Milkweed Presents: Love, loss & what we cook, hosted by Beth Dooley

Join us for the our monthly reading and panel discussion event series Milkweed Presents, hosted by In Winter’s Kitchen author Beth Dooley! Beth will lead readings and a conversation on the topic of food, love, and loss with special guest speakers Karen Babine, Theresa McCormick, and Marnie Wells.

Please join us in-person at Open Book for an unforgettable reading and discussion at 6 p.m., and come early for a book-signing and social hour at Milkweed Books, our brick-and-mortar independent bookstore, at 5 p.m.

Milkweed Presents is a monthly event series featuring Milkweed authors as curators of conversation with local writers and community organizers on a topic of their choosing. These events are held in-person at Open Book.

Our Spring 2024 slate of Milkweed Presents includes:

February 14: Erin Sharkey

April 3: Claire Wahmanholm

May 23: Michael Kleber-Diggs

June 5: Beth Dooley

About the speakers:

Beth Dooley is the author of In Winter’s Kitchen: Growing Roots and Breaking Bread in the Northern Heartland, a Minnesota Book Award finalist. She has also written six cookbooks, including, with Sean Sherman, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen (winner of the James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook); with Lucia Watson, Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland (a James Beard Nominee); and Minnesota’s Bounty: The Farmers Market Cookbook. She is also a Senior Fellow, Endowed Chair in Agricultural Systems, Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture at the University of Minnesota. She writes for the Star Tribune, Mpls St. Paul Magazine, and The Heavy Table, and is a regular guest on Minnesota Public Radio’s Appetites with Tom Crann and KARE 11 (NBC) television. Dooley lives in Minneapolis.

Karen Babine is the two-time Minnesota Book Award-winning author of All the Wild Hungers: A Season of Cooking and Cancer  and Water and What We Know: Following the Roots of a Northern Life. She also edits Assay: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies.  She teaches creative writing at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. Her third book is forthcoming from Milkweed Editions in 2025.

Theresa McCormick is the Executive Director of The Good Acre, the largest nonprofit food hub in Minnesota. The mission of The Good Acre is to unlock economic opportunity for farmers through a unique combination of personalized support and market development, creating pathways to strengthen economic well-being and build generational wealth for small farmers, especially Black, Indigenous and Famers of Color. Under Theresa’s leadership, there has been expontential economic growth for farmers partnering with The Good Acre, which also means increased local food offerings for kids eating school meals, neighbors visiting food shelves, and TGA’s community of 600+ CSA members. Theresa is a proven leader with experience in nonprofit fundraising, program development, and operations. She sees collaboration and partnerships as the key to creating meaningful and lasting change. In addition to her at The Good Acre, she serves on the board of the Citizens League and Twin Cities Agriculture Land Trust, and is a past president of the Junior League of Minneapolis. She lives with her family in Northeast Minneapolis.

Marnie Wells is a highly respected leader and philanthropist currently serving as the President of The Toro Company Foundation. The Toro Company’s (TTC) global headquarters are in Bloomington, MN. TTC is a worldwide leader in the manufacturing, design & marketing of innovative outdoor equipment that relies on alternative/electric power, smart technology, and autonomous solutions. Marnie’s environmental awareness & commitment to earth stewardship was nurtured while growing up in Des Moines, Iowa with a cornfield and the Des Moines River in her backyard. Marnie has lived in Minneapolis for over 35 years. When Marnie is not supporting nonprofit organizations that prioritize environmental issues & healthy youth development, you will find her on a long distance run around the lakes in Minneapolis.