If Wyatt has any questions, I'm sure she can turn to the current poet laureate (until 5:30 pm), Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, whose duration at the job was a few years longer than anyone anticipated when she began in July of 2009. Caryn is to be congratulated for taking the poet laureate program to unanticipated visions, and finding it a permanent lodging in the Kansas Humanities Program. All Kansas writers, whatever genre, can learn a lesson in commitment and ingenuity from Caryn.
I'll try to get some more information on this, but you all know where The Raven is, 6 E. 7th, just off Massachusetts in Lawrence.
See the website, www.mysteryscape.com for more information:
What if your life depended on being a good liar? New York City Author Maryann Macdonald discusses and signs her wonderful new middle-grade novel, Odette's Secrets. This unique book, written in verse, shares the real-life story of Odette Meyers, a child survivor of the Nazi occupation of Paris during World War II. As a young girl, Odette lived a secret life in the French countryside in order to escape the Holocaust. This gentle introduction to a dark period in history is for ages 10 and up.
Maryann will read from her book and give a presentation about Meyers, who eventually became a university professor, poet and activist. This event is free and open to all ages.
From Rainy Day Books (see their website for ticket information):
ABOUT THE NEW BOOK: Jennifer is an only child, and so were her parents, at least that's what she thinks, until she finds an old photo in the back of one of her mother's books. The woman in the photo looks just like Jennifer, down to the smattering of freckles across her nose. And her mother refuses to talk about it. Compelled to find answers, Jennifer embarks on a quest that takes her from the wheat fields of Nebraska to the fishing town of Smithport, Maine, home to the one person who can help her solve this family secret, the woman in the photo. But Jennifer learns that it takes the entire village of Smithport to piece together the story of her mother's hidden past. She needs help from Nathan, the genius with the reluctant smile from across the cove; Little, the elderly town matriarch and former movie star; and The Jacks, three weathered fisherman who dabble in pyrotechnics. As Jennifer discovers the lost chapters of her mother's life, she unwittingly begins to write a few chapters of her own.
Come meet the award-winning high fantasy author that George R.R. Martin calls "bloody good." Author Patrick Rothfuss will read from, discuss and sign the first two titles in his Kingkiller Chronicles Thursday, May 23, 7 pm at Mysteryscape.
Once released, both of his books, The Name of the Wind and and The Wise Man's Fear quickly hit the New York Times Bestseller list. The Name of the Wind has been translated into 30 languages, won several awards, and has become a bestseller in several countries.
When Patrick's not working on this third book in the series, he's raising money for Heifer International and making his own mead. Come meet him at this free, public event. Remember there's parking behind the building. The red Mysteryscape back door will be open. At 7309 W. 80th Street, Overland Park, www.mysteryscape.com.
VICTORIA GARTON began writing and publishing poetry in her twenties. Her poems have appeared in literary journals such as Prairie Schooner and Cimmaron Review and in Kansas City venues such as The Thorny Locust, The Same, and The Kansas City Star. Her book of poems Kisses in the Raw Night was published by BkMk Press. In addition to writing poetry, she enjoys keeping a journal. She has taught English and literature classes for Crowder Community College, Neosho, Mo., for the past seven years and also enjoys raising cattle with her husband Norman.
SHIRLEY RICKETT holds an MA in Education and an MA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. In 2000 she was awarded a grant to travel to Norway and interview a group of adult children whose parents were Nazis, with the express purpose of writing a book of poems about them. The book, Dinner in Oslo, was the result. She is the recipient of a fellowship from Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, and has won other awards for her work. She is the author of three chapbooks, including Love: Poems for Vintage Song Titles (Finishing Line Press, 2012). Her poems have appeared in over 30 journals and magazines.
A native of Dodge City, Simmons chose to start her book tour in Dodge. Julia Kazar of the Dodge City Daily Globe wrote as follows: Tracy Million Simmons was born and raised in Dodge City, and obviously the area had a big impression on her, as it's the setting for her debut novel Tiger Hunting.
Simmons will be at Cup of Jo-Nes on Wednesday from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. signing copies of her book. The book will also be sold there, at Hastings and the Christian Book House or may be purchased online at tracymillionsimmons.blogspot.com.
Read the rest of Kazar’s article at www.dodgeglobe.com.
Cup of Jo-Nes is at 909 W Wyatt Earp Blvd in Dodge.
I’ve been keeping a log of my internet service, or the lack thereof, and sending a copy when I pay my monthly Comcast internet/phone bill. After several weeks of futile mis-negotiations, a technician came to the house. Suggested I allow him to install a Comcast router to replace my router. He had a router “in the truck”.
Couple of weeks later I get a letter from Comcast saying their records show that I have recently downgraded my service (false) and that I had equipment attached to my account that was no longer in use. Further, I should arrange to return the equipment within 14 days to avoid penalties.
May 3 I made a trip to the Comcast office. What’s this all about? After scrutinizing her computer screen, which I could not see, the clerk said that what the letter meant was that I needed to exchange my router and modem for new one-piece hardware. “Do you think you can do that, or shall I send out a technician?” she said, implying that any dummy could change the equipment. I said I could probably do it, but I wanted to wait until Monday.
On Monday this week, I carefully made a drawing of all the cords and where they were connected. With finger pressure I dis-connected all the cords except the cable fastened to a wall outlet. T he modem connection was about two inches long and had two hexagonal nuts – which one to turn?
I set out for the Comcast office, told the clerk I was not able to unfasten the cable cord. “You have a wrench, don’t you?” I contemplated for a few seconds the application of a wrench to the task, which gave her time to ask, “In your tool box?” She hadn’t mentioned a tool box when she suggested I could change the equipment.
She couldn’t tell me which nut to disconnect on the modem side, but I decided I could probably use pliers to unfasten the wall side. This time I actually have to get down on the floor, This time I actually have to get down on the floor, easy enough – with one replacement knee, it’s the getting up again that presents a challenge.
Second trip to Comcast office, this time with router, modem, and various dangling cords. The clerk disappeared into the supply area and returned with an eMTA (I learned when I had to sign for it). I have an ominous feeling when I see a single, poorly copied sheet of instructions. At home I manage to find the right connections for all the cords – getting up from the floor again is no easier than the first time. Turn on the computer. I cannot make the screen match what I see on the instruction sheet.
Third trip to Comcast. I want to talk to the same clerk. Foolishly, I think that she reward my honest efforts with an early (priority?) schedule for a technician’s visit. I wait endlessly while a 250-pound woman with four children under seven argues about getting reconnected again. I finally yield to the clerk’s suggestion that I allow the second clerk to handle the matter.
The second clerk is cold-eyed and unsympathetic. A plea for priority only heightens her disdain. No technician is available until Wednesday, when I have commitments. Also on Thursday. Friday 8 to 10 a.m. will be the earliest. She promises that the technician will call before arriving. I ask how the technician can call me since I have also lost my telephone service. “What is your other number?” she asks. I have no other number.
The technician arrived shortly after 9 a.m. He carried an eMTA in his hand. The first thing he said when he looked at the eMTA I had tried to install was, “They gave you the wrong one.”
Every family has a story and, at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 11, the Kansas Room, along with Ellis County Historical Society and Forsyth Library, will sponsor a Family History 101 program featuring Grady Birdsong.
Birdsong recently published his own family history, A Fortunate Passage. He not only will read from his book, but also give a presentation on how to research, write and publish a family history. There will be an opportunity for questions and answers followed by presentations from the historical society and Forsyth Library on some of the research materials and special artifacts available in their facilities. This should be a wonderful opportunity for anyone who is interested in writing and passing down their family story.
That's the Kansas Room at the Hays Public Library, 1205 Main Street.
Rattlesnakes in the Rock Chalk is the second book in the Kaw Trilogy written by Chester Sullivan, associate professor at the University of Kansas.
Amazon describes this new book: This Kansas epic spans one hundred and fifty years from the steamboat adventure of a fourteen-year-old girl, told in the manner of Mark Twain, to the present day. It mingles mystery, history, herpetology, and romance until quiet meditation erupts in violent action threatening the lives of these resilient people, all scrabbling to find their emotional toehold in the layered limestone - early settlers called it rock chalk.
From Arcadia Publishing:
Newton, Kansas, was established by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad as a new railhead for the Chisholm Cattle Trail in 1871. After two years as the wildest cow town in the West, Newton became a center for Mennonite migration and wheat production in east central Kansas, with the railroad moving it all. In addition to eastern European immigrants and hard winter wheat seed, the rails brought even more people from differing backgrounds, all of whom helped the town grow and change. Images of America: Newton shows those people and the places where they worked, worshipped, and played and includes many photographs from residents' family albums in addition to images from public archives. Meet the residents of this "Crossroads of Kansas" city, from the locally famous to the folks next door, in the pages of Newton.
Author Bio: Dena Bisnette is a native of Concordia, Kansas, who moved to Newton in 2003. She works as a freelance journalist and is a former member of the Newton/North Newton Historic Preservation Commission and volunteer docent for Warkentin House Museum. Joe Gilliam is her husband and technical assistant. They live in Newton in the McKinley Residential Historical District.
Hubalek kicks off Millfest weekend with a lecture about the quilts and her books at 3:30 on Friday, May 3rd in the Swedish Pavilion in Heritage Square across from the Old Mill. Hubalek is currently working on a new book, The Kansas Quilter, featuring her great-grandmother Kizzie Pieratt and the many quilts she crafted.
Author Hubalek writes books about the pioneer women who made Kansas their home. Her books are published by Butterfield Books Inc. and they include the Trail of Thread, the Butter in the Well, and the Planting Dreams series. Founded in 1994, Butterfield Books Inc. publishes and promotes books about Kansas and its pioneer history. The company is located in Lindsborg, Kansas, known as “Little Sweden USA.”
From PRWeb.
Most people have heard of the county seat war between Augusta and El Dorado, but there were many more county seat battles throughout the state.
Local author Robert Collins shares some of those stories with his newest book, Kansas County Seat Conflicts: The Elections, the Feuds, and the Wars.
He will be holding a book signing from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Book Grinder, 2222 W. Central, offering this books, as well as his others.
More at http://www.eldoradotimes.com/article/20130423/NEWS/130429800 or see Collins' blog, One Kansas Author, in the right-hand sidebar.
The William Allen White Children’s Book Award program was founded in 1952 by Ruth Garver Gagliardo, a specialist in children’s literature for Emporia State University. One of the few literary awards that asks young readers to choose the winners, the program is directed by Emporia State University and supported in part by the Trusler Foundation.
Both authors have been invited to the awards celebration, set for Saturday, Oct. 5 in Emporia.
Guinea Dog, selected by voters in Grades 3 through 5, tells the story of Rufus, who dreams of having a dog as a pet. But his dad objects, and his mom’s solution sounds crazy. Still, Mom brings home a guinea pig for Rufus, who discovers this pig thinks she’s a dog.
Ghost Dog Secrets, selected by voters in Grades 6 through 8, is the story of Rusty, a sixth-grade boy who feeds a dog left chained in frigid weather with no food, water or shelter. Eventually, Rusty and his friends take the dog to their hideout. As they face multiple challenges — a snoopy sister and threats from the dog’s owner — Rusty faces a new challenge when a ghost dog appears in his room and tries to lead him to an even deeper secret.
Dana Guthrie Martin . . . her work has appeared or is forthcoming in numerous journals . . . she is the editor of Cascadia Review, an online poetry journal.
Shawn J. Patterson is an undergraduate at the University of Kansas, where he serves as poetry editor for the student journal, Siren.
Come to hear Martin, Patterson, and Alex Haslett at 7 pm on Thursday, April 25, at the Raven, 6 E. 7th, in Lawrence.
Copies of To the Stars Through Difficulties, the anthology of the 2012 renga poems, is available at http://mammothpublications.com.
Recently published, The Petals of a Kansas Sunflower: A Mennonite Disapora, by Melvin D. Epp, features the poetry of his mother, Marie Harder Epp, a life-long member of the Kansas Mennonite community. The author has translated her poems from German into English, giving . . . a clear window into her fascinating Mennonite heritage.A reviewer writes: "What began as poetry written on bits of paper is now a substantial volume on Kansas Mennonite lore."
Thompson is the author of Hays: The 1930s, a book in the Images of America series. Barnard's 30-year research has resulted in several books related to Custer, www.sandybarnardauthor.com
Foraged Flavor is about "finding fabulous ingredients in your backyard or farmer's market." Author Wong teamed up with co-author (and chef) Eddy Leroux to produce recipes for preparing delicious dishes from foraged foods. More at www.meadowsandmore.com
At 6 pm on Thursday, April 26, Wong will present a program at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th Street, Kansas City, MO. RSVP www.kclibrary.org.
Wright's earlier books were Kansas Folklore in Rural Life and World War II: For One.
The release of The Big Divide: A Travel Guide to Historic and Civil War Sites in the Missouri-Kansas Border Region, a new book by the writing team of Diane Eickhoff and Aaron Barhnart, will be at 6 pm on Wednesday, April 24, at the Kansas City Mo Central Library, 14 W/ 10th Street, Kansas City, MO.From the publishers, Quindaro Press:
A lot has happened along The Big Divide. From the tribal nations that inhabited this area for centuries to the overland trails that made westward pioneering possible, all the way through Harry Truman and Brown v. Board, the sites along the Missouri-Kansas border cover a wide sweep of history that made not only this region what it is today, but helped shape America in important ways.Combining the practicality of a budget travel guide with page-turning history, The Big Divide is as entertaining as it is useful.
Eickhoff is the author of the award-winning Revolutionary Heart, and a frequent speaker for Kansas Humanities Programs. Barnhart is the former Kansas City Star television and media critic. RSVP kclibrary.org.
Ramona McCallum, whose poem, Still LIfe with Dirty Dishes first appeared in www.150kansaspoems.wordpress.com part of Kansas' Sesquicentenial in 2011, has expanded that title poem into an entire collection.Reviewer Elizabeth Dodd writes: "Like its title poem, this collection insists on art's daily necessity. McCallum chronicles the rhythms of family life, and in the domestic pause between chore and love, in the hushed wake of cleaving or grieving, she catches a visceral sense of life's intensity. In a parent's gaze, a child's 'becoming/individual' transfixes attention on the momentousness of any given moment, and it's this same gaze the poet lifts to consider how Being shapes itself into the patterns we'll look back on to recognize as our lives. Fluid, confident, and honest, these poems celebrate creativity and find it both rare and everywhere."
"A veteran newsman who has presided over eleven presidential and vice-presidential debates, Jim Lehrer gives readers a ringside seat for some of the epic political battles of our time, shedding light on all of the critical turning points and rhetorical faux pas that helped determine the outcome of America’s presidential elections. Drawing on his own experiences as “the man in the middle seat,” in-depth interviews with the candidates and his fellow moderators, and transcripts of key exchanges, Lehrer illuminates what he calls the “Major Moments” and “killer questions” that defined the debates, from Kennedy-Nixon to Obama-McCain. In this paperback edition, he also offers his expert analysis of the 2012 Republican primary debates."
A native of Kansas, Lehrer will be at the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City, MO, Public Library, 4801 Main Street, at 6 pm on Monday, April 22. RSVP at www.kclibrary.org.
