Artist and writer Eric Hanson of Minneapolis designed, lettered and illustrated the cover for John Waters' new book, "Role Models," recently published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Here he writes about the process: "The creative process began in typical fashion: submitting sketches for the client (Waters) to pick one he liked. He liked one (it was my favorite too) and I went ahead to finish it with a paintbrush and paint. But Waters said he really liked the sketch best, so I went back and redrew the pencil version, neatening the lines a bit. He said he preferred the messier one, and that's the one Farrar Straus used.
"Pencil is closer to the original thought anyway. While the line is doubling over itself and wandering around looking for where it belongs, it really is more like life itself. All the missteps and rehearsals are there on the paper. [Art director] Susan Mitchell asked me to draw the FSG colophon in pencil to give it the same feel."
Also ...
• The new Elvis and Olive book -- "Elvis & Olive: Super Detectives" -- by Stephanie Watson of Minneapolis will be published in July by Scholastic Press. In the latest book, Elvis and Olive open a detective agency to solve the mysteries on their block. Watson will have two launch parties, lucky woman. (One for Elvis, one for Olive? No, no. One for Minneapolis, one for St. Paul.) The first will be at 2 p.m. July 17 at Wild Rumpus Bookstore, 2720 W. 43rd St., Mpls, and the second will be at 10:30 a.m. July 24 at the Red Balloon Bookshop, 891 Grand Av., St. Paul.
•Francine Marie Tolf of Minneapolis has two books out with North Star Press. "Rain, Lilies, Luck," a collection of poems, was praised by Michael Dennis Browne and Jude Nutter. "Joliet Girl: A Memoir," is about growing up in the 1960s in Illinois. Tolf's essays and poems have appeared in Spoon River, Water-Stone Review, and other places. She has an MFA from the University of Minnesota and has published three chapbooks. She will read at 7 p.m. July 8 at the Chisago Lake Area Library, 11754 302nd St., Chisago City, Minn.
•"A Hmong Boy's Story," by Yakao Yang has been published by Personal Histories Publishing of Hopkins. Yang, who lives in Brooklyn Park, writes, "I was once a little boy who walked everywhere barefoot and wore a bare-chested shirt. I have tried to remember as many details to tell an honest story. My story is something I think future generations of Hmong will want to read, once all the oral histories are lost." Yang's book is available at Common Good Books in St. Paul, Magers & Quinn in Minneapolis, ABC Hmong Bookstore, 298 W. University Av., St. Paul, and on the Internet.
