What We’re Reading: Local, Local, Local

Everyone and their sister are spouting praise of buying and eating local. Why not read local? One of the (many) things I love about the Twin Cities is how it equally embraces writers, readers, publishers, and book arts lovers of all sorts. Regardless of whether or not you live in my beloved twin literary cities, support your own local community of up-and-coming writers by going to readings, buying books that aren’t on Oprah’s book list (gasp!), or even grabbing a self-published book or two. Hey, they’re not all scary. In fact, all four of these writers listed below have talent, and have obviously been writing for years. They have experience and they have stories.

Hazel and I met gads of local writers at Rain Taxi’s Twin Cities Literary Festival (great places to mingle with your fellow wordy comrades: writing festivals and conferences), including these four. And while that was months ago (my apologies, friends), here is the scoop on these local writers.

Wendy Brown-Báez, Transparencies of Light (poetry)

Writer, artist, and performance poet Wendy Brown-Báez’s poetry rollicks in earthiness. All the poems center around women who find themselves in complex relationships with varying identities and personalities. And Brown-Báez is a staunch supporter of writers, too: she’s also a teacher, and has lead various writing groups since the nineties. She volunteers, works with women, the homeless, and at-risk youth. And guess what? She’s presenting “Yours Truly” at the Lowertown Reading Jam on January 9. Check out her curatorial eye.

Mary DesJarlais, Dorie LaValle: A Minnesota Story of Moonshine and Murder (fiction)

Dorie LaValle is a feisty young woman putting up with a lazy husband, a dangerous but profitable bootlegging business, and a business partner who is falling in love with her. When a couple of Italian mobsters from Chicago start trouble for their bootlegging business, and murder starts to draw the attention of the sheriff and other less-friendly people, Dorie must find a way to survive in the harsh reality of life. DesJarlais does a fantastic job of weaving the reader right into the story, becoming emotionally invested.

Carla Hagen, Hand Me Down My Walking Cane (fiction)

Carla Hagen’s carefully crafted novel takes place during the Depression in a small town on the border of Minnesota and Canada. The main character, Emil Rousseau, revisits his childhood north country home to photograph what the government has named a rural slum. And guess what? You can hear Hagen read at the end of this month at Magers & Quinn. It’s a double-whammy: support a local writer, and a local independent bookstore!

Bob Haddow, Freyr’s Fiddle (young adult fiction)

Bob Haddow, writer and painter, has written a young adult novel about the skeletons in everyone’s familial closets. Niklas, his main character, is learning to play his grandfather Freyr’s fiddle, but discovers more than music along the convoluted way. A complex, winding story, with underlying themes of agribusiness, cyber world, and the Midwest, this is one that takes some time digesting.

What local authors are you supporting these days?