Boswell presents a week of book-related events.

Our email newsletter went out today, and while that features events through the end of April, this week's blog features happenings from now through April 11.

Tuesday, April 5, 6 pm, at MIAD, 273 E Erie St:
Barry Schwabsky, author of The Perpetual Guest: Art in the Unfinished Present.

Barry Schwabsky, leading art critic for The Nation, co-editor of international reviews for Artforum, and a frequent contributor to the London Review of Books, is coming to MIAD to discuss his latest book, The Perpetual Guest: Art of the Unfinished Present, in which he explores the connections between art's past and present. Contemporary art sometimes pretends to have made a clean break with history. Barry Schwabsky demonstrates that any robust understanding of art's present must also account for the ongoing life and changing fortunes of its past. Schwabsky's rich and subtle contributions illuminate art's present moment in all its complexity: shot through with determinations produced by centuries of interwoven traditions, but no less open-ended for it.

Here's Barry Schwabsky critiquing two photography exhibits. I am quickly working through my monthly allotment of online articles for The Nation, what with Schwabsky and John Nichols (below) both writing for that magazine.

Tuesday April 5, at 6:30 pm at Alverno College’s Alumnae Hall and Tuesday April 12, at 7:00 pm at UWM Union Fireside Lounge
Ellen Bravo, author of Again and Again.

Ellen Bravo will be appearing at two area universities to read from and discuss her recent novel, Again and Again. When the man who raped her roommate in college becomes a Senate candidate, women’s rights leader Deborah Borenstein must make a choice—one that could determine control of the Senate, the course of a friendship, and the fate of a marriage.

Wednesday, April 6, 7 pm, at the North Shore Library, 6800 N Port Washington Rd in Glendale:
Jesse Andrews, author of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and The Haters.

From Jesse Andrews, author of the bestselling Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, (and screenwriter of the award-winning film adaptation) comes The Haters, a novel about music, love, friendship, and freedom.

For Wes and his best friend, Corey, jazz camp turns out to be lame. It's pretty much all dudes talking in Jazz Voice. But then they jam with Ash, a charismatic girl with an unusual sound, and the three just click. It's three and a half hours of pure musical magic, and Ash makes a decision: they need to hit the road. Because the road, not summer camp, is where bands get good. Before Wes and Corey know it, they're in Ash's SUV heading south, and The Haters Summer of Hate Tour has begun.

Here's the trailer for The Haters. It features Andrews playing guitar.



Thursday, April 7, 7 pm, at the Riverside Theater: Nick Offerman, author of Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America's Gutsiest Troublemakers.

Tickets are $20 plus taxes and fees and include a copy of the paperback. A crazy big signing will follow, for those who are interested. We are not sold out yet, but we're getting close to capacity.

Here's some more about the book, due out in paperback tomorrow. Bill Jones in The AV Club notes: "In chapter 11 of Gumption, Nick Offerman handily refutes the idea that Yoko Ono was responsible for the breakup of The Beatles. He also espouses her creativity as an artist, recounts the gallery exhibition at which John Lennon connected with her work, and delves into the cleverness of their peace efforts. The chapter is not only indicative of what Offerman tries to accomplish throughout Gumption - dispel long-held myths, muse on anecdotes about the 'gutsiest troublemakers' who have died, and exchange philosophies with many troublemakers still alive - but is also the point where he hits his stride."

Friday, April 8, 7 pm, at Boswell: John Nichols and Robert McChesney, authors of People Get Ready:The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy.

Please join us at Boswell for a talk and signing with John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney, appearing for their new collaboration, People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy. John Nichols is The Nation's Washington, DC correspondent and has written their Online Beat since 1999. He is also a contributing writer for The Progressive and In These Times. Robert W. McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is author or editor of 23 books and cofounder of Free Press, a national media reform organization.

Kirkus Reviews writes: "McChesney and Nation Washington, D.C., correspondent Nichols bring clear urgency to this sprawling polemic, which encompasses politics, the cybereconomy, the decline of critical journalism, and historical movements beginning with America's founding." They posit that technology could lead to a jobless economy but technology itself is not the enemy. I wasn't thinking about the Wisconsin primary when I booked this event, but let's just say that had the event been booked earlier, we likely would have had to bump it, due to the audience

Here's McChesney and Nichols speaking at Town Hall Seattle.



Monday, April 11, 6:30 pm, at the West Allis Public Library, 7421 W National Ave:
Ally Condie author of Matched and Summerlost.

It's the first real summer since the accident that killed Cedar's father and younger brother, Ben. Cedar and what s left of her family are returning to the town of Iron Creek for the summer. They re just settling into their new house when a boy named Leo, dressed in costume, rides by on his bike. Intrigued, Cedar follows him to the renowned Summerlost theatre festival. Soon, she not only has a new friend in Leo and a job working concessions at the festival, she finds herself surrounded by mystery. The mystery of the tragic, too-short life of the Hollywood actress who haunts the halls of Summerlost. And the mystery of the strange gifts that keep appearing for Cedar.

From Publishers Weekly's starred review: "The thread of Lisette’s mystery is intriguing in itself, but Leo and Cedar’s unlikely friendship steals the show. Their adventures, set against the quirky backdrop of a community of personality-rich theater creators, make for a summer with plenty of good to remember along with the bad."

Ally Condie is the author of the trilogy Matched, Crossed, and Reached. I know that disappointing box office has led to less development of YA series, but if you look through film sites, you can see that a lot of readers have had great fun coming up with fantasy casts for Ally Condie's novels.

Construction alert: If you are attending this event, please leave extra time, as several exit ramps are closed on I-894 and I-94 that service West Allis. We'd recommend the 70th Street exit if you are traveling west on I-94 and 60th/Hawley if traveling east. From the west, northwest, and southwest, you can also take I-894 and get off on Lincoln (if traveling south) or Greenfield (if traveling north). I used the DOT map to try to determine which exits were open, but I understand you can't always depend on the info being right or that I actually have the ability to read them correctly. My apologies in advance!

Here's Ally Condie on Salt Lake City television discussing her book.