THE BOOKMARK: Good Thunder series to bring in Percy, Alexander

Good Thunder always means good writing and even better authors, and what a terrific lineup they have planned for this fall. Benjamin Percy! Elizabeth Alexander! Debra Monroe! Amy Bloom! I am going to run out of exclamation points long before I run out of names.

This is the 30th year of the Good Thunder Reading Series, held annually at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Between September and mid-April they will bring in 18 writers for eight residencies.

The fall lineup includes fiction writer Benjamin Percy, Sept. 15; poet Elizabeth Alexander, Oct. 13; fiction writers Rhea Davison-Edwards and John Reimringer, Oct. 27; fiction writer and memoirist Debra Monroe, Nov. 10; and the faculty residency, poet Candace Black, poet Richard Robbins, and fiction writer Roger Sheffer, speaking on Nov. 17.

All of the events are free and open to the public. For the complete lineup, go to www.startribune.com/a626

And mark your calendars!

Also ...

• "Friends Like Us," a novel by Lauren Fox, will be published in February by Alfred A. Knopf. Fox earned an MFA from the University of Minnesota and now lives in Milwaukee.

• "This Much I Can Tell You," a collection of stories from refugees living in Minnesota, has been published by Beaver's Pond Press. The book was compiled by the Minnesota Council of Churches Refugee Services, with a dedication by Garrison Keillor.

• "Joanne Fluke's Lake Eden Cookbook" will be published in October by Berkley. It contains recipes from Fluke's Hannah Swensen mysteries, as well as other dishes. Fluke, who grew up in Minnesota, now lives in California. Her books are set in the fictional town of Lake Eden, Minn.