If you're looking to hang out somewhere this week and talk about writing, you might want to head to Mankato, Minn. The Good Thunder Alumni Reading Series takes place Thursday -- at the state university, and on the airwaves. Writers Nicole Helget, Benjamin Drevlow and Jude Nutter will meet with writers, read from their own work, lead a discussion on writing and be interviewed on local radio.

Helget's memoir, "The Summer of Ordinary Ways," was a Barnes & Noble new writers winner. Her novel, "The Turtle Catcher," will be published next month. Drevlow, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, is the author of "Bend With the Knees," which won the Many Voices Project award from New Rivers Press. Nutter received a Minnesota Book Award for her collection of poetry, "The Curator of Silence." All are alumni of Minnesota State University Mankato.

The discussion on writing will begin at 3 p.m. Thursday; the public reading will be at 7:30 that evening, and the radio interviews will be aired at 1 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. Friday on KMSU (89.7 FM).

All events are free. Information is at www.english2.mnsu.edu/gt.

Also ...

• David C. Smith has written "City of Parks: The Story of Minneapolis Parks," recently published by the University of Minnesota Press. The book covers the city's major parks -- from Nicollet Island to the newer Mill Ruins Park -- as well as the people who founded them.

• Alex Lemon, whose most recent book of poetry, "Hallelujah Blackout," was published by Milkweed Editions of Minneapolis, is featured in the January issue of Esquire magazine. The piece includes a new poem "Being Here," which will be included in his next book with Milkweed.

• "Muriel's Red Sweater," a picture book by Dara Sanders Dokas, will be published next month by Dutton. The story is about a duck who is rushing to deliver invitations to her birthday party, when. ... A publication party will be at 2 p.m. Feb. 7, at Micawber's Books in St. Anthony Park. There will be cake!

• Poet Elizabeth Alexander's poem "Praise Song for the Day," which she wrote for President Barack Obama's inauguration, will be published as a chapbook on Feb. 6 by Graywolf Press. An initial print run of 100,000 copies is planned.