Boswell presents an evening with Wisconsin tennis coaching sensation and EssentialTennis.com founder Ian Westermann to celebrate the release of his new book, Essential Tennis, in which he asks, what’s the number one thing stopping you from playing your best tennis?
Westermann is here to tell you that your #1 tennis obstacle is something you probably never thought of: the ball. Ridiculous, right? The whole point of tennis is to hit the ball over the net and in, so how can the ball be the thing that’s standing in the way? In fact, this is why the ball is such an impediment: your desire to hit a good shot, with the right mix of power and spin, to a specific spot on the court, prevents you from striking the ball the way you should.
Essential Tennis contains technique-based instruction for executing groundstrokes, volleys, and serves, as well as progressions, drills, and mindsets players should incorporate. Westermann illuminates strokes, movement, strategy, and mental toughness – all proven to be successful over 20 years with clients of all ages and skill levels. Paul Annacone, long-time coach of Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, says: "This is a must read. A 'how to' regarding tennis for all ages & all skill levels. For too long we’ve been waiting for something like this to come along. Now, tennis players everywhere have terrific guidance and information to continue to improve their games."
Ian Westermann is the founder of EssentialTennis.com, an online tennis instruction portal. After college, he took a job at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, MD. Now, Westermann and his staff of coaches and crew guide the improvement of thousands of students from every corner of the world - more that 140 countries in all. Westermann lives in the Milwaukee area with his family.
Boswell Book Company and Porchlight Book Company cohost an evening featuring Ada Limón, the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning poet for a conversation about The Hurting Kind, her astonishing new collection about interconnectedness, between the human and nonhuman, ancestors and ourselves. In conversation with Sally Haldorson, Managing Director of Porchlight.
With Limón’s remarkable ability to capture thoughts,
The Hurting Kind incorporates others’ stories and ways of knowing, making surprising turns, in order to reach a place of startling insight. These poems slip through the seasons and honor parents, stepparents, and grandparents: the sacrifices made, the separate lives lived, the tendernesses extended to a hurting child. Along the way, we glimpse loss. There are flashes of the pandemic, ghosts which manifest in unexpected memories, and the mysterious behavior of pets left behind. But
The Hurting Kind is filled, above all, with connection and the delight of being in the world.
Limón’s. From Craig Morgan Teicher in
The New York Times Book Review: "
The Hurting Kind is packed with quiet celebrations of the quotidian. Limón looks out her window, walks around her yard, and, like Emily Dickinson, trips over infinities." And from David L. Ulin in the
Los Angeles Times: "When Limón exclaims, in the last line of the poem and the collection, 'I am asking you to touch me,' she is writing out of the darkness of the pandemic, but she is also addressing something more universal and profound. What are words worth if they can’t help to bridge the gaps between us? It’s a question many of us are asking as we try to navigate this fallen world."
Ada Limón is a National Book Award finalist and author of six collections of poetry, including titles such as
The Carrying, a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, and
Bright Dead Things, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kingsley Tufts Award. Limón is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and her work has appeared in
The New Yorker,
The New York Times, and
American Poetry Review. She is the new host of American Public Media's weekday poetry podcast
The Slowdown.
Boswell Book Company is pleased to host a virtual evening featuring editor and author Katie Runde for a conversation about her debut novel, The Shore, a big-hearted family saga set over the course of one summer that embraces a family's experiences of grief. Perfect for fans of The Nest and Ask Again, Yes. In conversation with Milwaukee authors Liam Callanan and CJ Hribal.
Set over the course of one summer, this perfect beach read follows a mother and her two daughters as they grapple with heartbreak, young love, and the weight of family secrets. Brian and Margot Dunne live year-round in Seaside, just steps away from the bustling boardwalk, with their daughters Liz and Evy. When Brian develops a brain tumor, transforming into a bizarre, erratic version of himself, Liz still seeks out summer adventure and flirting with unsuitable guys amidst the chaos and new caretaking responsibilities. Her younger sister Evy works in a candy shop, falls in love with her friend Olivia, and secretly adopts the persona of a middle-aged mom in an online support group, where she discovers her own mother’s most vulnerable confessions. Meanwhile, Margot faces an impossible choice driven by grief, impulse, and the ways that small-town life in Seaside has shaped her.
Kirkus called
The Shore "sweet, sad, and surprising." And from Judy Blundell in
The New York Times, who takes issue that the book is packaged as a beach read: "You can tuck it into your beach bag, but don’t expect a romp.
The Shore is never sentimental; it is absorbing, lucid and true. Anyone who has lost someone by inches will recognize the struggle to push through despair and affirm the dogged endurance of love.
Katie Runde grew up on the Jersey Shore, where her family ran various boardwalk businesses. She holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College, where both Hribal and Callanan have taught. Liam Callanan is Professor of English at UWM and author of novels such as
Paris by the Book. CJ Hribal is a Professor Emeritus at Marquette University and author of novels such as
The Family Car.
Boswell hosts an evening featuring Milwaukee musician Kellen ‘Klassik’ Abston and his biographer, Milwaukee author Joey Grihalva, for a conversation about their new collaboration, The Milwaukeean, a book that explores Abston’s life and the issues that have shaped it: gun violence, addiction, anxiety, racism, therapy, and creativity. Abston was named one of the 2021 Mildred L. Harpole Artists of the Year by the City of Milwaukee.
In a moment of national healing,
The Milwaukeean is a call to confront our history, face our demons, and find our peace. It is more than the story of one musician, it is the song of an American city struggling to save its soul, told by a musician and author as they explore the ties that bind them to their shared hometown.
Joey Grihalva is the author of
Images of America: Milwaukee Jazz. His work has appeared in
Urban Milwaukee,
Radio Milwaukee,
Wisconsin Gazette, and other local and regional publications. Kellen ‘Klassik’ Abston is a celebrated composer, producer, and performer, and his album
Quiet was named the #1 local album of 2019 by
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
More on the upcoming events page.
Photo credits:
Ian Westermann by Tyler Myrick
Katie Runde by Rebecca Sanabria
Liam Callanan by Patrick Manning
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