Under Purple Skies: The Minneapolis Anthology

About Under Purple Skies:

In recent years, Minneapolis has become a literary powerhouse. In Under Purple Skies: The Minneapolis Anthology, we collect some of the most exciting work being done in, or about, Minneapolis and the Twin Cities area, with narrative threads that stretch back not just to Scandinavia, but across the world. The writers here have won, or been shortlisted for, the Newbery Award, the Man Booker prize, the Pulitzer, the Caldecott Award, the National Book Award, the Minnesota Book Award and many others. They included Kelly Barnhill, Marlon James, Kao Kalia Yang, Michael Perry, Bao Phi, Danez Smith, Shannon Gibney, and many more, alongside new and first-time writers.

Praise for Under Purple Skies: The Minneapolis Anthology:

“In nearly every piece, I almost couldn't help feeling a little Geiger-like clicking yes! as the city I know and love was described anew, over and over, in ways I've never seen articulated.” -- Minneapolis StarTribune

"The ultimate (literary) tour guide to the neighborhoods and wild places, history and politics, culture and cuisine, music and myths of the Twin Cities, a place I only thought I knew. This anthology feels like the equivalent of a shaken snowglobe -- for if you look closely enough, and turn it this way and that, you'll discover the magic of a whole hidden world. What a great place to call home and what a talented group of writers has assembled here." -- Benjamin Percy, author of The Dark Net, Thrill Me, The Dead Lands, and Red Moon

"Here are voices from her streets, parks, riversides, lake shores, alleys, train tracks, and seemingly private places everyone who lives here knows or will know. In strong prose and evocative poetry, these authors tell us Minneapolis is an indigenous place, a Dakota homeland, an immigrant place, a whiter-than-white place, a Black place. Minneapolis may seem simple to those who visit ('It's so pretty, so clean!') but this book tells us there's a deeper city, one as complex as a clock and as telling of our times." -- Heid E. Erdrich, Poet and editor of New Poets of Native Nations.

"This is the best collection of Minnesota writing I've read in ages. These stories will make a Minnesota native laugh, reflect, remember, and, in my case, deeply homesick." -- J. Ryan Stradal, bestselling author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest and The Lager Queen of Minnesota

Meet the Editor

Frank Bures is the author of "The Geography of Madness: Penis Thieves, Voodoo Death and the Search for the Meaning of the World’s Strangest Syndromes," and the editor of the forthcoming "Under Purple Skies: The Minneapolis Anthology." He writes about travel, culture, language, science, outdoors, narrative and belief.

----

Meet the Contributors:

Leif Pettersen is a freelance writer, author, humorist, world traveler and award-winning travel and tourism marketing professional from Minneapolis. He has traveled through 57 countries and lived in Spain, Romania and Italy. His latest book, “Throwing Up: Notes from 35 Years of Juggling,” is available along with his travel memoir “Backpacking with Dracula: On the Trail of Vlad ‘The Impaler’ Dracula and the Vampire he Inspired.”

Lars Ostrom lives in Minneapolis. His writing has been published on McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and in Mountain Man Dance Moves: The McSweeney’s Book of Lists.

Eric Dregni is the author of eighteen books including Never Trust a Thin Cook, Vikings in the Attic, In Cod We Trust, Midwest Marvels, Follies of Science, and Weird Minnesota. He is a professor of English, journalism and Italian at Concordia University in St. Paul and dean of the Italian Concordia Language Village, Lago del Bosco, in the summer, which he wrote about in You’re Sending Me Where? He lives in Minneapolis with his wife, three kids, and an Australian shepherd named Bacco.

The editor is available for interviews.

Please contact:

Frank Bures frankbures@yahoo.com

For more information about events at Next Chapter Booksellers, please contact

Riley Davis--651/225-8989; riley@nextchapterbooksellers.com

A complete schedule of our upcoming events is always available at www.nextchapterbooksellers.com.