What a coup for Holy Cow! Press. The Duluth-based literary press will publish Jane Yolen's new poetry collection, "Things to Say to a Dead Man: Poems at the End of a Marriage and After," in September.

Yolen is the author of more than 300 books, primarily books for children, but also poetry, novels and short-story collections. The Holy Cow! fall catalog calls "Things to Say," "tough, angry and moving love poems" about her husband David's death from cancer.

Publisher Jim Perlman said that Yolen was familiar with -- and admired -- the recent Holy Cow! anthology, "Beloved on the Earth," and Holy Cow! was one of several publishers her agent contacted. "I knew that if I would ever have a chance, I would have to read the manuscript quickly, with depth, and articulate a response," Perlman said in an e-mail. "Which I did. And about two weeks later, the word comes that Jane would like to work with Holy Cow! Press."

Yolen's books have won two Nebula Awards, a Caldecott Medal, two Christopher Medals and many other awards.

Also ...

• Shawn Perich's "Backroads of Minnesota: Your Guide to Scenic Getaways and Adventures" has been revised and updated. The guidebook, published by Voyageur Press, is illustrated throughout with color photographs by Gary Alan Nelson.

• "Hiking the North Shore: 50 Fabulous Day Hikes in Minnesota's Spectacular Lake Superior Region," by Andrew Slade, has been published by There and Back Books. Slade is the author of "Camping the North Shore." He lives in Duluth.

• "Divine Transcendence and the Culture of Change," by David H. Hopper, has been published by Eerdmans. The book explores historical and cultural effects of Reformation theology. Hopper, who lives in St. Paul, taught at Macalester College for nearly 40 years.

• Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey will speak at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Coffman Union, 300 Washington Av. SE., on the U of M campus in Minneapolis. Trethewey -- who agreed to come as a replacement for Joan Didion, who had to cancel -- is the author of "Beyond Katrina," about the effects of hurricanes on people who live along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, including her family. She is also the author of "Bellocq's Ophelia" and "Domestic Work," both published by Graywolf Press of Minneapolis, among other works. The event is free.