"&" the Relatively New Ticketed Events: Nancy Pearl with Kathleen Dunn on September 9 and Kate DiCamillo at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts on October 29

I guess we're in the midst of fall ticketed events. If you don't get our email newsletter, you might not have heard about these.

#1: Nancy Pearl, author of Book Lust and her first novel, George & Lizzie, at Boswell on Saturday, September 9, 7 pm. Pearl will be in conversation with Wisconsin Public Radio's Kathleeen Dunn. If you love those shows with Pearl and Dunn (yes, does sound like a country music band), you'll love this in-store event.

Tickets are $29, and include admission and a copy of George & Lizzie. A $19 Boswell gift card will be available on the night of the event only.

As you know, Kathleen Dunn will be retiring this August. It will be hard to say goodbye. We're so grateful for her participation in this event. And yes, this event is cosponsored by Wisconsin Public Radio, and $5 from each ticket will be donated back to Wisconsin Public Radio.

Here's a condensation of my recommendation of George & Lizzie, the quriky and charming novel from Pearl: "It’s hard not to root for Lizzie, a hero in the vein of Laurie Colwin or more recently, Elizabeth McKenzie’s The Portable Veblen. She's living proof that you can overcome the burdens of your past, especially if you remember the mantra that nobody cares what happened to you in high school."

I just want to say a word about titles with ampersands. One of my booksellers told me that I spelled the title of the novel wrong because I spelled out "and." But the truth is that especially when your writing is going back and forth between html code, those ampersands can be pesky. It's my feeling that using one over the other was a decision made by the art director, not the writer, but I could be wrong.

#2: Kate DiCamillo, author of Raymie Nightingale and La La La: A Story of Hope, at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts in Brookfield's Mitchell Park on Sunday, October 29, 2 pm. This is the second collaboration between Boswell and Oconomowoc's Books & Company.

Tickets are $22, and include admission and a copy of La La La. There is no gift card option for this event, but think of how close you are to the holidays. La La La makes a great gift. DiCamillo is one of the most inspiring speakers you'll ever hear and does very little touring to bookstores. This is her first public event in Milwaukee since 2012.

Here's more about this very special book. "With the simplest of narratives and the near absence of words, Kate DiCamillo conveys a lonely child’s yearning for someone who understands. With a subtle palette and captivating expressiveness, Jaime Kim brings to life an endearing character and a transcendent landscape that invite readers along on an emotionally satisfying journey."


The Wilson Center is a beautful venue with convenient parking. We had such a great time there with Adriana Trigiani last week. And there are lots of great places to eat beforehand in Sendik's Town Center. Our first week of sales on this one was very strong - we could sell out on this one, especially because there's a lot of DiCamillo love floating around the Milwaukee area. The Elmbrook Schools are having a DiCamillo district read this fall, and First Stage will be performing The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

I also didn't catch that our partners on this event, Books & Company, generally spell their store with an ampersand. I'm trying to catch this and hope that the coding doesn't mess me up.

All this and one other fall event already sold out! But there are plenty more exciting events to come this fall. Stay tuned.