Thursday, October 12

2023 BOOK LOVERS BALL

featuring

Preeminent climate change writer Elizabeth Rush and her highly anticipated new book, The Quickening

Author Elizabeth Rush and the cover of The Quickening

“Elizabeth Rush’s The Quickening is one part memoir, one part reporting from the edge—think Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction—a book that feels as though it was written from the brink. In this case the extreme scenario is literal: Rush, a journalist, joins a crew of scientists aboard a ship headed for a glacier in Antarctica that is, like much of the poles, rapidly disappearing. The book brings the environmental crisis into a personal sphere, asking what it means to have a child in the face of such catastrophic change. […] Rush writes with clarity and precision, giving a visceral sense of everything from the gear required to traverse an arctic landscape to the interior landscape of a woman facing change both global and immediate.”

Vogue, “Most Anticipated Books of 2023”

 

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Machine Shop
300 Second Street Southeast | Minneapolis 55414

6:00 p.m. Social hour
7:00 p.m. Dinner & program

Join fellow book lovers for a social hour with drinks from Surly Brewing and Vikre Distillery, pop-up bookstore, seated dinner, inspiring program, and live auction—all in celebration and support of transformative books.

Bruce Silcox

Images from the 2022 Book Lovers Ball with U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón.
Thank you to last year’s attendees and sponsors!

  • Thwaites Glacier

    Live auction | Framed photograph of Thwaites Glacier by Elizabeth Rush

    Take home a one-of-a-kind work of art and a piece of history. This photograph was taken by the evening’s featured speaker, Elizabeth Rush, author of Rising and The Quickening, during the first human expedition to the Thwaites “Doomsday” Glacier. It will be printed to your preferred size, up to 36 by 54 inches, and custom framed.

  • Chris Dombrowski

    Live auction | Montana fly-fishing adventure with Chris Dombrowski

    Travel to Missoula, Montana to meet up with renowned fly-fishing guide Chris Dombrowski, author of Body of Water and The River You Touch for a day trip for two people on the Clark Fork, Blackfoot, or Bitterroot Rivers. Chris has been a fishing guide for 25 seasons, was named by the Missoula Independent as the area’s best fly-fishing guide in 2017, and was featured in the Washington Post.

  • Sarah Ruhl

    Live auction | New York theater night with Sarah Ruhl

    Spend an unforgettable evening in New York City with award-winning playwright and author Sarah Ruhl, whose plays include the Pulitzer Prize finalist In the Next Room: or the vibrator play and Letters from Max—a ritual, a recent adaptation of the 2018 book by Sarah and Max Ritvo. This one-of-a-kind theater package for up to four people includes pre-show drinks with Sarah and tickets to see her stage adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando at the Signature Theatre on West 42nd Street (approximate run dates April 2–May 12, 2024).

  • Beth Dooley and Will Steger

    Live auction | Dinner party with Beth Dooley & Will Steger

    Host a dinner for up to ten people in your home, prepared by Beth Dooley, author of In Winter’s Kitchen and a dozen beloved cookbooks. You and your guests will be joined by Will Steger, Arctic explorer, environmental activist, and co-author with Beth of The Steger Homestead Kitchen.

  • Live auction | Launch of Ada Limón’s signature anthology in Washington, DC

    Join Milkweed Editions Publisher and CEO Daniel Slager for the release of US Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s anthology, You Are Here, at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, on April 4, 2024. This trip, for up to four people, is a unique opportunity to see one of our country’s most celebrated writers and dynamic speakers launch a part of her signature project as poet laureate. In addition to attending the official launch, your group will join Daniel for dinner and drinks that evening.

  • Live auction | Bird watching in Columbia, South Carolina with J. Drew Lanham

    Win a private bird watching expedition for two with MacArthur “Genius” Fellow J. Drew Lanham, author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature, in his home state of South Carolina. After a morning of hiking, observation, and insight in Congaree National Park, join Drew for lunch back in Columbia to discuss the morning’s sightings.

    Can’t make the event but still want to help? 

    Your donation supports Milkweed’s mission to identify, nurture, and publish transformative literature, and build an engaged community around it. Click the button below or contact Anna Thorsen, anna_thorsen@milkweed.org, (612) 215-2590.

    Environmentally conscious

    Milkweed is committed to ecological stewardship. In addition to publishing books that explore our relationship with the more-than-human world, we strive to use the most sustainable production practices and to reduce the impact of our operations in the environment.

    We are working closely with our partners to plan and execute a Book Lovers Ball that minimizes waste and reduces carbon emissions by encouraging carpooling, public transport, and EV use; eliminating single-use items; composting or recycling all event waste and collateral; using sustainable and reusable materials in all decor; and utilizing seasonal and locally grown food.

    Sponsors

    Thank you to our sponsors and partners for investing in writers, readers, and transformative books.

     

    With generous in-kind support from

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