CHUCK KLOSTERMAN'S NEW NOVEL, THE VISIBLE MAN
Chuck Klosterman, a native of Wyndmere, North Dakota, has just released his seventh book, The Visible Man (Scribners). The novel’s narrator is Victoria Vick, a therapist in Texas, who shares the story of her most mysterious client, a man who can render himself invisible. According to a recent interview with Klosterman, the novel “is about how people act when they’re not being watched, and the sketchy moral line that’s crossed by the watcher.” For more, go to the interview at http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/04/showbiz/chuck-klosterman-new-book/index.html
Or listen to the conversation Merrill Piepkorn, host of “Hear It Now,” had with Chuck Klosterman on Monday, October 10.
http://www2.prairiepublic.org/radio/hear-it-now?post=35089
NEW STUDY OF NORTH DAKOTA POET THOMAS MCGRATH
Pamela Sund and Vincent Dussol are the editors of a new critical study of one of North Dakota’s most illustrious poets: Thomas McGrath. The book, Thomas McGrath: Start the Poetry Now, is a collection of critical exegesis, memoirs, interviews, and a biography of McGrath’s early years. The publisher, PULM (Presses universitaires de la Mediterranee) selected this book as the only English-language book to be published in 2011. Sund noted that contributors to the book include many authors, some of whom are from North Dakota: Studs Terkel, Robert Bly, Dale Jacobson, Sterling Plumpp, Mark Vinz, Rick Watson, Larry Woiwode, Reginald Gibbons, Lew Lubka, Linda McCarriston, David Pink, David Martinson, and others. Because McGrath's audience has always been national and international, the editors included writers Claribel Alegria and Sergio Ramirez.
The website promoting the book notes:
From hard scrabble origins on the plains of North Dakota, to longshoremen organizing on Manhattan’s West Side docks, to living the life of a Bohemian poet in Los Angeles and beyond, Thomas McGrath’s literary aspirations took him far from his humble beginnings.
For over six decades, McGrath created poems based largely on the themes of love, work, and political justice.
McGrath was the consummate nonconformist in his life and art. He refused to submit to the philosophy that politics and poetry must be kept separate. His epic work, Letter to an Imaginary Friend, is anchored by progressive politics, political and social theory, his love of family, his love of love, and, arguably, the greatest layering of language idioms in the history of American poetry.
http://www.pulm.fr/index.php/catalog/product/view/id/485/s/thomas-mcgrath/category/3/
LOOKING FOR A GOOD BOOK?
Hear from North Dakota authors themselves on Prairie Public Radio’s “Hear It Now” program, which has featured interviews with numerous regional authors in the past several months. Go to http://www.prairiepublic.org/radio/hear-it-now to hear Merrill Piepkorn’s conversations about newly published books relating to North Dakota and the Northern Plains.
Monday, October 10: Chuck Klosterman talks about his new novel, The Visible Man (Scribners).
Tuesday, September 20: Author Vernon Keel on his story, The Murdered Family, based on an actual murder mystery in North Dakota.
Wednesday, August 24: University of Mary English professor Jamison Ridenhour on his new book, Barking Mad: A Reginald Spiffington Mystery. It’s “part Agatha Christie, part vintage monster movie … with gorgeous illustrations."
Tuesday, August 23, 2011: Kathryn Rand of the UND School of Law and Steven Light of the UND Political Science Department reflect on the legacy of Ronald Davies, the federal judge from North Dakota for whom the new Davies High School in Fargo is named. For more information about Judge Davies's influence on the Civil Rights Movement, read the special issue of On Second Thought, published by the North Dakota Humanities Council, devoted to his legacy: http://www.ndhumanities.org/secondmag_davies.pdf
Monday, August 22, 2011: Mankind, Man Unkind is Albert J. Myers’s real story of Vietnam, and his dream to publish this story was fulfilled by his wife, June, after Al was stricken by early onset Alzheimer’s. June, of Casselton, North Dakota, joins us with this touching story. Contact June at juneal333@msn.com.
Friday, August 12, 2011: Diane Wilson is the author of “Beloved Child, a Dakota Way of Life.” It’s an account of how Dakota families are using the “genius and brilliance” of Dakota culture to transform the legacy of colonization and assimilation into a better way of life for children.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011: Ross Collins, professor of communications at NDSU explores the role of children during times of war in his new book, Children, War and Propaganda. It’s an insightful look at wartime activities during World Wars I and II.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011: Christy Leskovar returns with a story of a story. Her first book, “One Night in a Bad Inn,” told of the true murder mystery in her family’s past. Now Leskovar has written a follow-up, the story of her investigation: Finding the Bad Inn, Discovering My Family’s Hidden Past.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011: “A Free and Hardy Life” is a new book, edited by Clay Jenkinson and released by the Dakota Institute Press. It includes 70 stories, many set in Dakota Territory, about Theodore Roosevelt’s life as an adventurer, politician, and man of letters, lavishly illustrated with more than 100 photographs
June 8, 2011: Bette Wolf Duncan has written Dakota, Prairie Memories, which traces the region’s history in poetry, prose and pictures.
June 1, 2011: Bill Kraft has drawn upon his experiences in his hometown of Strasburg, North Dakota, for his new book, Kaleidoscope: Shapes and Colors of Childhood. It’s full of tales from the ‘40s and ‘50s, steeped in the German/Russian culture of the area. Contact Bill at seasons4@charter.net and find more information at http://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/order/general/kaleidoscope.html
May 19, 2011: David Bliss, Bismarck attorney, has put his legal background to work in writing “In From the Cold,” a mystery novel set in Alaska.
May 18, 2011: Former North Dakota governor George Sinner and his co-author Bob Jansen discuss the governor’s new memoirs: Turning Points, a Memoir.
April 27, 2011: Cecile Wehrman of Crosby has written The Brothers Krimm, an exploration of how childhood trauma shaped two brothers in radically different ways. Also joining the conversation is one of those brothers, Rob Krimm.
April 14, 2011: Eric Dregni has written “Vikings in the Attic, a collection of historic sites, tales and traditions of Scandinavia’s peculiar colony in the Midwest.
April 12, 2011: Lori Orser is author of Spooky, Creepy North Dakota.
March 16: Author Doug Ellison from Medora (where he’s the mayor) discusses his new book, Journal of a Mountaineer.
Turning Points: A Memoir
Turning Points: A Memoir has recently been published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Written by North Dakota Governor George A. “Bud” Sinner and Bob Jansen, the book is a candid memoir of a strong, outspoken North Dakota governor. George "Bud" Sinner was the governor of North Dakota from 1984 to1992, one of the most difficult periods in North Dakota history. Sinner became governor during a time of crisis on the northern Great Plains: the traditional problems of outmigration and uncertain commodity prices were dramatically worsened by a protracted drought, weak tax revenues, high interest rates, and one of the greatest farm foreclosure crises in American history.
Written in Sinner's warm, approachable style, his memoirs touch upon the serious, the hilarious, and the heartbreaking. This is the story of a Catholic farm boy who studied for the priesthood but discovered that his true vocation was public service. Turning Points exhibits Bud Sinner's characteristic outspokenness about life and power, friendship and faith, agriculture and community, public affairs and personal ethics.
To hear a conversation with Merrill Piepkorn, the host of “Hear It Now,” and the authors of Turning Points, a Memoir from May 18, 2011, go to http://www.prairiepublic.org/radio/hear-it-now.
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