in conversation with Mike Fischer, in-person at Boswell - click here to register.
Stephens offers the an unflinching look at her personal journey on the professional stage, from dinner theatre to regional theatre to Broadway, revealing the struggles, triumphs, losses, and above all, the ultimate grace found in a life in the theatre.
Linda Stephens has been acting on stages for fifty years and has been awarded for her work in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami and DC. She's appeared on Broadway and Off, in dozens of regional theatres across the country, and has worked with Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and Stephen Sondheim. Stephens lives in Milwaukee.
in conversation with Daniel Goldin and Lisa Baudoin for a virtual event - click here to register.
Readings from Oconomowaukee presents its October edition featuring Joanna Quinn, who joins us virtually from the UK for a conversation about The Whalebone Theatre. Her irresistible debut novel takes its heroine from the gargantuan cavity of a beached whale into undercover operations during World War II and tells a story of love, bravery, lost innocence, and self-transformation. The Whalebone Theatre is the current Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club selection.
Early praise from Sarah Winman, author of Still Life: "The Whalebone Theatre has all the makings of a classic. And Cristabel Seagrave is the most gratifying hero. The war scenes often left me breathless: they are as good as you will ever read. A wonderful debut. Actually, a tour de force." And from Rebecca Stott, author of Ghostwalk: "Magnificent. As capacious, surprising and magical as the whale that lends its bones to Cristabel’s theatre: a tale of intertwined lives and braided fates as deftly managed and heartbreaking as a Dickens novel."
Joanna Quinn was born in London and grew up in Dorset, in the southwest of England, where The Whalebone Theatre, is set. She has worked in journalism and the charity sector. Her writing has been published by The White Review and Comma Press, among others. She teaches creative writing.
in-person at Boswell - click here to register.
Boswell hosts Nick Marx, Associate Professor at CSU, for an event featuring That’s Not Funny, the new book that he’s coauthored which focuses on the emergence of right-wing comedy and the political power of humor. Vulture calls it one of the Best Comedy Books of 2022.
That's Not Funny taps interviews with conservative comedians and observations of them in action to guide readers through media history, text, and technique. You may find many of these comedians appalling, some very funny, and others just plain weird. They are all, however, culturally and politically relevant as the American right attempts to seize spaces of comedy and irony previously held firmly by the left. Like this brand of humor or not, you can't ignore it.
Nick Marx is Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies in the Department of Communication Studies at Colorado State University.
in-person at Boswell Book Company - click here to register.
Journalist and Wisconsin native Kathleen Hale visits Boswell for a presentation about her new book, Slenderman, the first full and authoritative account of the 2014 Slenderman stabbing in Waukesha. This true crime narrative offers a full picture of the tragic event and the influences of mental illness, the American judicial system, the trials of adolescence, and the power of the internet.
On May 31, 2014 in Waukesha, two twelve-year-old girls attempted to stab their classmate to death. Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier’s violence was extreme, but what seemed even more frightening was that they committed their crime under the influence of a figure born by the internet: the so-called 'Slenderman.' Yet the even more urgent aspect of the story, that the children involved suffered from undiagnosed mental illnesses, often went overlooked in coverage of the case. For the first time, Hale tells the full story for the first time in deeply researched detail, using court transcripts, police reports, individual reporting, and exclusive interviews.
Early praise from Boswellians has arrived. From Chris Lee: "Slenderman is a perfect example of true crime writing at its best. It’s a horrible incident, yes, but native Wisconsinite Hale, with a sensitive and fact-oriented eye, cuts through the slogans attached to the case (Internet Evil! Adult Crime, Adult Time!) to understand the ties between mental illness, Midwestern stoicism, violence, and reactionary impulses." And from Parker Jensen: "Because the true facts of the case were blurred, fumbled, and outright ignored, the idea of two 12-year-old girls committing such a violent crime all in the name of an internet boogeyman is confusing and downright disconcerting. But that was never the full story. Hale's telling is extremely comprehensive, well researched, and compellingly written. Told with facts and not sensationalism in mind, Slenderman is the best true crime book I've read in years."
Kathleen Hale is author of the essay collection Kathleen Hale Is a Crazy Stalker as well as two young adult novels. She has written for the Guardian, Hazlitt, and Vice, and is a writer and producer for Outer Banks on Netflix. She was born in Wisconsin and lives in Los Angeles.
in conversation with Gretchen Rubin for a ticketed virtual event - click here to purchase a ticket.
Boswell teams up with a number of independent bookstores in the country to present a Random House Studio Sessions event featuring bestselling author an Whole30 creator Melissa Urban, who will chat about her latest project, The Book of Boundaries, with Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project.
Set the limits that will set you free. Urban’s latest work is a straightforward and compassionate guide to setting the boundaries that will revolutionize your relationships. How often do you tell yourself to just 'let it go' when you want to do anything but? Do you say "it’s fine' when it’s really anything but? Do you feel resentful, depleted, or overwhelmed? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you need to establish some boundaries.
Melissa Urban is CEO of the Whole30, a New York Times bestselling author, and has been featured by Good Morning America, The New York Times, and CNBC.
In-Person at UWM Curtin Hall Room 175, 3243 N Downer Ave - click here for more info.
UWM’s Creative Writing Program Visiting Writers Series presents a program featuring Phong Nguyen, a UWM PhD graduate and author of Bronze Drum, a gripping historical adventure set in ancient Vietnam based on the true story of two warrior sisters who raised an army of women to overthrow the Han Chinese and rule as kings over a united people, for readers of Circe and The Night Tiger.
Vivid, lyrical, and filled with adventure, Bronze Drum is a true story of standing up for one's people, culture, and country that has been passed down through generations of Vietnamese families through oral tradition. Phong Nguyen's breathtaking novel takes these real women out of legends and celebrates their loves, losses, and resilience in this inspirational story of women's strength and power even in the face of the greatest obstacles.
From Wisconsin author Christina Clancy: "Girl Power’ may have originated with the Trung sisters who fought for Vietnamese independence in 40 CE. Phong Nguyen enlivens this historical moment in Bronze Drum, a sweeping and imaginative account of their efforts to form an army of women to fight for and preserve their freedom. This fast-paced novel features palace intrigue, sex, deception, scholarship, bravery, love, honor, magic and power. Nguyen has the rare ability to render events that happened long ago in a way that fells contemporary and even timely. I'm in awe of his storytelling powers and was captivated from the first page to the last."
Phong Nguyen is author of Roundabout: An Improvisational Fiction, The Adventures of Joe Harper, and Pages from the Textbook of Alternate History. He is the Miller Family Endowed Chair in Literature and Writing at the University of Missouri.
Boswell hosts an evening with photographer and documentarian Dennis Darmek for his new book, Crossing the DMZ, which attempts to use art to measure the immeasurable tragedy of the war in Vietnam, which affected the lives of millions of people both here in the US and throughout Southeast Asia.
Photographer Larry Schwarm praises Darmek’s work thusly: "Crossing the DMZ falls in that interesting area between art and journalism - it’s both. It is beautiful and heartbreaking." And from artist Suzanne Rose: "Utterly poetic… a path past pain to beauty."
Dennis Darmek is a photographer, video artist, and documentarian, and his work has been featured on PBS and European television as well as in museums and galleries around the world, including the Milwaukee Art Museum, The Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, and the Museum of Wisconsin Art.
in Conversation with Sally Haldorson for a virtual event - click here to register.
Boswell Book Company teams up again with Porchlight Book Company to present a virtual event featuring MIT Professor of Philosophy and author Kieran Setiya for a conversation about his philosophical new guide to facing life's inevitable hardships. In conversation with Sally Haldorson, Porchlight’s Managing Director.
Setiya’s book is great for fans of Atomic Habits. Daniel H Pink, author of Drive, says: "Kieran Setiya has produced the ultimate handbook of hardship. He shows why adversity is inevitable - and why facing up to that reality, rather than insisting on simple-minded notions of happiness, offers the only path to living well." And from Louis Menand, author of The Metaphysical Club: "Finding wisdom in Aristotle, Wittgenstein, and Simone Weil, and also in Dostoevsky, Emily Dickinson, and Groundhog Day, this book offers guidance on how to make the most of the hand we have all been dealt."
Kieran Setiya is Professor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author Midlife: A Philosophical Guide. His writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, The New York Times, and The Yale Review.
in conversation with Noah Weckwerth, in-person at Elm Grove Public Library, 13600 Juneau Blvd - click here to register.
Elm Grove Public Library hosts an evening of conversation with Milwaukee-area native Andrea Bartz, author of the Reese’s Book Club pick We Were Never Here, in which a backpacking trip leads to deadly consequences across three continents as the story traverses Cambodia, Chile, and Wisconsin. In conversation with Noah Weckwerth of Elm Grove Public Library and cosponsored by Boswell Book Company.
From Sarah Weinman, writing for The New York Times Book Review: "A book that skillfully examines toxic friendship at its most extreme... When the reckoning arrives, it shows that sometimes, we should fear our friends a lot more than strangers." And from NPR: "Beneath the thrilling cliffhangers and impeccably paced plot lies a very sharp portrait of female friendship and how magical and intense it can be."
Andrea Bartz is the bestselling author of the thrillers The Lost Night and The Herd. Her writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, and Elle, and she has held editorial positions at Glamour, Psychology Today, and Self, among other publications.
Kathleen Hale by Melissa Schaefers
Melissa Urban by Brandon Talbot
Gretchen Rubin by Elena Seibert
Kieran Setiya by Caspar Hare
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