Sue Leaf's new book is a biography of Thomas Sadler Roberts, a Minnesota birder in the late 1800s and early 1900s. "A Love Affair With Birds," published by the University of Minnesota Press, traces the life of the Minneapolis physician who led birding expeditions, kept meticulous and now invaluable birding journals, and helped found the Bell Museum of Natural History. The Thomas Sadler Roberts Award was established in 1963 to honor his memory, as well as the work of Minnesota ornithologists.

Leaf, who lives in Center City, Minn., is the author of "Potato City" and "The Bullhead Queen." She'll launch the new book at 6:30 p.m. May 2 at the Bell Museum, 10 SE. Church St., Mpls. (admission is $6, but that will be applied to the price of the book), and she will read at 7 p.m. May 16 at SubText Bookstore, 165 Western Av. N., St. Paul.

Also …

• John Sandford's latest, "Silken Prey," will be published in May. He has four local events: noon May 7, Barnes & Noble Nicollet Mall; 7 p.m. May 7, Barnes & Noble, HarMar Mall; 7 p.m. May 8, Club Book at Rum River Library in Anoka; and 7 p.m. May 9, Once Upon a Crime, Mpls.

• David LaRochelle's latest picture book, "How Martha Saved Her Parents From Green Beans" (illustrated by Mark Fearing), has been published by Dial Books for Young Readers. LaRochelle lives in White Bear Lake and won a 2013 Minnesota Book Award for "It's a Tiger!"

• "Turn Left at the Cow," a young-adult novel by Minneapolis writer Lisa Bullard, will be published by Harcourt in October. The madcap mystery is set in rural Minnesota.

• "Growing Through the Narrow Spots," by Ruth Bachman, will be published by Tristan in May. She'll read at 12:30 p.m. May 16 at the Marsh in Minnetonka; 6:30 p.m. May 21 at Bachman's on Lyndale in Mpls., and 5 p.m. June 2 at TCF Bank Stadium. Bachman lives in Minnesota.

• A collection of selected poems by Robert Bly will be published this fall by W.W. Norton. "Stealing Sugar From the Castle" will be published in September. Bly most recently was awarded the Robert Frost Medal from the Poetry Society of America. He lives in Minneapolis.

• St. Paul writer Tim Brady's book, "Twelve Desperate Miles," is now out in paperback. It's a nonfiction account of a banana boat that was drafted into service during World War II.

• Ann Bauer's novel "The Forever Marriage" is now out in paperback from Overlook Press. Bauer lives in Minneapolis.