What's Going on This Week--Around the World with Leon, Black, Almino

I don't really know about too many book events going on today, Monday April 4, but we're discussing Heidi Durrow's The Girl who Fell from the Sky at our in-store lit group at 7, anyway.  You'll probably see a separate post about the discussion afterward.

Tuesday, April 5, on the other hand, is just packed with authors.  I came up with four without even trying hard!

 

Of course we're focusing on the Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library Lunch at the Woman's Club of Wisconsin*, starting at 11.  Alas, it's too late to get tickets to see Donna Leon so I won't say much.  We will have signed copies at the store (and online) of Drawing Conclusions and several of her other Brunetti mysteries.  Well, whatever is left.

 

Coincidentally at the same time, Cara Black and Libby Fischer Hellman are signing books at Mystery One at Noon and at Oconomowoc's Books and Company at 3 pm.  Cara Black is author of the Aimee Leduc Paris-set mysteries, the most recent is Murder in Passy, while Libby Fischer Hellman has written a number of different series.  Her newest is Set the Night on Fire. We've got a copy of Doubleback in stock.

After the lunch, you could probably get to the Brazil Day festivities at UWM.  At 2 pm at Zelazo Center, 2419 E. Kenwood, there is a panel discussion on Brazilian literature moderated by Ricardo Vasconcelos. On the panel is João Almino, who will also be reading from his novel, The Five Seasons of Love.  It's about a woman who fulfills a promise to meet up with friends at the millennium, only to encounter a series of reversals, starting when her old boyfriend Norberto shows up as Berta.  The novel is set in Brasilia (when's the last time you read a novel set there?) and won the 2003 Casa de Las Americas award.  The novel is translated by Elizabeth Jackson.

We're selling copies of Almino's novel, plus a modest selection of Brazilian and Portuguese authors and other cultural books.  I found an anthology of Brazilian poetry that Almino edited, as well as a very nice Brazilian cookbook, The Brazilian Kitchen.  And Professor Vasconcelos and I had a discussion that most people don't realize that Paulo Coelho is Brazilian and writes in Portuguese, not Spanish. Here's the complete schedule of the festivities--the day is capped with two free films at the UWM Union.

Wedesday April 6 we're back in Italy with our event with Paolo** Giordano and The Solitude of Prime Numbers.  I certainly hope we got the word out to Italo-philes. It's at 7 pm with Angela Damiani reading the English, and it's co-sponsored by the Milwaukee leg of the Italian Film Festival.  And since I didn't say it before--The Solitude of Prime Numbers is ably translated by Shaun Whiteside.

I thought we had a little break, but we picked up a last-minute event at UWM's Hefter Center at 3271 N Lake Drive on Thursday, April 7, 7:30 pm. It's two authors who are in town to do UWM-ish work, but as they are both wonderful writers, why not show off their talents.   Adam Johnson is the author of the acclaimed short story collection Emporium and the novel Parasites Like Us.  His next novel is under contract, and is scheduled for release, but since I was discussing this with George Clark (the head of the Creative Writing Program) in passing, I forgot the year. Let's say 2012.  I get the feeling that Johnson is George Saunders-y, but I haven't read him so don't quote me.

 

Also at the Hefter Center on Thursday April 7, reading with Johnson, is Neil Connelly, who has written books for both adults and kids.  His most recent is The Miracle Stealer, which is about this boy who survives a terrible accident, only to be the subject of divine adoration by the townspeople and beyond, who come to him for blessings and healings.  His sister is not happy and tries to do something about it.  Oh, and there's also a stalker.  I sent my order to Teribeth and she wrote back and told me she really liked the book. 

On Saturday April 9 at 2 pm, back at Boswell, we're hosting Jeremy Greenberg, MSN parenting blogger and author of Sorry I Peed on You.  And I am sorry about that.  I promise to grow out of these things by the age of 2.

*We saved the day yesterday by reminding one of our pals that the lunch is not at the Wisconsin Club this year.  It's at the Woman's Club, 813 E. Kilbourn Ave.  So now I'm reminding you!

**Yes, I did originally get Paolo and Paulo confused, but I think it's all sorted out now.