MN's Louis Jenkins poem read at the Tonys

MN poet Louis Jenkins had a sort of mention at the recent Tony awards.  Mark Rylance won a best actor Tony for "Jerusalem" and for the second time, instead of a speech, he recited a Louis Jenkins poem.  Except he didn't SAY it was a Louis Jenkins poem.  I wonder what Louis Jenkins thinks of that?  I just sent him an email... I'll let you know if he responds back!

Good Luck Envelopes!

This week on Realgoodwords I get the chance to talk with Minnesota poet Sharon Chmielarz again.  Sharon had 2 books of poetry published this year "Calling" and "The Sky is Great The Sky is Blue".  Poet connie Wanek said of "The Sky is Great The Sky is Blue":

"These are astonishing poems.  Like Szymborska's, the poems are spare, often subversive, both dark and hopeful; a conscience is at work in them.  like Dickinson's, they breathe."

In my conversation with Sharon she talked about what it is like to get her poetry out into the world, "When I send off a submission like when you're sending off to magazines, I always wish my envelopes good luck (and the poems too!) because they're traveling over the mail and they're going into this office where I would be very nervous to go by myself - and they face this terrible judgment on the other end.  YES or NO.  Go to the right, or left...."

Sharon is one of the many writers that I get to talk to for Realgoodwords on KAXE.  Also featured this week is the legendary performer Andy Williams who will be part of this year's Judy Garland festival in Grand Rapids.  Andy's memoir is "Moon River and Me".  Where else but KAXE will you get such diverse programming - people getting the chance to tell their stories.  How do we do it, week after week?  We do it because people listen and people support this community radio station.  If you aren't a member, I hope you'll consider it today.  218-326-1234 or 800-662-5799. 

Fish or Cut Bait

Heard that phrase before?  Want to take it on as your own?  Me too. 

In some ways, Fish or Cut Bait describes this week's Realgoodwords where I talk with authors Ellen Airgood and Jim Proebstle.  Proebstle is a northern Minnesota summer resident who has published a novel based on true events "Fatal Incident".  He tells us the true life story and fictionalizes the reasonings and endings that were never uncovered before.  In 1944 there was a crash in Alaska's Mount McKinley range that killed 20 people.  The pilot, Nick, is a pilot for the Army's ATC in Alaska.  In real life, the bodies and the documents surrounding this crash were never found.  It's fascinating because Alaska was a strategic defense position against Japan as well as a lend-lease exchange location for Soviet pilots in support of Russia's war with Germany.  Mix in a possibility of a plot to steal the U.S's top secret atomic bomb designs and you have what William Kent Krueger calls "a hell of a good read".  Fish or Cut Bait here is the fortitude of the brothers who are pilots in the book, as well as the central love story that is woven throughout between Nick and Martha.  Jim Proebstle will be at the Village Bookstore in Grand Rapids on Saturday June 18th from 11-2. 

Ellen Airgood of Grand Marais, Michigan has just published her debut novel "South of Superior".  It's based loosely on the town where she lives.  I asked Ellen to tell me more about why she settled in Michigan's U.P. 

"I came here camping with my sister in the national park near by and on a rainy day we drove into Grand Marais rather than hike.  We ate lunch and I picked out what I thought was the quaintest place to eat and I ended up marrying the cook and I've been here ever since.  I married him six months after I met him which was very crazy but twenty years later here we are and we've made a very good life together here. 

But there have been a lot of challenges in so many different ways and you will find that anywhere in life I think but I just happened to find it here.  I decided at some point along time ago to fish or cut bait and to pay attention to what I had.  I found it to be really wonderful.  But I did fall abruptly in love with the place and the person and really could tear myself away.  And even in the hardest of tiems I never ever wanted to leave here.  There's something about it that's magical as well as being very real and very difficult." 

Fish or Cut Bait.  I admire it in life and I admire it in my reading.  Tune in to KAXE this week for my conversations with Jim Proebstle and Ellen Airgood.  Or check the audio archives of Realgoodwords. 

Bemidji Library Book Festival June 13th-18th

Cool literary events happening in our listening June 13th-17th.... The event is put on by the Kitchigami Regional Library System and made possible by a grant from the MN Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.  Here's the lineup/information:

Monday June 13th:

Phyllis Root author of children's picture book "The Big Belching Bog" 10:30 Bemidji Library

Sandra Benitez author of "The Night of the Radishes" "The Weight of Water" and more 2pm Headwaters School of Music & The Arts

Todd Boss poet and author of "yellowrocket" 7pm American Indian Resources Center, BSU

Tuesday June 14th:
Mary Casanova children's author of many books including "Some Dog"  10:30 am Bemidji Library
Cynthia Kraack 2pm Headwaters School of Music & the Arts
Linda Grover 7pm Am. Indian Resource Center BSU

Wednesday June 15th
Catherine Friend author of "Sheepish:  Two Women, Fifty Sheep & Enough Wool to Save the Planet" 10:30 Bemidji Public Library
Catherine Friend 2pm Diamond Point Park
Colin Wesaw 7pm Am. Indian Resource Center, BSU

Thursday June 16th
Lynne Jonell 10:30pm Bemidji Library
Roy C. Booth 2pm Rail River Folk School
Heid Erdrich 7pm American Indian Resource Center BSU

Friday June 17th
Don Houseman 10:30am Bemidji Public Library
Julie Schumacher 2pm Headwaters School of Music
Author Fair 5-7pm Bemidji High School
Roxana Saberi 7pm BHS Auditorium (Keynote Author)

Saturday June 18th
Susan Marie Swanson 10:30am Bemidji Library

All events are free and open to the public.  Check Kitchigami Regional Library's website for more info. 

This week on Realgoodwords

Check out the video for young adult author Gayle Forman's "Where She Went" - it's been called "achingly satisfying" by Family Circle. Also MN Book Award winner Bonnie J. Rough and her memoir "Carrier: Untangling the Danger in My DNA".

This week on Realgoodwords

Tune in tonight for KAXE's weekly book program, Realgoodwords with Heidi Holtan. She'll talk with author Jael McHenry about her new book "The Kitchen Sister". After the unexpected death of her parents, shy and sheltered Ginny Selvaggio, a young woman with Asperger’s Syndrome, seeks comfort in family recipes. But the rich, peppery scent of her Nonna’s soup draws an unexpected visitor into the kitchen: the ghost of Nonna herself, dead for twenty years, who appears with a cryptic warning—before vanishing like steam from a cooling dish. Also Pulitzer Prize winning writer Geraldine Brooks and her novel "Caleb's Crossing" about the life of the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College in 1665. And local author K.L Malmquist drops by to talk about his second novel that's out, "The Unraveling".

Shelter by Sarah Stonich

This week on Realgoodwords!