Two events and a preview - Mameve Medwed with Elinor Lipman, Jeff Porter with Meghan Daum, Jennifer Robson

Happy Ann Hood week! I noticed that this author, editor, and knitter wrote a lovely recommendation for Mameve Medwed's latest. And Jeff Porter's memoir was acquired for her Gracie Belle imprint.

Tuesday, January 19, 7 pm - virtual event
Mameve Medwed, author of Minus Me
in conversation with Elinor Lipman - Register here for this event

The delightful Mameve Medwed returns to Boswell (virtually) to talk about her poignant and hilarious new novel about the bonds of marriage, the burdens of maternal love, and the courage to face mortality. For this event, Medwed will be in conversation with her longtime friend and Boswell favorite, Elinor Lipman, author of Good Riddance and her latest, Rachel to the Rescue.

So many fans of Minus Me! But I think it's thematically appropriate here to single out Ann Hood, author of The Book that Matters Most and The Knitting Circle, who wrote: "Minus Me is a delightful romp of a novel. Only Mameve Medwed could have a reader smiling as she reads about the great themes of loss, motherhood, marriage, and love. Surely this is the feel good book of the year!”

Annie and Sam have successfully taken over a sandwich shop in Passamaquoddy, Maine, home of the legendary Paul Bunyan (recipe only hinted at). But then Annie receives a scary diagnosis from her doctor, and putting off the treatment, she decides instead to compose a manual to her husband on how to survive when she's gone. This might not exactly be the best plan of action. And things get more complicated when Annie's diva mom arrives in town.

Mameve Medwed is author of five novels, including Mail, How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life, which received a Massachusetts Book Award Honors in Fiction, and Of Men and Their Mothers. Can't make this event? Medwed will virtually be at Print in Portland, Maine for a conversation with writer and book champion Caroline Leavitt on January 26. Register here. Or you can watch her video with Medwed and Stephen McCauley at Porter Square here.

Thursday, January 21, 7 pm - virtual event
Jeff Porter, author of Planet Claire: Suite for Cello and Sad-Eyed Lovers
in conversation with Meghan Daum - Register here for this event

Join us for a conversation with Jeff Porter, coeditor of Understanding the Essay, for a chat about his new book, Planet Claire: Suite for Cello and Sad-Eyed Lovers. Porter will chat with Meghan Daum, acclaimed essayist and author of The Problem with Everything. Porter retired from the University of Iowa and settled in Milwaukee, but he's wintering elsewhere. So while we have signed copies of Planet Claire, we can't offer personalizations, unless you want to wait until April or thereabouts.

Meghan Daum writes that "Planet Claire left me awestruck. I don't know how he did it, but on every page of this incredible book, Jeff Porter manages to convey devastating sadness while also being delightful company." Jeff Porter will be in conversation with Meghan Daum for this event. Daum is the author of My Misspent Youth and The Problem with Everything. She has also edited several nonfiction anthologies. 

Porter tells the story of the untimely death of the his wife and gives us a candid account of the following year of madness and grief. With Claire's death, Jeff Porter tries to imagine life without her but struggles with the bewilderment that follows. The grief is crushing, her death the psychological equivalent of Pearl Harbor.

Ann Hood writes that the impetus for this imprint was from the death of her child in 2002. She wound up writing Comfort, a book that she wished had been available when she was going through her own trauma. In the time since, she's helped others with their work, but they've always struggled to find a publishing home. So she wound up collaborating with Akashic Books to make one. You can read her entire story here. 

Monday, January 25, 7 pm - a virtual ticketed event
Jennifer Robson, author of Our Darkest Night: A Novel of Italy and the Second World War
A Ticketed Virtual Event - Visit jenniferrobsonlynden.eventbrite.com. 

The Lynden Sculpture Garden Women’s Speakers Series returns virtually with an event featuring Jennifer Robson, author of The Gown and Moonlight in Paris, who returns to Milwaukee for her latest novel. Cohosted by The Lynden Sculpture Garden, Milwaukee Reads, and Boswell Book Company.  

Tickets for admission to this event cost $5 plus sales tax and ticket fee, or you can upgrade to admission-with book for the cost of the book in hardcover ($27.99) or paperback ($17.99). Books can be picked up at Boswell or for an additional fee, shipped out via USPS media mail. $5 from your admission only or hardcover ticket purchase, or $3 from the paperback ticket level, will be donated back to Lynden Sculpture Garden. 

Robson tells the story of a young Jewish woman must pose as a Christian farmer's wife to survive the Holocaust. Inspired by true events, this tale of terror, hope, love, and sacrifice evokes the most perilous days of World War II.

This is Robson's third time as a featured author of the Lynden, which is a new record. Margy Stratton and Milwaukee Reads is working hard to put together a great spring schedule. We'll have more details as events are confirmed.

Looking for a way to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day? This story from CBS58 has some ideas.

More upcoming events here.