Joseph Cassara, author of The House of Impossible Beauties
Boswell is pleased to cosponsor a special evening with Iowa Writers Workshop grad and debut novelist Joseph Cassara, in conjunction with Outwords Books, Gifts, and Coffee. The House of Impossible Beauties is a gritty and gorgeous debut that follows a cast of gay and transgender club kids navigating the Harlem ball scene of the 1980s and ’90s. The story is inspired by the real House of Xtravaganza, made famous by the seminal documentary Paris Is Burning.
This is our second collaboration with Outwords. You can purchase copies in advance at either store. On the night of the event, Outwords will have books for sale. If they run out, Boswell will have backup.
Here's what Entertainment Weekly had to say about Cassara's debut. David Canfield wrote: "The House of Impossible Beauties is a work of unrestrained passion, a novel both unabashedly queer - flamboyant and proud, built out of chosen families, pulsating with club vibes whilst clouded in the haze of trauma - and unmistakably Latin. This is not a book that boasts of inclusion on the basis of mere identity markers; rather, it’s a full-on, transporting immersion. The ensemble’s speech patterns are breathtakingly specific. The way relationships unfold consistently surprises, if only because of how rarely we see LGBTQ people of color depicted with such texture, fleshed out and funny and flawed. The book helps to fill one of adult fiction’s deeper holes. This, here, is the exciting narrative and literary potential of intersectionality, realized on the page."
Joseph Cassara was born and raised in New Jersey. He holds degrees from Columbia University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has been a writing fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Wednesday, February 28, 6:30 pm (note time), at Boswell:Bhupendra O. Khatri M.D., author of Healthcare 911: How America's Broken Healthcare System Is Driving Doctors to Despair, Depriving Patients of Care, and Destroying Our Reputation in the World
American doctors are experiencing the worst crisis since the dawn of western medicine. They are losing their autonomy, their health, and a good part of their income. Their burnout rate has reached critical proportions. They are retiring early or leaving the field altogether. The suicide rate is rising. Essentially, doctors are dealing with their own silent killer disease - unrelenting stress. In this scenario, patients will also be losers.
In his new book - Healthcare 911: How America’s Broken Healthcare System Is Driving Doctors to Despair, Depriving Patients of Care, And Destroying Our Reputation in The World – renowned Wisconsin neurologist Bhupendra O. Khatri explains the causes and consequences of this urgent problem.
“I cannot over emphasize the seriousness of this situation,” says Khatri. “In this era of corporate takeovers, it is becoming almost impossible to maintain a private medical practice. Many physicians, who are now employees of hospital and insurance companies, are pressured to see more patients in less time, bring computers into exam rooms, and spend many hours entering complicated codes into patients’ electronic health records - all of which interfere with quality patient care.”
Bhupendra O. Khatri M.D. is the Medical Director of the Center for Neurological Disorders, one of the largest MS Centers in the US. He has won numerous awards for his compassionate care and research in the field of multiple sclerosis.
Thursday, March 1, 7:00 pm reception, 7:30 talk, at the Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 W Brown Deer Rd, River Hills:A ticketed event with Kelly Barnhill, author of Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories
The Women’s Speaker Series, produced by Milwaukee Reads, presents Kelly Barnhill, the Newbery Medal-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon. Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories is a stunning first collection of acclaimed short fictions, teeming with uncanny characters whose stories unfold in worlds at once strikingly human and eerily original.
Here's Jim Higgins writing about the book in the Journal Sentinel: "Gentle readers, if you like your fantasy fiction female powered, with a Minnesota accent, may I introduce you to Kelly Barnhill? Your children may already know her; Barnhill's previous books include The Girl Who Drank the Moon, which won the Newbery Medal for children's literature in 2017. Now Barnhill has magicked into being a collection for adults, Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories."
Tickets for this event are $29, $24 for members, and include admission to the event, refreshments from MKE Localicious, and a copy of Dreadful Young Ladies. Visit lyndensculpturegarden.org/kellybarnhill or call (414) 446-8794 for more info.
Minnesota’s Kelly Barnhill is the author of four novels, most recently The Girl Who Drank the Moon, winner of the 2017 John Newbery Medal for the year's most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. She is also the winner of the World Fantasy Award, the Parents' Choice Gold Award, and the Texas Library Association Bluebonnet Award, and has been a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award, the NCTE Charlotte Huck Award, the SFWA Andre Norton Award, and the PEN/USA literary prize.
Thursday, March 6, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:Michael Moreci, author of Black Star Renegades.
The author of the acclaimed SF trilogy Roche Limit and stories for DC Comics’ Suicide Squad, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman now offers up a galaxy-hopping space adventure about a galactic kingdom bent on control and the young misfit who must find the power within before it’s too late.
From Andrew Liptak in The Verge: "Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A young man discovers that he’s destined for greater things in the galaxy, joins a mysterious, semi-religious order that act as the guardians of peace in said galaxy, and finds himself fighting an oppressive, genocidal regime bent on controlling the collective, galactic civilization. If that sounds like Star Wars, you’d be right, but it’s also the plot of comic book author Michael Moreci’s debut novel, Black Star Renegades. The book is a conspicuous tip-of-the-hat to George Lucas’ space opera franchise, and it’ll appeal to fans of Ernie Cline’s easter egg-laden novel Ready Player One."
As our friends at St. Martin's said, Black Star Renegades is a galaxy-hopping adventure that blasts its way from seedy spacer bars to sacred temples guarded by deadly creatures - all with a cast of misfit characters who have nowhere to go and nothing to lose.
Chicago-based Michael Moreci’s comics include the critically acclaimed sci-fi trilogy Roche Limit and the military horror drama Burning Fields. He's also written Suicide Squad for DC, Planet of the Apes for Boom!, and his other original titles include Curse, Hoax Hunters, ReincarNATE, and the forthcoming Black Hole Repo. As a novelist, Moreci is currently writing Spy Swap, an espionage thriller.
More upcoming events on our, wait for it, upcoming events page.
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