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VOLUME 29, NUMBER 2, SUMMER 2024 (#114)

To purchase issue #114 using Paypal, click here .
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.

INTERVIEWS

Mark Dowie: Surrender to the Creation | interviewed by Mike Dillon
Stacey Levine: Some Kind of Laughing Gas | interviewed by Ted Pelton
Ben Tanzer: Lying Is So Much Easier | interviewed by Rachel Robbins
Jessica Jacobs: These Striving Hymns of Contranyms | interviewed by Tiffany Troy

FEATURES

A Look Back: A Primer For Forgetting: Getting Past the Past | Lewis Hyde | by Abeer Hoque
The New Life | a comic by Gary Sullivan
Considering Charles Simic (1938–2023) | by Mike Schneider

PLUS: Cover art by Kristin Schue

NONFICTION REVIEWS

No Harmless Power | Charlie Allison | by Paul Buhle
The Geography of the Imagination: Forty Essays | Guy Davenport | by Eric Bies
The Male Gazed: On Hunks, Heartthrobs, and What Pop Culture Taught Me About (Desiring) Men | Manuel Betancourt | by Jackson Wyatt
He, Leo: The Life and Poetry of Lew Welch | Ewan Clark | by Patrick James Dunagan
No Judgment: On Being Criticial | Lauren Oyler | by Evan Youngs
Muse of Fire: World War I as Seen Through the Lives of the Soldier Poets | Michael Korda | by Chris Barsanti
Aid State: Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism, and the Battle to Control Haiti | Jake Johnston | by Doug MacLeod
Measure’s Measures: Poetry and Knowledge | Michael Boughn | by Bruce Holsapple

COMICS REVIEW

The Beautiful Idea | N.O. Bonzo | by Paul Buhle

CHAPBOOK REVIEW

The Mating Calls // of a // Specter | Kelly Gray | by Ali Beheler

FICTION REVIEWS

POETRY REVIEWS

Kristin Schue

Kristin Schue is a mixed media artist from St. Paul, MN who explores discarded ephemera and vintage material. Often using snippets of old newspapers, elements of old books, photographs and anything that has a bit of weathering she combines these found materials with contemporary elements to assemble new stories. She hopes viewers find something strange, yet familiar among the quirk, wit and wonder embedded in her work. You can see her works at the Northrup King Building in the NE Minneapolis Arts District and at kschue.com.

**Title:** Tale of Sorrow
**Size:** 4” x 2 ⅞”
**Medium:** wood, resin, book pages, beads, swarovski crystals, gold foil

Rain Taxi Book Tote

Tote your bags in this typographically ingenious tote with an innovative design by renowned Minnesota cartoonist and musician Zak Sally!

Only $10, plus $4 shipping in the U.S.; $15 shipping overseas

Book Tote Domestic

Book Tote Overseas

2024 Rain Taxi Events

TCBF Bookend Event: Jeffrey Brown

Saturday, November 2, Lake Monster Brewing

Acclaimed graphic novelist and Eisner Award winning author Jeffrey Brown celebrated the publication of his new book, Kids Are Still Weird, presenting a slide show of his career as a cartoonist from childhood to present day.

TCBF Bookend Event: Lisa Yee

Tuesday, October 22

2024 Kerlan Award Winner Lisa Yee, the award-winning author of more than 20 books for children and young adults including her recent titles, Maizy Chen’s Last Chance and The Misfits, discussed and read from her children's books. See the recording here!

Twin Cities Book Festival

Saturday, October 19, Minnesota State Fairgrounds

The 24th Annual Twin Cities Book Festival was a rousing success, drawing over 5500 people to celebrate books, authors, and more!

TCBF Opening Night with Charles Baxter and Miles Harvey

Friday, October 18, Spaces at Mosaic

Charles Baxter celebrated the publication of his novel Blood Test: A Comedy with fellow novelist Miles Harvey.

TCBF Bookend Event: Kate DiCamillo

Thursday, October 17, McNamara Alumni Center

As part of Book Week at the University of Minnesota, Kate DiCamillo offered a meditation on how reading and writing stories can help us become ourselves.

TCBF Bookend Event: Dobby Gibson

Thursday, October 10, The Loft Literary Center

Dobby Gibson and Carmen Giménez read from their recent publications at this special book launch event for Dobby Gibson's Hold Everything. The two also discussed Gibson's process and inspiration for his newest collection of poems.

TCBF Bookend Event: Alan Moore

Tuesday, October 1, Wisconsin Book Festival

Legendary British author Alan Moore discussed his new novel, The Great When, with Minnesota's own Benjamin Percy on October 1st. Rain Taxi’s Twin Cities Book Festival was proud to partner with our pals at the Wisconsin Book Festival for this special virtual event. Click here to watch the replay!

TCBF Bookend Event: Alejandro Puyana

Thursday, September 12, Magers & Quinn Booksellers

Alejandro Puyana celebrated his debut novel Freedom Is A Feast to a packed crowd. Puyana discussed the expansive novel following decades of Venezuelan history with fellow Minnesota novelist Nigar Alam.

TCBF Bookend Event: Katherine Packert Burke

Wednesday, September 11, Magers & Quinn Booksellers

Katherine Packert Burke discussed her debut novel Still Life with torrin a. greathouse to an enthusiastic crowd. The entertaining conversation explored Burke's profound and piercing tribute to messy webs of queer friendship and what is left behind in transition.

Rain Taxi's BANneD BOOKS Spring Fling

On Friday, May 3, Rain Taxi held a part at the Grenada Theater to celebrate talent in all its forms. See here for a recap of this event!

Twin Cities Independent Bookstore Passport

Hundreds of people participated in the 2024 Twin Cities Independent Bookstore Passport! Between Wednesday, April 24 and Sunday, April 28, bibliophiles could grab a free Passport from any of the 28 participating bookstores and get them stamped for future book savings. Those intrepid enough to visit 15 stores or all 28 stores were entered into a drawing for fantastic literary prizes. More info here.

BANneD BOOKS Ticket Confirmation

Thank you for purchasing tickets for Rain Taxi's BANneD BOOKS fundraising event on Friday, May 3, 7pm at the Granada Theater in Minneapolis!

Your tickets will be held under your name at the Will Call table in the lobby—please check in anytime after 6:30pm to enter the theater. Food and drink are available at the Granada’s Uptown Lobby Bar & Restaurant starting at 5:30 pm; more info about the Granada Theater can be found at https://granadampls.com.

Books and music by the performers, as well as an assortment of chapbooks and broadsides created by Rain Taxi, will be available for purchase at the Rain Taxi table inside the theater.

Thank you again for joining us—we look forward to celebrating with you!

Click here to go back to the BANneD BOOKS page

A Note on Parking in Uptown:

The Granada is located at 3022 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55408. Since Hennepin Ave. is under reconstruction, Hennepin from 31st to Lake St., including in front of the Granada, is closed to drivers. That means people can’t get dropped off except at the backdoor in the alley. So you'll get to take the scenic route to the Granada after you park.

The best place to park is the ramp behind Seven Points (formerly Calhoun Square). Then walk down to 31st, over to Hennepin, and north on Hennepin to the Granada.

Residential street parking is also an option off 31st on cross streets (Holmes, Irving, etc.).

After a little walking adventure from your car to the Granada, you will be ready for a drink, a bite to eat, and a show. We have you covered in all three areas with our celebration of books, bands, and more at BANneD BOOKS.

Thank you for becoming a Member or renewing your Membership!!

Your continued support means the world to us. We can't do this essential work without you, bringing to light works of literary excellence to a wider audience. You will continue to receive the quarterly Rain Taxi Review of Books. If you have any questions or need to update your address, please email us at orders [at] raintaxi [dot] com.

Soon, you will receive a letter of thanks from our Executive Director along with your Member Card. Thanks again!

If this is a gift membership or you want to update your address and information, please fill out the form below!

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Rain Taxi Spring Fling

Rain Taxi’s BANneD BOOKS spring fling on Friday, May 3, 2024, was a great success, with 100 people enjoying the riveting musical performances by The Muatas, Zak Sally, and Willie Wisely, and spellbinding literary readings by Dessa, Klecko, and special guest Carolyn Kuebler, amid the beautiful Granada Theater backdrop. Thank you to all who made this fundraiser a smashing success: the Rain Taxi Board, the talented artists, our sponsors, and everyone who attended! Click on the photos below for a fun slide show:

— FEATURED ARTISTS —

THE MUATAS, Ayanna and Cam Muata, create an original blend of post-punk, trip hop, dark wave, shoe gaze, and electronic music. The Muatas have released three albums since 2020, most recently Battle Weary. With a sound that mixes sampled and programmed beats layered with synthesizer, guitar, bass guitar, ambient strings, and vocals that often range between the melodic and spoken, they desire to share a bit of their story through their music, and to connect with others through that experience.

ZAK SALLY has been making comics and art (Recidivist, Sammy The Mouse), creating music (Low, The Hand, solo work), publishing books (via his small press La Mano), and otherwise engaging in various creative WTF’s for 35 years (and counting); he recently published a prose memoir titled Folrath. He lives and works in Minneapolis.

WILLIE WISELY is equal parts Minnesota music scene veteran and Laurel Canyon devotee. Wisely remains that rare bird mixing profound power pop with vaudevillian showmanship, a troubadour on an all-night rave, a cold Komboucha on a hot California day, a McCartney-ite taking a break from his Japanese import of Ram for a quick canyon run listening to João Gilberto. Singer, Guitarist, Producer, Composer, and sometimes Clothes Horse, he has released over a dozen albums, the latest of which is Face the Sun.

DESSA is a singer, rapper, and writer who has made a career of bucking genres and defying expectations. As a musician she has performed at Lollapalooza and Glastonbury, collaborated with the Minnesota Orchestra, and had entries on the Billboard charts. As a writer, she’s been published by The New York Times and National Geographic Traveler, penned the acclaimed memoir-in-essays My Own Devices, and has had two chapbooks of poetry published by Rain Taxi, A Pound of Steam and Tits on the Moon. Also a noted public speaker on topics from art to entrepreneurship (including a TED Talk about her science experiment on falling out of love), Dessa is the host of the podcast Deeply Human. When not on the road, she calls both Minneapolis and NYC home.

KLECKO studied breadmaking at Dunwoody Technical College in Minneapolis and the American Institute of Baking in Manhattan, Kansas. He spent the first decade of his 45-year career running ovens on the night shift; often, while waiting for the loaves to bake, he wrote poems. He has since written several books, including the Midwest Book Award-winning collection Hitman-Baker-Casket Maker and the memoir A Bakeable Feast; his work has also been featured in the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the New York Times. An ardent fan of “all things 651,” Klecko lives in a St. Paul mansion across the street from where F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote his first novel.

CAROLYN KUEBLER co-founded the literary magazine Rain Taxi and has been the editor of the award-winning journal New England Review for the past 10 years. Her short stories and essays have been published in numerous venues including The Common and Colorado Review; her piece “Wildflower Season” won the 2022 John Burroughs Award for Nature Essay. She has published scores of book reviews, small-press profiles, and author interviews in Publishers Weekly, The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Rain Taxi, City Pages, and other venues. Now residing in Middlebury, Vermont, Kuebler returns to Minneapolis to launch her debut novel, Liquid, Fragile, Perishable, described by Michael Collier as “A true-to-life, richly detailed American tale in the tradition of Sherwood Anderson, Willa Cather, and Thornton Wilder” and named one of Oprah Daily’s Most Anticipated Books of 2024.

A note to help you find your way and park in Uptown:

The Granada Theater is located at 3022 Hennepin Ave in Minneapolis, but since Hennepin Ave. is currently under reconstruction, the road between Lake Street and 31st, including in front of the Granada, is closed to drivers. This means people can’t get dropped off directly in front of the theater—so you’ll get to take the scenic route there after you disembark or park!

For parking, the closest, easiest is in the Seven Points (formerly Calhoun Square) pay ramp across the street from the theater — from there simply exit to 31st St., head west to Hennepin, and then north on Hennepin to the Granada. Free street parking is also an option on residential cross streets (Holmes, Humboldt, Irving, etc.). Further navigational directions and a detailed map of street closures and parking availability is available from our official event bookseller Magers & Quinn, whose store is just a few doors down from the Granada: https://www.magersandquinn.com/directions
No matter how you’re getting to the Granada, you will be ready for a drink, a bite to eat, and a show. We have all three areas covered with our celebration of books, bands, and lively fun at BANneD BOOKS!

Thank you to our sponsors for their support:

Media Sponsor

Event Book Seller

Rain Taxi Volume 29, Number 1, Spring 2024 (#113)

To purchase issue #113 using Paypal, click here.
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.

INTERVIEWS

Darryl Pinckney: The Women Who Shaped Him | interviewed by William Corwin
Jody Hobbs Hesler: Atonement Is Not Transactional | interviewed by Sharon Harrigan
Dorothea Lasky: Why Horror | interviewed by Zachary Pace
Patty Crane: Hues of Translation | interviewed by Dennis Maloney

FEATURES

Plus cover art by Noah Lawrence-Holder

NONFICTION REVIEWS

Dear Jean Pierre | David Wojnarowicz | by Patrick James Dunagan
Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith | John Szwed | by Richard Kostelanetz
The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality | William Egginton | by David Brizer
The Upside-Down World: Meetings with the Dutch Masters | Benjamin Moser | by Allan Vorda
New Voices: Contemporary Writers Confronting the Holocaust | Howard Debs and Matthew Silverman, eds. | by Gale Hemmann

FICTION REVIEWS

POETRY REVIEWS

COMICS REVIEWS

Impossible People: A Completely Average Recovery Story | Julia Wertz | by Greg Baldino

To purchase issue #113 using Paypal, click here.
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.

Noah Lawrence-Holder

Noah Lawrence-Holder is a black, nonbinary artist from Madison WI, now based in the Twin Cities. Their work consists of illustration and animations centered around racial justice, equity, intersectionality and gender identity. They have featured work in gallery shows highlighting queer and black artists across Minneapolis and beyond. Visit their website here.

Volume 28, Number 4, Winter 2023 (#112)

To purchase issue #112 using Paypal, click here.
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.

INTERVIEWS

Lynn Levin: Playthings of Chaos | interviewed by Carolyne Wright
Elizabeth Metzger: In Two Separate Rooms, Breathing | interviewed by Tiffany Troy
Marty Cain: Pastoral Politics | interviewed by J. B. Stone

FEATURES

If and Only If | by Scott F. Parker
A Personal View: The Writer as Publisher | by David Stromberg
A Look Back: Bright Lights, Big City | by Neal Lipschutz
The New Life | a comic by Gary Sullivan

Plus cover art by John Schuerman

NONFICTION REVIEWS

FICTION REVIEWS

POETRY REVIEWS

MIXED GENRE REVIEWS

Poets on the Road | Maureen Owen and Barbara Henning | by Kit Robinson
Poetechnics / Poetécnicas: Designs from the New World | Yaxkin Melchy
| by kathy wu

COMICS REVIEWS

My Picture Diary | Fujiwara Maki | by Jeff Alford

To purchase issue #112 using Paypal, click here.
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.