Letter to the Editor

Bonnie Rietz, Co-chair, Austin Page Turners

Austin Page Turners is celebrating its 10th City-Wide Book Read. We started in 2002 and have been sponsoring Minnesota authors each year. Our goal is to choose books that will have a wide appeal and we have had mysteries, fiction, non-fiction and short stories. We even featured a famous Minnesota author who has died (the Saint Paul Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald edited by Patricia Hampl).

Two of our authors were born in Austin (Tim O’Brien and Larry Engelmann). We probably laughed the most with Lorna Lanvik, who is a comedian and actor in the Twin Cities in addition to being an author.

This year we are featuring Kao Kalia Yang who has written the book, The Latehomecomer, a Hmong Family Memoir. She will be speaking at the Austin Public Library at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 28.

Check out our website (www.austinpageturners.org) for more activities for this year’s project, some history and a listing of our members.

To celebrate our 10th year, each of the authors who have come to Austin sent a greeting. Here are some of their comments:

My novel “A Place Where the Sea Remembers” was honored in 2002 as a selection of the Austin Page Turners, the first city-wide reading program in that city. The program was a special treat to me as an author, and a boon to readership. The culminating evening reading was a reunion and celebration. I’ll long remember the joyous time we all had.

— Sandra Benitez (2002)

What a thrill and honor it was to return to my hometown of Austin to celebrate books and writing. The wonderful memories will be with me always. Someday, I hope, we can all get together again!

— Tim O’Brien (2003)

I was so honored when HAUNTED GROUND was chosen for the Page Turners Annual Citywide Reading Event in 2004. My husband Paddy and I will never forget arriving in Austin, where the excitement about our visit had been building for weeks. As we we traveled between elementary school, library, high school, and community college, I remember being mightily impressed by the incredible hard work and organization by the Page Turners Planning committee, and all their dedicated volunteers. What a great way to inspire stimulating conversation, to engage with friends and neighbors about the importance of words and ideas!

— Erin Hart (2004)

Any town that mandates reading one of my books automatically goes to the top of my chart. Beyond that self-regarding sentiment, the visit to Austin, so near to my home in St Paul but a town I’d never seen before, was a revelation. All the spirited readers (and not just of my books), the eagerness to think through a book—it was confirming…and inspiring. And hey—let’s hear it for the Spam museum! Thanks for a visit that does not fade …

— Patricia Hampl (2005)

I spent the first 18 years of my life in Austin and it remains alive inside me. It informs and enriches my writing and my work and my life. I have changed greatly since leaving Austin and the town itself also has changed greatly. Yet, the heart and the soul of the town as it once was make me very much what I have been and what I have become.

— Larry Engelmann (2006)

I wish all American cities would follow Austin in emphasizing the importance of reading and writing. I had a wonderful time meeting readers while I was there, and still drink coffee out of my ‘Spam’ cup!

— Lorna Landvik (2007)

The great thing about Austin Page Turners is its focus on real books by real people. Now more than ever we need to come together and listen to and talk to one another—in person. Everybody has stories to tell and share, and that’s the fun of a Page Turners evening.

— Will Weaver (2008)

Austin’s a pleasure first to last — a community with robust history, lively architecture, and one of the most engaged reading groups I’ve had the privilege to visit. The Page Turners are a shrewd and generous bunch who know how to throw a book party, make you feel at home, and pose the bamboozling question — whatever they’ve got, let’s hope it’s contagious.

— Leif Enger (2009)

What did I find when I visited Austin? A beautiful heartland community that cares deeply about literature, a welcome that was warm as a muffin fresh from the oven, and the one-and-only Spam Museum. Every author should be so lucky.

— William Kent Krueger (2010)