The July NorthWords includes:
Notes from the Board Room
Calling all published writers!
Summertime is fair time – and that goes for Lake Superior Writers, too.
On Saturday, July 25, LSW will host an Authors Fair in the Great Hall at The Depot in Duluth – and we’re looking for members of Lake Superior Writers who would like to have a FREE table at the event.
This celebration of writing and writers will go from 1-3 p.m.
You must be an LSW member to get a table… and please make sure your membership is current to request a space. The tables are limited, so act quickly! We also will set up a “reading corner” within The Depot for authors who would like to share a short 3- to 5-minute excerpt from their work.
We’ll also have fun stations for writing “instant” haiku, trying out writing on manual typewriters or with old fountain pens and other writing-related activities.
The Authors Fair continues the mission of this organization of honing and amplifying regional voices that use the written word as their art form. It’s been the goal of the group since it got started through the Depot Outreach Program of the mid-1990s and officially becoming “Lake Superior Writers” in 1998.
In the past year, LSW has helped writers network and grow through writing circles, offered courses – free and reasonably priced – to develop skills in multiple genres, and hosted presentations by accomplished authors to inspire others. We will continue doing that, too.
If you’d like to bring your work to the Authors Fair, contact us at writers@lakesuperiorwriters.org ASAP for that FREE table space. Your work can be traditionally published, hybrid published or self-published. If you’re not a member of LSW, you can join online.
This is all coming together rather quickly, but we’re delighted The Depot can host us for that Saturday afternoon. If you don’t have a published book to sell at the event, please do still save the date and come visit to support our local writers and have fun with words.
– Konnie LeMay, chair on the Lake Superior Writers Board
Lake Superior Writers News & Events
Authors Fair
July 25, 2026 from 1pm-3pm in the Great Hall at The Depot in Duluth, MN
Lake Superior Writers plans to celebrate the writers of our region with our second Authors Fair. We’ll have self-published, hybrid published and traditionally published works. Meet and greet the authors and find out more about how they got their works in print. We’ll also have fun stations for writing “instant” haiku, trying out writing on manual typewriters or with old fountain pens and other writing-related activities.
Literary Events
Author & Naturalist Chris Fink: Forage Like a Bear
July 8 at 7pm at Zenith Bookstore 318 N Central Ave., Duluth, MN
Zenith Bookstore is excited to welcome author and naturalist Chris Fink. Chris will share his book, Forage Like a Bear and talk about his experiences as a nature writer. Chris will answer questions from the audience and personally sign his unique book for readers.
Chris Fink’s collection of short prose, Forage Like a Bear, contains a whole lot: whistling acorns, scribbling clams, gossipy geese, technicolor ducks, turkeys (including human ones), roving bands of chipmunks, chimneys, fires, chainsaws, lice, thin ice, approximately 30,000 blueberries, cars rolling uphill, the leaves of a mulberry tree drifting down, Peace Trail meanders, and maybe just maybe, a holy grail morel. And all related in Fink’s gently shimmed sentences, adapted from radio dispatches, and illustrated with the inky grace of John Porcellino.
Chris Fink is a professor of English and Environmental Studies at Beloit College, where he edits the Beloit Fiction Journal. He is the author of two books of fiction and, most recently, a collection of tiny essays, Forage Like a Bear, which were originally produced for Northern Public Radio. He teaches Writing Wilderness each summer at the Coe College Wilderness Field Station near Ely, MN. He is a board member of the Listening Point Foundation in Ely.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1P9bWJtEs8
Downtown Duluth Days and Two Harbors Heritage Days
July 8-9 at Downtown Duluth Days
July 10-12 at Two Harbors Heritage Days
Erika Lynn Adams will be selling signed copies of her books, New Moon’s Family and Allie’s Adventure on the Wonder, at two summer festivals:
Downtown Duluth Days (Wednesday July 8th – Thursday 9th)
https://members.downtownduluth.com/community-calendar/Details/downtown-duluth-days-2026-1624353?sourceTypeId=EmailInvitation
Two Harbors Heritage Days (Friday July 10th – Sunday July 12th)
https://www.twoharborsmn.gov/community/heritage_days/index.php
Writer’s Workshop Series
July 10, 2026 between 9am-5pm at Hessel School House
Session 1 – Creating Your Writing Mini-Trail Guide. Would you start a journey without a map? Give your booth the plan it deserves.
Session 2 – Q& A with a Book Coach Stuck on your book, unsure where to begin. Join an interactive Q&A with book coach Julie Cover of H J Words.
Session 3 – Paths To Publishing You’ve finished your manuscript – now what? Explore traditional, hybrid, and self-publishing in this practical workshop.
$50 each or register for all 3 for $110.
TO REGISTER: Call 906-484-1333 or register online at https://www.eventeny.com/events/july2026-30160/
Food as Storytelling: Turning Recipes Into Stories
July 12 at 4pm at Honest Dog Books, 40 S. 2nd St., Bayfield, WI
Adventurers Stephanie Hansen and Kurt Johnson have sailed the islands off the Croatian coast many times. Their new novel, The Moon Tavern, is a collaboration that draws on memories that include a romantic lunch of grilled fresh anchovies in the fifteenth-century ghost town of Lastovo, the lasting ruins of a bombed Dubrovnik, local cold-pressed olive oil sold in plastic Pepsi bottles, and delicious, never-bottled wines.
Stephanie and Kurt will talk about their adventures and how food descriptions and recipes can bring a place and a story to life. Stephanie is a best-selling cookbook writer and the host of Taste Buds with Stephanie. Kurt is the author of four novels.
Meet & Greet with Kathleen Novak: Come Back, I Love You (A Ghost Story)
July 18 from 11am to 1pm at Zenith Bookstore 318 N Central Ave., Duluth, MN
Join us as we welcome author and poet Kathleen Novak on Saturday, July 18th 11-1 PM. Kathleen will share her book, Come Back, I Love You (A Ghost Story) (Regal House Press) one-on-one with guests. She will also personally sign her book for those who would like a copy or two. Bring a friend.
On the shores of a vast and ancient lake stands a tiny cottage where Franny Hale once raised her children over a century ago. Now, the cottage has been sold to a woman seeking a simpler life, but Franny remains, tipping paintings, chilling the air, pushing papers to the floor, and appearing again and again, shadowy, restless, and wanting. The narrator—whose name remains a mystery—shares her own memories and reflections, weaving together fragments of the past that are both surprising and ordinary. As summer unfolds and the days grow shorter, the ghostly presence of Franny begins to fade, leaving behind questions of what remains after the story seems to conclude.
Kathleen Novak is a poet and writer who grew up on the Iron Range of northern Minnesota, the granddaughter of Italian and Croatian immigrants. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, she has worked as an English teacher, independent consultant, and freelance writer. She is the author of five novels. The latest, Come Back, I Love You (A Ghost Story) published by Regal House Press is the recipient of their Petrichor Prize for finely crafted fiction. Her poems have been published in small literary magazines nationally and have won recognition in contests as diverse as the AAUW and New York Public Radio. Kathleen lives in Minneapolis.
https://zenithbookstore.com/events/5771220260718
Jill Swenson in conversation with Konnie LeMay: The Land of the Everlasting Sky
July 18 from 7pm-8:30pm at Zenith Bookstore 318 N Central Ave., Duluth, MN
When Jill Swenson returns to her mother’s hometown after her funeral, she finds a new Seven Clans Casino under construction in Warroad, Minnesota, on Lake of the Woods. There, she learns, Red Lake Nation has recently dispossessed descendants of Ojibway spiritual leader Kakaygeesick from their land—land where the family has lived for the last two centuries—and has also denied them tribal membership.
Jill D. Swenson grew up in the Twin Cities and moved to Wisconsin in high school. She graduated from Lawrence University and earned an MA and PhD from The University of Chicago before going on to teach journalism and media studies at the University of Georgia-Athens and earn tenure at Ithaca College. For a decade she lived off the grid on a small-scale sustainable farm in upstate New York; now she lives in Appleton, Wisconsin, where she works as an editor and literary consultant, belongs to a curling club and a poetry group, and enjoys walking her dog.
Author David Tromblay in conversation with Dennis Staples: Coydog
July 24 from 7pm-8:30pm at Zenith Bookstore 318 N Central Ave., Duluth, MN
Set in the summer of 1995, Coydog, is a thought-provoking crime thriller with a big heart which interrogates issues of Native identity, Veteran’s struggles, for-profit prisons, the plague of the 24-hour news cycle which grew teeth in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, and the opioid crisis that crept its way across the country closely afterwards.
David Tromblay served in the United States Army and Navy before earning an MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Art with Stephen Graham Jones as his advisor. He was a staff writer for Season 1 of The Lowdown starring Ethan Hawke and the author of the novel Coydog (2025) and his memoir As You Were (2021), which Kirkus Reviews named as one of the best works of nonfiction for that year. David lives in rural Oklahoma with giant dogs and tiny goats.
Author Andrea Robertson In Conversation with Jan Lee
July 26 at 7pm at Honest Dog Books, 40 S. 2nd St., Bayfield, WI
Andrea Robertson, Ashland High School (’96) and Northland College graduate (‘00), will be returning home to share the release of her latest book, The One You Need, a spicy rom-com set in and around Bayfield.
In addition, Penguin Random House is relaunching her YA Nightshade trilogy with new packaging (release date July 21).
Andrea Robertson is the internationally bestselling author of the Nightshade Saga, the Inventor’s Secret Saga, the Loresmith Trilogy, and Invisibility, which she co-wrote with David Levithan.
Open Mix with Anthony Signorelli
July 28 from 6pm-8pm at The Portage Bar 43490 US-63, Cable, WI
The Open Mic with Anthony Signorelli as the host comes up again Wednesday, July 29 at the Portage.
Performers get seven minutes each and if there is time, we do a second round. Music, instruments, poetry, comedy, improv, stories… all are welcome on the stage.
Portage is open for food and beverage service as well. They open on Wednesday night just for us, so your patronage is doubly appreciated!
Hope to see you there.
Anthony Signorelli
The Sailing Poet
https://anthonysignorelli.substack.com/
Duluth Author, Ryan Rodgers: Where the Green Light Shines
July 30 from 7pm-8:30pm at Zenith Bookstore 318 N. Central Ave., Duluth, MN
Please join Zenith Bookstore as we welcome Duluth author Ryan Rodgers. Ryan will share his new book, Where the Green Light Shines: A Fifty-Year Odyssey from the Boundary Waters to the Far North (University of Minnesota Press) on Thursday, July 30th at 7 PM. Ryan will talk about the book and answer questions from the audience. This is a great event for all nature lovers, BWCA lovers, and canoeists. Invite a friend!
Where the Green Light Shines: A Fifty-Year Odyssey from the Boundary Waters to the Far North is a unique glimpse into the world of arctic canoeing through the travels of one of North America’s most renowned paddlers, Bob O’Hara. A centuries-long story of adventure runs through the Boundary Waters. Stretching from northern Minnesota into the Canadian Shield, this expanse of lake-dappled land—long the domain of Indigenous tribes and fur traders—is the most popular wilderness destination in North America, with over 200,000 visitors dipping their paddles into its ancient waterways each year. Bridging the legendary arctic expeditions of the nineteenth century and the making of today’s recreational paddling tradition, Where the Green Light Shines is a fascinating chronicle of canoe exploration, told through the journeys of a true master of the craft, Bob O’Hara.
Ryan Rodgers is a freelance writer, a frequent paddler, and author of Winter’s Children: A Celebration of Nordic Skiing, also published by the University of Minnesota Press. He is a regular contributor to several regional publications and lives with his family in Duluth, Minnesota.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1EARekoLMJ
Northwoods Art and Book Festival
August 8, 2026 from 9am-3pm in Hackensack Minnesota
Over 65 artists showcasing their work in a variety of media and 35 authors, writing in a variety of genre make this the longest running art and literature festival in the state of Minnesota. The outdoor event is free and handicap accessible. Music and food available for your enjoyment. Wonder Trek Children’s Outdoor Museum provides hands on activities for children.
Opportunities
Lakeside Concert Series and Northwoods Art & Book Festival
Concert Series: Fridays 5pm-7pm by Birch Lake in Hackensack, MN
Northwoods Art & Book Festival: Saturday, August 8 from 9am-3pm in Hackensack, MN
It’s never too early to plan your summer activities. Northwoods Arts Council has three planned venues for your enjoyment. A concert series with different bands each week is held every Friday evening, 5-7, through the summer in Hackensack at the park pavilion. The Northwoods Art and Book Festival is on August 8th, 9-3 with 65 artists and 35 authors showcasing their work.
Call for Submissions – Duluth Transit Zine
Deadline: July 19
We are looking for submissions related to bussing & beyond in the northland, due August 5th.
Poetry Workshop with Shelley Getten
July 20 from 6pm-8pm on Zoom
Join this live online (ZOOM) poetry workshop which explores the “element” of movement in poetry. Great poems take us on a journey deeper into an idea and often our own psyche. The instructor will talk about this element and give examples from various poets before providing some writing prompts and a short time to create a poem. There will be some time available to share. Link and instructions will be emailed to participants after registration. SIGN UP NOW AS SPACE IS LIMITED! https://www.gettencreative.com/shop/p/movement-in-poetry
Call for Writing: Panatrope Arts Journal
Deadline: August 31, 2026
A call for writing: Panatrope Arts Journal, an imprint of Wildwood River, is a new arts journal. We plan an annual issue published online and in print. We invite you to submit writing about what sustains you, about what has marked you, about where you are from and what has made you. The submission deadline is August 31. Details and submission guidelines are posted at https://panatrope.work/
U.P. Libraries Program at the U.P. Regional Library Conference
September 21-22, 2026 in Marquette, MI
The Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association (UPPAA) invites authors to participate in its U.P. Libraries Program at the U.P. Regional Library Conference, taking place September 21–22 in Marquette. This unique program places books by U.P. authors directly into the hands of librarians and library staff from across the region, helping build awareness of local literature and encouraging additions to library collections.
“This is a once-a-year opportunity for U.P. librarians to browse and take home the very best regional literature for their patrons’ collections,” said Evelyn Gathu, Director of the Crystal Falls District Community Library and 2025 U.P. Librarian of the Year. “When patrons learn about local authors, it inspires them to learn more about their own region and value its culture.”
Program details and registration information are available at http://www.uppaa.org/up-lib
U.P. Reader #11 Submissions Now Open
Deadline: November 10, 2026
Writers across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula are invited to submit original work for U.P. Reader #11, the annual anthology published by the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association (UPPAA). The submission window opened June 1 and continues through November 10, 2026. Selected works will appear in the 2027 edition of the anthology.
The U.P. Reader showcases the diverse voices of the region, featuring fiction, nonfiction, memoir, history, essays, interviews, opinion pieces, and poetry. Submissions must be original, unpublished works that have not previously appeared online or in print, with a maximum length of 5,000 words.
Contributors must be current UPPAA members, and all entries are reviewed through a blind jury process.
Authors may submit up to three entries through the online submission gateway. Accepted contributors will be announced in January 2027, with publication scheduled for April 2027. Complete guidelines are available http://www.UPReader.org
KUDOS – News about our members
Gary Boelhower‘s poem “I Am This Garden” won an honorable mention in The Orchard Street Press poetry contest and will be published in their forthcoming annual journal Quiet Diamonds.
Shane Drift is very excited that his three songs have been released. He turned three of his poems into songs.
His three songs are as follows: “The Memorial Day Song”, “The Good & Pretti Song”, and finally “Lady and the Brave” by Cedar Poet.
The Memorial Day Song is about honoring and paying respects to the brave men and women in uniform who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our great country. The Good & Pretti Song is about Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and what happened in Minneapolis. Shane lost his significant other, Christina back in 2024 to cancer. So, he wrote, Lady and the Brave in honor and memory of Christina. Writing Lady and the Brave has helped him in his healing journey.
Shane’s songs are available on ITunes, Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, and other streaming services. He would like to say “Thank you” for listening/purchasing his songs.
Liz Minette has a poem published in Issue #3 of Out of Bounds Press, Minneapolis. She also has a poem published in Issue #141 of Chiron Review out of St. John, Kansas.
Jim Perlman‘s Duluth-based Holy Cow! Press is pleased to announce the publication of “Nothing Is Stationary,” poems by Saint Paul writer Joanne Esser.
A poetic meditation on impermanence—biological, emotional, and spiritual.
The poems in Joanne Esser’s “Nothing Is Stationary” proclaim, sometimes reluctantly, that change is a biological constant, an emotional condition, and a spiritual conundrum. Even as they reflect on the past and live fully in the present, Esser’s words leave room for things still taking shape–like how moving water shapes stone, how a great tree’s shadow shifts across the grass almost imperceptibly over the course of minutes, hours, a whole day. These poems observe the tilted, spinning planet and all the things, the animals, the people–dear ones and strangers–that hold onto it.
“’Nothing Is Stationary,’ Esser’s beautiful new collection of poems, begins with her original, assigned landscape, and with the human mysteries of risks taken, or not taken, and the seeking of balance, of equilibrium, that this poet has sought between land and water, between different kinds of love and obligations, between her spirit self, and her physical time on earth.”–Deborah Keenan
$18.00, 128 pages, available through local indie bookstores, BookShop.org, and http://www.holycowpress.org
Marie Zhuikov‘s photos and story, “That Time I Lost a Canoe in the Wilderness,” was published in the June issue of Northern Wilds magazine. She was also interviewed for another story in that issue, “Camping with Canine Friends,” by Victoria Smith.
Marie was interviewed by David Berner about the craft of writing novellas for an article in the July/Aug Poets & Writers magazine, “More Is Less, More or Less.”
Lake Superior Writers Blog
Lake Superior Writers invites members to submit guest posts for possible inclusion on our blog. Please visit our blog information page for more details.
Our blog currently features “I could now—quite literally—put this experience on the shelf” – An Interview with Alex Messenger by Remi Foust
Lake Superior Writers 