Authors / News

Honoring Tuệ Sỹ

Milkweed Staff — 04/17/2024

Milkweed is deeply saddened by the recent passing of Vietnamese Buddhist monk Tuệ Sỹ, whose poems we published in a bilingual edition last year as Dreaming the Mountain, with translations by Nguyen Ba Chung and Martha Collins. Born in 1943, Tuệ Sỹ joined a Zen order at the age of ten and later became an eminent Buddhist scholar, professor, translator, and poet. He actively resisted the idea that Buddhism should serve as a tool for any political agenda, and was well known for his dissidence.

Following study at the Institute of Buddhism in Nha Trang, Tuệ Sỹ moved to Saigon…

Minneapolis, MN —

In Person: Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. at Milkweed Books

Please join Milkweed Books in hosting poet Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. as he reads from his debut poetry collection Gay Poems for Red States.

 

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

In Gay Poems for Red States, Carver counters the injustice of a persistent anti-LGBTQ+ movement by asserting that a life full of beauty and pride is possible for everyone. More than a collection of poetry, Carver’s earnest and heartfelt verses are for those wishing to discover and understand the vastness of Appalachia, and for the LGBTQ+ Appalachians who long for a future—for a home—in an often unwelcoming place.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Willie

New York, NY —

In person: Benjamin Garcia appearing at Poets House featuring Eduardo C. Corral

Guggenheim fellow Eduardo C. Corral, author of Guillotine (Graywolf Press, 2020) and award-winning debut poet Benjamin Garcia, author of Thrown in the Throat (Milkweed Editions, 2020) come together to read and discuss the work they published during the pandemic. This event is presented with support from the Battery Park City Authority.

Minneapolis, MN —

In Person: Poetry reading with Lauren Russell, Paula Cisewski, & Joanna Fuhrman

Join us as Milkweed Books welcomes Lauren Russell for the launch of her new collection, A Window That Can Neither Open nor Close, out August 27th. From this enigmatic in-between, Russell dives into multitudes: cats and questions; compulsion and devotion; narrative and diagnosis; language and loneliness; scrupulosity and stasis; suicidality and love. Poets Joanna Furhman and Paula Cisewski will also read from new and forthcoming work.

 

About the authors:

LAUREN RUSSELL is the author of A Window That Can Neither Open nor Close; Descent, winner of the Poetry Society of America’s 2021 Anna…

Minneapolis, MN —

In Person: Margaret Yapp Book Launch at Milkweed Books

Join us at Milkweed Books to welcome Iowa poet Margaret Yapp and launch her new poetry collection, Green For Luck, out with EastOver Press on April 23.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Green for Luck wanders green city blocks, denying happen-stance and making lists. Margaret Yapp attends to mundanity as a string that holds us close to the earth, building quotidian divinities, landing jokes just to make sure we’re listening. In this book, words push the left and upper margins, forcing the body of the page to act as negative space, a place where the light gets in. Green for Luck speaks through Scrabble, through…

Minneapolis, MN —

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…

Minneapolis, MN —

Milkweed Books, Cow Tipping Press & Unrestricted Interest present: Neurodivergent book launch with Max Eati, Mark Eati & Mary Ayetey

Join Milkweed Books as we host a launch event for three neurodivergent writers and their new books with Cow Tipping Press and Unrestricted Interest.

Mary Ayetey likes to write. She is a Black Autistic writer and winner of the Cow Tipping Prize. She likes Disney. She likes trolls. She likes listening to calm music and upbeat music. She’s been writing the first book of Henriette Meets Mully, and she wrote the “Respect” poem and “Pepper Spray.” She also likes to paint.The Ghosts I Know introduces a bold literary voice. At times blurring the past, and other times distilling exquisite details from…

Minneapolis, MN —

In Person: Nathan Lipps at Milkweed Books

Join us as Milkweed Books welcomes author Nathan Lipps for the launch of his debut book of poems, Built Around the Fire, which delves into notions of place, the enveloping wonder and plight of our environment, and the complexities of rural culture. Nathan will read from Built Around the Fire, followed by time for audience questions and a book signing.

Enjoy a social hour in our brick-and-mortar indie bookstore Milkweed Books beginning at 6 p.m., followed by the reading and conversation beginning at 7 p.m.

About the book

Built Around the Fire delves into notions of place, the enveloping wonder and…

Minneapolis, MN —

In Person: Milkweed Presents Landscape Procedural hosted by Jennifer Kabat featuring Summer J. Hart and Kathryn Savage

Join us as Milkweed Books welcomes Jennifer Kabat for the launch of her debut memoir, The Eighth Moon: A Memoir of Belonging and Rebellion. After reading from The Eighth Moon, Jennifer will be joined in conversation by Summer J. Hart and Kathryn Savage.

Enjoy a social hour and book-signing in our brick-and-mortar indie bookstore Milkweed Books beginning at 6 p.m., followed by the reading and conversation at 7 p.m.

 

Jennifer Kabat received an Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant for her criticism and has been published in BOMB and The Best American Essays. Her writing has also appeared in G

Authors / Interviews

A Q&A with Chris La Tray, author of debut Memoir Becoming Little Shell

Milkweed Staff — 04/02/2024

At Milkweed, we often discover great books in curious ways, and the Métis poet and storyteller Chris La Tray’s debut memoir, Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home, is no exception. Nearly a decade ago, Publisher & CEO Daniel Slager attended a writers conference in Missoula, Montana. There he crossed paths with La Tray, who was hand-selling books at local indie bookstore Fact & Fiction. Their exchange morphed from pleasantries to serendipitous dialogue revealing that La Tray was writing a book of his own.

Later that evening, Slager learned that La Tray had recently begun interrogating…