Readings & Events
FEBRUARY 2020
Saturday, February 29
Sheila O’Connor reading from Evidence of V in the Cozy Up and Read Series presented by Friends of the Red Wing Library at 10:00 am. Free and open to the public.
Red Wing Library
225 East Avenue
Red Wing, Minnesota
MARCH 2020
Wednesday, March 4 through Saturday, March 7
The AWP Book Fair, Table T1855
The AWP Conference
Henry B. González Convention Center
San Antonio, Texas
Come see us at Table 1855 at the book fair, where we’ll have book sales, swag, reading period info, and also will be having the following author signings:
Thursday, March 5, 3:15 to 4:15 pm: Juditha Dowd signing copies of Audubon’s Sparrow after her panel about the book.
Friday, March 6, 11:00 am to 12 pm: Nicole Walker signing copies of The After-Normal and Kelcey Parker Ervick signing copies of The Bitter Life of Bozena Nemcova and Liliane’s Balcony.
Saturday, March 7, 10:30 to 11:30 am: Sheila O’Connor signing copies of Evidence of V after her panel about the book.
And see us and our authors on panels at the following times:
THURSDAY, MARCH 5
10:35 to 11:50 am: Unmasking the Masked Self: The Complex Role of Persona in Memoir
Room 303, Henry B. González Convention Center, Ballroom Level
(Daisy Hernandez, Sue William Silverman, Dinty W Moore, Ira Sukrungruang, Jill Christman) The use of a constructed persona in the essay hails from Montaigne, but persona in memoir is more complicated. If memoirists are telling the honest truth of ourselves, is it ever truthful to hide behind a mask? How can a memoirist be honest and artful at the same time? This panel of award-winning memoirists will explore the intricate braid of voice, style, point-of-view, emotional authenticity, and narrative design to see if we really can tell the truths about ourselves, and if so, how.
1:45 to 3:00 pm: (Un)Forgotten Women: Blending Research and Lyricism to Reclaim Lost History
Room 212, Henry B. González Convention Center, Meeting Room Level
(Kathleen Rooney, Sally Wen Mao, Emily Jungmin Yoon, Juditha Dowd, Danielle Dutton) History remains perpetually incomplete, especially when it comes to the experiences of women. Seeking to restore missing voices and lives to our shared accounts, these writers employ research and imagination to present women of the past in ways that resonate with the issues of today. How best to blend documentary and creative approaches to revive lost figures? These authors will present examples and techniques for reintroducing and focusing on women who’ve been left out of the story.
SATURDAY, MARCH 7
9:00 to 10:15 am: The Past Is Present: Writing the Legacy of Historical Injustice
Room 214D, Henry B. González Convention Center, Meeting Room Level
(Sheila O’Connor, Angela Pelster-Wiebe, Hai-Dang Phan, Victoria Blanco, LeAnne Howe)
Authors across genres pursue past subjects to consider present injustices. How can historical excavation illuminate the legacy of oppression? Diverse writers of hybrid, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry discuss the challenges of research work, ways to move between fact and fiction, and imaginative strategies to recreate a lost time. Each author discusses the concerns that drew them to their subjects, and the conversations their work invites.
9:00 to 10:15 am: Towards a “Third Language”: Rethinking Text and Image Assignments in the Workshop
Room 213, Henry B. González Convention Center, Meeting Room Level
(Katy Didden, Kelcey Ervick, Sarah Minor, Saara Raappana, Kristen Radtke) Of synthesizing verbal and visual material, C.D. Wright wrote: “In collaboration we create a third language.” How can we adapt the workshop to practice this “third language”? On this panel, we’ll present useful assignments—essays, films, poems, stories—that help students engage the flux and friction between text and images: from adaptation to activism, sampling to speaking out, illustration to transfiguration. We’ll also consider how multimodal forms call us to rethink the workshop itself.
1:45 to 3:00 pm: Small Press Success: A Business Primer for Both Authors and Publishers
Room 304, Henry B. González Convention Center, Ballroom Level
(Todd Seabrook, Amanda Miska, Deena Drewis, Abby Beckel, James Brubaker) Small presses are a vital wellspring of emerging and underrepresented voices, but the financial challenges of running a small press are as present as ever. The successful release requires a savvy, creative, and efficient approach from both publisher and author. Publishers from both independent and institutional presses will discuss the benefits and limitations of small press publishing, and offer insider knowledge on how to best produce and market an author’s book while remaining solvent.
3:20 to 4:35 pm: Get Inked: Nonfiction Comics as Cultural Critique
Room 217B, Henry B. González Convention Center, Meeting Room Level
(Amaris Ketcham, Kelcey Ervick, Lee Francis, Nora Hickey)
From Indigenous Comic Con to comics journalism, the recent comics boom shows the potential for drawn nonfiction to offer eyewitness accounts of social upheaval, share untold stories from nondominant perspectives, and integrate lived experiences and community with art and writing. Panelists working with comics in a multitude of ways will discuss how comics uniquely reflect and comment on our contemporary existence, and they will share ways to engage with our present through this powerful medium.
Wednesday, March 11
Sheila O’Connor presenting from Evidence of V in the Stearns History Museum Breakfast Club at 9:00 am. Free and open to the public.
Stearns History Museum
235 33rd Ave S
St. Cloud, Minnesota
Thursday, March 12
Sheila O’Connor discussing Evidence of V on the panel Imprisoned Women: Facts and Fictions presented by the Friends of the St. Paul Library at 7:00 pm. Free and open to the public. With Deborah Jiang-Stein and Jennifer Bowen-Hicks.
Hamline Midway Library
1558 West Minnehaha Ave
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Friday, March 13
Sheila O’Connor presenting from Evidence of V at the Dakota County Historical Society at 5:30 pm. Free and open to the public.
Dakota County Historical Society
130 3rd Ave N
South St Paul, Minnesota
Saturday, March 21
Sheila O’Connor reading from Evidence of V in the Community Read series co-presented by the Great River Regional Library and Sauk Centre Historical Society at 2:00 pm. Free and open to the public.
River of Life Church
705 12th St S
Sauk Centre, Minnesota
Tuesday, March 31
Sheila O’Connor reading from Evidence of V at the Graceville Public Library at 3:00 pm. Free and open to the public.
Graceville Public Library
415 Studdart Ave
Graceville, Minnesota
Tuesday, March 31
Sheila O’Connor reading from Evidence of V at the Ortonville Public Library at 6:30 pm. Free and open to the public.
Ortonville Public Library
412 2nd St NW
Ortonville, Minnesota
APRIL 2020
Saturday, April 4
Rose Metal Press will have a table at the Book Fair at the Mission Creek Festival from 11 am to 5 pm. Free and open to the public.
Mission Creek Festival
Iowa City, Iowa
Saturday, April 25
Sheila O’Connor reading from Evidence of V at the Chanhassen Public Library at 10:30 am. Free and open to the public.
Chanhassen Public Library
7711 Kerber Blvd
Chanhassen, Minnesota
Sunday, April 26
Juditha Dowd’s Audubon’s Sparrow launch party, with books for sale from Book & Puppet Company.
Connexions Gallery
213 Northampton St
Easton, Pennsylvania
MAY 2020
Friday, May 8
Juditha Dowd reading from Audubon’s Sparrow at White Whale Bookstore at 7:00 pm. With Arlene Weiner. Free and open to the public.
White Whale Bookstore
4754 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Thursday, May 14
Juditha Dowd reading from Audubon’s Sparrow at Highland Park Public Library at 7:00 pm. Free and open to the public.
Highland Park Public Library
31 North 5th Ave.
Highland Park, New Jersey
Sunday, May 17
Juditha Dowd reading from Audubon’s Sparrow at Princeton Public Library’s Poetry and Brunch Women’s History Series at 11:30 am. With Maxine Susman. Free and open to the public.
Princeton Public Library
65 Witherspoon Street
Princeton, New Jersey
JUNE 2020
Friday, June 12
Sheila O’Connor reading from Evidence of V in the Mendota After Hours Series at 5:30 pm. Free and open to the public.
Sibley Historic Site
1357 Sibley Memorial Hwy
Mendota, Minnesota
Sunday, June 14
Juditha Dowd reading from and discussing Audubon’s Sparrow in the Artist Book, Hybrid Book panel with Vasiliki Katsarou & MaryAnn L. Miller at 2:00 pm. Free and open to the public with admission to the museum ($7, $5 for seniors & students).
Hunterdon Art Museum
7 Lower Center Street
Clinton, New Jersey
SEPTEMBER 2020
Sunday, September 13
Juditha Dowd reading from Audubon’s Sparrow at Wayne Public Library in the High Mountain Meadow Poetry Series at 2:00 pm. With Vasiliki Katsarou. Free and open to the public.
Wayne Public Library
461 Valley Road
Wayne, New Jersey