Writer's Block

​Q&A with Bonnie Jo Campbell

March 18th, 2015

Q&A with Bonnie Jo Campbell

By Sara Dupree

Bonnie Jo Campbell is one of the featured writers at the 2015 University of North Dakota Writers Conference. She is the author of the national bestselling novel “Once Upon a River” and the short fiction collection “American Salvage,” a finalist for the National Book Award. She has been awarded a Pushcart Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

HPR: Animals figure prominently in your writing. Are there particular moments of interacting with…

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​Full of Faith: Adam Copeland on “Wrestling with Faith and College”

January 28th, 2015

It was two weeks ago today that Adam Copeland, Concordia professor and director of theological inquiry, held a reading at Zandbroz Variety for his book “Kissing in the Chapel, Praying in the Frat House: Wrestling with Faith and College.” This event included free food, coffee and wine, along with copies available for sale.

Copeland’s book, published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers back in December, is a collection of essays written by students in their 20snationwide. For his…

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​“Lines & Notes” event coming up at the HoDo

November 28th, 2014

Kevin Zepper / Photo by J Earl Miller

Music and performance poetry will come together next Wednesday at Stoker’s in the Basement (The Hotel Donaldson), where poet Kevin Zepper and pianist Terrie Manno will put on a show entitled “Lines & Notes.” This collaborative exhibition will be free and open to the public.

This isn’t the first time these two local artists have collaborated. Zepper’s Reverbnation webpage features audio and video clips of his poetry readings, including one for National Poetry Month last April.…

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​Boose and The Red Bishop

November 25th, 2014

In the early 2000s, High Plains Reader published an article by writer Greg Boose titled “Three Older Women Stand in Line to Yell at the Author James Frey when Malcolm-Jamal Warner Stops By with a Two-Liter of Cherry Coke Under his Arm.”

Years down the road, Boose published the piece on his website and the one-and-only No. 1 bestselling author of “A Million Little Pieces,” James Frey, contacted Boose to say he enjoyed the piece.

Today, this Minnesota State University Moorhead grad…

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Fargo author Ryn Pitts releases a murder mystery

November 19th, 2014

Last year, Fargo author Ryn Pitts released her first book, “Deadly Benefits,” a murder mystery that utilizes her background in pharmacy, health administration and insurance, as well as her Scandinavian background (with her proudly Finnish heroine, the pharmacist Heli Harri).

The plot revolves around Christine Runyan, a young mother stricken with Crohn’s disease, who dies in the intensive care unit at the fictional Swedish Hospital in Fargo. Fearing a malpractice lawsuit, Dr.…

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​Dharma Book Club announces its November pick

October 30th, 2014

Starting Nov. 5, the Spirit Room will be holding Dharma Book Club meetings every Wednesday from 6 to 7 p.m. The club will discuss one chapter a week from “Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change” by Pema Chödrön. Copies are available at Zandbroz Variety.

“Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change” is a self-help book about maintaining peace of mind under trying circumstances. Rather than hiding from the chaos of everyday life, Chödrön encourages readers to embrace…

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​Melanie Carvell at Zandbroz Variety

August 21st, 2014

On Saturday, August 23, starting at 1 p.m., accomplished triathlete Melanie Carvell will be hosting a book signing at Zandbroz Variety for her memoir/self-help book, “Running with the Antelope: Life, Fitness, and Grit on the Northern Plains.”

This book chronicles her humble upbringing in the small town of Mott in southwestern North Dakota during the 1970s. Now a six-time All American, Carvell credits her athletic endurance to the challenging weather of the Great Plains area. Her…

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Prairie Boys at War book launch

August 7th, 2014

On Tuesday, Aug. 12, a book launch for the historical narrative “Prairie Boys at War: Korea, Volume I: June – October 1950” will take place at Studio 222 in Downtown Fargo from 6 to  9 p.m. The event will include hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar.

Local author M.M. Helm, also known as Merry Helm, first set out to write about North Dakotans in the Korean War; but in the process, her scope broadened to include the entire upper-prairie region. This first volume of the Prairie Boys series…

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​Sena Jeter Naslund to visit Fargo

October 10th, 2013

By Lauren Beek

The bestselling author of “Ahab’s Wife,” Sena Jeter Naslund, will visit Fargo on Oct. 17 through the 19 for a variety of events hosted by the Plains Art Museum and North Dakota State University.

Along with Melville’s “Moby-Dick,” Jeter Naslund’s novel “Ahab’s Wife” inspired artist T. L. Solien during the creation of his newest work, “Toward the Setting Sun.” This collection is currently on exhibit at the Plains Art Museum, where the opening…

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​Public radio star

August 15th, 2013

He’s one of those celebrities that is simultaneously an absolute superstar among public radio listeners and pretty anonymous to the rest of the population.

Ira Glass, host of the Chicago Public Media (distributed to more than 500 stations via Public Radio International) program This American Life, will bring his soothing, forever-young voice and deadpan cadence to the Fargo Theatre stage this Saturday night. He’ll share some of his favorite moments from the show and convey the…

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