August 10th, 2017
“Prairie Silence: A Memoir.” By Melanie Hoffert. Boston: Beacon Press, 2013. 238 pp. $24.95 cloth
From the outside looking in, North Dakota is an exotic locale, never more than when the topic of LGBT arises. It is a black hole of a state, a place from which no trans or gay could ever emerge.
For those of us who live here, the experience is quite variable. If one lives near a university -- and North Dakota is nothing if not a university state -- one may feel as though the subject is…
August 2nd, 2017
Let’s begin with the first sentence of this novel.
“Two dozen bodies lay in duct tape patched nylon sleeping bags atop cardboard folded for padding against the pebbled, cigarette and bottle-cap littered earth.”
Home sweet home. Imagine every liberal’s fears come true. In this dystopian novel, all aspects of life are privatized, including the “police force.” Citizens are crippled by their credit scores, unemployable and hounded by the credit police and the looming debtor’s…
July 19th, 2017
This evening, local fans of Elisa Korenne’s music will get an opportunity to know her as a writer, while those unfamiliar with either will get a chance to see her perform for the first time.
Just last month, North Star Press released her memoir, “Hundred Miles to Nowhere: An Unlikely Love Story,” which is now a finalist for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. The memoir chronicles her 2006 move from New York to Minnesota, and the culture shock that resulted. Her experiences in…
June 7th, 2017
Last Thursday, Zandbroz Variety hosted a book launch and reading for Amy Thielen’s memoir “Give a Girl a Knife.” Though originally scheduled for May 25th, the event had to be rescheduled due to illness. Nonetheless, the turnout at Zandbroz was substantial, with pastry goods courtesy of Youngblood Coffee.
“Give a Girl a Knife” chronicles her journey as a chef, from her rural upbringing in Minnesota to the elite culinary world of New York, followed by her move back to Park Rapids…
May 17th, 2017
“When I was a little guy, I don’t know that this was so long ago -- we didn’t have all these formal designations for various learning disabilities and whatnot. I was in special classes for various things but I remember being told very specifically that I could do whatever I wanted -- but there was this weird little caveat at the end of that and that’s what the story is about.” says Peter Schultz, author of the children’s book Peter the Slug.
“All of Peter’s friends tell…
May 17th, 2017
By Francese Manya
I was born in Congo in Lumbumbashi. It was kind of good where I was, but we had conflict between two tribes—Kasais and Hancomas. My grandma left us and went to Namibia, and I stayed with my mother, niece, and brothers.
We were sitting in my grandma’s house talking, joking, and playing outside, just when we saw another tribe; they came and attacked us. They were beating my mom and my father and my brothers. We were all crying. They took a stick and they hit my head and…
May 10th, 2017
Three years ago, Minnesota author and former Food Network chef Amy Thielen held a launch party for her cookbook, ‘The New Midwestern Table: 200 Heartland Recipes,’ at Fargo’s Zandbroz Variety. This book was illustrated by North Dakota artist Amber Fletschock and earned the praise of celebrity chefs Andrew Zimmern and Lidia Bastianich.
Next Thursday, Zandbroz will once again host Thielen for a launch party for her new memoir, Give a Girl a Knife, which chronicles her journey from…
May 3rd, 2017
Back in December, journalist and MSUM alum Danielle Nadler released a nonfiction book entitled “Without a Trace: The Life of the Sierra Phantom,” the result of Nadler’s conversations with John P. Glover, a man who lived off the grid in the Sierra Nevada Mountains for 50 years. At the age of 75, Glover settled in a small town in California, once his advanced age made him more vulnerable to hypothermia and frostbite.
On Saturday, May 13, as part of her book tour, Nadler will be back…
April 19th, 2017
This Monday journalist and author Laurie Hertzel will be at MSUM to promote her memoir News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist published by the University of Minnesota. This book won the Reader’s Choice Award at the Minnesota Book Awards back in 2011.
There will be an informal meet-and-greet at noon, followed by a reading and book signing at 7:30pm. Both events will take place in Room 205 in the Comstock Memorial Union. In between, she will be a guest on KDSU-FM, 91.9 FM,…
March 29th, 2017
Next Wednesday the poet, memoirist, and literary critic Madelon Sprengnether will be at Minnesota State University Moorhead as part of the Clarence Glasrud Lecture Series. She will give a lecture at 4pm, followed by a reading at 7:30, both at the Livingston Lord Library Porch.
For her work, Sprengnether has received awards from the Loft Literary Center, the Bush Foundation, and The National Endowment for the Arts. Her essays have appeared in many books of literary criticism, including…
Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.com A midnight wedding ceremony at the Clay County Courthouse in Moorhead on August 1, 2013 was more than a romantic gesture. Eighteen couples made history on that day by exchanging vows in the…
By Michael M. Millermichael.miller@ndsu.edu On March 11, 2024, we celebrated the 121st birthday of bandleader Lawrence Welk. He was born March 11, 1903 in a sod house near Strasburg, North Dakota, and died on May 17,1992. The…
Saturday, May 117 p.m., gates at 5 p.m.Outdoors at Fargo Brewing Company610 University Dr. N, FargoWisconsin’s finest export, The Violent Femmes, started out in Milwaukee in 1981 as an acoustic punk band, and they’ve been…
Is this a repeating pattern?By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comThere’s a quote circulating around the world wide web, misattributed to Sinclair Lewis: "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a…
by Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comAccording to my great-grandfather many years ago, my French ancestors migrated from Normandy to Quebec to Manitoba to Wisconsin to Minnesota over the spread of more than two centuries, finally…
By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…
By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com In this land of hotdish and ham, the knoephla soup of German-Russian heritage seems to reign supreme. In my opinion though, the French have the superior soup. With a cheesy top layer, toasted baguette…
By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.com It is not unheard of for bands to go on hiatus. However, as the old saying goes, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” That is why when a local group like STILL comes back to…
Now playing at the Fargo Theatre.By Greg Carlson gregcarlson1@gmail.comPalme d’Or recipient “Anatomy of a Fall” is now enjoying an award-season victory tour, recently picking up Golden Globe wins for both screenplay and…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com There’s no exaggeration when we say that this year’s Plains Art Gala is going to be out of this world, with a sci-fi theme inspired by a painting housed in the Plains Art Museum’s permanent…
By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comHigh Plains Reader had the opportunity to interview two mysterious new game show hosts named Milt and Bradley Barker about an upcoming event they will be putting on at Brewhalla. What…
By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…
By John Showalter john.d.showalter@gmail.comThey sell fentanyl test strips and kits to harm-reduction organizations and…
JANUARY 19, 1967– MARCH 8, 2023 Brittney Leigh Goodman, 56, of Fargo, N.D., passed away unexpectedly at her home on March 8, 2023. Brittney was born January 19, 1967, to Ruth Wilson Pollock and Donald Ray Goodman, in Hardinsburg,…
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Dismissing the value of small towns for the future of our nation is a mistakeBy Bill Oberlanderarcandburn@gmail.comAccording to U.S. Census projections, by the middle of this century, roughly 90% of the total population will live…
