Writer's Block

Award-winning author Elizabeth Raum: reception and autographs

January 11th, 2017

On Wednesday, January 18th, nonfiction author Elizabeth Raum will be at Ellen Hopkins Elementary and Robert Asp Elementary as part of a collaboration between the schools. She will sign autographs that morning in Ellen Hopkins’ library before presenting to classes during their alternating library times.

Raum, a former teacher and librarian, has written nearly 100 educational books for several children’s series, including Countries Around the World, American Lives, Fact Finders, and…

Poetry Rag provides a voice for writers

December 21st, 2016

Since October, a monthly journal known as “The Poetry Rag” has been circulating throughout Fargo, Moorhead, and Grand Forks. It can be found in local coffee shops, bookstores, record stores, and other small businesses that carry free publications.

The two masterminds behind “The Poetry Rag” are its creator Joe Bertrand and editor Kendra Smith. Depending on the length of the poems, each issue contains 15 to 18 poems.

“The Rag started out of frustration,” Bertrand admits.…

Definitely not a kid’s book

October 26th, 2016

Back in 2015, local poet L. Reuben Willis released his poetry book, “Dog and Fox, and Other Musings” through Amazon’s CreateSpace publishing platform and Kindle Direct Publishing, complete with photographs as visual aids.

More recently, Willis has come out with a very different collection entitled “Losing My Religion: Wooing and Losing a Goddess,” a set of poems with an overriding narrative inspired by two people Willis knows.

“It’s about a long-distance love affair between…

ND poet laureate visits Fargo

September 28th, 2016

On Sunday the 25th, Zandbroz Variety hosted North Dakota’s Poet Laureate Larry Woiwode, who’s currently a writer in residence at the University of Jamestown. The author of many works of fiction and nonfiction in addition to poetry, Woiwode read from his latest compilation, “Land of Sunlit Ice.”

This limited-edition chapbook was designed, edited, and hand-printed by student interns at NDSU Press, with only 200 copies available. Antique wire stitches and a platen press were used to…

Author Patricia Polacco: presentation in Moorhead

September 21st, 2016

This Monday, the 26th, children’s book author and illustrator Patricia Polacco will be at three of Moorhead’s local elementary schools, courtesy of the Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton (DGF) Public School District. A much sought-after guest lecturer and keynote speaker, Polacco will give presentations at Probstfield Center for Education, S.G. Reinertsen Elementary School, and Ellen Hopkins Elementary.

Having studied in the U.S. and Australia, Polacco holds a PhD in art history with an…

Read it forward, read it backward

July 27th, 2016

MSUM English professor and published poet Thom Tammaro recently came out with a new poetry collection, published by Red Dragonfly Press. “23 Poems,” currently available at Zandbroz Variety and on Amazon, is a compilation 40-some years in the making.

“Some poems were written as far back as the late 1970s, and some as recent as 2015,” Tammaro says. “Eleven of the twenty-three poems have been previously published.”

This isn’t the first time Tammaro has been published by Red…

AN ESSENTIAL NON-ESSENTIAL

May 6th, 2016

By Karen Kohoutek

I came to the MFA program through a series of flukes and coincidences. I happened to attend a student literary reading a friend was hosting at the public library, that was led by Mark Vinz, one of my former professors. He caught me afterwards, and he told me about the then-new MFA program.

A few weeks later, I was interviewing with him and Lin Enger to become their first teaching assistant, and I left a corporate insurance job to return to academia, changing the whole…

CELEBRATING BOOKS WITH BREWS

April 27th, 2016

This Saturday, Fargo’s own Zandbroz Variety will be celebrating Independent Bookstore Day, an all-day event that’s free and open to the public. Zandbroz will only be one of hundreds of bookstores participating in this event, which is meant to generate not only sales but also appreciation for bookstores in the digital age.

Manager Josie Danz describes it as a day-long celebration of books and the people that sell them, complete with free doughnuts and coffee, drawings for prizes, and…

JACQUELINE BUSSIE: ‘OUTLAW CHRISTIAN’

April 20th, 2016

Today at 6:30 PM, Concordia professor and local author Jacqueline Bussie will debut her new nonfiction book, “Outlaw Christian: Finding Authentic Faith by Breaking the 'Rules'” at Zandbroz Variety. This event will be free and open to the public, with refreshments provided.

Bussie, a professor of religion, also runs Concordia’s interfaith center and is the director of The Forum on Faith and Life, a group that promotes discussion and understanding of differing theologies.

“With the…

Starting outward in the same direction

April 13th, 2016

Last Tuesday, travel writer and English professor W. Scott Olsen presented his eleventh book, published by NDSU Press, to a sizeable audience at Zandbroz Variety. The book, “A Moment with Strangers,” is a collection of essays and photographs collected from his travels, all highlighting the central theme of brief yet significant chance encounters.

“This whole book is built on the premise of those very brief encounters that you have with someone when you’re traveling,” Olsen…