entertainment

Sure, there are curmudgeons and critics out there who would say, "Fiction in a newspaper? Happens every day!" But you and your hard-working journalist friends know that's not true...until now! Beginning Sunday, in the grand tradition of newspapers of old, the Star Tribune will publish a novel in daily installments over much of the summer.

 It has been a fun and exciting project to work on. (Also, occasionally, tedious, given our complicated computer system.) But once we embarked on the journey to find a worthy book--and then acquire it (and learn a lot about royalties and contracts and the like, rather on the fly), edit it, design it, get it online, get the e-book formats ready, split it into daily installments for print--a whole team of people at the Strib has been kept very busy.

The book, "Giving Up the Ghost," was written by Mary Logue, who is a powerful and versatile writer, well-known for her poetry, children's books, mysteries, nonfiction and novels. (It doesn't get much more versatile than that.) She lives in Minneapolis and in Stockholm, Wis., and is married to the equally notable writer Pete Hautman.

Her book is a ghost story, set in a cabin in Minnesota's north woods, with plenty of vivid flashbacks that take place in the Twin Cities--at the old New French Cafe, in the Warehouse District, and other places.

We're hoping, of course, that you will rush to the newspaper every day to find out what happens next. (Or to the computer--we will have a dedicated page where you can catch up.) But it might be that you don't want to wait, or you're going out of town and will miss some installments, in which case we're also offering "Giving Up the Ghost" in e-book format.

I really hope you like it. Please let us know. And on Monday at noon (June 10), Mary will be in the newsroom to do a live-chat with you and other readers. Get yer questions ready.... just don't ask her, "What happens next?" Because that's what tomorrow is for.

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Star Tribune file photo by Chris Welsch.

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Star Tribune file photo by Chris Welsch.

 The fourth annual Bemidji Library Book Festival will draw writers from all over the state to teach and read and sign books. Paid for with money from the state Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund (commonly known as the Legacy Fund), the festival is free and open to all, though some sessions require preregistration.

Speakers over the week-long festival include children's writers Alison McGhee, Lise Lunge-Larsen, John Coy and David LaRochelle; poet Joyce Sutphen; mystery writers Chuck Logan, William Kent Krueger and Brian Freeman; and authors Brenda Child, Anton Treuer, and Will Weaver.

The festival opens at 10:30 a.m. Monday, June 17, with Alison McGhee speaking at the library, and will close at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, June 22, with a reading by State Poet Laureate Joyce Sutphen at the Headwaters School of Music and the Arts.

Call 218-751-3963 to register, or visit the Kitchigami Regional Library System website for more information and for a full schedule.

Carl Hiaasen.

What do you call a group of writers? A bunch? A murder? A crop? A gaggle? Whatever they are, the next group of Club Book speakers is an interesting blend of national writers and regional writers, and some who straddle both categories.

Florida's Carl Hiaasen, author of "Strip Tease," "Sick Puppy," and a host of other satirical mysteries, headlines the series, along with Eric Schlosser, author of "Fast Food Nation." Also in the lineup: mystery writer Erin Hart and her memoirist/musician husband, Paddy O'Brien; poet Ed Bok Lee; Minnesota Book Award-winning memoirist (and farmer) Atina Diffley; and National Book Award-winning young adult writer Will Alexander.

Chinese-American poet Li-Young Lee will kick off the season with an appearance at Highland Park Auditorium at 7 p.m. on June 5. Here's the whole lineup. As always, Club Book is free and open to the public:

Li-Young Lee, 7 p.m. June 5, Highland Park Auditorium, 1974 Ford Parkway, St. Paul. Li-Young Lee is the author of four books of poetry and a memoir, "The Winged Seed," winner of an American Book Award.

Carl Hiaasen, 7 p.m. June 27, Burnsville Performing Arts Center, 12600 Nicollet Av., Burnsville. Hiaasen, a columnist for the Miami Herald, is the author of a dozen novels. His latest is "Bad Monkey."

Will Alexander, 10:30 a.m. Aug. 17, Central Park Amphitheater, 8595 Central Park Place, Woodbury. Alexander, who lives in Minneapolis, won a 2012 National Book Award for "Goblin Secrets." Its companion book, "Ghoulish Song," is his latest book. You can read the Star Tribune profile of Alexander here.

Emily Rapp, 7 p.m. Sept. 17, Roseville Library, 2180 N. Hamline Av., Roseville. Rapp, a former Fulbright scholar and recipient of the James A. Michener Fellowship, is the author of "Poster Child" and "Still Point of the Turning World."

Eric Schlosser, 7 p.m. Sept. 26, St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church, 2323 Como Av., St. Paul. Schlosser is an investigative journalist and the author of "Fast Food Nation," "Chew on This," and "Reefer Madness." His writing has appeared in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, the Nation, Rolling Stone, and elsewhere.

Atina Diffley, 7 p.m. Oct. 9, Stillwater Public Library, 224 3rd St. N., Stillwater. Organic farmer Atina Diffley ran Gardens of Eagan with her husband, Martin, for more than 20 years. She is the author of a memoir, "Turn Here Sweet Corn," winner of a Minnesota Book Award. You can read the Star Tribune profile of Diffley here.

Sarah Stonich, 6:30 p.m. Oct. 15, Chanhassen Public Library, 7711 Kerber Blvd., Chanhassen. Stonich is the author of "The Ice Chorus," "These Granite Islands," "Shelter," and "Vacationland." She lives in Minneapolis. You can read the Star Tribune profile of her here.

Erin Hart & Paddy O'Brien, 7 p.m. Oct. 24, Prior Lake Library, 16210 Eagle Creek Av. SE., Prior Lake. Erin Hart's mysteries, set in Ireland and St. Paul, have been international best-sellers, and O'Brien is legendary in his home country of Ireland for his music. You can read the Star Tribune profile of Hart here.

Andy Sturdevant, 6:30 p.m. Nov. 4, Rum River Library, 4201 6th Av., Anoka. Sturdevant writes a weekly column on art and culture for MinnPost and also writes for Rain Taxi, MSP Magazine, and other publications. His first book, "Potluck Supper with Meeting to Follow," will be published this fall by Coffee House Press.

Ed Bok Lee, 7 p.m. Dec. 2, Hennepin County Library Southdale, 7001 York Av., Edina. Lee is the author of two collections of poetry, "Real Karaoke People," and "Whorled." He has won an American Book Award, a Minnesota Book Award, an Asian American Literary Award, and the PEN Open Book Award.

 

Ethan Rutherford reads from "The Peripatetic Coffin" at his book launch at Micawber's.

 

 

 Hans Weyandt, co-owner of Micawber's Bookstore, got things rolling Tuesday night when he introduced Ethan Rutherford, author of the new short-story collection, "The Peripatetic Coffin and Other Stories" (Ecco Press).

" 'Peripatetic' is a word that is not used by anyone anywhere in the United States today," Weyandt said. He said he enjoyed calling up distributors and ordering the book, because it required them not only to pronounce the word but also to spell it.

Weyandt's little bookstore in St. Paul's St. Anthony Park neighborhood was packed to the stacks with friends and fans of Rutherford, there for the first stop of his rather extensive book tour, which will take him to the West Coast next week, and then to the East Coast. Rutherford, who lives in Minneapolis with his wife and toddler son, is a graduate of the University of Minnesota's MFA program in creative writing. Rutherford also reviews books for the Star Tribune.

Matt Burgess reads from his work-in-progress.

A friend he met in the program, Matt Burgess--author of "Dogfight: A Love Story"--was up next. (And in the crowd, their writing teachers--Charles Baxter and Julie Schumacher.) (Also in the crowd, novelist Peter Bognanni, winner of the American Academy's Rome Prize, removing his hip white-framed sunglasses as he dashed through the door a little late.)

After a few more jokes about the word "peripatetic" (which Burgess said he had to look up the meaning of), Burgess read a brief, very funny scene from his work-in-progress, "Uncle Janis," a novel about undercover narcotics cops in Brooklyn.

The bookstore was crowded on this warm spring night, and Rutherford swung the door a few times, trying to kick up a breeze. (There was also free beer, which might have served to both cool and warm the guests.)

"This is a sort of wonderful day," Rutherford said. "It's like a wedding, except I don't have to dance."

He chose Micawber's for his book launch, he said, both because it's his favorite bookstore, and because he loves independent bookstores in general. "I've tricked you all here, I've given you free beers, so please buy a book," he urged the crowd. (Any book, he said, though he would especially like it if they bought his book.) (And they did, selling out Weyandt's supply of "Coffin.")

Rutherford's collection contains three sea stories, including the title story (the well-traveled coffin is a submarine), and Rutherford told the audience that it had long been his wish "to write 'Moby Dick II.' It turns out that's not a story that anybody was waiting for."

Micawber's Bookstore was packed.

 And then he read from the last story in his collection, "Dirwhals!," a futuristic tale about whale-hunters--though these whales live not in the sea, but in the sand.

And after that, booksigning and beer and the reading turned into a happy party. Like a wedding, but with no dancing.