Dessa wanders into the profound

Last update: January 30, 2009 - 3:08 PM

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SPIRAL BOUND By: Dessa. Publisher: Doomtree Press, 71 pages, $11.99.

Review: Graceful, personal stories offer deep insight and quirky characters. Event: 8:30 p.m. Sat., Dowling Studio, Guthrie Theater, Mpls. $14. Dessa will talk about her book with Mpls.St.Paul magazine's Steve Marsh. Music by Jeremy Messersmith and members of Doomtree.

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As far as rappers go, Dessa has taken the road less traveled. Not long ago, Dessa (real name: Maggie Wagner) was a technical writer for a medical company. Last year she became an adjunct professor at McNally Smith. Now, with "Spiral Bound," her debut collection of short stories, the Minneapolis rapper can call herself an author.

In her songs, she is a nimble lyricist who loves to get personal. Her prose is no different. Through six stories (and four poems), Dessa establishes herself as a graceful writer, offering up gobs of melancholy that often burst into fits of surprising self-discovery.

She has a way of providing detail that is economical but also sweeping in the insight it can provide. In "Saint Maxwell," which opens at her brother's baptism, she characterizes her father in just a single line. He stood there with "his only son in his arms and his only tie around his neck." Her observations of everyday life are peculiar, but have an odd truthfulness.

Dessa's stories usually start under the simplest of circumstances -- a trip to the dentist, or a quiet night with her dad. These situations prove to be gateways into the writer's wandering trail of philosophical musings. In her best story, "Camera Obscura," Dessa visits her father on his small sailboat up north. Before we know it, a story about father-daughter time has become an existential journey for the ages. It's profound and moving.

TOM HORGEN

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Here are some of Books Editor Laurie Hertzel's favorite sites and blogs. Got a literary link to share? E-mail Laurie.

Twin Cities Literary Scavenger Hunt Home page for the scavenger hunt, which runs now through Dec. 26.
Reading Minnesota A blog that features Minnesota writers, illustrators, publishers, bookstores, and reviewers.
Talk of the Stacks An author series from the Library Foundation of Hennepin County.
Poets & Writers The website for Poets and Writers Magazine--podcasts, author interviews, and writing resources.
Creative Writing A place to keep apprised of writing competitions in the United States.
Gather Minnesota Readers The Website for Minnesota Public Radio's books blog.
The Loft Literary Center The Website for the Loft, a local place for writers and readers.
Good Reads A way to track what you're reading, and what your friends are reading.
Lost Manuscripts Just what it sounds like - a blog (sporadically updated) devoted to missing and destroyed manuscripts.
Maud Newton Very hip, reviews, links, a little attitude.
bookreporter.com A plethora of online book reviews and reading guides.
Rain Taxi Rain Taxi Review of Books.