awards for her academic writing, including Fulbright, Guggenheim, and National Humanities Center fellowships. She also writes an award-winning wine blog, Good Wine Under $20.

Pete Hautman & Mary Logue

PAST EVENTS:Sunday, April 10, 2011, 2 PM
Chanhassen Library, 7711 Kerber Blvd. Saturday, May 7, 2011, 11 AM
Lyric Arts Center, 420 East Main Street, Anoka

Pete Hautman and Mary Logue are Minnesota’s most talented literary couple, having published dozens of award-winning books collaboratively and as individuals. Pete won the National Book Award for his young adult book Godless. He also has won a Minnesota Book Award and two Wisconsin Library Association Awards. His other works include Blank Confession, Sweetblood, and All-In, Rash, No Limit, and Invisible. Mary is an award-winning poet and novelist, having written seven mysteries, three collections of poetry, and multiple books of nonfiction and fiction for young readers. Her novel, Dancing With an Alien, was recongized as American Library Association’s Best Book for Young Adults in 2002. Together Pete and Mary co-author the acclaimed Bloodwater mystery series for teens.

Club Book with Jenni Holm

PAST EVENT: Tuesday, April 24, 2012, 7 PM
New Brighton Library, 400 10th Street W., New Brighton Hosted by Ramsey County Library

Jenni Holm is the award-winning author of the graphic novel series, Baby Mouse, illustrated by her brother Matthew Holm. Babymouse was the first graphic novel to win an ALA Notable Children's Book, and has garnered other honors such as the Gryphon and New York City Book Show awards. Holm is a three time Newbery Honor recipient for Our Only May Amelia, Penny From Heaven, and most recently, Turtle in Paradise. She also authors the Boston Jane series for young adults, starring Jane Peck, a young woman living in the 1850s. The books have won ALA Best Book for Young Adults Awards.

Club Book with Lynne Rossetto Kasper & Sally Swift

PAST EVENT: Tuesday, April 3, 2012, 7 PM
Prior Lake Library, 16210 Eagle Creek Parkway, Prior Lake Hosted by Scott County Library

Host Lynne Rossetto Kasper and producer Sally Swift put on the award-winning radio show, The Splendid Table, which airs on more than 290 public radio stations in the United States. The Splendid Table has received two James Beard Foundation Awards for Best National Radio Show on Food, four Clarion Awards from Women in Communication and a Gracie Allen Award in 2000 for Best Syndicated Talk Show. In 2008, Lynne and Sally publisher the best-selling cookbook, The Splendid Table's How To Eat Supper. They will share stories about life in food and talk about newest collaboration, The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Weekends, which contains over 100 recipes for celebrating and enjoying Saturdays and Sundays.

Club Book Meetings with Garrison Keillor

PAST EVENTS: Monday, June 14, 2010, 7 PM, Maplewood Library, Maplewood Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 7 PM, Schwan Event Center, Blaine

Missed the talk with Garrison Keillor? You can listen to his talk on MPR's Midday.

Author, poet, storyteller, humorist, and creator of the radio show A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor has been entertaining audiences for more than 35 years with his tales from Lake Wobegon. Author of more than a dozen books (including Lake Wobegon Days, Pontoon, Life Among Lutherans and Good Poems for Hard Times), Keillor writes a syndicated newspaper column and is a frequent contributor to Time, The New Yorker, and National Geographic. His radio show inspired the 2006 movie, A Prairie Home Companion. A member of the American Academy of Arts & Letters, he lives in St. Paul with his wife and daughter.

Club Book with Gish Jen

PAST EVENTS: Monday, November 15, 2010, 7 PM, 2010
James J. Hill Library, 80 West 4th St., St. Paul<
Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 7 PM
Ridgedale Library, 12601 Ridgedale Drive, Minnetonka

Gish Jen is the author of three novels, Typical American, Mona in the Promised Land and The Love Wife, and a collection of stories, Who’s Irish? She has received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a Lannan Literary Award, and a $250,000 Harold and Mildred Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her short stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, and New Republic, and have been reprinted in numerous textbooks and anthologies, including The Best American Short Stories of the Century. Named one of the eight most important contemporary American women writers by critic Elaine Showalter, she is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Gish’s new novel, World and Town (October 2010), explores concepts of religion, home, and personal worlds through the lens of Hattie Kong, a sixty-eight-year-old woman restarting her life.

Club Book Meetings with Kevin Kling

PAST EVENTS:Wednesday, August 18, 2010, 7 PM
Stillwater Library, 224 3rd Street North, Stillwater
Thursday, August 26, 2010, 7 PM
Maplewood Library, 3025 Southlawn Drive, Maplewood

Missed the talk with Kevin Kling? You can listen to his talk on MPR's Midday.

Kevin Kling is a storyteller, playwright, and regular contributor to NPR’s All Things Considered. His plays have been seen at the Guthrie Theater, Second Stage, Seattle Rep, the Goodman Theatre, the Spoleto Festival, and the HBO Comedy Arts Festival. Best known for hilarious, often tender stories, Kevin has released a number of compact disc collections of his stories. Kevin Kling's first book, The Dog Says How, brought readers into his wonderful world of the skewed and significant mundane. His second book, Holiday Inn, is a romp through a year of holidays and spent weeks on local and national best-seller lists last year.

Club Book with Richard Louv

PAST EVENT: Sunday, April 22, 2012, 2 PM
Ridgedale Library, 12601 Ridgedale Drive, Minnetonka Hosted by Hennepin County Library

Richard Louv is a journalist and author of eight books about the connections between family, nature and community. Louv’s first book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, was translated into 10 languages and published in 15 countries. His newest book The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder, offers a new vision of the future, in which our lives are as immersed in nature as they are in technology. Recipient of numerous awards for his research and writing, Louv has appeared on NBC's Today Show, ABC's Good Morning America, National Public Radio, and elsewhere.

Club Book Meetings with Frances Mayes

PAST EVENTS: Tuesday, May 4, 2010, 7 PM, R.H. Stafford Library, Woodbury Wednesday, May 5, 2010, 7 PM, Southdale Library, Edina

Missed the talk with Frances Mayes? Check out her photo journal and follow her blog as she travels to Italy for the summer.

Frances Mayes is the author of four books about Tuscany. The now-classic Under the Tuscan Sun–which was a New York Times bestseller for more than two and a half years and became a Touchstone movie starring Diane Lane. It was followed by Bella Tuscany and two illustrated books, In Tuscany and Bringing Tuscany Home. She is also the author of the novel, Swan, six books of poetry, and The Discovery of Poetry. Her books have been translated into more than twenty languages. Her new book, Every Day in Tuscany, chronicles her continuing, two decades-long love affair with Tuscany's people, art, cuisine, and lifestyle.

Club Book with Alison McGhee

PAST EVENTS: Tuesday, October 19, 2010, 7 PM
Prior Lake Library, 16210 Eagle Creek Avenue Southeast, Prior Lake
Wednesday, November 17, 2010, 7 PM
Galaxie Library, 14955 Galaxie Avenue West, Apple Valley

Alison McGhee, a #1 New York Times best-selling author, writes for all ages and in all forms -- from poetry and stories to novels and picture books and essays. Her novel Shadow Baby was a Today Show Book Club pick and her picture book Someday was featured on NPR. Her many awards include four Minnesota Book Awards, the GLCA National Fiction Award, Friends of the American Library Award, Gold Oppenheimer Toy Portfolio Award, ALA Best Books for Children, Parents' Choice Award, and a City Pages Artist of the Year Award. McGhee’s other work includes the children’s books (Countdown to Kindergarten and Mrs. Watson Wants Your Teeth), the novels (Rainlight, Snap, Falling Boy, and Was it Beautiful) and the poetry book (Only a Witch Can Fly). She is an associate professor of creative writing at Metropolitan State University, where she coordinates the creative writing program. She recently teamed-up with award-winning author Kate DiCamillo to co-write a new young adult novel, Bink and Gollie (September 2010).

Club Book with Terry McMillan

PAST EVENT: Saturday, September 18, 2010, 2 PM
Brookdale Library, 6125 Shingle Creek Pkwy., Brooklyn Center

Missed the talk with Terry McMillan? Check out her website.

The author of several New York Times bestsellers, including Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and A Day Late and a Dollar Short, Terry McMillan has had immeasurable impact on African-American literature. Author of more than ten books, McMillan made her fiction debut with Mama, which won both the Doubleday New Voices in Fiction Award and the American Book Award. Her books have sold millions of copies throughout the world and been made into successful movies. Recipient of Essence Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award, McMillan's ability to capture the dilemmas facing modern-day women with humor and verve has led to a worldwide following. Her newest release, Getting to Happy (September 2010), revisits the four protagonists of Waiting to Exhale fifteen years later, each is at her own midlife crossroads, but still full of the same spirit and sass.

Club Book with Julie Schumacher

PAST EVENT: Thursday, May 17, 2012, 6:30 PM
Chanhassen Public Library, 7711 Kerber Blvd., Chanhassen Hosted by Carver County Library

Julie Schumacher's first novel, The Body Is Water, was published in 1995 and was an ALA Notable Book of the Year, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Minnesota Book Award. Her other books include a short story collection, An Explanation for Chaos, and four books for younger readers: Black Box (2008), The Book of One Hundred Truths (2006), The Chain Letter (2005), and Grass Angel (2004). Her latest book for young adults, The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls, is a humorous and touching examination of the love of literature, mother-daughter relationships, and friendships. Julie Schumacher lives in St. Paul and is a faculty member in the Creative Writing Program and the Department of English at the University of Minnesota.

Club Book with Don Shelby

PAST EVENT: Saturday, April 14, 2012, 2 PM
Rum River Library, 4201 6th Ave., Anoka Hosted by Anoka County Library

Don Shelby is widely considered one of the best, and most decorated, local news anchors and reporters in the country. He has won three National Emmys, two George Foster Peabody Awards, the National Distinguished Service Award by the Society of Professional Journalists, the International Radio and Television News Directors Association’s First Place honors for International Investigative Reporting, among others. He retired from daily reporting and anchoring in November 2010, after forty-five years in the industry. Don Shelby’s book, The Season Never Ends: Wins, Losses, and Wisdom of the Court, is a compilation of 20 years worth of stories about pivotal and inspiring basket ball games, told with the grace and humor of a long-time basket ball, and storytelling, veteran.

Club Book with Faith Sullivan

PAST EVENTS: Tuesday, October 12, 2010, 7 PM
Ridgedale Library, 12601 Ridgedale Drive, Minnetonka
Thursday, October 28, 2010, 7 PM
Stillwater Library, 224 Third Street North, Stillwater

Missed the talk with Faith Sullivan? Check out her website.

One of Minnesota’s best loved writers, Faith Sullivan is the author of four novels set in the fictional town of Harvester, Minnesota: The Cape Ann, The Empress of One, What a Woman Must Do, and Gardenias. Devoted to her readers, Sullivan estimates that she has visited over 1,000 different book clubs to speak about her books. Sullivan has lived in Los Angeles and New York, and currently lives with her husband in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A finalist for several Minnesota Book Awards, she won the Milkweed National Fiction Prize and the Midwest Booksellers' Choice Award.

Club Book with Will Weaver

PAST EVENT: Thursday, October 14, 2010, 7 PM
Hardwood Creek Library, 19955 Forest Road N., Forest Lake

Missed the talk with Will Weaver? Check out his website.

Will Weaver is an acclaimed author of fiction for adults and young adults. His debut novel, Red Earth, White Earth, was produced as a CBS television movie in 1989. A Gravestone Made of Wheat & Other Stories won many awards, including the Minnesota Book Award for Fiction, and was adapted into the award-winning, independent feature film Sweet Land. He is the winner of both the McKnight and the Bush Foundation’s prizes for fiction. His popular motor series for young adults include Checkered Flag Cheater, Saturday Night Dirt, and Super Stock Rookie. His newest work, The Last Hunter (September 2010), is an examination of family, life on the land, and those things we hold dear enough to want to carry along, one generation to another.

Club Book with Colson Whitehead

PAST: Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 7 PM
Roseville Library, 2180 North Hamline, Roseville

Missed the talk with Colson Whitehead? Check out his website.

Colson Whitehead is a prolific author, dynamic speaker, Pulitzer-Prize finalist, and Macarthur Fellow. His first novel, The Intuitionist, was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway and a winner of the Quality Paperback Book Club's New Voices Award. John Henry Days, an investigation of the steel-driving man of American folklore, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Fiction Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. His other award-winning works include The Colossus of New York and Apex Hides the Hurt. His reviews, essays, and fiction have appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Harper's and Granta. His newest work, Sag Harbor (paperback release June 2010), explores the in-between space of adolescence through one boy's summer in a predominantly black Long Island neighborhood.

Club Book with Cathy Wurzer

PAST EVENT: Tuesday, March 29, 2011, 7 PM
Prior Lake Library, 16210 Eagle Creek Ave SE, Prior Lake

Cathy Wurzer hosts Morning Edition on Minnesota Public Radio and co-hosts Almanac on Twin Cities Public Television. She has won four Emmy Awards, the Sigenthaler Award for broadcast reporting and an Associated Press Award for Investigative Reporting. She has worked as an anchor and reporter for WCCO-TV, a producer for KMSP-TV, and a political reporter for KSTP-AM radio. In addition to authoring Tales of the Road—Highway 61, she was the executive producer and host of the public television documentary by the same name that premiered in March of 2009. Her book won an award from the Midwest Independent Publisher's Association and the documentary won two Emmy Awards and a national Golden CINE award.