Tag Archives: MN author

“Slavery’s Reach” Author Event Nov. 6 at SCSU

This FREE author event is Wednesday, Nov. 6th from 7:30pm – 9pm at the Miller Center Auditorium at SCSU. The author is an SCSU professor and this book sounds like an informative piece of Minnesota’s history.

From the MN Historical Society website:
“St. Cloud State University Professor Christopher P. Lehman shares his new book, Slavery’s Reach: Southern Slaveholders and the North Star State that examines how a set of mutually beneficial relationships between southern slaveholders and Minnesotans kept the men and women whose labor generated the wealth enslaved.

From the 1840s through the end of the Civil War, leading Minnesotans invited slaveholders and their wealth into the free territory and free state of Minnesota, enriching the area’s communities and residents. Dozens of southern slaveholders and people raised in slaveholding families purchased land and backed Minnesota businesses. Slaveholders’ wealth was invested in some of the state’s most significant institutions and provided a financial foundation for several towns and counties. And the money generated by Minnesota investments flowed both ways, supporting some of the South’s largest plantations.

Through careful research in obscure records, censuses, newspapers, and archival collections, Christopher Lehman has brought to light this hidden history of northern complicity in building slaveholder wealth.”

Find more information about the book here, including reviews, author interviews, and purchase information.

Local author and SCTCC professor gives Tedx talk

Jessica LoureyJessica Lourey is a successful local author and professor of creative writing and sociology at St. Cloud Community and Technical College. She has a new book coming out next May, titled Rewrite Your Life: Discover Your Truth Through the Healing Power of FictionThe book is nonfiction and aimed at helping people work through difficulties in their lives by fiction writing. The book was inspired by Lourey’s discovery of the therapeutic ability of writing fiction while  working through an extremely traumatic event in her life.

She recently gave a TEDx talk about the experience, which you can watch below. TEDx “is designed to help communities, organizations and individuals to spark conversation and connection through local TED-like experiences.” Learn more by visiting their site.

Interested in learning more about Lourey? Read about her in our Author Spotlight post, or check out our review of Lourey’s first book in her Murder by Month series, Mayday. She even gave an engaging presentation during a CMLE event last year.

Featured Book: May Day

May DayThis post is part of an original series created by librarians/media specialists across Central Minnesota featuring books.

Title: May Day by Jess Lourey
Review by: Angie Gentile-Jordan, Office Administrator at CMLE

Our event on May 5th featured a talk from author and professor Jess Lourey. Before the event, in an attempt to familiarize myself with her work, I began reading May Day, the first in her popular Murder-by-Month series.

The book is about assistant librarian Mira James, who moves to the small town of Battle Lake, MN from the big city of Minneapolis as a way to get a fresh start on her post-grad life. As she settles in, she encounters many characters that will be familiar to readers that have spent any amount of time in small-town Minnesota.

All seems to be going well for Mira. She even begins casually dating an archaeologist visiting the town on business. But when his lifeless body shows up (she stumbles across it in the library, no less!) Mira decides to find some answers.

I enjoyed reading this book for several reasons: the tone was light and clever, and I could picture many of the scenes playing out in northern Minnesota. I liked the way Mira bluffed her way through conversations about fishing to gain trust with the locals, throwing out words like “pan fish” not having any idea what it meant.

I’ve already purchased the next in the series, June Bug, and am looking forward to reading it from the boat while doing a little pan fishing of my own!

In case you missed it – new library and author-talk event

We had a wonderful time at our event on May 5th that took place at the new St. Cloud Technical and Community College library!

Writer Jess Lourey started us out with an engaging presentation, walking us through her life and the events that led to her becoming a published author. Lourey grew up with stories, and she spoke about her high school English teacher who encouraged her writing. When receiving an award years later in her hometown of Paynesville, her teacher shared that he had actually saved one of her short stories, knowing she had talent and would become successful. Lourey’s path hasn’t been easy – her first novel was rejected over 400 times and she faced tragedy in her personal life. However, through the power of story, she was able to channel some of those situations and feelings into her writing. Lourey has written YA, magical realism, and her thriller Salem’s Cipher is scheduled to be released in September this year. She is also an award-winning professor of creative writing and sociology at St. Cloud Community and Technical College. Lourey will be presenting a TEDx talk about her upcoming book Better Than Gin: Rewrite Your Life, about the power of narrative therapy through fiction writing. Check back with us, we will keep you posted with where to find her TED talk.

ebooks minnesotaBeth Staats from Minitex gave a great presentation about the exciting new venture that is eBooks MN. As we know, our state has a flourishing publishing industry. This platform is taking advantage of that to share the materials with the wider public! You can download the app, and can also download books to read offline, all free of charge. Currently it is estimated 3/5 of the titles are aimed at children, but they are working on increasing their contents for adults. After all, we try to shop and eat local, why wouldn’t we read local too?

Finally, we were able to enjoy some tasty Mexican food and toured the spacious new library facility at the Tech College. Modern furniture, energy-efficient lighting, and comfortable group work areas (plus many additional updates!) all come together to create a fantastic space. You don’t need to be a student to reap the benefits of the library either – they offer library cards to community members! If you haven’t visited yet, go check it out!

Image credit: http://www.sctcc.edu/

Author Spotlight: Jess Lourey

Jessica LoureyJess Lourey is a Minnesota-based author who firmly believes “books are magic.” According to her website, when she is writing, she feels that she is “in the right place at the right time.” She shares her enthusiasm about writing and books with her students at St. Cloud Community & Technical College as well as with the public through workshops and presentations.

Her work explores several genres, including mystery, YA, and even fantasy. In September, her new book Salem’s Cipher will be released. It will be the first book in the Witch Hunt series. Preorder your copy here.

February FeverLourey will be giving a presentation at our event on May 5th at the new SCTCC Library. Come tour the new library and hear a show-and-tell about ebooks Minnesota. Plus, you will get a FREE copy of February Fever, from Lourey’s popular Murder by Month series!

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, culinary students will be providing a taco bar as well!

Get excited for spring, fun activities, and time with colleagues. Register here! Thanks to the library staff at SCTCC and Minitex for their partnership.