JANIE CHANG >> Author of bestselling historical fiction inspired by her Chinese ancestry introduces her new novel “The Porcelain Moon,” set in France in the waning days of World War I, spotlighting the untold story of 140,000 Chinese workers brought to Europe as non-combatant labor during the Great War, in the Club Book reading series. Free virtual/streaming event. 7 p.m. Thursday, March 30. To access, go to facebook.com/ClubBook.
LITERARY BRIDGES >> Celebrates National Poetry Month with readings by Diane Jarvenpa, Dralandra Larkins, Lora Robinson, John Medeiros and Michel Moos. 2 p.m. Sunday, April 2, Next Chapter Booksellers, 38 S. Snelling Ave., St. Paul.
COLBY MARTIN >> Presents “The Shift: Surviving and Thriving after Moving from Conservative to Progressive Christianity.” 2 p.m. Saturday, April 1, Grace-Trinity Community Church, 1430 W. 28th St., Mpls., presented by Magers & Quinn. Registration required: magersandquinn.com/events.
MOORE-EASTER/KNITTEL >> Minnesota poets discuss and read from their work. Mary Moore Easter’s most recent collection is “From the Flutes of Our Bones,” and Janna Knittel’s first full-length poetry book, “Real Work,” is a finalist for the 2023 Minnesota Book Award. 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, Next Chapter Booksellers, 38 s. Snelling Ave., St. Paul.
What else is going on
Meridel LeSueur’s “The Girl,” written in 1939 but not published until 1978, is considered to be one of the finest depictions of women’s lives during the Great Depression, telling the story of a small-town Minnesota girl who participates in a bank robbery. The novel was published in a revised form in 1990 and again in 2006. Now Barb Tilsen, whose husband, David, is LeSueur’s grandson, announces that the Meridel LeSueur Family Circle has published a new edition of “The Girl,” with a foreword by Margaret Randall, poet, photographer and social activist, and an essay by Tilsen’s daughter, Becka. Go to: meridellesueur.org for more information about LeSueur, teacher, mentor, Communist blacklisted by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities in the 1950s, author of poetry, fiction and nonfiction.
Bill Meissner, who taught in the St. Cloud State University’s creative writing program, reports that his fifth book, “The Wonders of the Little World,” will be published in spring 2024. The novel is about a fortune-teller mother and her daughter in a quirky Minnesota carnival who search for their missing husband/father. It’s set in 1968, the author’s favorite era.
Eric Dregni, devotee of all things Norwegian, is celebrating paperback release of his book “For the Love of Cod: A Father and Son’s Search for Norwegian Happiness,” with a reading next Sunday at Nordic House in Chicago and at 2 p.m. Thursday April 20, in the Library of Concordia University, 1282 Concordia Ave., St. Paul. Then, he’ll host a group of travelers accompanying him on his reading tour of Norway in May that retraces much of the original trip he made in 2019 with his son, Eilif. What could be better than celebrating Syttende Mai in Trondheim?
Want to donate books? If you’re spring cleaning and slimming down your library, you might want to check out The Book Donation Map, which includes 14 Twin Cities organizations that might help. The map was created in 2021 by an organization called In the Book in response to the COVID epidemic. If you have used the map before, it has a new URL: localbookdonations.com/book-donation-map-america./