The St. Paul Almanac -- a calendar and quirky compendium of stories, poems, photos and musings -- kicks off its 2010 edition with a 6 p.m. release party tonight at the Black Dog Cafe, 308 Prince St., in St. Paul's Lowertown area.

The almanac, now in its fourth year, always features a lively bit of writing about Minnesota's capital city from well-known and new authors.

Managing editor Kimberly Nightingale works with community editors who collect stories in their communities — both written and oral — and together decide which essays and poems to include in the almanac.

This year, the team reviewed more than 400 submissions and selected 135 works by 110 writers.