With dozens of literary events popping up throughout the Twin Cities, what makes your event stand out? In recent years, publishers and literary organizations have begun to move beyond traditional book launches to consider creative alternative, partnered book events that can bring in new readers. Join MBPR for the first luncheon of the 2016-17 season with four literary event planners.

Panelists will discuss how they organize alternative book events, how they select partners, and how alt-events can bring in new readers who may not typically attend readings. They will share how publishers can work more effectively with organizations like theirs. Attendees should leave inspired to innovate!

Panelists

Emily Cain is Development and Events Manager for Friends of the Hennepin County Library, managing the acclaimed Pen Pals Author Lecture Series held at Hopkins Center for the Arts, as well as Talk of the Stacks, a free author reading series held at Minneapolis Central Library. In addition to her work with the library, Emily is a freelance writer and has written articles, listicles, and essays for the Star Tribune, The Tangential, Twin Cities METRO Magazine, and L’Etoile Magazine. Recently, Emily was named a finalist for the 2016-17 Loft Literacy Center’s Mentor Series in creative nonfiction.

Joanna R. Demkiewicz is the co-founder and editorial director of The Riveter, a women’s long-form and lifestyle magazine in print and online. She co-founded the magazine as a direct response to the void of women’s voices in media. She works as the publicist for Milkweed Editions, an independent publisher based in Minneapolis, and truly believes books change people’s lives.

Jeff Kamin is Senior Producer of Performance Programs for Minnesota Public Radio, producing live events at The Fitzgerald Theater including Talking Volumes and The Thread and hosting Films at the Fitz. He is the moderator and producer of Books & Bars, Minnesota’s biggest open book club show, and an emcee of pop culture events like Loud at the Library, and creator of Must Talk TV. Hailing from a great place on a great lake (Milwaukee), he has an improvisational comedy and film background from years in Los Angeles prior to making the Twin Cities his family’s home.

Moheb Soliman is Program Director for the local Arab arts organization Mizna, which publishes the only Arab American literary journal in the country and produces the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, among other diverse programming. Moheb is also a poet and performance artist often exploring issues of nature, modernity, identity, and belonging. His interdisciplinary Great Lakes work has developed through a 2013 Pillsbury House grant, a 2014 Northern Spark commission, a 2015 Joyce Foundation fellowship involving circling the region for four months, and a current installation project with the region’s national parks for their centennial. See mizna.org and mohebsoliman.info for more.

moderator

Jennie Goloboy is a Literary Agent at Red Sofa Literary in St. Paul, Minnesota, specializing in science fiction and fantasy. Her first book, Charleston and the Emergence of Middle-Class Culture in the Revolutionary Era, will be published by the University of Georgia Press in October 2016. She is the current president of MBPR.