Authors, artists to remember Holm

By Laurie Hertzel

Bid farewell to writer Bill Holm next month at a tribute at the Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul. Holm, of Minneota, wrote more than a dozen books of poetry and essays. He died Feb. 25 at age 65. Authors and artists will join Holm's good friend, poet Robert Bly, and host Fred Child at 7:30 p.m. April 14 at the Fitz, 480 Cedar St. Dan Chouinard will coordinate the music. Tickets are $25, with proceeds going to a Bill Holm fund for authors, artists and community programs. The tribute will be recorded for future broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio.

Also ...

• There are plenty of opportunities this week to get yourself acquainted with finalists for the Minnesota Book Awards.

On Wednesday, the Loft, the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library and the St. Paul Pioneer Press will host a readers' choice event at 7 p.m. at Open Book, 1011 Washington Av. S. Finalists in all eight categories will be there for a reading and reception. Poetry finalists Heid E. Erdrich, Todd Boss, Tim Nolan and Margaret Hasse will convene at 7 p.m. Thursday to read at the Barnes and Noble at Har-Mar Mall in Roseville, and again at noon on April 7 at Barnes and Noble on the Nicollet Mall. The awards will be announced April 25.

• St. Paul author David Housewright has a book coming out with Minotaur. "Jelly's Gold," scheduled for June publication, has its roots in the 1930s, when St. Paul welcomed gangsters (as long as they committed their crimes across the river). Housewright has won an Edgar Award for "Madman on a Drum" and a Minnesota Book Award.

• "Beloved on the Earth: 150 Poems of Grief and Gratitude" will be published in April by Holy Cow! Press of Duluth. The book was edited by Jim Perlman, Deborah Cooper, Mara Hart and Pamela Mittlefehldt, who had the pleasure of sifting through 2,000 poems. The anthology includes poems by Marge Piercy, Joseph Bruchac, Linda Pastan and many others.