EVENTS
Special Event
Poetry on the Prairie
Perry, Iowa
Join us at Art on the Prairie again this year as Poetry& and the Iowa Poetry Association present "Poetry on the Prairie" in Perry, Iowa. They will be many local poets featured, so mark your calendar to join in on the fun. This event is free and open to the public!
Meet the Author
Clara McKenna | Murder on Mistletoe Lane
@ Beaverdale Books
Ex-pat Stella and British aristocrat Viscount “Lyndy” Lyndhurst are thrilled to celebrate their first Christmas together as Morrington Hall comes alive with caroling, intricate decorations . . . and a deadly murder.
Meet the Author
Dan Hunter | Learning and Teaching Creativity You Can Only Imagine
@ Beaverdale Books
This book details steps to improve student creativity through imagination. Hunter explores metacognition, teacher attitudes, exercises, ideation, and problem-solving techniques. Throughout the book there are stories of creative successes fueled by imagination: Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Franz Schubert, Sherlock Holmes, Leonardo Da Vinci, and more. Hunter clearly explains the latest neuroscience on creativity. Hunter draws on humor, extensive research, and his lifetime of practicing and teaching creative work.
Meet the Author
Mark Guarino | Country and Midwestern
@ Beaverdale Books
Chicago is revered as a musical breeding ground, having launched major figures like blues legend Muddy Waters, gospel soul icon Mavis Staples, hip-hop firebrand Kanye West, and the jazz-rock band that shares its name with the city. Far less known, however, is the vital role Chicago played in the rise of prewar country music, the folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s, and the contemporary offspring of those scenes.
Meet the Author
Lori Erickson | Every Step is Home: A Spiritual Geography from Appalachia to Alaska
@ Plymouth Church – 4126 Ingersoll Avenue
A travelogue about areas of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, that have sacred and spiritual meaning to people,
now and throughout history. . .. Ideal for fans of Erickson’s work, curious readers, armchair travelers, and those who are compelled to take a spiritual pilgrimage.
Poetry Open Mic Night
Kelsey Bigelow | Emcee
@ Beaverdale Books
Do you love to write poetry? Or read poetry? If so, grab a friend and head to Beaverdale Books for a free, fun, and informal evening of open mic poetry, emceed by Iowa poet Kelsey Bigelow.
Meet the Author
Jerry Harrington | Thunder from the Prairie
@ Beaverdale Books
In Thunder from the Prairie, Jerry Harrington explores the life of Harold E. Hughes: a man of working-class origins who overcame severe alcoholism to become Iowa governor (1963–1969) and US Senator (1969–1974).
Meet the Author
Theodore Wheeler | The War Begins in Paris
@ Beaverdale Books
From the author of Kings of Broken Things and In Our Other Lives comes a provocative and stylish literary noir about two female war correspondents whose fates intertwine in Europe.
Family Storytime
Lisa Morelock | Track that Scat!
@ Jester Park Nature Center
Bring your little ones along for an exciting opportunity to listen to the story of Track that Scat! and then become an “animal detective” learning how to identify common Iowa mammal tracks.
Special Storytime
Santa Storytime | Beaverdale Holiday Happenings
@ Beaverdale Books
Bring the kids and join in the Beaverdale Holiday Happenings with a special storytime with Santa!
Meet the Author
Ree Drummond | The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinner’s Ready!
@ Franklin Event Center – 4801 Franklin Avenue
In The Pioneer Woman Cooks—Dinner’s Ready! you’ll find lots of new dishes to fit your schedule, whether you’re in a hurry to get supper made or simply want to get out of the kitchen quicker to spend time doing other things you enjoy (even if that’s curling up in front of the TV for the night)! Every occasion is covered, from hosting company, with my mom’s Seafood Casserole from the ’70s and Pork Marsala with Mushrooms, to pizza night, with my classic Cast-Iron Hamburger Pizza and gorgeous Rainbow Pizza, to teenager-friendly fun food like Pretzel Dogs and Pickle Chicken Bites.
Meet Author and NBC Senior National Politics Reporter
Matt Dixon | Swamp Monsters: Trump vs. DeSantis―the Greatest Show on Earth (or at Least in Florida)
@ Beaverdale Books
Swamp Monsters is the wild inside story of how Donald Trump made a star of Ron DeSantis and then set out to destroy him—a struggle for supremacy that has turned Florida into the crucible of the new GOP and of America's future—by “one of the keenest and best-sourced observers of Florida’s political maelstrom” (Rick Wilson)