Thursday, April 16, 2009

Our First Email Newsletter Went Out on Tuesday and I'm Posting Most of it Right Here, Even Though That's not Really Correct Blog-i-quette.

They said it would never be done. I said it would never be done. It may never happen again. But on Tuesday, I sent out our first email newsletter. At Schwartz, we used to archive it on our website. Constant Contact has a function to archive newsletters as well. However, I was thinking of using the system to send sort of non-public emails, to staff, media, publicists, and those don't really make sense to be publicly archived. The short answer, is that I can't like you to the email right now. I can, however, print a bit of it.

You want poetry events? You've Got Poetry Events!
Monday, April 20th, 7 PM. Acclaimed poet and Wave Books editor Joshua Beckman reads from his new collection, Take It. Also appearing are local faves Derrick Harriell and Drew Blanchard.

Saturday, April 25th, 7 PM. A taste of a traditional Persian poetry night features several poems in English and Farsi. That's just a warmup for Roya Hakakian, acclaimed poet and author of the memoir Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iraq. (Hakakian is coming to Milwaukee through the sponsorship of Alverno College and the Wisconsin Society of Jewish Learning.)

Wednesday, April 29th, 5-7 PM. It's a pre-screening reception for the 2nd annual Poetry Everywhere collection of short animated films. It's also a shopping night for this worthy project. Ask for 10% of your sales to benefit the cause. Then head to the Downer Theater at 7 PM for the show. For more info, contact Christi Clancy.

We Just Couldn't Wait More Pre-opening Events
Sunday, April 26th, 11 AM-6 PM. It's a shopping day for SEED, the organization that helps Shorewood public schools. For more information contact Kathy at Fireball Communications.

Tuesday, April 28th, 7 PM. Acclaimed feminst Gerda Lerner appears for her new collection of essays, Living with History/Making Social Change, where she looks at how she transformed the history profession and established the women's studies as a mainstream field. Can't make this event? Lerner will be appearing at UWM Bookstore on Wednesday, April 29th. Contact Erik Hemming at UWM for more info

Grand Opening Preview
Our Upcoming Events. (More to come in our next email, when we hope our web site is up and running!)Wednesday, May 6th, 7 PM Wisconsin's own Jane Hamilton talks about and reads from her new novel, Laura Rider's Masterpiece.

Thursday, May 7th, 7 PM. The best of the undergraduate writers, hand-picked by C. J. Hribal and Liam Callanan. Come cheer your favorite at Boswell's first fiction smackdown.

Friday, May 8th, 7 PM. The big day, featuring Elinor Lipman appearing for The Family Man, Anita Shreve for the paperback of Testimony, and Mameve Medwed for Of Men and Their Mothers. It's Best Buddies Night--the authors are not just friends of Boswell, they're pals with each other. Bring your own best buddy. And here's my favorite part--all three authors will be guest booksellers on Friday afternoon, recommending their favorite books to all comers.

Saturday, May 9th, 2 PM. It's our talk and scavenger hunt featuring Dwellephant and Friends. It's all a celebration for the publication of Dwellephant's illustrations for the new and wonderful kids' graphic novel Missing the Boat, written by Wayne Chinsang and Justin Shady. Even I'm not quite sure how this is going to work, but five minutes with Dwellephant (you know his illustrations from WMSE, Alverno Presents, and the Milwaukee Art Museum, plus his exhibit at Hot Pop) and I was hooked!

Our In-Store Book Clubs, Mark Your Calendars
Tuesday, April 21st, 7 PM. The Shorewood Schwartz Mystery Book Group has moved to Boswell Book Company on Downer Avenue. This month they're reading Agatha-Award-winner Rhys Bowen's Murphy's Law. Contact Anne for more information.

Monday, May 4th, 7 PM. Yes, I'm trying to start an in-store book club. Why not? The first selection of the First Monday book club is Yoko Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor. All you folks who loved The Elegance of the Hedgehog have got to try this. Here's a rave from Jim Higgins in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact DG for more info.

I'm not going to copy my email newsletter into my blog every week (or as often as we send it out). That's not what a blog is. So really what you should do is sign up. For now, the best way is to send an email to info@boswellbooks.com and put "newsletter" in the heading. I've got about 600 subscribers, but I think I need more than that to get the word out.



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