This event is co-hosted by Mizna!

Certain as I’ve never been of anything in the world that you have a right or a duty to know, that you absolutely must know, I sail through the mouth of that river into the sea of her life.

Amna, Nimo, Mouna—these are all names for a single Egyptian woman whose life has mirrored that of her country. After her death in 2015, her son, Nour, ascends to the attic of their house where he glimpses her in a series of ever more immersive visions: Amna as a young woman forced into an arranged marriage in the 1950s, a coquettish student of French known to her confidants as Nimo, a self-made divorcee and a lover, a “pious mama” donning her hijab, and, finally, a feminist activist during the Arab Spring. Charged and renewed by these visions of a woman he has always known as Mouna, Nour begins a series of fevered letters to his sister—who has been estranged from Mouna and from Egypt for many years—in an attempt to reconcile what both siblings know about this mercurial woman, their country, and the possibility for true revolution after so much has failed.

Hallucinatory, erotic, and stylish, The Dissenters is a transcendent portrait of a woman and an era that explodes our ideas of faith, gender roles, freedom, and political agency.

Youssef Rakha is an Egyptian author of fiction and nonfiction working in Arabic and English. He is the author of The Book of the Sultan’s Seal, The Crocodiles, and Paulo, which was long-listed for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction and won the 2017 Sawiris Award.

Linda Mokdad is an Associate Professor of English and the Director of Film and Media Studies at St. Olaf College. Much of her research focuses on Hollywood, Arab cinemas, and contemporary world cinema. She is a co-editor of THE INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSICAL (Edinburgh University Press, 2012), and is currently working on a book about world cinema.

It’s the Annual Lit Kids’ poetry and short works reading! Check out new and selected works from our emerging writers, the Literary Arts program at Perpich Center for Arts Education.

The inspiring life story of Minnesota’s first woman lieutenant governor: breaking political ground, navigating patriarchal tradition, and persevering through great personal loss

Marking a milestone for women in state government, Marlene M. Johnson became Minnesota’s first woman lieutenant governor under Rudy Perpich’s gubernatorial administration in January 1983. That same year, she met her husband, Peter, and their deeply loving relationship profoundly sustained her for twenty-seven years. Rise to the Challenge weaves these personal and professional stories together in a courageous portrait of dedication and leadership.

Growing up in rural Minnesota, Johnson began organizing and advocating for change early, beginning with a campaign to introduce foreign languages into her high school curriculum. Pursuing a deeply felt commitment to improving the lives of others, she continued to sharpen her leadership skills throughout her life, participating in activist work in college, cofounding organizations to support women entrepreneurs and politicians, and eventually running an international education nonprofit.

A stalwart supporter, her husband gave Marlene strength and encouragement to face the challenges of the political landscape and its gender biases. Then, in 2010, he suffered a traumatic brain injury that would change both of their lives. Learning how to be a medical advocate and, eventually, facing the sorrow of Peter’s death, Marlene relied on the hard-fought resilience and belief in herself that Peter had helped her to develop.

A story of learning and leadership in politics, business, and public service, Rise to the Challenge is a moving portrayal of spirit, perseverance, and grace in the face of daunting personal challenges, supported by unwavering faith in the public good.

Marlene M. Johnson was Minnesota’s first woman lieutenant governor, serving in Governor Rudy Perpich’s administration from 1983 until 1991. She is cofounder of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Minnesota Women’s Campaign Fund and was executive director and CEO of NAFSA: Association of International Educators for nearly two decades. She is now on the advisory board of Kakenya’s Dream, a board member of the Washington Office on Latin America, and a trustee of The Alexandria Trust. In 1988, she was awarded the Royal Order of the Polar Star by the Kingdom of Sweden. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Join us for the January meeting of the Magers & Quinn Translation Book Club!

This month, we’ll be discussing Lau Yee-Wa’s Tongueless, translated from Cantonese by Jennifer Feeley.

Join us for the January meeting of the Magers & Quinn Translation Book Club!

This month, we’ll be discussing Lau Yee-Wa’s Tongueless, translated from Cantonese by Jennifer Feeley.

Let’s face it, guys: we barely know what we’re doing with our health. We’re not stupid, we’re just disinterested. Clouded by the hallucinogenic effects of testosterone, we tell ourselves I’m fine, and so I will continue to be fine, which is fine. Meanwhile, men’s health magazines hypnotize us with constantly changing recommendations designed to hold our eyeballs until the next wellness fad comes along. And when we finally do drag ourselves in for a clinic visit, we find that even good doctors forget that most of us don’t understand medical jargon, nor do they realize we are on a time-sensitive special-ops mission: get in, get what you need, and get out!

Learning about your health doesn’t have to read like a colonoscopy (informative, yes, but difficult to sit through without sedation). Staying healthy is serious business, but it doesn’t have to be boring. Informative but entertaining, this must-read, head-to-toe guide provides actionable advice, so you can stop worrying about your health, do something about it, and get on with your life.

With chapters like Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, Andropause, Sexercise, and Move It or Lose It, you’ll learn how to:

Eat right, exercise effectively, and manage your weight
Address your risks for heart disease, reduce stress, and deal with back pain
Avoid the three cancers that men commonly develop and know if your T levels are right
Navigate challenges in the bedroom, deal with thinning hair, and handle getting older¬-not unscathed, but with a sense of control and dignity
It’s for men of every ethnicity, BMI, hair pattern, shoe size, IPA preference and sports predilection (including none). Think of it as the ultimate checklist for your next checkup. Grab yourself a beverage and a flimsy paper gown, and let’s do this!

Craig Bowron MD FACP is a physician and writer on America’s North Coast. His writing has appeared regionally in Minnesota Monthly, MinnPost, Star Tribune, and Pioneer Press; and nationally in the Washington Post, Slate, Huffington Post, Mayo Clinic Press, Next Avenue, MarketWatch, Forbes, Sojourners, Annals of Internal Medicine, and KevinMD. In October 2022, he published his first book, “Man Overboard! A medical lifeline for the aging male” with Mayo Clinic Press.Board certified in internal medicine, he works at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis as a “hospitalist”– a primary care doctor working exclusively with hospitalized patients. He enjoys the challenge of trying to communicate complex medical information in a way that people can understand, remember, and even enjoy. After all, staying healthy is serious business but it doesn’t have to be boring. In his free time, he enjoys reading and music, and will use any excuse he can find for getting out into nature (short of being a contestant on Naked and Afraid). You can read more about him and find links to his more recent work at craigbowronmd.com.

William Kent Krueger is the author of twenty novels in the New York Times bestselling Cork O’Connor mystery series, which is set in the great Northwoods of Minnesota. He lives in Saint Paul and does his creative writing in local, author-friendly coffee shops. His 2013 stand-alone novel Ordinary Grace won the Edgar Award for Best Novel. This Tender Land, published in 2019, spent six months among the top ten on the New York Times bestseller list. His most recent stand-alone novel The River We Remember appeared on many lists for the Best Book of the Year and was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Mystery. Spirit Crossing, the latest in his Cork O’Connor series, was chosen by Barnes and Noble as one of the best books of 2024. His work has been translated into more than two dozen foreign languages and optioned by Hollywood.

Obligations to the Wounded is the winner of the 2024 Drue Heinz Literature Prize, selected by Angie Cruz. In formally adventurous stories rooted in Zambian literary tradition, Obligations to the Wounded explores the expectations and burdens of womanhood in Zambia and for Zambian women living abroad. The collection converses with global social problems through the depiction of games, social media feuds, letters, and folklore to illustrate how girls and women manage religious expectation, migration, loss of language, death, intimate partner violence, and racial discrimination. Although the women and girls inhabiting these pages are separated geographically and by life stage, their shared burdens, culture, and homeland inextricably link them together in struggle and triumph.

Mubanga Kalimamukwento is a Zambian attorney and writer. She is the winner of the 2022 Tusculum Review Poetry Chapbook Contest, the 2019 Dinaane Debut Fiction Award, and the 2019 Kalemba Short Story Prize. Her first novel, The Mourning Bird, was listed among the top fifteen debut books of 2019 by Brittle Paper. Her work has also appeared or is forthcoming in adda, Aster(ix), Overland, the Red Rock Review, Menelique, on Netflix, and elsewhere. When she’s not writing, Mubanga serves as fiction editor for Doek! and as mentor at the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop.

Sheila O’Connor is the award-winning author of six novels. Her recent genre-bending book for adults, Evidence of V: A Novel in Fragments, Facts and Fictions received the Minnesota Book Award, the Foreword Editor’s Choice Award, and Marshall Project’s Best Criminal Justice Books of the year, as well as others. Her other books include Where No Gods Came and Tokens of Grace. Additional awards for her books include theInternational Reading Award, Michigan Prize for Literary Fiction, and Midwest Booksellers Award among others. Sheila has been awarded fellowships from the Bush Foundation, McKnight Foundation, and Minnesota States Arts Boards. She has been a residency fellow at Yaddo, The Studios of Key West, Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Tyrone Guthrie Center, and elsewhere. She is a professor emerita in the Creative Writing Programs at Hamline University, and currently teaches writing in the low-residency MFA at Converse University.

The Paris Escape:

In this sweepingly emotional story about what it takes to build the life you want, an heiress, her escort, and a young orphan must stick together during the tumultuous beginnings of World War II.

When Laura Powell and Henry Salter travel to Paris in 1938, neither considers the other very good company. Laura is a shallow, spoiled heir to a fortune, and Henry an opportunistic bore—or so they think. But as her father’s protégé, Henry is tasked with accompanying Laura for her safety, even as she continues to scorn him.

Orphaned stowaway David forces the pair to see eye to eye. They can ignore their growing feelings, but they can’t deny the boy’s need for protection. Yet even with this tentative truce, their problems are far from over.

The threat of war continues to grow until the Nazis occupy Paris. But Laura and Henry have opportunities they’re not willing to lose, and a home with David means more than safety outside France.

Before danger overtakes them, they’ll have to decide if the life they’re building can withstand what’s coming…and whether they have the strength to fight for it.

James Tucker is the author of THE PARIS ESCAPE, as well as two acclaimed mysteries: THE HOLDOUTS and NEXT OF KIN, an Amazon Crime Fiction Bestseller and recipient of a Publishers Weekly Starred Review.

In 1944, a fighter plane flown by James’s grandfather was shot down over France, landing in a farmer’s field near Châteaudun. In 2002, the author visited that field, along with the man and woman who saw the crash. On that warm afternoon nearly sixty years after his grandfather’s death, James found pieces of the plane still in the field. For him, France, sacrifice, and freedom have always rhymed.

James grew up near Minneapolis, attending Carleton College and the University of Minnesota Law School. Formerly a lawyer, he’s an executive at a Fortune 40 company. In his free time, James enjoys skiing, tennis, and travel. He and his wife, painter Megan Rye, live with their family near Minneapolis.

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The French Winemaker’s Daughter:

Set during WW II, a novel about love, war, family and loyalty told in the voices of two women, generations apart, who find themselves connected by a mysterious and valuable bottle of wine stolen by the Nazis.

Loretta is the author of four novels for youngers readers, a picture book, and two adult historical novels. She is a graduate of Hamline University with a MFAC in Writing for Children, and a former teacher.

What is work that’s worth doing in a life worth living? A revealing exploration of the questions we ask and the stories we tell about our work.

According to recent studies, barely a third of American workers feel engaged at work, and for many people around the world, happiness is lowest when earning power is highest. After a global pandemic that changed why, how, and what people do for a living, many workers find themselves wondering what makes their daily routine worthwhile.

In Is Your Work Worth It?, two professors – a philosopher and organizational psychologist – investigate the purpose of work and its value in our lives. The book explores vital questions, such as:

Should you work for love or money?
When and how much should you work?
What would make life worth living in a world without work?
What kind of mark will your work leave on the world?
This essential book combines inspiring and harrowing stories of real people with recent scholarship, ancient wisdom, arts, and literature to help us clarify what worthy work looks like, what tradeoffs are acceptable to pursue it, and what our work can contribute to society.

Christopher Wong Michaelson is a humanities scholar who teaches in business schools at the University of St. Thomas and NYU; a critic of capitalism who believes business can and often does make the world better; a tenured professor with 25 years of experience working with business leaders; a philosopher who has called Leo Tolstoy the first moral psychologist and Mary Shelley the first AI ethicist; an ivory tower scholar who has written about love in The New York Times, fantasy football in The Athletic, religion in The Forward, and political humor in McSweeney’s; an ethics expert who has tantrums on the tennis court; an occasional podcaster; a half-Chinese Jew who teaches in a Catholic institution; a husband and father who sometimes acts like a child; and a reluctant workaholic whose new book (with Jennifer Tosti-Kharas), Is Your Work Worth It? (forthcoming from PublicAffairs), examines the place and priority of work worth doing in a life worth living.

Dennis Curley is a vocalist, pianist, songwriter/composer, music director, producer and arranger. He has composed music for Vampires! Horror!, Love After Hours, four shows in the Church Basement Ladies series, U Betcha, Psych 101, and Pride and Plot of Pointlessness. Dennis is the arranger of Schoolhouse Rock Live! and Schoolhouse Rock Live Too! (both published by MTI). He has served as musical director for local and national productions of all of the Church Basement Ladies shows (Troupe America), Beautiful Thing (Theater Latté Da), A Sea-doo Named Desire (Brave New Workshop) and Legendary Ladies of Country (Table Salt Productions). He serves as improv pianist and music director for The Theater of Public Policy; he tours the Upper Midwest with Country Roads: Dennis Curley Sings the Music of John Denver and Parrothead Paradise (a tribute to the music of Jimmy Buffett); he is a co-founder and executive producer of Table Salt Productions (TableSaltProductions.com); and he and all of his shows can be found on the web at DennisCurley.com.

Introducing the captivating Dovey Van Dalen, once the belle of 1840s Copenhagen, now charged with recovering magic property from mortals—whatever it takes. The first in a new magical mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Victoria Laurie.Dovey Van Dalen has a gorgeous day planned for her 200th birthday: driving her new Porsche, admiring the cherry blossoms abloom in her adopted city of Washington, D.C., and a little pampering. But her boss has other ideas. A powerful artifact has been stolen, and he fears it’s causing chaos in the unmagical world . . .The rich and connected Ariti family has suffered a string of suspicious deaths, with no signs of foul play. Yet each member has died in the way they feared most. As the enchanting agent most skilled at blending in with mere mortals, Dovey must find answers and retrieve the dangerous trinket.There’s just one unexpected wrinkle: By the time Dovey arrives at the art gallery where the Ariti patriarch died, FBI agent Grant “Gib” Barlow has taken control of the scene. Dovey needs his cooperation to investigate—but she’ll have to hide her abilities, and her true objective, from a man who uncovers deceptions every day. And as they inch nearer a deadly truth, both will face danger even the spellbound would be lucky to survive . . .

Victoria Laurie is a real-life psychic and the New York Times bestselling author of the Psychic Eye Mysteries, the Ghost Hunter Mysteries, the Life Coach Mysteries, and the Trinket Mysteries. She lives outside Minneapolis, MN and can be found online at VictoriaLaurie.com.

Christine A. Munsie is a leader in the technology industry where she has spent the last 25 years at HP, Inc focusing on their consumer business in the personal computing and printing space.

Christine’s academic background includes a bachelor’s degree from the University of St. Thomas and a master’s degree in business administration from the Opus College of Business. She also served two consecutive terms on the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business Alumni Board.

Christine is an avid reader and a longtime member of the Hennepin County Friends of the Library program. She also actively participates in the Pen Pals author lectures each season. Christine is very involved in three book clubs, one of which she founded and currently co-leads another. She frequently attends book events and enjoys being an early reader for two New York Times bestselling authors.