Paul Sailer, author of “The Oranges are Sweet” and the 2012 Minnesota Aviation Writer of the Year, will present a tribute to World War II hero Maj. Don Beerbower at the Grand Rapids Public Library from 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday.
Beerbower, of Hill City, led all Minnesota fighter pilots in aerial and ground victories in World War II. The program will include archive film footage of Beerbower.
Go to lodenbooks.com for more information.
They’ve got plants. They’ve got books. And it’s all on sale.
The League of Women Voters Duluth is hosting a plant and book sale 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Mount Royal Shopping Center parking lot.
Proceeds go to League of Women Voters Duluth voter-education projects.
The headline isn’t meant to scare anyone; it’s for anyone who’s a fan of whodunnits.
The Minnesota Crime Wave, featuring crime authors William Kent Krueger, Carl Brookins and Ellen Hart, visits the United Church, 531 Third Ave. in Two Harbors, at 7 p.m. today.
The free event (thanks to a Minnesota Book Awards grant) will have an authors’ talk, interactive audience game “Spot the Imposter” and a book signing with copies available to purchase. Donations will be accepted for the Two Harbors Public Library’s “Love Your Library Renovation Project.”
Contact Micky McGilligan at (218) 834-4891 or mmcgilligan@mediacombb.net for more information.
The United Way of Greater Duluth’s Women’s Leadership Council is hosting a book drive to collect books appropriate for kids up to grade 3.
Big Red Book Shelves are around town year-round at Fitger’s Book Store, Duluth Teachers Credit Union — downtown, Kenwood and Miller Hill locations — and at Minnesota Power Employees Credit Union in Duluth and Hermantown. Super One Foods will collect books at Duluth locations June 17-24.
Volunteers are needed to screen the books for condition and appropriateness from noon to 2 p.m. June 26 at the Ordean Building, 424 W. Superior St., Suite 402. Contact the United Way at (218) 726-4729.
The library has the furniture. But will the city get the weather?
The Duluth Public Library will unveil its new outdoor tables, benches, umbrellas and trash receptacle today at a 9 a.m. news conference.
The furniture was paid for with a grant from the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation and a donation by Duluth furniture company Loll Designs.
The all-weather furniture is on the upper plaza of the main library downtown at 520 W. Superior St.
Not so fast, skateboarders. The new setup is for library users, tourists and those who work or live nearby. Other than the umbrellas, it will remain outside year-round.
The International Wolf Center in Ely has announced a new exhibit that will highlight American author and environmentalist Sigurd F. Olson. “The Sigurd Olson Legacy: Wilderness, Writing and Wolves Exhibit” is open now through Oct. 31 and features a re-creation of Olson’s famous writing shack outside his former Ely home.
Olson was one of America’s most beloved nature writers and most influential conservationists of the 20th century. Best known as the author of “The Singing Wilderness” and eight other books, Olson also played an important role in the preservation of a number of wilderness areas, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Through the exhibit, visitors will learn that Olson first agreed with the public’s disapproval of wolves and supported their extermination until he began work toward his master’s thesis in 1930. His thesis, “The Life History of the Timber Wolf and the Coyote: A Study in Predatory Animal Control,” is on display at the exhibit. Olson concluded in the thesis the proposal that Minnesota’s Superior National Forest be designated as a sanctuary for carnivores.
If you can hardly wait for the Art in Bayfront Park art fair in August, you can get a taste for it in a new book featuring artists from the annual event.
The first Art in Bayfront Park artist coffee table book prints this month, and orders now are being taken. The 140-page book can be ordered by e-mailing artinbayfrontpark@yahoo.com or calling (218) 727-8100.
Page through and find your favorite artists. Then you can beeline to them at the art fair that takes place Aug. 17-18 at Bayfront Festival Park in Duluth.
Today’s plans can include some songs and poetry readings in downtown Duluth. “Moonlight Over Stone: Poetry in Sacred Places” will feature readings from Linda LeGarde Grover and Roberta Hill and music from Lyz Jaakola and the Oshkii Giizhik Singers.
The event, organized by Deborah Cooper, Duluth Poet Laureate for 2012-14, is at 7:30 p.m. at the American Indian Community Housing Organization, Trepanier Hall, 212 W. Second St. It’s free and open to the public. There’s a request for donations of blank journals to be distributed to community groups.
There will be refreshments and books available for purchase.
Call the AICHO office at (218) 722-7225 for more information.
Who doesn’t love a book fair? It was one of the highlights of this Eh? desker’s elementary school years.
Barnes & Noble at the Miller Hill Mall in Duluth is hosting its own book fair today, and this one will benefit North Country R.I.D.E., which provides therapeutic horseback riding to at-risk youth and people of all ages with special needs in Carlton, Douglas and St. Louis counties.
The book store will donate 10 percent of its sales from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. to when customers present a book-fair voucher to a sales associate. Online purchases from Saturday to Wednesday are eligible. Go to northcountryride.org to download the voucher. Volunteers will be onsite to hand out vouchers, too. They’ll also have information about North Country R.I.D.E., supplies for making Mother’s Day cards, and face painting for kids.
Attention homebound lit lovers: The Duluth Public Library is offering Home Library Service, a free program that delivers up to 15 books or other library materials to Duluth residents.
People interested in receiving Home Library Service should call the library’s fiction/media desk at (218) 730-4200, option 6. An application and reading interest form will be mailed.
