Gearing up for the annual Twin Cities Book Festival

You might have thought last year's Twin Cities Book Festival was great--and it was, with Rupert Thomson, Joy Williams, Jabari Asim, Faith Sullivan, Amy Klobuchar....

But this year's looks just as spectacular. The folks at Rain Taxi Review, who put on the annual festival every October, have released a partial list of speakers. Take a look: Francine Prose, Charles Baxter, Andre Alexis, Ray Gonzalez, Stephen Dobyns.

The festival is the largest literary festival in the Upper Midwest, and it is free. It begins Friday night, Oct. 14, and then runs all day Saturday, Oct. 15, at the MInnesota State Fairgrounds.

Here's the whole partial list. More to come in the weeks ahead. And mark your calendar for that October weekend.

Kathryn Aalto

Andre Alexis

Charles Baxter

Eddie Campbel

Lidija Dimkovska

Stephen Dobyns

Kirby Gann

Ray Gonzalez

Janice N. Harrington

Karan Mahajan

Derek Palacio

Francine Prose

Mitch Putnam

Phoebe Robinson

Kevin Smokler

Fred Wah

Stephanie Wilbur Ash

For more information, visit Rain Taxi. They are also looking for volunteers...