Last winter, I stopped by Magers & Quinn during a Kevin Kling book signing, and in the middle of scrawling his autograph, he stopped and started telling a story. It was a moment, a great Minnesota moment. His story was, as are so many of his stories, funny and tender, slightly rambling and riveting. If you've never heard Kling tell a story -- at the Guthrie, or at Open Eye Theater, or maybe on the radio on "All Things Considered" -- well, now's your chance.

He'll be telling stories at 6:30 p.m. May 17 on the opening night of the St. Paul Jewish Community Center's annual used-book sale. Tickets are $15, and they include light appetizers and beverages, the chance to win an e-reader or a $100 gift certificate at Common Good Books and, of course, first crack at all those books.

The sale will run May 18-22 at the center, 1375 St. Paul Av., St. Paul. For tickets, call 651-698-0751.

Also ...

  • Five writers, all women -- African-American, Hmong, Japanese-American, Jewish and White Earth Anishinabe -- will read together at 7 p.m. May 12 at the American Indian Center, 1539 E. Franklin Av., Mpls. Carolyn Holbrook, Mai Neng Moua, Margie Newman, Marcie Rendon and Joan Maeda Trygg will explore how the stories of their ancestors and communities have informed their own lives. Admission is $5 and includes a chapbook and refreshments.
  • UMD history professor Judith Ann Trolander's latest book is "From Sun Cities to the Villages: A History of Active Adult, Age-Restricted Communities." It takes the reader from Youngtown, Ariz. (est. 1954), through 60 years of these largely Sunbelt retirement communities. Her book is published by the University Press of Florida.
  • Mary Janice Davidson of Minneapolis has a new "undead" book coming in July. "Undead and Undetermined" will be published by Berkley Sensation.
  • "Dorie LaValle: A Minnesota Story of Moonshine and Murder," by Mary DesJarlais, has been published by North Star Press of St. Cloud. DesJarlais lives in St. Paul and is the recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant.
  • "Sex and the Spiritual Teacher," by Scott Edelstein of Minneapolis, has been published by Wisdom Publications of Boston. Edelstein's book explores the complications and ethics of spiritual teachers sleeping with their students.