October is always a wonderfully busy month for book events. So many noteworthy authors are coming through the Twin Cities this month, but Rain Taxi’s Twin Cities Book Festival on Oct. 13 is one exceptionally fun opportunity to see more than two dozen local and national writers read and discuss their work.
This year’s lineup includes the prolific Susan Isaacs (“The Goldberg Variations”), the experimental Mark Danielewski (“House of Leaves”), renowned poet Susan Olds (“The Dead and the Living”), comic artist Chris Ware (“Jimmy Corrigan”), local ladies’ lit maven Lorna Landvik (“Mayor of the Universe”) and vampire e-book millionaire Amanda Hocking. Special seminars on LGBT writers and author publicity are also part of the day.
A children’s pavilion will include readings by Nancy Carlson, David LaRochelle, Chris Monroe (“Violet Days”), and Kevin Kling (“Big Little Brother”). The exhibition hall will be filled with new and used books, and visits with bookstore owners, publishers, and authors. It’s always a fine time, well worth a couple of hours of your Saturday. Note: This year, the event has moved from downtown Minneapolis to the State Fairgrounds. Oct. 13, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (MinnPost is a media sponsor of the event.)
Other noteworthy book events this month:
- Larry Watson (“Montana 1948,” “Justice”) will read from his new novel, “American Boy,” set in Minnesota. Oct. 4, 7 p.m., Stillwater Library and Oct. 6, 1 p.m., Ridgedale Library.
- The 2012 season of Talking Volumes continues with doctor-turned-writer Abraham Vergese (“My Own Country”), discussing his new book and his first work of fiction, “Cutting for Stone,” on Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. at the Fitzgerald Theater. (The Fitzgerald’s events page says it is sold out; check again later to see if anything changes.) You can catch his conversation with Kerri Miller online soon after; the Junot Diaz and Jeffrey Toobin appearances are online now.
- John Caddy, the Hibbing-born environmental poet, will appear at 7 p.m. Oct. 22 at Literary Witnesses, the Plymouth Congregational Reading Series. He’s this year’s McKnight Foundation Distinguished Artist, and he writes every day for the Morning Earth website. Every day, people. And that’s harder than it looks.
- Paper Darts Volume 4 is out Oct. 11, featuring work by Dylan Hicks, Peter Bognanni, Matt Rasmussen, Brad Liening, and other Twin Cities writers and artists. It’s twice as thick a book as past issues, and of course, there will be a party.
- It’s the 100th birthday of writer Frederick Manfred. Manfred died in 1994, but his friends, including Robert Bly, Carol Connelly, James Lenfestey, Peter Campion, and his daughter Freya Manfred will be on hand to celebrate the life of this noted chronicler of life on the southwestern Minnesota prairies. The Elmer L. Andersen Library at the U of M, on Oct. 28 at 2 p.m.
