Thomas R. Smith's new collection of poetry, "The Foot of the Rainbow," has recently been published by Red Dragonfly Press of Northfield, Minn. There's a poem for Pete Seeger, one for Ted Kooser, poems for the natural world (an ode to a Kinnickinnic eagle, one to ducks, a poem about the great floating garbage patch), a 1992 prose poem about Bill Holm, and a new poem about traveling to Robert Bly's farm in western Minnesota.

The lovely cover painting is by Minnesota artist Perry Ingli. Smith lives in Wisconsin. His work has appeared in "Best American Poetry," and he teaches at the Loft in Minneapolis.

Also ...

•The Hennepin County Library and the Loft Literary Center will present a one-day conference on writing and illustrating graphic novels and comics. Gene Luen Yang, author of the Printz Award-winning novel "American Born Chinese," will speak. The conference, which is June 19, is free, but registration is required. Go to www.hclib.org/pub/events and click on June 19, or go to www.loft.org.

•Twin Cities writer Mary Janice Davidson, author of the "Undead" series, has a novel coming out in October. "Me, Myself and Why?" is about an FBI agent named Cadence Jones, who has multiple personalities. It will be published by St. Martin's Press.

•Janet Horvath, a cellist with the Minnesota Orchestra, has written "Playing (Less) Hurt: An Injury Prevention Guide for Musicians," published by Hal Leonard.

•Rick Shefchik's new mystery, "Frozen Tundra," will be published in June by North Star Press. Shefchik is a former writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Judging by the snow-covered football on the jacket, his new book will not be -- as his previous book was -- about baseball.

•"Curveball: The Remarkable Story of Toni Stone, the First Woman to Play Professional Baseball in the Negro League," by Martha Ackmann, has been published by Lawrence Hill Books. Toni Stone grew up in St. Paul.

•"The Music of Failure," Bill Holm's first collection of essays, has been republished by the University of Minnesota Press. The 25th anniversary edition has a foreword by poet and fiction writer Jim Heynan and an afterword by David Pichaske, editor of Spoon River Poetry Press.

•"The Accidental Adult," essays by Colin Sokolowski of St. Paul, has been published by Adams Media. In his author blurb, Sokolowski claims that his proudest literary accomplishment came when the Star Tribune featured his letter to the editor as "letter of the day." His new book, however, might eclipse that moment.