KRISTIN HANNAH: Bestselling author of “The Nightingale” and “The Four Winds” discusses writing in Friends of the Hennepin Library’s Pen Pals series. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 4 and 11 a.m. Friday, May 5 (morning program is sold out). $45-$55. Hopkins Center for the Arts, 1111 Mainstreet, Hopkins. Ticket information: supporthclib.org or call 612-543-8112.
LITERARY BRIDGES: Readings by Claire Wahmanholm, Lynette Reini-Grandell, Bryan Thao Worra and Marion Gomez. 2 p.m. Sunday, May 7, Next Chapter Booksellers, 38 S. Snelling Ave., St. Paul.
LYNN MILLER: Introduces her short story collection “The Lost Archive,” made up of 22 stories of memories of people searching the archives of their lives. In conversation with Julie Williams, White Bear Lake writer and mixed-media artist whose work includes the award-winning novel-in-poems “Escaping Tornado Season.” 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 3, Next Chapter Booksellers, 38 S. Snelling Ave., St. Paul.
EMMA NADLER: Presents “The Unlikely Village of Eden.” 5 p.m. Sunday, May 7, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.
JULIE JO SEVERSON: Introduces “Oldest Twin Cities: A Guide to Historic Treasures.” 6 p.m. Thursday, May 4, Yoerg Brewing Company, 378 Maria Ave., St. Paul; 10 am.-5 p.m. Saturday, June 3, Swede Hollow Park, 688 E. Minnehaha Ave., St. Paul.
CLAIRE WAHMANHOLM/CHAUN WEBSTER: Poets published by Minneapolis-based Milkweed Editions read from their new work. Wahmanholm’s is “Meltwater.” She is a winner of the Lindquist & Vennum Prize and the Society of Midland Authors Award for poetry. Webster is also a graphic designer whose new poetry collection is “Wail Song.” His debut book, “Gentry!fication: Or the Scene of the Crime,” won the 2019 Minnesota Book Award for poetry. 7 p.m. Thursday, May 4, Milkweed Books bookstore in the Open Book building, 1011 Washington Ave. S., Mpls.
What else is going on
If you’ve been procrastinating about getting tickets for the May 2 Minnesota Book Awards, you’re almost out of time. The 35th annual awards, which honor some of the best writing in the state, will be at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 345 Washington St., St. Paul. Winners will be announced in nine categories and the evening will be enlivened by emcee Jearlyn Steele, performer, radio talk host and entertainment reporter. At 6 p.m. attendees can meet the finalists and buy their books. The awards ceremony begins at 7:30 p.m., after which everyone is invited to mingle. Tickets are $22 per person. Go to ordway.org/events/mn-book-awards. Free livestream access is also available. The ceremony is coordinated by Friends of the St. Paul Public Library. For more information go to thefriends.org.
Minnesota poet Sun Yung Shin will be honored in Chicago May 9 for winning the Midland Authors Award in poetry for her collection “The Wet Hex” (Coffee House Press), which is also a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award. She will receive $500 from the contest sponsor, Society of Midland Authors.
A 25th-anniversary edition of Winona LaDuke’s debut novel “Last Standing Woman” is out from Highwater Press. Written out of LaDuke’s Anishinaabe heritage, it depicts seven generations, from the 1800s to the early 2000s, of Anishinaabe resistance and resilience. A two-time Green Party vice-presidential candidate, LaDuke has received numerous awards and accolades for her articles and books, including “Recovering the Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming” and “To Be a Water Protector: Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers.” She lives and works on Minnesota’s White Earth Reservation.
