Recently named as one of the one hundred most influential Filipinas in the U.S. by Filipina Women's Network, Galang, who is also director of the Creative Writing program at the University of Miami, has been described by Edwidge Danticat as "a masterful storyteller" with "brilliant voice and craft." She goes on to describe Angel de la Luna and the Fifth Glorious Mystery as "...a beautifully told, and at times, heartbreaking coming of age and coming to America story." 

When Angel's mother descends into a deep grief, the rebellious young teen latches onto the 2001 Philippine People Power revolution. Impassioned, she seeks out the elder women of her community to learn more about her beloved island nation's history, but what she learns of their experiences in WWII only encourages her involvement in the protests. Seeking a new framework for life in the wake of the revolution, Angel's mother marries a somewhat conservative man who moves the family to cold, snowy Chicago, where an entirely new reality must be assessed. Galang juxtaposes poetic descriptions of place with heartbreaking history in order to reveal a story not of politics, but of quiet miracles, forgiveness, and the deep love of family.

Just nominated for a Teen Choice Book of the Year Award by TeenReads, Angel de la Luna offers an "intimate storytelling style will appeal to teenage readers and adults."  We agree, and although not technically a "kids" event, we enthusiastically recommend it for readers aged 12yrs and up.  

Here's Jim Higgins' interview with M. Evelina Galang in Sunday's Journal Sentinel. And because of weather conditions that might affect our event, if you are coming to Tuesday's event, please call ahead. 

Milwaukee-area short-story writer and playwright Jon Kolb was inspired to take up crime writing after the owner of Von Trier's was killed when shot with an arrow near his home. "I was in a writing group at the time," Kolb explains, "and we challenged each other to try and capture that strange, tragic event in a novel. I had written short stories and plays, but this was something new for me. I finished a draft and then went on to write a follow-up story that eventually became the basis for The Summer of Rain."  

Kolb pits a young private eye against corrupt politicians, cynical funeral directors, assassins, and beguiling rich women. With his hometown engulfed in a crime wave, Bobby Broyles struggles to protect his family and stay alive.

"Whether it's Milwaukee or Marinette, the challenge of a young man growing up and finding moral compass in a changing world that includes drugs and corruption is part of contemporary life. That's the battle my hero faces." Kolb says.

The "best thing to happen to passionate admirers since binoculars," according to the Chicago Sun-Times, Samantha Irby is the smart, saucy, foul-mouthed blogger behind the notoriously hilarious blog, B!tches Gotta Eat. Her new essay collection, Meaty, is crafted with the same scathing wit and poignant candor thousands of loyal readers have come to expect from her.

Boswellian Mel led the early charge in our three-bookseller-rec for Irby: "Samantha Irby has a  potty mouth, doesn't miss a detail, and is an equal-opportunity trash-talker. Which means she's probably my soulmate. At any rate, she'll convince you that she's--at the very least--your mom's soulmate in this eye-popping collection of essays. You will learn new words. You will laugh until you wee. And you will want to read passages aloud to friends, lovers, family members, and complete strangers. Don't miss your opportunity for some seriously Meaty reading: this is a collection to savor!" 

In the U.S. in the 1930s, a small but powerful group of people began a national movement with the aim of creating a fascist dictatorship based on Hitler's model. But others who were going to fight it. Joining Bernstein will be his former publisher, Sharon Woodhouse, of Everything Goes Media.

"Swastika Nation is the frightening, compulsively readable story of the rise of the German-American Bund of the 1930s. Arnie Bernstein chronicles the unlikely coalition of crusading politicians, moonlighting Hollywood icons, and tough-guy Jewish mobsters who found common cause in fighting the specter of homegrown Nazism at a time when it really could have happened here. His book is a vivid and enlightening look at a largely forgotten episode of American his  tory."-Gary Krist, New York Times bestselling author of City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago

This event is co-sponsored by the UWM Sam & Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies , the Harry & Rose Samson Family JCC, and the Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center. 

The Chicago-based author of several foodie novels, including Inappropriate Men, and Off the Menu, Ballis' new novel about friendship and food, Out to Lunch, has been described as "Heartfelt and hilarious" by humorist Jen Lancaster.

For most people, the reading of a will means hearing that someone or another receives a particular heirloom or sum of money. In Out to Lunch, however, Jenna receives care of her best friend's widower, Wayne. A Star Wars-obsesessed perpetual entrepreneur with some wild ideas (that don't always financially pan out in the black), Wayne is nothing but a burden for Jenna as she tries to cope with the grief of losing her best friend and business partner. It isn't until the two begin to see what Aimee saw in each of them, that they are able to truly begin healing. 

Feel free  to use the recipe index in the new novel as a shopping guide while you wander the aisles of Boelter SuperStore, gathering together professional knife sets or slick measuring tools, striking and elegant place settings for your next dinner party or a new blowtorch for your latest attempt at creme brulee. 

Boelter SuperStore is located at 4200 N. Port Washington Rd., in Milwaukee. Their normal hours are 8:30 am to 5 pm but they are staying open late for this special event. 

In The March on Washington,  William P. Jones, a professor of history at UW-Madison who specializes in civil rights and labor history, strives to go beyond King's dazzling speech to explore the background story of the march, profiling its founders and planners, and offering a comprehensive history of the broader movement it inspired. As his uniting force, Jones gives us A. Phillip Randolph, a trade unionist who first called for a march on Washington in 1941. It was his continued fight for equal opportunity that would bring together the ten civil rights, religious, and labor groups that would plan the 1963 march. Randolph also delivered the first speech of August 28; his egalitarian vision of economic and social citizenship a thread running through the full history of the March on Washington movement, ultimately sustained by immense grassroots organizing across the nation.

Click here to view archival footage from the March, along with numerous other photos, video & audio clips, and documents about the 1963 march, available online as part of the Civil Rights Movement timeline created by the JFK Presidential Library and Museum. 

The Brookfield Public Library is located at 1900 N. Calhoun Rd., in Brookfield.

Though mostly recognized for her bestselling Elm Creek Quilts series, Jennifer Chiaverini also excels at using fiction to memorably chronicle the lives of extraordinary yet little-known women in history: Elizabeth Keckley in Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker and Elizabeth Van Lew in The Spymistress. Now, in Mrs. Lincoln's Rival, she introduces us to Kate Chase Sprague.    

Born in 1840 in Cincinnati, Kate Chase was the second daughter to the second wife of lawyer Salmon P. Chase, who was appointed secretary of the treasury in Lincoln's cabinet. A smart, fierce, patriotic young woman, Kate positioned her widowed father as a future presidential candidate. In doing so, Kate would find herself the social (and political) rival to Mary Todd Lincoln. When she would eventually marry William Sprague, the wealthy young governor of Rhode Island, her wedding would be considered the pinnacle event for Washington society. Even the president came. His wife, however, did not attend. 

This event is co-sponsored by Patched Works Quilt Shop.

 

What were you doing 65 minutes ago when a U.S. military veteran committed suicide? What will you be doing 65 minutes from now when another veteran takes his or her own life?  

Forensic neuropsychiatrist John Liebert is joined by author Jennifer Percy in sharing complementary journeys into PTSD: one through scientific research and practice; the other through the complexities of the human heart. This profound combination of journalism, compassion, new scientific discoveries, and bold ideas, offers a vital approach to addressing the rapidly growing epidemic affecting ever greater numbers of returning veterans, their loved ones, and our communities. 

Percy's unforgettable, affecting work of nonfiction, Demon Camp: A Soldier's Exorcism, reveals to us the human side of PTSD, with intelligence and compassion. Caleb Daniels is a Special Ops soldier who loses his best friend and seven members of his unit when a Chinook helicopter that he should have been on, crashes in Afghanistan, killing all sixteen men on board. Upon returning home, he struggles with dark visions--memories colliding with the ghosts of his comrades--while trying to adjust to daily life among family and friends. Haunted by what he refers to as the "Black Thing," Caleb sets out to find healing, eventually landing in a tiny Georgia town where deliverance from demons is part of daily life. Percy's clear, direct prose, supplemented by the heartbreaking stories of other soldiers, brings the terror of Caleb's reality clearly into ours. Dexter Filkins, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Forever War praises Demon Camp, calling it "a tale so extraordinary that at times it seems conjured from a dream...a great narrative about redemption, loss and hope." Boswellian Stacie has been talking this one up for months. 

In Wounded Minds, Dr. Liebert (with his co-author, William J. Birnes) unravels the mysteries of the illness, explains why it is on the rise, and offers pragmatic solutions to stemming this epidemic both within the military and in society. Through dissecting several high-profile cases of violence by military personnel, the authors paint a clear pict  ure of the very real threat PTSD poses to individuals and society. They also explain how to diagnose and understand the brain abnormalities associated with PTSD, the diagnostic problems confronting military medicine today, and both immediate and ongoing medical solutions. Liebert, a practicing psychiatrist, served as a flight surgeon in the Vietnam War, as chief resident in psychiatry at the Seattle VA Hospital, and was retained by the US Army in 2008 to assess returning soldiers in "Fitness for Duty."

Take a moment to also visit the Veterans for Peace page on Facebook to see the latest work they are doing for returning vets.   

One of the most enduring artists of popular music, Mavis Staples and her family fused gospel, soul, folk, and rock to transcend racism and oppression through song. From the Southern gospel circuit of the 50's to the main years of the civil rights movement, Mavis and the Staple Singers sold more than 30 million records, and were said to have inspired Martin Luther King Jr. himself.

In I'll Take You There, critically acclaimed biographer and Chicago Tribune music critic Greg Kot cuts to the heart of Mavis Staples's music, revealing the intimate stories of her sixty-year career. From her love affair with Bob Dylan, to her creative collaborations with Prince, to her recent revival alongside Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, this definitive account shows Mavis as you've never seen her before. Written with the complete cooperation of Mavis and her family, readers will also hear from Prince, Bonnie Raitt, David Byrne, Marty Stuart, Ry Cooder, Steve Cropper, and many other individuals whose lives have been influenced by Mavis' talent.

Click here to watch The Staples Singers perform "Come Go With Me" on Soul Train.

Or, check out NPR's Tiny Desk Concert with Mavis in 2012, backed by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. Featuring songs and chatter, it's utterly charming! 

Inspired in part by indie folk band The Decemberists' song, "The Crane Wife 1 & 2," The Crane Wife is a contemporary retelling of a Japanese folktale from an author John Green has praised as "An insanely beautiful writer." Boswellian Jen calls it "a beautiful tapestry...a story that does not truly end."

When a lonely, middle-aged American in London is awoken one night by a strange sound coming from his garden, his life is forever changed. George Duncan investigates, only to find a great white crane suffering from an arrow through its wing. He saves the bird's life, but not without a struggle. Shaken, he returns to his print shop the next morning, choosing to focus on his creative work-making cuttings from discarded books. When a beautiful woman appears, introducing herself as Kumiko, and asking for his help with her own art, George can't help but fall desperately in love with her. She seems to hold the potential to change his entire life, if he could only get her to reveal the secret of who she is and why she has brought her artwork to him.  

Boswellian Jen has called The Crane Wife "a beautiful tapestry" and "an ancient story magically woven into a modern setting full of primal human emotions, a story that does not truly end." 

Ness, who has been awarded the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Costa Children's Book Award, and two Carnegie Medals, writes for both adults and young readers, and is a literary critic for The Guardian. Many of the Boswellians are fans of his books; and when they had the chance to meet him when he passed through briefly last year, they all became enormous fans of Patrick, too.

Click here to listen to "The Crane Wife, 1 & 2" by The Decemberists 

Presented in partnership with the UWM Bookstore.  

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Tipping Point and Outliers, talks about his newest book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. An engaging, dynamic speaker, Gladwell's intelligence and humor make for an unforgettable talk.

The ticket price of $32 includes all taxes & fees. The ticket includes admission to the event, as well as a signed hardcover copy of David & Goliath. There is no gift card option for this event. Attendees will also have the chance to win one of four year-long print & digital subscriptions to The Business Journal of Greater Milwaukee.  

Tickets are available online through Brown Paper Tickets. UWM students, faculty, and staff, may purchase discounted tickets at the UWM Bookstore (Note: ID required). If you are unable to utilize the web to purchase a ticket, please call or stop in to Boswell and a bookseller can assist you. 

This event is co-sponsored by The Business Journal of Greater Milwaukee, Wisconsin Public Radio and WUWM 89.7 Milwaukee Public Radio.

The Zelazo Center is located at 2419 E. Kenwood Blvd., on the UW-Milwaukee campus. Parking for this event is available on the surrounding streets (we recommend heading east) or in the Union parking structure (entrance on the north side of Kenwood).