Author readings in the Twin Cities

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Sunday, March 8 – 5 p.m. – Three bright talents on the national small press scene -  C.A. Conrad, Aaron Kunin, and Magdalena Zurawski – will read at Magers & Quinn Booksellers, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis [612.822.4611 – www.magersandquinn.com], co-sponsored by Rain Taxi Review of Books

Aaron Kunin is a poet, critic and novelist. He is the author of a collection of small poems about shame, Folding Ruler Star (Fence, 2005); a chapbook, Secret Architecture (Braincase, 2006); and a novel, The Mandarin (Fence, 2008), which is set in places that no longer exist in Minneapolis. He is assistant professor of negative anthropology at Pomona College and lives in Los Angeles.

C.A. Conrad’s childhood included selling cut flowers along the highway for his mother and helping her shoplift. He escaped to Philadelphia where he lives and writes with the PhillySound poets. His latest book, The Book of Frank (Chax Press, 2009), received The Gil Ott Book Award.

Magdalena Zurawski was born and raised in New Jersey, but Providence, RI, feels like home – that’s where she started writing and meeting writers and thinking of herself as a writer. Currently, she lives in Durham, NC, where she is studying 19th-century American literature at Duke University. The Bruise (FC2, 2008), her first book, is the winner of the Ronald Sukenick Prize for Innovative Fiction and has just been published by FC2.


author1_0309Tuesday, March 12 – 7:30 p.m. – Writer and comedian Tom Davis discusses his memoir – Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss: The Early Days of SNL from Someone Who Was There – at Lyndale United Church of Christ, 31st and Aldrich Avenue South, Minneapolis, sponsored by Magers & Quinn Booksellers.

A memoir by Tom Davis, an original writer on Saturday Night Live and comedy partner with Al Franken, Thirty-nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss is a hilarious book about the early days of SNL that chronicles Davis’s friendship with Jerry Garcia, Timothy Leary and his friends at SNL.

“Frankly, I’m surprised Tom was able to remember this much of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. But I’m not surprised that my old partner was able to capture the times with such humor and such wisdom.” – Al Franken

Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss is a seriously funny and irreverent memoir that gives an insider’s view of the birth and rise of Saturday Night Live, and features laugh-out-loud stories about some of its greatest personalities – Al Franken, Lorne Michaels, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Bill Murray, Michael O’Donoghue, and Chris Farley. Al Franken and Tom Davis were a stand-up comedy team that got their start in high school in 1968, performing their first material at Dudley Riggs Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis. They worked in comedy clubs and colleges from New York to Los Angeles, sharing stages with contemporaries including Jay Leno, Don Novello, Gabe Kaplan and Andy Kaufman. When they were rejected by “The Tonight Show” and blacklisted by The Comedy Store, Franken and Davis embraced their countercultural bent all the more, pushing the envelope of their unique sense of humor. Davis is a four-time Emmy winner from twelve seasons at Saturday Night Live, including the first five years. He was half the comedy team of Franken and Davis from high school in 1968 until he and Al broke up in 1990. The first-time author now lives alone in the woods in upstate New York.


author2_0309Thursday, March 19 – 7:30 p.m. – Jill Jepson discusses her new book – Writing as a Sacred Path: A Practical Guide to Writing with Passion and Purpose – at Magers & Quinn Booksellers, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis

In this inspiring, supportive guide to approaching writing as a sacred art and to discovering spirituality through the process of writing, teacher and anthropologist Jill Jepson draws on her worldwide travels and studies of spiritual traditions to present a refreshing approach to the art of writing. Through rituals, exercises, dream analysis and more, writers will find fresh techniques for honing their skills, overcoming creative blocks and finding their authentic voices, while writing bravely, honestly and with true vision. Jill Jepson is assistant professor of English at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul. She has taught writing for 15 years and is an award-winning research anthropologist. She also offers online writing workshops. For more information, visit www.writingthewhirlwind.com.

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