Jul 2017
Aug 2017
Zenith Bookstore Author Event: Jennifer Walters
Meet the author of the new fictional romance The Deception of Destiny. More information here.
Find out more »Sep 2017
Zenith Bookstore Grand Opening Book Fair
Participants include authors Brian Freeman, Linda LaGarde Grover, Lorna Landvik and Barton Sutter; local musician and writer Teague Alexy; and many others. Author talks, signings, music, food and fun for the community. 10% of sales will go to support the Big Red Bookshelf.
Find out more »Author Event: Louis Jenkins
Zenith Bookstore welcomes Louis Jenkins, who will read from his new collection "In the Sun, Out of the Wind." Jenkins was born and raised in Oklahoma. In 1971, he moved with his wife Ann to Duluth, where he lived for 45 years and spent most of that time complaining about the weather. His poems have been published in a number of literary magazines and anthologies. He has published 17 collections of his poetry. Jenkins has read his poetry on A…
Find out more »Author Event: Chris Monroe
Children's author and illustrator Chris Monroe, a Duluth native, will read from her new book The Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Silly School Mystery." Monroe is the author of seven children's picture books, as well as the illustrator of picture books by authors Kevin Kling, Jane Yolen and Janice Levy. Her comic strip, "Violet Days" has been in print for 19 years, and is featured in the collection Ultra Violet: Ten Years Of Violet Days. In 1999, City…
Find out more »Oct 2017
Author Event: Margi Preus
Children's author Margi Preus will read from her new book The Clue in the Trees: An Enchantment Lake Mystery.
Find out more »From Farm to Fork: Beth Dooley with Mary Dougherty
Join author, journalist and local food expert Beth Dooley for a conversation about the local food scene alongside Mary Dougherty, former restaurant owner and author of the recent memoir/cookbook, Life in a Northern Town: Cooking, Eating and Other Adventures Along Lake Superior. The audience will hear about Beth’s experiences with Minnesota food movements and can share their own stories of food developments, concerns and histories unique to the region. Moderated by Konnie LeMay of Lake Superior Magazine.
Find out more »Author Event: Sarah Bamford Seidelmann
Meet Seidelmann, author of the new memoir Swimming with Elephants. The book tells the eccentric, sometimes poignant and occasionally hilarious experience of a working mother undergoing a bewildering vocational shift from physician to shamanic healer.
Find out more »Author Event: Benjamin Percy
Meet Minnesota novelist, short story writer, essayist, comics writer and screenwriter Benjamin Percy, who will read from and sign copies of his latest book The Dark Net. Benjamin Percy has won a Whiting Award, a Plimpton Prize, two Pushcart Prizes and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He is the author of the novels The Dead Lands, Red Moon, and The Wilding, two story collections, and an essay collection, Thrill Me. He also writes the Green Arrow…
Find out more »Author Event: Linda LeGarde Grover
Duluth author Linda LeGarde Grover will read from and sign copies of her new book Onigamiising: Seasons Of An Ojibwe Year. In the book, Linda LeGarde Grover reflects on the spiritual beliefs and everyday practices that carry the Ojibwe through the year and connect them to the northern land of rugged splendor.
Find out more »A Year In The Wilderness: Amy and Dave Freeman
National Geographic Adventurers of the Year, educators, and authors Amy and Dave Freeman celebrate their debut book, A Year in the Wilderness, a passionate, illustrated account of a year in the Boundary Waters. After learning of mining in the wilderness area's watershed, the Freemans decided to spend a year there.
Find out more »Nov 2017
Miles Lord Event with Author Roberta Walburn
Hear the author of Miles Lord: The Maverick Judge Who Brought Corporate America to Justice discuss the life and legacy of crusading Minnesota federal judge Miles Lord (1919–2016), who rose from humble beginnings on Minnesota’s Iron Range to become one of the most colorful and powerful judges in the country. Lord was described as “an unabashed Prairie populist” and “a live-wire slayer of corporate behemoths.” Walburn's new book is a compelling portrait of a remarkable man and his place in…
Find out more »Author Event: William Kent Krueger
Best-selling author William Kent Krueger will sign copies of his latest thriller Sulfur Springs, the 17th installment in the Cork O'Connor series. Cork's search for a missing man in the Arizona desert puts him at the center of a violent power struggle along the Mexican border, a struggle that might cost Cork everything and everyone he holds most dear.
Find out more »Border Country: The Northwoods Canoe Journals of Howard Greene
Martha Greene Phillips stops at Zenith Bookstore for a reading and signing of her new book, Border Country: The Northwoods Canoe Journals of Howard Greene, 1906-1916.
Find out more »Local Authors Day
Local authors will be at Zenith Bookstore all day reading from and signing their books. Schedule: 11-12: Linda LeGarde Grover (Onigamiising: Seasons of an Ojibwe Year) 12-1: Beatrice Ojakangas (Homemade) 1-2: Barton Sutter (Cold Comfort) 2-3: Sheila Packa (Night Train Red Dust) 3-4: Lise Lunge-Larsen (Seven Ways to Trick a Troll)
Find out more »Dec 2017
Author Event: Peter Geye
Zenith Bookstore hosts Peter Geye, author of the award-winning Northlands epic Wintering, which received the Minnesota Book Award, Northeast Minnesota Book Award and the Midwest Booksellers Choice award.
Find out more »Jan 2018
Author Event: Gail Francis
Just before her 40th birthday, Duluth native Gail Francis quit her perfectly good job and set out to hike one of the great trails of the world. Carrying everything she needed on her back, Francis spent five months walking the 2,700-mile trek from Mexico to Canada along the Pacific Crest Trail. The story of her five-month odyssey is chronicled in her book, Bliss(ters): How I Walked from Mexico to Canada in One Summer. Gail will share her experiences, and read…
Find out more »Mar 2018
Author Event: The Wind and the Drum
The Wind and the Drum is a historic novel of the Sámi people set in Sweden/Finland in the 17th century. The author, former Cloquet educator Katharine Johnson, will give a description of her research and read from her work. The Wind and the Drum has been chosen as this year's "One Book Northland" community-wide read. Sixteen years ago, the Duluth Public Library partnered with several local organizations to establish a community-wide read, now known as One Book Northland. Each year,…
Find out more »Apr 2018
Visiting Poet: James Lenfestey
To celebrate the start of National Poetry Month, Zenith Bookstore is hosting James Lenfestey, who will discuss and read from his recent collection, "A Marriage Book." Lenfestey is a Minnesota Book Award finalist and the author of multiple collections of poems, including "Seeking the Cave: A Pilgrimage to Cold Mountain." He co-edited the anthology "Robert Bly in This World," is chair of the Literary Witness poetry series and teaches at the Mackinac Island Poetry Festival. He will be introduced by…
Find out more »Alice Marks Book Launch: “Breaks”
Duluth author Alice Marks launches her new book Breaks, the sequel to her suspense novel Missing.
Find out more »Author Event: Maya Rao
Journalist and author Maya Rao presents her new book, Great American Outpost: Dreamers, Mavericks, and the Making of an Oil Frontier. The book tells the story of a 21st century American frontier where the free market reigns supreme as profiteers rush to develop a massive new oilfield. Maya Rao followed the profiteers, deadbeats, ex-cons, dreamers and doers who flocked to the Bakken Oilfield in North Dakota in search of big paychecks and new lives. She reports back on the aftermath with…
Find out more »Independent Bookstore Day
Independent Bookstore Day is a one-day national party that takes place at indie bookstores across the country. Zenith Bookstore will have local authors, food and drink, give-aways, exclusive merchandise and a labradoodle, all day.
Find out more »May 2018
Book Launch: “Alter Ego” by Brian Freeman
Bestselling author Brian Freeman launches his latest Duluth-based Jonathan Stride thriller, Alter Ego. He will talk about the new book, take questions from readers and sign copies.
Find out more »Jun 2018
Author Event: Julie Gard
Julie Gard (Associate Professor of Writing at the University of Wisconsin Superior) presents her new book Scrap: On Louise Nevelson, released by Ravenna Press in March 2018 as part of their Pocket Book Series. These linked prose poems are based on the art and life of this important American sculptor.
Find out more »Author Event: Searching for Minnesota Wildflowers
Phyllis Root and Kelly Povo talk about their newest book, "Searching for Minnesota's Native Wildflowers," an illustrated guide to Minnesota’s native wildflowers and how to find them. The book chronicles the 10 years that Root and Povo spent exploring Minnesota’s woods, prairies, hillsides, lakes and bogs for wildflowers. Phyllis Root is the author of more than 40 books for children, including "Plant a Pocket of Prairie" and "One North Star," which are both winners of the John Burroughs Riverby Award…
Find out more »Author Event: Grant Merritt
Iron and Water is Grant J. Merritt’s memoir of his life’s work on behalf of Minnesota’s people and environment and also the story of a significant family in state history. At this event, Merritt will speak about his book and field questions from Susan Maher, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at UMD. Grant J. Merritt has served as executive director of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, was a member of the first board of the Minnesota Environmental Quality…
Find out more »Author Event: Ahmed Ismail Yusuf
"The Lion’s Binding Oath," Ahmed Ismail Yusuf’s collection of short stories, introduces readers to the people of Somalia and their struggles: their humanity, faith, identity, friendship and family bonds, as whispers of war grow louder around them. Through stories that span the years before and during Somalia’s civil war, Yusuf weaves together Somalia’s political, social, and religious conflicts with portrayals of the country’s love of poetry, music and soccer. About Yusuf: After fleeing Somalia, Ahmed Ismail Yusuf lived in several…
Find out more »Author Event: Hiking Waterfalls in Minnesota
This author event features Steve Johnson, author of "Hiking Waterfalls in Minnesota." This Falcon Guide includes detailed hike descriptions, maps and color photos for approximately 100 of the most scenic waterfall hikes in Minnesota. Hike descriptions also include history, local trivia and GPS coordinates. The book will take you through state and national parks, forests, monuments, wilderness areas, and "from popular city parks to the most remote and secluded corners of the area to view the most spectacular waterfalls." Steve…
Find out more »Jul 2018
Find Waldo Local!
Where’s Waldo? In Duluth, of course! The iconic children’s book character in the red-and-white striped shirt and black-rimmed specs is visiting fifteen local businesses in our West Duluth community this July, including Beaner's Central, Damage Boardshop, Duluth Art Institute - West End, Duluth Children's Museum, Duluth Folk School, the Great Lakes Aquarium, Duluth Pottery, Dungeon's End, Gannucci's, Little Neetcher's, Soul Sisters, Tortoise and Hare Footwear, the West Duluth Public Library and more. Find Waldo Local is a great summer vacation…
Find out more »Zenith Bookstore One-year Anniversary
One year ago – on July 1, 2017 – Zenith Bookstore opened in West Duluth. The store will celebrate with a day-long party featuring cake, prizes and a store-wide 10-percent-off sale on all items.
Find out more »Authors Event: Crystal Gibbins and Jennifer Case
Zenith Bookstore hosts a reading and book signing featuring Jennifer Case and Crystal S. Gibbins. Case will read from her memoir Sawbill: A Search for Place. Gibbons will read new and selected poems from Now/Here. In Sawbill, Case watches her family suddenly exchange its rooted existence for a series of relocations that take it across the United States. In response Case struggles to “live in place” without a geographical home, a struggle that leads her to search for grounding in…
Find out more »The Book of Beasties Launch Party
Sarah Bamford Seidelmann's new book is "all about the magic of the beasties and how seeking out the messages of animals and their spirits can really help." She will be sharing stories from her own life and instruct people on "how to unravel your own beastie messages to help you navigate the trickier parts of your life." Bamford Seidelmann will be offering anybody who would like one a free animal oracle card "to help them discover more love in their…
Find out more »Poetry Reading: Sharon Chmielarz and Barton Sutter
Sharon Chmielarz and Bart Sutter give a joint poetry reading. They will each read from their latest collections. Sharon Chmielarz’s eleventh book of poetry, "little eternities," is a finalist for the Independent Book Publishers Award. Her book "The Widow’s House" was a finalist for the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and is listed in Kirkus Review’s 100 Best Books of 2016. Her other book released in 2015, "Visibility: Ten Miles, a Prairie Memoir in Photography and Poetry" was a…
Find out more »Author Event: Roger Thompson
Roger Thompson talks about his latest book, No Word for Wilderness: Italy's Grizzlies and the Race to Save the Rarest Bears on Earth. In Italian, there is no word for wilderness. Yet in the mountains of Italy, brown bears not only exist, they are fighting to survive amid encroaching development, local and international politics, and the mafia. Thompson's book tells the stories of two populations of bears in Italy -- one the last vestige of a former time that persists…
Find out more »Aug 2018
Author Event: Heid E. Erdrich
Heid E. Erdrich presents New Poets of Native Nations, an anthology celebrating Native poets first published in the 21st century. Gathering poets of diverse ages, styles, languages and tribal affiliations, editor Heid E. Erdrich presents new Native poetry. The 21 poets featured in the collection, whose first books were published after the year 2000, have written poems of great breadth, including long narratives, political outcries, experimental work and traditional lyrics. Erdich will be introduced by Duluth author Linda LeGarde Grover,…
Find out more »Sep 2018
William Kent Krueger
Zenith Bookstore welcomes William Kent Krueger, who will read from and sign Desolation Mountain, the latest thriller in the Cork O'Connor mystery series, set to be released in August. About the Book: All his life, Stephen O'Connor has had visions of tragedies to come. When he experiences the vision of a great bird shot from the sky, he knows something terrible is about to happen. The crash of a private plane on Desolation Mountain in a remote part of the…
Find out more »Author Event: Anastasia Higginbotham
Author and illustrator Anastasia Higginbotham presents Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness. It's the fourth and latest book in her Ordinary Terrible Things series. In the book a white child sees TV coverage of a police shooting — and has some questions. Not My Idea invites families to acknowledge the ways white children are conditioned to feel apart from conversations about race. Higginbotham is the author and illustrator of Divorce is the Worst, Death is Stupid and Tell Me…
Find out more »Author Event: Sarah Stonich
Zenith Bookstore welcomes award-winning Minnesota author Sarah Stonich on the launch of her new novel Laurentian Divide. Returning to the northern Minnesota town of Hatchet Inlet, Laurentian Divide picks up the story where Vacationland left off — at a moment of great sorrow and hope. Residents recovering from a tough winter anticipate their first real celebration since losing two of their best and brightest young women. Sarah Stonich weaves the past and present lives of a retired union miner, his…
Find out more »Dessa
Zenith Bookstore welcomes musician, artist and writer Dessa to West Duluth. Dessa will discuss, read from and sign her new memoir My Own Devices. This is a ticketed event that includes one copy of the book. Tickets may be purchased at Zenith Bookstore, by phone at (218) 606-1777, or online.
Find out more »Oct 2018
Author Event: Leif Enger
Zenith Bookstore celebrates the release of a novel Leif Enger spent 10 years writing, "Virgil Wander." Enger, the author of the magical New York Times bestseller "Peace Like a River," returns with a story that follows the inhabitants of a small Midwestern town in their quest to "revive it’s flagging heart." Raised in Osakis, Minnesota, Enger worked as a reporter and producer for Minnesota Public Radio before writing his bestselling debut novel "Peace Like a River," which won the Independent…
Find out more »Author Event: Curt Brown
On the centennial of the 1918 Cloquet-Moose Lake fires, Zenith Bookstore hosts Curt Brown, author of Minnesota 1918: When Flu, Fire, and War Ravaged the State. It is a story of trauma, tragedy and perseverance in a year that proved to be a turning point in the making of modern America. In 1918, Minnesota and its residents were confronted with a series of devastating events that put communities to the test, forcing them to persevere through untold hardship. First, as…
Find out more »Author Event: Samantha Nielsen
Author and artist Samantha Nielsen visits Zenith Bookstore to answer questions and sign her first book, "5-Minute Watercolor: Super Quick Techniques For Amazing Watercolor Drawings." Nielsen's book features 60 exercises for new and aspiring artists. The book has four sections that include tools to create a quick watercolor painting and capture movement. The book also features Nielsen and contributing artists' work. Nielsen graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead with an art education degree and taught high school art for two…
Find out more »Hush, Hush, Forest: Mary Casanova and Nick Wroblewski
Author Mary Casanova and illustrator Nick Wroblewski will be at Zenith Bookstore for a reading and signing of their new book, Hush Hush, Forest. In Hush, Hush, Forest, lyrical words and elegant woodcuts capture the quiet beauty of the forest as day fades to night and autumn gives way to the North Woods winter Hush Hush, Forest peers through twilight’s window at the raccoon preening, the doe and fawn bedding down, and the last bat flitting away. The book pictures…
Find out more »Nov 2018
Community Discussion: The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela
This community discussion will feature members of Amnesty International and Lake Superior Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing reading selected Mandela letters and discussing their significance. Refreshments and South African tea will follow the discussion.
Find out more »Author Event: “The Mukluk Ball” by Katharine Johnson
Cloquet author Katharine Johnson presents her new children's book, The Mukluk Ball. With help from his friends, Karhu the bear dances his way to Finn Town's liveliest winter event, the Mukluk Ball, featuring the tango, the conga and even the "bear hug twist."
Find out more »Author Event: Timothy Cochrane
Timothy Cochrane will read from and sign his new book Gichi Bitobig, Grand Marais - Early Accounts of the Anishinaabeg and the North Shore Fur Trade. Through the words of long-ago witnesses, and the journals of two clerks of the American Fur Company, Gichi Bitobig, Grand Marais recovers the overlooked Anishinaabeg roots and corporate origins of Grand Marais, a history more complex than is often told. It recalls a time in northern Minnesota when men of the American Fur Company…
Find out more »Gichi Bitobig, Grand Marais Book Signing
Author Timothy Cochrane discusses and signs copies of his new book, Gichi Bitobig, Grand Marais: Early Accounts of the Anishinaabeg and the North Shore Fur Trade.
Find out more »Author Event: William D. Green
William D. Green presents "The Children of Lincoln: White Paternalism and the Limits of Black Opportunity in Minnesota, 1860-1876." Frederick Douglass, in a speech in 1876, said that white people were “the children of Lincoln,” while black people were “at best his stepchildren.” "In this carefully researched book, Green shows, through the stories of four Minnesotans, how white advocates of emancipation abandoned African American causes in the dark days of Reconstruction." Emancipation became the law of the land, and white…
Find out more »Local Authors on Small Business Saturday
Local authors and illustrators will be at Zenith Bookstore all day on Small Business Saturday signing books. Jonathan Thunder (Bowwow Powwow) - 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tony Dierckins & Pete Clure (Naturally Brewed) - 12:30 to 2 p.m. Leif Enger (Virgil Wander) - 2 to 3:30 p.m. Katie Berg (North Shore Adventures) - 3:30 to 5 p.m.
Find out more »Author Event: Thomas D. Peacock
Thomas D. Peacock is a member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior (Anishinaabe Ojibwe). Several of his books (Ojibwe Waasa Inaabida, The Good Path) were Minnesota Book Award winners. The Seventh Generation won a national Multicultural Children's Book of the Year award. Other books include A Forever Story, Collected Wisdom, The Tao of Nookomis, The Four Hills of Life and To Be Free. An illustrated children's book, The Forever Sky, will be released in 2019. He lives…
Find out more »Dec 2018
Adult Story Time
Zenith Bookstore staff and friends read short stories, poems and book excerpts during three Adult Story Time events in December. There will be wine, chocolate and comfy chairs.
Find out more »Jan 2019
Poetry Book Club: Night Sky with Exit Wounds
Former Duluth Poet Laureate Sheila Packa hosts this monthly poetry book club. January's book is Ocean Vuong's Night Sky with Exit Wounds. Expect discussion about metaphors, sound patterns and other poetry talk. In following months, books will be selected by the participants. Poetry book club books can be ordered from Zenith Bookstore at a 15% discount.
Find out more »Adult Story Time
Zenith Bookstore staff and friends read short stories, poems and book excerpts. There will be wine, chocolate and comfy chairs.
Find out more »Author Event: Climate Change and the North Shore
Katya Gordon reads from and signs copies of her new book, Climate Change - Musings and Stories from Lake Superior's North Shore. From potlucks to politics, idling to ice cover, dog-sledding to droughts, and cliff-jumping to carbon dioxide, Katya Gordon connects our day-to-day lives with our warming world and changing climate. Understanding the situation is a prerequisite to improving it, so rather than dwelling on human failings, Gordon focuses on the solutions to the climate crisis that face us all…
Find out more »Feb 2019
Meet and Greet: Brian Freeman
Join Brian Freeman for a meet-and-greet to talk about his new mystery thriller The Crooked Street. Pick up a signed copy and chat with Brian about the new book — and about what’s next for his characters Frost Easton and Jonathan Stride.
Find out more »Mar 2019
Poetry Book Club
Facilitated by former Duluth Poet Laureate Sheila Packa. Talk about metaphors, sound patterns and anything else that might happen to come up in conversation about poems. Order a book club book with Zenith Bookstore for a 15% discount. This month's reading: Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey.
Find out more »Adult Story Time
Relax with the lights turned low and enjoy short stories, essays and book excerpts read by Zenith Bookstore staff and friends. Available: wine, chocolate, comfy chairs and pillows.
Find out more »Drag Story Time for Kids
Drag Story Time is just what it sounds like: local drag queens and kings reading stories to children. The event is an opportunity for kids to share in story time with people who defy rigid gender restrictions and imagine a world where people can present as they wish.
Find out more »Apr 2019
Book Launch: Linda LeGarde Grover presents “In the Night of Memory”
Zenith Bookstore hosts Duluth's own Linda LeGarde Grover to celebrate the release of her new book In the Night of Memory. Book Synopsis: Two lost sisters find family, and themselves, among the voices of an Ojibwe reservation. Some ruptures simply cannot be repaired; they can only be lived through, or lived with. Grover returns to the fictional Mozhay Point Reservation in this nuanced, moving, often humorous picture of two Ojibwe girls becoming women in the long, sharply etched shadow of…
Find out more »Authors Event: The Girls Are Gone
Authors Michael Brodkorb and Allison Mann read from their new book The Girls Are Gone. The book tells the true story of two sisters who went missing, the father who kept searching and the adults who conspired to keep the truth hidden.
Find out more »Independent Bookstore Day
Independent Bookstore Day is a one-day national party that takes place at indie bookstores across the country on the last Saturday in April. Zenith Bookstore will have prizes, free food, special sales and all-day giveaways.
Find out more »Readings by Great Lakes Poets Laureate on Social Justice
Eight poets will read works from the new anthology Undocumented: Great Lakes Poets Laureate on Social Justice, edited by Ron Riekki and Andrea Scarpino. Focusing on contemporary issues, the book showcases a large collection of regional poets laureate writing on subjects critical to understanding social justice as it relates to the Great Lakes region. The work includes writing by 78 poets who represent the diversity of the Great Lakes region. City, state and national poets laureate with ties to Illinois,…
Find out more »May 2019
Pajama Storytime with Margi Preus
It's Children's Book Week from April 29 through May 5 and Zenith Bookstore is celebrating. Kids can wear pajamas and bring the whole family to this special evening storytime with Duluth children's author Margi Preus. Encouraged: pillows, blankets, loveys and stuffed friends.
Find out more »Author Event: Thomas Peacock
Local author Thomas Peacock reads from and signs his new children’s book Forever Sky.
Find out more »Authors Event: Phyllis Root and Betsy Bowen
It's Children's Book Week from April 29 to May 5 and Zenith Bookstore is celebrating. Children's author Phyllis Root and illustrator Betsy Bowen will be in the store with their new picture book The Lost Forest. The Lost Forest tells the story of a lucky error that preserved 144 acres of old-growth red and white pine in Minnesota. With gentle humor, Phyllis Root takes readers deep into a stand of virgin pine, one of the last and largest in the…
Find out more »Emma Bee Book Launch
Local author Pamela Fish Carlson and her daughter, illustrator Tessa Carlson, hold a party for the launch and signing of their new childrens' book Emma Bee.
Find out more »Kirstin Cronn-Mills
Meet young-adult author Kirstin Cronn-Mills, who will read from and sign copies of her newest novel, Wreck. Set on the shores of Lake Superior, Wreck follows high-school junior Tobin Oliver as she navigates her father’s diagnosis of ALS.
Find out more »Duluth Dylan Fest 2019 Poetry Reading: Visiting Bob
Thom Tammaro, Alan Davis, and other Minnesota poets read from the recent collection Visiting Bob: Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of Bob Dylan. The collection, edited by Tammaro and Davis, contains 100 poems by 100 poets. Contributors include Robert Bly, Charles Bukowski, Johnny Cash, Diane di Prima, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Tony Hoagland, Yusef Komunyakaa, Dorianne Laux, Paul Muldoon, Linda Pastan, Patti Smith and Anne Waldman. Poets attending the event include Marge Barrett, David Gaines, Margaret Hasse, David…
Find out more »Jun 2019
David Sedaris
Best-selling author and renowned humorist David Sedaris returns to Duluth to read from his most recent book, Calypso. Calypso was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2018 and is being released in paperback on June 4, two days before the author event. Sedaris will begin speaking at 7 p.m., and the audio of his talk will be broadcast outside to the adjacent parking lot for the expected overflow crowd. At about 7:45 p.m. the signing line will form…
Find out more »Zenith Bookstore Anniversary Celebration
On July 1, Zenith Bookstore is two years old. To celebrate, they are having two days of sales, giveaways and prizes to say thank you to their customers and community for "all of their love and support over these two amazing years." During the anniversary weekend: - Wish Zenith Bookstore a "Happy Anniversary" in the store to get $2 of store credit (applies to used book purchases). - The traditional 2nd anniversary gift is "cloth," so the store is giving…
Find out more »Drag Story Time
Local drag queens and kings read stories to children in order to give them "glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer and trans role models." The space allows kids to see people who "defy rigid gender restrictions and imagine a world where people can present as they wish, and where dress-up is real." This idea was originally created by Michelle Tea and RADAR Productions in San Francisco under the name Drag Queen Story Hour, and there are now chapters in San Francisco,…
Find out more »Jul 2019
Vegan Morning, Noon, & Night with Becky Hunt
Becky Hunt shares the story behind her new cookbook Vegan Morning, Noon, & Night and gives a live demonstration of her perfect cupcake recipe. Vegan Morning, Noon, & Night is a 100% plant-based, whole food and gluten-free cookbook.
Find out more »Aug 2019
Upon Waking: Reading and Book Signing
Editors Annette Gagliardi and Laura Lanik, and poet contributors give a reading from "Upon Waking: 58 Voices Speaking Out from the Shadow of Abuse." The collection gives victims a place to share how the abuse felt, how abuse lingers and what they have done to heal and move forward. These poems show that abusive experiences affect us all, and if we speak up, we can change our culture for the better. "Upon Waking: 58 Voices Speaking Out From the Shadow…
Find out more »Queer Voices: Poetry, Prose and Pride
Zenith Bookstore hosts a reading and signing by contributors and editors to this exciting new collection at the start of Duluth-Superior Pride week. In Queer Voices: Poetry, Prose and Pride, 44 LGBTQIA+ voices provide a vibrant, necessary, and dazzling component of Minnesota's cultural and historical fabric. Since its beginnings in 1993, the Queer Voices reading series has featured both emerging and established Minnesota-based writers of the LGBTQIA+ community. With a track record of more than twenty years, the series has…
Find out more »Tim Jollymore
Meet and greet Tim Jollymore, whose newest novel People You've Been Before is a fierce portrait of a couple's 40-year relationship from marriage through divorce and its aftermath.
Find out more »Sep 2019
Poetry Reading: Phil Fitzpatrick
Phil Fitzpatrick will read from his new collection, Hawks on High: Everyday Miracles in a Hawk Ridge Season, a book of poems about the annual fall migration of raptors above Duluth’s renowned Hawk Ridge. Published by Savage Press of Brule and illustrated by Duluth artist Penny Perry, Fitzpatrick’s book offers an intimate glimpse of the ritual of migration when raptors of all kinds — hawks, eagles, falcons, kestrels, vultures, even crows and ravens — stream down from the north along…
Find out more »An Evening with William Kent Krueger and Faith Sullivan
Zenith Bookstore presents an evening with authors Faith Sullivan and William Kent Krueger, who will talk about, read from and sign copies of their new novels. Please note: This event was previously scheduled to be held at Sacred Heart Music Center as a ticketed event. It will instead be a free-admission event at the bookstore. Those who purchased tickets will be refunded. William Kent Krueger is the award-winning author of the New York Times bestselling Ordinary Grace, winner of the…
Find out more »Nov 2019
Author Event: Sheila O’Connor
Award-winning Minnesota author Sheila O'Connor presents her book, Evidence of V: A Novel in Fragments, Facts, and Fictions, which is set to be released in October 2019. In an ambitious blend of fact and fiction, including family secrets, documents from the era, and a thin, fragmentary case file unsealed by the court, Connor tells the story of V, a talented 15-year-old singer in 1930's Minneapolis who aspires to be a star. Drawing on the little-known American practice of incarcerating adolescent…
Find out more »Joy Riggs
The Minnesota author signs copies of her new book, Crackerjack Bands and Hometown Boosters: The Story of a Minnesota Music Man.
Find out more »Small Business Saturday at Zenith Bookstore
Update: Due to the winter storm, Zenith Bookstore is closing at noon. Zenith Bookstore celebrates Small Business Saturday with hot cider and cookies, one-day sales and book signings. Duluth authors Phil Fitzpatrick (Hawks on High), Linda LeGarde Grover (In the Night of Memory and Onigamiising: Season of an Ojibwe Year), and Mark Munger (Katiima: Homeland) will be on hand to discuss and sign their books. Fitzpatrick will be there from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., Grover from 1 p.m. until…
Find out more »Dec 2019
Jólabókaflóð
Today's bookstore hours have been reduced due to the storm. It's the start of Jólabókaflóð – pronounced YO-la-po-ka-flohd – the Icelandic holiday tradition of gifting books, often with chocolate and cozying up to read on cold winter nights. Zenith Bookstore is once again celebrating Jólabókaflóð, which roughy translates to "yule book flood," with complimentary gift wrapping and chocolate. The promotion runs from Dec. 1 until Dec. 24. Zenith Bookstore is partnering with Northern Minnesota chocolatier TC Chocolate to provide the…
Find out more »Local Author Book Signings: Cheryl Minnema and Micheal Fedo
Each Saturday between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Zenith Bookstore hosts local authors for book signing events throughout the day. 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.: In Cheryl Minnema's Johnny's Pheasant, an encounter with a pheasant takes a surprising turn in this story of a Native American boy and his grandma. Johnny's Pheasant is illustrated by Julie Flett. 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.: Duluth native Michael Fedo's latest book, Don't Quit Your Day Job: The Adventures of a Midlist Author is a memoir…
Find out more »Local Author Book Signings: Alex Messenger, Ryan Vine and Pamela Fish Carlson
Each Saturday between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Zenith Bookstore hosts local authors for book signing events throughout the day. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Alex Messenger is a Duluth, Minnesota author and photographer who, at 17, was mauled by a grizzly bear. Messerger's memoir The Twenty-Ninth Day is a true-life wilderness survival epic which tells his story. 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.: Ryan Vine's debut poetry collection To Keep Him Hidden was the winner of the 2018 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award.…
Find out more »Local Authors Book Signings: Leif Enger, Margi Preus and Vern Northrup
Each Saturday between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Zenith Bookstore hosts local authors for book signing events throughout the day. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Leif Enger's Virgil Wander explores new beginnings against all odds for the inhabitants of a hard luck town. Other books by Enger include the best-selling, award-winning Peace Life A River, and So Brave, Young, and Handsome. 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.: Margi Preus is the author of the Newbery Honor book Heart of a Samurai and other…
Find out more »Mar 2020
Paper Bag Princess Day
Zenith Bookstore celebrates the 40th anniversary of Robert Munsch's classic, The Paper Bag Princess. This picture book is about a princess named Elizabeth who goes head to head with a fierce dragon in order to save a rather snooty prince. Featured: a special story time and activities.
Find out more »Anton Treuer Presents The Language Warrior’s Manifesto (Cancelled)
This event has been cancelled. Anton Treuer presents his new book, The Language Warrior's Manifesto. Treuer is Professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University. He is the author of Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask and 13 other books on Indigenous history and language. His equity, education and cultural work has put him on a path of service around the region, the nation and the world.
Find out more »Margi Preus Book Launch (Cancelled)
This event has been cancelled. Bestselling children's author Margi Preus comes to Duluth for a doubleheader as she launches her two new books The Littlest Voyageur and Village of Scoundrels. Preus is also the author of the Newbery Honor book Heart of a Samurai and other books for young readers, including the Minnesota Book Award-winning West of the Moon and the Midwest Booksellers Choice Award book The Clue in the Trees, part of the Enchantment Lake mystery series.
Find out more »Authors Event to Support CJMM 2020 Commemoration (Cancelled)
This event has been cancelled. Two authors who have written works describing Duluth's 1920 lynchings take part in a panel discussion. They will be joined by a member of CJMM, Inc., who will provide event details for the 2020 commemoration. All profits from book sales during this event will go to support the work of the CJM Commemoration 100-Year Committee. For more information on the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial and the 2020 CJM commemoration events, including the June 15, 2020…
Find out more »Apr 2020
Grant Snider at Zenith Bookstore (Cancelled)
This event has been cancelled. New York Times illustrator Grant Snider takes a look at the culture and fanaticism of book lovers as he presents his new book I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf.
Find out more »May 2020
Sarah Stonich and Peter Geye (Canceled)
This event has been canceled. Zenith Bookstore welcome authors Sarah Stonich and Peter Geye. The two best-selling Minnesota writers will read from their newly released novels and then join in discussion with Claire Kirch, Midwest correspondent for Publisher's Weekly. Fishing!, by Sarah Stonich, is a hilarious saga of fishing, family and three generations of tough, independent women — the first in a trilogy. The work was first published in 2015 under a pseudonym. Sarah Stonich is the best-selling author of…
Find out more »Jun 2020
Author Event: The Cadottes (Canceled)
This event has been canceled. Robert Silbernagel presents his new book The Cadottes: A Fur Trade Family on Lake Superior. The Great Lakes fur trade spanned two centuries and thousands of miles, but the story of one particular family, the Cadottes, illuminates the history of trade and trapping while exploring under-researched stories of French-Ojibwe political, social and economic relations. Multiple generations of Cadottes were involved in the trade, usually working as interpreters and peacemakers, as the region passed from French…
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