Ah, romance in the stacks. The James J. Hill Library, which has been finding all kinds of creative and unusual ways to bring people through its doors, is hosting a single-mingle evening this week -- with a literary theme, of course.
"Literary Speed Dating" -- where you discuss literature (or, probably, whatever you want) with prospective dates in two-minute conversations -- costs $10 and runs from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday. Register online here: www.startribune.com/a1029.
What will be your icebreaker? "Wuthering Heights"? The love poems of Rod McKuen? "Romeo and Juliet"? Choose wisely! Your future could be at stake.
Also ...
• "Sudden Impact," a mystery by Clyde Braden, has been published by North Star Press.
• "My Mother Is Now Earth," a memoir by Mark Anthony Rolo, will be published in March by Borealis Books. The book tells of the last three years of the life of Rolo's mother, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
• "Seasonings," a collection of poetry by Emilio DeGrazia, has been published by Nodin Press. DeGrazia is poet laureate of Winona, Minn. His novel "Seventeen Grams of Soul" won a Minnesota Book Award.
• Jeffrey B. Burton's new novel, "The Chessman," will be published in May by MacAdam/Cage. Burton's short stories, "Shadow Play," were published in 2005, and a previous mystery, "Sleuth Slayer," in 2008.
