5 reasons to pre-order YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS

by Zoey Cole

Five reasons you should pre-order You Must Remember This and then go listen to Michael Bazzett read at Talk of the Stacks on November 18th (see event info below):

Talk of the Stacks with Michael Bazzett

November 18 | 7:00 pm | Hennepin County Library (Pohlad Hall)

300 Nicollet Mall | Minneapolis, 55401

Pre-order You Must Remember This now for only $12 from Milkweed Editions. We’ll get it to you in November.

Getting to know Shawn Lawrence Otto

By Hannah Hacker

This November, Milkweed Editions will release a new fiction novel, Sins of Our Fathers, by Shawn Lawrence Otto. The book is a twisted morality tale from the American Heartland that reveals the insidious impact of institutional racism, economic struggle, and the moral and spiritual deprivation they produce.

The main character of the book, JW, is a small-town banker. His specialty: teaching other bankers in towns near Indian reservations how to profit from casino deposits without exposing themselves to risk. His problem: having lost his son in a car accident a year ago, JW is depressed, his wife is leaving him, and he can’t stop gambling.

When he is caught embezzling funds to support his addiction, JW’s boss offers him a choice. He can either accept responsibility and go to prison, or use his talents to sabotage a competing Native American banker named Johnny Eagle. With the clock ticking, JW moves into a trailer on the reservation within sight of his prey. But as he befriends Eagle and his son, JW finds that his plan to reclaim his freedom will be more dangerous than he ever could have imagined.

Not only is Otto’s new novel thrilling, but also the writer himself. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, this guy is good at everything. He's a filmmaker, speaker, science advocate, and novelist. He even designs pretty architecture.

This house is named Breezy. The brainchild of Otto and his wife, this not only serves as the couple’s happy home, but is also a pillar of greenness, running on geothermal, solar, and wind-power, and also pure awesome.

Produced by DreamWorks, Otto wrote and co-produced House of Sand and Fog (2003), starring Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley. It was nominated for three Oscar awards (Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Music 2003) and won the New York Film Critics Circle Awards (2004).

And House of Sand and Fog is not Otto's first successful writing endeavor. He has also published a non-fiction novel: Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America, which questions U.S. government support of the sciences. He was also included in Writers United For All Families, a collection of essays and poems from different authors that explores the restrictions of same-sex marriage.

Otto has also published a slew of articles featured in Rolling Stone, Scienctific American, Science, Salon, Issues in Science and Technology, Huffington Post, and National Public Radio. And that’s just a few. Check out some of his Huffington Post articles, with topics ranging from climate change to Obama to the new Tesla Model S. 

We’re so excited to publish this brilliant man’s first work of fiction in the fall. His talents and accomplishments are mind blowing, and so is Sins of Our Fathers. Want to preorder? Just click here. 

Or maybe you want to learn a little more about Otto before you get your copy of Sins of Our Fathers in November. You can do that too. He has his own website. Check it out at shawnotto.com.

Eric Pankey’s Brilliant Wilderness

by Stuart Pease

To sit down with Eric Pankey’s new poetry collection, Crow-Work, is to take up residence in an artist’s studio, watching as each paint-stroke and chisel-drive creates life in color, seemingly for the first time, right before your eyes. Pankey’s mastery of the image carries throughout the collection, his confidence in its power evident early on: “By image we mean the visible vestiges of the invisible,  we mean/that which cannot extricate/itself from a gaze.” Pankey’s remarkable vision is just that: something so visceral, something so tangible, you cannot look away, cannot help but stare when the “thousand starlings leaf out a bare tree”, listen “to time rustle and scratch in the attic like mice”, feel the blade of a “pruning knife crooked like a crow’s beak.”

Some of the most stunning images come when Pankey describes flowers and trees:

From IF WE NEVER MEET AGAIN THIS SIDE OF HEAVEN:

"I'll wait for you

Where wisteria overhangs the bank.

You'll recognize my shadow

by its patches, its frayed cuffs." 

  From THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ARGUMENT:

“But she prefers the morning glory,

How slowly its bloom unfurls,

How its curl of vine

Catches the flaw in masonry

…

How it needs only a foothold

To fill half the day with blue.”

  From THE POPPY:

“The poppy is a cartouche:

Burnt wadding, sulfur-edged.

  Not a scab, but the blood

That wells to form the scab.”

Pankey also captures time and space, setting them down before us as palpable, physical things: “The past is a raveled tapestry,/A furrow cleaved open like scripture”; “If the past were honey/One could scrape it away/With the flat of a knife and be done with sweetness.” He convinces the reader to “Forgo the thought/That one alters a space by occupying it”, saying instead that wilderness is not something we possess, but something we simply enter. 

Pankey’s brilliant wilderness, laid out for us between the covers of Crow-Work, is a place worth traveling, a place worth protecting.   

Check out a brief synopsis on our website and pre-order Crow-Work here.

Becoming inspired by Melissa Kwasny's PICTOGRAPH

by Hannah Hacker

Literature is often a font of inspiration and vision. Sometimes the words on a page will stir an artist to create, like Pablo Picasso’s sketch of Don Quixote, Salvador Dali’s Mad Tea Party, or Sir John Everett Millais’s masterpiece Death of Ophelia.

Here at Milkweed, our talented authors always inspire us, and I decided to take this inspiration and make some of my own art. Melissa Kwasny’s new book of poetry Pictograph (coming out in March 2015) provided plenty of rich imagery to draw from, and that’s exactly what happened – pun intended. Stimulated by the ancient cave drawings that Kwasny refers to in her new collection, I decided to make modernized cave drawings on the walls of the Open Book Building based on passages from Pictograph. Armed with a box of Crayola chalk, I channeled my inner five-year-old and ancient cave dweller, and I marched out into the sunny parking lot to draw on some brick walls. Take a look. 

“Our tour guide points out Rudolf, the red-nosed reindeer. We bring our noise to it, our wish to be entertained.” – Pictograph, “Cave System”

“This is what I would have drawn, an ocher-colored bird, wings tucked, almost purple crown or glyph above its head. Orientation, my friend. We help each other.” – Pictograph, “My Pictograph”

“The finely painted buffalo is drawn upside down, which could signify that it is dead. Or, caught in the vortex of trance, what the painter might have made of the electric register.” – Pictograph, “Pictograph: The Falling Buffalo”

“Suddenly, we have microscopes for eyes. We complain of our ‘loose habits,’ by which we mean we drink and smoke. Our bodies won’t stay long, although our bones can.” – Pictograph, “The Sentience of Rocks”

Now, these are certainly no Picasso or Dali, but they give a taste of what great literature, like Kwasny’s Pictograph, can do – unlock ideas and feed creativity. Pre-order a copy of her book today and see what her poems inspire in you.

What We're Reading: Ordinary Sins by Jim Heynen

by Zoey Cole

Sometimes, sitting in a coffee shop, you overhear strangers telling stories about that math teacher who tried to ruin their lives in middle school, the lover they never quite got over, the landlord who is actually insane. And you get a picture in your mind of who these people are because those kinds of people are in your life too. You don’t need a face, a name. You’re imaginative enough for that. Reading Ordinary Sins by Jim Heynen is a lot like sitting in that coffee shop, with a broader range of recognizable humans distilled onto paper.

Ordinary Sins, due to launch from Milkweed this September, introduces a fascinating menagerie of humans: hoarder, dieter, dog-lover, a guy who uses too much chapstick, an ugly man who makes himself beautiful, a couple that never fights, a cashier who loses the freedom to frown. I chuckled out loud as Heynen described the boy who was always stooping to tie his shoes, while “others on the sidewalk swerved around the bulging smile of his buttocks.”

Jim Heynen is a student of humanity. His characters go largely unnamed, and undescribed (unless they are remarkably ugly, as in the short “The Man Who Resembled a Pig”), yet they seem uncannily familiar, motivated by love, loneliness, a desire for control, and making sure their pets are well cared for.

These 47 short stories resonate because they are mischievously and sinfully human, which makes them familiar. The man who “loved the world of combustion engines the way an eagle loves the open sky” reminded me of my retired milkman, perpetual handyman grandfather, while the woman whose biggest worry “was that if she didn’t do the worrying no one would take up the worrying role and the world would fall to pieces. Chaos. Bedlam.” reminded me of my granny, raised during the Great Depression to run a household on one anxious dollar a day. The dissatisfied college graduate coming into her first job became my friend who, after a glowing four years of undergraduate enlightenment and songwriting, is working as a receptionist at a construction company.

Slowly, Jim Heynen’s people become yours, and then you hold up this book of stories, squinting at the words as you recognize your cheapskate money habit, your overzealous need to be the most generous, your plan to lose five pounds a month. Yourself.

Milkweed intern profiles — Jamie Wong

With a passion for taking narratives into her own hands through writing fan fiction, Jamie Wong, one of our five summer interns, brings a unique literary background to the office. Her serious work ethic, and even more serious love of Les Misérables and JPop, is unrivaled. Jamie’s interview reveals a few recommendations for fan fiction novices and modern American literature lovers alike.

What is the short version of your life story?  

I was born, then I started writing bad anime fan fic, then I moved to bad Glee fan fic, and now I’m currently at bad Les Misérables fan fic.

In a more serious light, I’m originally from Minneapolis, but I go to school in Chicago for a plethora of subjects. I am fiction writing major with minors in biology and women and gender studies. Before Milkweed, I worked for a year with a small press that’s based half in Chicago, half in Connecticut called Elephant Rock Books. I’m currently embarrassingly into JPop music and (good) Les Misérables fan fic. (Seriously, check out Ark or Arriviste if you’re interested in seeing what good fan fic looks like.)

What part of your Milkweed internship do you most enjoy?

I enjoy being able to read all the time. Every once in a while you find something that’s really good and you just get so excited about it and it’s great. You get to read all these books and you get to talk about them with others and feed off of others’ enthusiasm.

What are your top 3 favorite books?

Obviously Les Misérables by Victor Hugo is my favorite overall; I own all the major English translations with the exception of Wraxall’s (if you have a copy of Wraxall’s translation, hit me up). Second fave is Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell; please do not talk to me about Robert Frobisher because it hurts far too much (translation; please talk to me about Robert Frobisher so I can cry to you). My third is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, because Sam Clay is my little darling doll.

What are your plans after your internship?

I’m going back to Chicago in the fall, finishing up my degree and then hopefully joining the JET programme to teach English in Japan. Or work in publishing. Or go to London for grad school. Or raise alpacas. Who knows.

Milkweed intern profiles — Zoey Cole

Required summer reading may be bothersome to most students, but here at Milkweed it’s the best part of our interns’ jobs. We interviewed Zoey Cole, one of our five summer interns, on her favorite aspects of working at Milkweed and her life leading up to this internship. Read on to see how an academic history and a love of classic novels sent Zoey our way.

What is the short version of your life story?

Born the first child of an English teacher and a biology professor, I stumbled through basketball, theatre, and high school, knowing deep down that books and I had a future together. I'm a double major in Spanish and Professional Writing because I like communicating to, with, and for people. From being a gelato chef, to a semester of study abroad in Spain, to writing plain, old grants, life is teaching me to be surprised, live in the moment, and love beauty.

What part of your Milkweed internship do you most enjoy?

Reading through manuscripts...I truly enjoy reading. In four weeks, I have already laughed, cried and snickered over the stories that come through this place. 

What are your top 3 favorite books?

Preface: This is an insanely difficult question.

What are your plans after your internship?

Plans and I don't get along very well, but here's a sketch of what they could be: after graduation this fall, my two current options are to go teach English in Saudi Arabia for a year or two, or be a bartender on a cruise ship for awhile.

Milkweed intern profiles — Hannah Hacker

Books can take you to many exotic places, but our favorite might be the Milkweed offices here in Minneapolis. We interviewed Hannah Hacker, one of our five summer interns, and discovered that her love affair with books fittingly inspired her journey from Wisconsin to Milkweed and Minnesota. Read on to get a glimpse of Hannah’s experience with books, writing, and baking.

What is the short version of your life story?   

Born and raised in the bustling tourist town of Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, I sought solace in the pages of books. Books and I have been in love ever since. In college I pursued my obsession with literature, writing, and the arts with a double major in creative writing and arts management at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay. Now I am in the Twin Cities, living the dream.

What part of your Milkweed internship do you most enjoy?

Since the question is forcing me to narrow down to one aspect (though I love many) of this internship, I would have to say my favorite part of my Milkweed experience has been to watch the work I have put in take fruition. For instance, I was able to see a press release that I wrote get sent out to dozens of people, which was strangely satisfying and exhilarating. 

What are your top 3 favorite books?

What are your plans after your internship?

My plans are publishing world domination. Also, cooking and baking like a mad woman in my attempt to master the perfect cookie.

Milkweed intern profiles — Stuart Pease

Working in publishing doesn’t require you to claim the title “writer,” but Stuart Pease, one of our summer interns, certainly knows that role. With a B.A. in English and an MFA in creative writing, Stuart has enjoyed experiencing the other side of writing this summer at Milkweed, as he works on proofreading and editing the words of our authors. Read on to hear about his impressive education, and his favorite books, which include a certain children’s title that we all hold dear. 

What is the short version of your life story? 

Born in Moses Lake, Washington and moved to Plymouth, Minnesota at five years old, I attended Wayzata Public Schools, earned a B.A. in English from Saint John’s University (MN) in 2011 and an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University (Saint Paul) in 2014. My favorite superhero is Batman, and if I had it my way everyone would drive a big wheel to work.

What part of your Milkweed internship do you most enjoy?

I enjoy learning and participating in every aspect of the publishing process. Seeing what goes into a book behind the scenes has increased and affirmed my wonder of the written word and its importance in the community.

What are your top 3 favorite books?

What are your plans after your internship? 

I’d like to stay involved in the publishing process here in the Twin Cities and preferably stay within a small, non-profit environment similar to Milkweed Editions. Also, and always, keep it real.