Upcoming Events

If you want to hear about events in your inbox, sign up for our email newsletter or the Boswell and Books blog. And you can always pre-order or reserve a signed copy of your favorite author's new title if you can't make an event. Please note, all times are Central Standard Time (CST) unless otherwise noted.

Registration is requested at all Boswell events, and required if we reach capacity. Some events are ticketed. See specific program for details, particularly with cosponsored events.


at Boswell
Monday, March 18, 6:30 pm

Boswell welcomes Dr Kareem R Muhammad, Carroll University’s Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, for an evening focused on his new book, The Fight for Black Empowerment in the USA, in which Muhammad contends that concentrated Black power is the backbone of the Democratic Party and, as such, Black empowerment represents the last hope for the US.

Please click here to visit kareemmuhammadmke.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of The Fight for Black Empowerment in the USA now as well.

Through analyses of secondary data, historical archives, and a variety of political and economic statistical indicators, Muhammad examines the relationship between Black empowerment and America's global stature across its history, exploring the socio-historical context in which obstacles to Black empowerment have occurred and the strategies that have been adopted across time for its realization.

Offering an examination of what Black political, legal, economic and cultural power looks like, Muhammad makes an urgent call for the up-lift and empowerment of the Black population, without which the nation faces irreversible political and economic dysfunction domestically and a loss of its status as a global superpower.

Kareem R Muhammad is the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Carroll University. He is an expert in the burgeoning field of hip-hop studies. His essay, "Blackout: The Tricky Negotiation of Race in Hip-Hop" appeared in the book In This Together: Hip-Hop, Blackness and Indigeneity.


at Boswell
Tuesday, March 19, 6:30 pm

Wisconsin author BJ Hollars appears with his new book, Wisconsin for Kennedy, in which he explores JFK’s innovative campaign strategy in the Dairy State and how Wisconsin became crucial to winning the presidency. Cohosted by Wisconsin Historical Society Press.

Please click here to visit bjhollarsmke.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of Wisconsin for Kennedy now as well.

When John F. Kennedy ran for president in 1960, he did something no candidate had done before: he leveraged the power of state primaries to win his party’s nomination. Kennedy’s first battleground state? Wisconsin - a state that would prove more arduous, more exhausting, and more crucial to winning the presidency than any other. Hollar’s new book peeks behind-the-scenes to tell the story of JFK’s 1960 Wisconsin primary campaign. It includes endearing stories of John, Jackie, Robert, and Ted, as well as memories from Wisconsinites who worked for the Kennedy's, campaigning in venues large and small in the Dairy State.

Hollars chronicle of JFK’s nail-biting Wisconsin win draws upon rarely cited oral histories from the eclectic team of people who worked together to make it happen: a cranberry farmer, a union leader, a mayor, an architect, and others. Wisconsin for Kennedy explores how Wisconsin helped propel JFK all the way to the White House in a riveting historical account that reads like a work of rollicking, page-turning fiction.

BJ Hollars is Professor of English at the UW–Eau Claire and Founder and Director of the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild. His books include Go West Young Man: A Father and Son Rediscover America on the Oregon Trail, The Road South: Personal Stories of the Freedom Riders, and Hope Is the Thing: Wisconsinites on Perseverance in a Pandemic. Hollars is the recipient of the Truman Capote Prize for Literary Nonfiction, the Anne B. and James B. McMillan Prize, and the Council of Wisconsin Writers' Blei/Derleth Nonfiction Book Award. His work has been featured in the Washington Post and on NPR.


at Boswell
Wednesday, March 20, 6:30 pm

Boswell welcomes journalist Daniel de Visé, author of The Blues Brothers, his new history in which he recounts the story of the epic friendship between John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, the golden era of improv, and the making of a comedic film classic that helped shape popular culture.

Please click here to visit danieldevisemke.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of The Blues Brothers now, too.

Much delayed and vastly over budget, beset by mercurial and oft drugged-out stars, The Blues Brothers opened to outraged reviews. However, in the decades since, it has been acknowledged a classic. The saga behind the movie, as de Visé reveals, is epic, encompassing the colorful childhoods of Belushi and Aykroyd, the comedic revolution sparked by Harvard’s Lampoon and Chicago’s Second City, the early years of Saturday Night Live, and the behind-the-scenes narrative of how the film was made. Based on original research and dozens of interviews probing the memories of principals, from director John Landis and producer Bob Weiss to Aykroyd himself, de Visé’s book illuminates an American masterpiece while vividly portraying the creative geniuses behind modern comedy.

Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, author of Seinfeldia, says: "This thorough account of the Blues Brothers’ origin story is as fun and riveting as the comedy classic itself." From Judy Belushi Pisano: "de Visé seems to have managed to embrace the humor, humanity, love and tragedy that makes the story of the Blues Brothers a worthwhile tale." And Boswellian Chris Lee adds: "It’s a wild, improbable, tragic, inspiring story of two friends who loved (and frustrated) each other, who pushed each other to create something bold and new from the old and forgotten, and in the process changed the landscape of pop culture. Comedy fans, music fans, anybody who was ‘there’ (or wishes they were) in the days when SNL was a weekly event, you’re going to love this book."

Daniel De Visé is author of King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B.B. King, The Comeback: Greg LeMond, The True King of American Cycling, and a Legendary Tour de France, and Andy and Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show. He shared a 2001 Pulitzer Prize for his journalism and has worked at the Washington Post and Miami Herald, among other newspapers.


Cristina Henríquez, author of The Great Divide
in conversation with Liz Hein at Boswell
Thursday, March 21, 6:30 pm

Boswell welcomes Cristina Henríquez, author of titles such as the acclaimed novel The Book of Unknown Americans, for an event featuring her new book, The Great Divide, which is an epic novel about the construction of the Panama Canal that casts light on the unsung people who lived, loved, and labored there. Great for fans of literary historical novels, such as books written by Isabel Allende and Min Jin Lee. In conversation with book influencer Liz Hein.

Please click here to visit cristinahenriquezmke.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of The Great Divide now, too.

It’s said the canal will be the greatest feat of engineering in history. But first, it must be built. Fisherman Francisco resents his son Omar’s decision to work as, but for Omar, the job offers a chance to finally find connection. Ada Bunting, sixteen and bold, is a stowaway from Barbados who’s determined to find a job to pay for her ailing sister’s surgery. When Omar collapses, she is the only one who rushes to his aid. This fateful decision sets in motion a sweeping tale of ambition, loyalty, and sacrifice.

Searing and empathetic, The Great Divide explores the lives of activists, fishmongers, laborers, journalists, and soothsayers as they carve out the course of history. Pulitzer finalist Luis Alberto Urrea says: "Henriquez gives us cause to celebrate with this sweeping novel. It speeds us into a wild world of adventure and danger, epic visions of the creation of the Panama Canal. There isn’t another book like it. A welcome return by one of our finest voices."

Cristina Henríquez is author of The World in Half, Come Together, Fall Apart, and The Book of Unknown Americans, a New York Times Top Ten Book of the Year and a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Her writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, and the New York Times Magazine. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.


Garrett Bucks, author of The Right Kind of White: A Memoir
at Boswell
Friday, March 22, 6:30 pm

Milwaukee-based writer Garrett Bucks appears at Boswell for his new memoir, The Right Kind of White, a revelatory book that earnestly reckons with Whiteness. Bucks is also creator of The White Pages newsletter.

Please click here to visit garrettbucksmke.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order a copy of The Right Kind of White now, too.

A child of progressive parents, Garrett Bucks prided himself on the pursuit of being a “good white person.” The kind of white person who treats privilege as a responsibility, who people of color see as the peak example of racial allyship, and on whom other white people might model their own aspirations of being “better.” But his obsession with “goodness” prevents him from building meaningful relationships, particularly those who look like him. In his book, Garrett charts his intellectual and emotional odyssey in his pursuit of this ideal whiteness, the price of its admission, and the work he’s doing to bridge the divide from those he once sought distance from.

From Wendy S Walters, author of Multiply/Divide: "Things get tricky when someone wants to do good - and also be celebrated for it. Garrett Bucks offers a fascinating, immersive account of what it means to be white and progressive in a time of social and political reckoning. The Right Kind of White is unforgettable. It's an elegant testament to the pitfalls of ego and the desire for absolution."

Garrett Bucks is founder of The Barnraisers Project, which has trained nearly one thousand participants to organize majority-white communities for racial and social justice. He is also the author the popular newsletter The White Pages.


Erica Ruth Neubauer, author of Secrets of a Scottish Isle
in conversation with Sharon Nagel at Boswell
Tuesday, March 26, 6:30 pm

It’s another wonderful and worldly Thrillwaukee evening featuring Milwaukee’s own Erica Ruth Neubauer, who joins us for an event featuring her latest, Secrets of a Scottish Isle, the fifth book in her Jane Wunderly series of historical investigations. On an isolated isle off the western coast of Scotland, spirited American Jane Wunderly investigates a secret society where esoteric rituals blur the line between what’s real, what’s illusion, and what’s deadly. Neubauer will be in conversation with Sharon Nagel, Whitefish Bay Librarian, former Boswellian, and one half of the writing team behind the Juneau Black Shady Hollow mysteries.

Please click here to visit ericaruthneubauermke.eventbrite.com and register now for this event. And be sure to order your copy of Secrets of a Scottish Isle now, too.

Isle of Iona, 1927: Cast away on a remote locale, Jane’s latest assignment depends on concealing her identity and blending in at an occult gathering. Not even her fiancé, Redvers, can be too close as she uncovers the truth about Robert Nightingale, enigmatic leader of the Order of the Golden Dawn. When a woman tries to escape to the mainland only to be found murdered in the moors, the shocking scene reveals it’s easier to join the Golden Dawn than it is to leave.

Jane soon realizes she may be among the few still grasping reality. One high-ranking member searches for the killer by attempting to access otherworldly planes of existence. Others become immersed in a strange solstice ritual. Then there’s Nightingale and the rivals who discarded him to start a new temple. As a second death brings fresh clues into focus, Jane needs to navigate a frightening dilemma - playing along won’t help her crack the mystery, but revealing too much could be a fatal mistake.

Erica Ruth Neubauer is the Agatha Award-winning author of the Jane Wunderly Mysteries, as well as an Anthony Award and Lefty Award finalist. She has reviewed mysteries and crime fiction for Publishers Weekly and Mystery Scene Magazine, and she’s a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.


Jennifer and Karen Lemke, coauthors of Easy Walks and Paddles in Milwaukee
at Boswell
Wednesday, March 27, 6:30 pm

Boswell hosts Jennifer and Karen Lemke, coauthors of Easy Walks and Paddles in Milwaukee, a new guide to transit and wheel accessible walks and paddles throughout the Cream City.

Please click here to visit easywalksandpaddlesmke.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of Easy Walks and Paddles in Milwaukee now, too.

Sisters Jennifer and Karen Lemke visited more than fifty parks and public spaces to field test the walks in their new guide, Easy Walks and Paddles in Milwaukee. For each destination walkers and paddlers will find handy notes on trail surfaces, resting spots, public restroom access, public transportation options, and more. The guide is also designed to assist elders, those with impaired mobility or vision, and parents with young children who want to get outdoors safely.

Jennifer and Karen Lemke live in walkable Enderis Park and Bay View neighborhoods. When she is not ‘recombobulating’ herself on urban trails, Karen supports climate solutions for a fair future and teaches music. Jennifer works in health care, maintains a robust urban vegetable garden and volunteers with local environmental cleanup efforts.


Mindy McGinnis, author of Under This Red Rock
in conversation with Demitria Lunetta at Boswell
Wednesday, April 3, 6:30 pm

Edgar Award-winning author Mindy McGinnis appears at Boswell Book Company with Under This Red Rock, a mesmerizing new YA psychological thriller about a teen girl accused of killing the coworker she has a crush on. It’s a poignant book about mental health and stigma, great for fans of Courtney Summers and Kathleen Glasgow. McGinnis will be in conversation with Demitria Lunetta, author of the In the After series.

Please click here to register for this event at mindymcginnismke.eventbrite.com. And be sure to order your copy of Under This Red Rock now, too.

With a history of mental illness in her family and the suicide of her older brother heavy on her mind, Neely takes a job as a tour guide in the one place her monsters can’t follow - the caverns. There she can find peace. There she can pretend to be normal. There, she meets Mila. Mila is everything Neely isn’t - beautiful, strong, and confident. As the two become closer, Neely’s innocent crush grows into something more. When a midnight staff party exposes Neely to drugs, she follows Mila’s lead, only to have her hallucinations escalate. When Mila is found brutally murdered in the caverns, Neely has to admit that her memories of that night are vague at best. Neely must figure out who killed Mila and face the possibility that it might have been her.

From the starred Publishers Weekly review: "Striking a careful balance of dry humor and occasionally harrowing depictions of Neely’s mental health challenges, McGinnis delivers a compassionate and gripping read."

Mindy McGinnis is author of several young adult novels, including A Long Stretch of Bad Days, The Female of the Species, and A Madness So Discreet, winner of an Edgar Award.


at United Methodist Church of Whitefish Bay, 819 E Silver Spring Dr
Friday, April 5, 6 pm

Jim Wallis, author of several books, including God's Politics, appears at the United Methodist Church with his latest work, The False White Gospel, in which he argues that the answer to bad religion is true faith that will help refound democracy. This event is cohosted by Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope, WISDOM, Bay Bridge Wisconsin, and Boswell.

Click here to visit https://bit.ly/FWGospel and register for this event. You can order your copy of The False White Gospel now.

Jim Wallis argues that it’s time to call out genuine faith - specifically the "Christian" in White Christian Nationalism – and invite all who can be persuaded to reject and help dismantle a false gospel that propagates white supremacy and autocracy. Wallis hopes, with his new book, to raise up the faith of everyone and help those who are oblivious, stuck, and captive to the dangerous ideology and idolatry of White Christian Nationalism. Wallis turns his attention to six iconic texts at the heart of what genuine biblical faith means and what Jesus, in the gospels, has called upon his followers to do. Wallis asks anew: do the faithful believe these teachings or not?

Garry Wills, author of What the Gospels Meant, says: "Using religion to bless hate is the supreme blasphemy. If you don't believe that, read this book. If you do, urge others to read the book." And from Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner: "I am comforted and inspired by this book."

Jim Wallis is the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Chair in Faith and Justice at Georgetown University and the Director of its Center on Faith and Justice. He served on President Obama’s first White House Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. In 2022 and 2023, Washingtonian magazine named Wallis one of the 500 most influential people shaping policy in DC.


Daniel Kraus, author of Whalefall
at Boswell
Monday, April 8, 6:30 pm

Boswell hosts Daniel Kraus, author of Whalefall, a thrilling, and quite scientifically accurate, man-vs-nature tale about a scuba diver who’s been swallowed by an eighty-foot, sixty-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out. Great for fans of The Martian and 127 Hours.

Please click here to visit danielkrausmke.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of Whalefall now, too. Kraus will also join this evening’s meeting of the Boswell-run Sci-fi Book Club. The book club meets at 5:30 pm on Monday, April 8, and Kraus will join the conversation at 6pm to answer questions, including those that contain spoilers!

Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool’s errand - to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. It’s a long shot, but the dive begins well enough. The sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in very real jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly, Jay is caught in the squid’s tentacles and drawn into the whale’s mouth where he is pulled into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out - one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale.

From the New York Times: "A crazy, and crazily enjoyable, beat-the-clock adventure story about fathers, sons, guilt and the mysteries of the sea… [Kraus] brings the rigor of a scientist and the sensibility of a poet to his descriptions of the undersea world."

Daniel Kraus coauthored The Living Dead with George Romero and The Shape of Water with Guillermo del Toro. Kraus has won two Odyssey Awards and his books have been Library Guild selections, YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults picks, and Bram Stoker finalists.


Rowan Beaird, author of The Divorcées
in conversation with Christina Clancy at Boswell
Tuesday, April 9, 6:30 pm

Boswell hosts an evening with Rowan Beaird for a conversation about her debut novel, The Divorcées, which Pulitzer finalist Rebecca Makkai calls: "a delicious literary page-turner from a fierce new voice." Beaird will be in conversation with Christina Clancy, author of Shoulder Season.

Please click here to visit and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of The Divorcées now as well.

In the 1950s at a divorce ranch in Reno, two women who dare to imagine a different future. Lois Saunders thought the picture-perfect husband would cure her loneliness, yet she is suffocating in their loveless marriage. But 1951, unhappiness is hardly grounds for divorce, except in Reno, Nevada. Lois finds herself at the Golden Yarrow, a divorce ranch in Reno for the six weeks’ residency that is the state’s only divorce requirement. Then, when orgeous, beguiling Greer Lang arrives, Lois’s world truly cracks open. How far will she go to forge her independence, on her own terms?

Set in the glamorous, dizzying world of 1950s Reno, where housewives and movie stars rubbed shoulders at gin-soaked casinos, The Divorcées is a riveting page-turner and a dazzling exploration of female friendship, desire, and freedom. Author Lauren Groff calls the novel: "Gorgeously crafted, perfectly balanced, and full of complex, moving and vividly wrought characters. The sunshot pool at the Golden Yarrow, the searing desert heat, the dark glamor of the casinos will stay with me for a long time." And from author Christopher Castellini: "If Patricia Highsmith and George Cukor teamed up to reimagine Thelma and Louise, it might look something like this smoldering, addictive, and beguiling novel of women on the verge. A knockout."

Rowan Beaird’s writing has appeared in the Kenyon Review, the Southern Review, and the Common, and she is the recipient of the Ploughshares Emerging Writer Award. She has received scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and StoryStudio. She currently works at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Christina Clancy is author of The Second Home, and earned a PhD at UWM.


Jeannette Walls, author of Hang the Moon
at Boswell
Wednesday, April 10, 6:30 pm

Boswell hosts Jeannette Walls, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle, for an evening featuring her riveting latest novel, Hang the Moon, a tale of an indomitable young woman taking on the family bootlegging business in Virginia during Prohibition.

Please click here in order to visit jeannettewallsmke.eventbrite.com and register for this event now. And be sure to order your copy of Hang the Moon as well. Paperback and hardcover copies available now.

Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of the biggest man in a small town, the charismatic Duke Kincaid. Nine years after being cast away, Sallie returns, determined to reclaim her place in the family. She enters a world of conflict and lawlessness and must confront the secrets and scandals that hide in the shadows of the Big House, navigates the factions in the family and town, and finally comes into her own as a bold, sometimes reckless bootlegger.

The New York Times calls the book: "A rip-roaring, action-packed novel set during prohibition filled with head-spinning plot twists and enough dead bodies, doomed romances, and sudden betrayals to make you wonder if George RR Martin had decided to ditch fantasy for Southern Gothic." Daniel Goldin agrees. He says: "Nobody can write about young women overcoming adversity like Walls. You might call this a coming-of-age novel, but it’s also a high-octane, action-packed Southern Gothic!"

Jeannette Walls is author of the memoir, The Glass Castle, as well as the novels The Silver Star and Half Broke Horses, which was named one of the ten best books of 2009 by the editors of the New York Times Book Review.


Emma Straub and Susan Straub, coauthors of Gaga Mistake Day
at Boswell
Thursday, April 11, 5:30 pm

Boswell hosts an event featuring bestselling novelist Emma Straub and her mom, Milwaukee native Susan Straub. They have teamed up to create a funny, endearing new picture book called Gaga Mistake Day - when Grandma comes for a visit, silliness and creativity are guaranteed.

Please click here to visit gagamistakedaymke.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of Gaga Mistake Day now, too.

Gaga days are the best! That’s when this eccentric, mischievous grandma babysits her delighted granddaughter. These Gaga days are always full of the silliest “mistakes,” like swapping eyeglasses and walking backwards to the park. Like making the house safe by eating all the marshmallow goblins, filling the tub to bursting with bubbles, and then reading a bedtime story all the way through upside down. With touches of Amelia Bedelia and Eloise, this irrepressible granny might just inspire deliciously goofy, endlessly creative, and bursting-with-love grandma-grandchild playdates.

From Publishers Weekly: "As the Straubs highlight with panache the importance - and pleasure - of breaking the rules, Love captures Gaga’s Auntie Mame–style dash, spontaneity, and sartorial splendor, and the air of conspiratorial delight that she and her grandchild share."

Emma Straub is author of novels including The Vacationers and This Time Tomorrow as well as the picture book Very Good Hats. She and her husband own the independent bookstores Books Are Magic. Milwaukee native Susan Straub is Creator and Director of the Read to Me Program, focused on getting books into the lives of young families.


Sold Out Leigh Bardugo, author of The Familiar
at the UWM Student Union Wisconsin Room, 2200 E Kenwood Blvd
Friday, April 12, 6 pm 

Alas, this event is sold out to the general public.

An evening with Leigh Bardugo, creator of the Grishaverse, which spans the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, and more. Bardugo visits for an event featuring The Familiar, a spellbinding novel set in the Spanish Golden Age. Leigh Bardugo is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and the creator of the Grishaverse, which is now a Netflix series. Her other works include Wonder Woman: Warbringer and Ninth House, a Goodreads Choice Winner for Best Fantasy. She is an Associate Fellow of Pauli Murray College at Yale University.


in conversation with Erin Richards at Boswell
Friday, April 12, 6:30 pm

Investigative journalist Benjamin Herold appears with his new book, Disillusioned, in which he tells the stories of five American families that lay bare the vicious cycle that’s undermining the dreams upon which American suburbia was built. Herold will be in conversation with Milwaukee journalist Erin Richards.

Please click here to register for this event at benjaminheroldmke.eventbrite.com. And be sure to order your copy of Disillusioned now, too.

Disillusioned braids the stories of five families together to penetrate local and national history. For generations, upwardly mobile white families have extracted opportunity from the nation’s heavily subsidized suburbs, then moved on before the bills for maintenance and repair came due, leaving the mostly Black and Brown families who followed to clean up the ensuing mess. But now, sweeping demographic shifts and the dawning realization that endless expansion is no longer feasible are disrupting this pattern, forcing everyday families to confront a truth their communities were designed to avoid: The suburban lifestyle dream is a Ponzi scheme whose unraveling threatens us all.

From the New York Times Book Review: "An important, cleareyed account of suburban boom and bust, and the challenges facing the country today… each suburb’s history is engrossing, and Herold, a journalist who has frequently reported on public education, delivers an up-close, intimate account of life there that resounds with broader meaning." And from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: "A blistering indictment of how American suburbs were built on racism and unsustainable development that ‘functioned like a Ponzi scheme’… [Herold’s] portraits of families are nuanced and moving… The patterns are clear and continuing."

Benjamin Herold is an award-winning reporter, and his writing has appeared in PBS NewsHour, NPR, and the Public School Notebook. Herold holds a master’s degree in urban education from Temple University and has worked as a waiter, researcher, documentary filmmaker, and training specialist for rape-crisis and domestic-violence prevention organizations.


Leif Enger, author of I Cheerfully Refuse
in conversation with Tim McCarthy at Boswell
Monday, April 15, 6:30 pm

We are pleased to welcome back Leif Enger, author of Peace Like a River and Virgil Wander, for a special evening featuring his new novel, I Cheerfully Refuse, a tour-de-force set in a not-too-distant America about a bereaved and pursued musician embarking under sail on a sentient Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply beloved, bookselling wife. Enger will be in conversation with Boswellian Tim McCarthy.

Please click here and visit leifengermke.eventbrite.com to register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of I Cheerfully Refuse now as well.

Rainy seeks refuge in the harbors, fogs, and remote islands of the inland sea. Encountering lunatic storms and rising corpses from the warming depths, Rainy finds on land an increasingly desperate and illiterate people, a malignant billionaire ruling class, crumbled infrastructure, and a lawless society. Amidst the Gulliver-like challenges of life at sea and no safe landings, Rainy is lifted by physical beauty, surprising humor, generous strangers, and an unexpected companion in a young girl who comes aboard. And as his innate guileless nature begins to make an inadvertent rebel of him, Rainy’s private quest for the love of his life grows into something wider and wilder, sweeping up friends and foes alike in his strengthening wake.

Boswellians love this book! We have three bookseller raves already. Tim McCarthy says: "Rainy’s tongue-in-cheek (crossing into smart-ass) observations and the joy and perseverance of fellow travelers are enough to make me believe that 'pathways to beauty and color' can survive our impending chaos." Daniel Goldin chimes in to say: "Because this is a Leif Enger book, there are some things that don’t change – his faith in community, a narrator you can’t help but love despite his flaws, and the joy that radiates from talking about things he loves - in this case sailing and music and books. Plus, the worldbuilding is fascinating." And Kay Wosewick adds: "Moody Lake Superior offers endless thrills. This is a grand adventure story set in scary times."

Leif Enger worked as a reporter for Minnesota Public Radio before writing his bestselling debut, Peace Like a River, which won the Booksense Award for Fiction. His novel So Brave, Young, and Handsome, a Midwest Booksellers Honor Book. His novel Virgil Wander was named a best book of the year by Library Journal, Bookpage, and Chicago Public Library.


in conversation with Suleika Jaouad for a a ticketed virtual event
Tuesday, April 16, 7 pm

Random House Publishing Group and PEN America present internationally renowned writer, free speech advocate, and Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie in conversation with Suleika Jaouad, the New York Times bestselling author of Between Two Kingdoms, founder of The Isolation Journals, and subject of the Netflix documentary American Symphony. This event will focus on Rushdie’s new memoir, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, which is a gripping account of surviving an attempt on his life 30 years after the fatwa was ordered against him. Cohosted by Boswell.

Each ticket for this virtual event includes admission to view the event video and one hardcover copy of Knife. Tickets cost $30.21 plus fees for in-store pickup, and $36.68 plus fee for shipping. Please note, books will not ship and will not be available for pickup until April 16th. There is also an option to add on a purchase of Jaouad’s Between Two Kingdoms in paperback. To purchase tickets, click here and visit salmanrushdieboswellvirtual.eventbrite.com.

Speaking out for the first time, and in unforgettable detail, about the traumatic events of August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie answers violence with art and reminds us of the power of words to make sense of the unthinkable. Knife is a gripping, intimate, and ultimately life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art - and finding the strength to stand up again.

Salman Rushdie is author of fifteen novels, including Midnight’s Children, for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker, The Satanic Verses, and Quichotte, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He has also published five works of nonfiction and coedited two anthologies. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University. A former president of PEN American Center, Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for services to literature.


at Boswell
Wednesday, April 17, 6:30 pm

Boswell hosts Milwaukeean Pete Hill, Principal and Owner of Great Lakes Watershed Opportunities, for an evening featuring his new book, River Profiles, with which he takes a deep dive into the world of river and stream conservation.

Please click right here to visit petehillmke.eventbrite.com and register now for this event. And be sure to order your copy of River Profiles as well.

Mismanagement and destructive development have gravely harmed American waterways, with significant consequences for the ecosystems and communities built around them. But a range of passionate and committed people have stepped up to restore streams and rivers around the United States. A husband-and-wife scientist team in Pennsylvania lead projects to unclog the sediment left by early colonists’ dams. Members of the Tulalip Tribes in western Washington State bring beavers back to headwater streams. And a public servant in Milwaukee drives the sewer department to remove concrete channels and reduce flood risk. With this book, Hill, a twenty-year veteran of the field of watershed restoration, shines a light on the people working to heal our streams and rivers.

From Melissa L Sevigny, author of Brave the Wild River: "River Profiles immerses readers in the messy reality of river restoration projects, detailing bombastic personalities, conflicting ideals, and emerging science in his quest to understand how to save America’s beleaguered waterways. With an engineer’s keen eyesight and a poet’s lyrical vision, Hill offers an essential guidebook to anyone fighting for the future of mountain creeks or city drainageways."

Pete Hill has worked in watershed planning and stream and wetland restoration for the Department of Energy and the Environment. Hill holds a master’s degree in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.


at Boswell
Thursday, April 18, 6:30 pm

Boswell hosts an evening with Sergio M González, Assistant Professor of History at Marquette and historian of labor and migration. González will offer a presentation on his new book, Strangers No Longer, a work that reframes the history of Latinos in Wisconsin by revealing religion’s central role in the settlement experience of immigrants, migrants, and refugees. Cohosted by Marquette University's Department of History.

Please click here to visit sergiomgonzalezmke.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of Strangers No Longer as well.

Hospitality practices grounded in religious belief have long exercised a profound influence on Wisconsin’s Latino communities. González examines the power relations at work behind the types of hospitality practiced on newcomers in both Milwaukee and rural areas of the Badger State. His analysis addresses central issues like the foundational role played by religion and sacred spaces in shaping the experiences of disparate Latino groups and across ethnic lines and fostering local and transnational community building.

Felipe Hinojosa, author of Apostles of Change, says: "González has written an irresistibly intriguing and provocative book on the intersections of faith, politics, and immigration in Wisconsin. Strangers No Longer is a historically grounded and richly empirical book that speaks to the power of religion in the experiences of immigrants, refugees, and migrants. This is a must-read for all those who are working every day to build a better and more just world."

Sergio M González is Assistant Professor of History at Marquette, author of Mexicans in Wisconsin, and coeditor of Faith and Power: Latino Religious Politics Since 1945.


Lindsay Starck, author of Monsters We Have Made
at Boswell
Friday, April 19, 6:30 pm

Boswell hosts an evening with Milwaukee native Lindsay Starck, who visits with her new novel, Monsters We Have Made. It’s a poignant and evocative novel that explores the bounds of familial love, the high stakes of parenthood, and the tenuous divide between fiction and reality, loosely inspired by the Slender Man stabbing in Waukesha.

Please click here to visit lindsaystarckmke.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of Monsters We Have Made now as well.

Thirteen years ago, Sylvia Gray's daughter Faye attacked her babysitter in order to impress the Kingman, a monster she and her best friend had encountered on the Internet. When Faye, now twenty-three, goes missing, leaving her toddler behind, Sylvia launches a search that propels her back into the past and back into the Kingman's orbit. With the help of her estranged husband and a sister she hasn't spoken to in years, Sylvia draws dangerously closer not only to Faye, but also to the truth about the monster that once inspired her. Will Sylvia be able to reach her daughter before history repeats itself, or will she lose her grip on reality and succumb to the dark powers of this monstrous fiction? In a novel both literary and suspenseful, Starck confronts the terrors of parenthood and examines the boundaries of love. Most importantly, it reminds us of the power of stories to shape our lives.

From Boswellian Jason Kennedy: "The power of a story to change a life, for good or for ill, lays at the heart of this family's desire to heal from a past they can't move on from nor forget. Lindsay Starck has crafted a masterful and suspenseful novel of love and fear and family, both estranged and new." And from author Benjamin Percey says Stack’s novel "Scared the hell out of this reader, as I breathlessly followed these characters through years of love and heartbreak, mystery and paranoia and paralyzing horror. Beware the Kingman - and beware Lindsay Starck, who swallows you whole with her masterful storytelling."

Lindsay Starck is author of the novel Noah’s Wife, and her writing has recently appeared in Ploughshares, the Bellevue Literary Review, and the Southern Review. She studied at Yale, Notre Dame, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and grew up in the Milwaukee area.


Sara Paretsky, author of Pay Dirt
at Boswell
Sunday, April 21, 4 pm

Acclaimed Chicago mystery writer Sara Paretsky, the author the Washington Post called "the definition of perfection in the genre," returns to Milwaukee for an evening at Boswell featuring Pay Dirt, the latest installment of her beloved series, in which legendary detective V.I. Warshawski uncovers a mystery with roots dating back to the Civil War.

Please click right here and visit saraparetskymke.eventbrite.com to register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of Pay Dirt now, too.

Recovering from a disaster of a case that has her second-guessing herself, V.I. Warshawski heads to Kansas for a weekend of college basketball - her protégée Anglea is a Northwestern star. Then the trouble begins. When Angela’s roommate disappears, V.I. goes looking for her. But when V.I. finds Sabrina close to death in a drug house, she also finds herself in the FBI’s crosshairs. Plus, the young men running the county’s opioid distribution are not happy. Soon, V.I. is pitched headlong into a local land-use battle with roots going back to the Civil War. And today’s combatants are just as willing as opponents in the 1860s to kill to settle their differences.

Harlen Coben says: "Sara Paretsky is a legend… If you haven’t read her yet, now is the time." And Lisa Gardner adds: "V.I. Warshawski is one of my all-time favorite investigators. Doesn’t get any better than this!" Plus, from Karin Slaughter: "An author of matchless intelligence, craft, and power. This is why Sara Paretsky reigns as one of the all-time greats."

Sara Paretsky is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous novels, including the renowned V.I. Warshawski series. She is one of only four living writers to have received both the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain.


Susan Beckham Zurenda, author of The Girl from the Red Rose Motel
at Shully’s ATS, 143 Green Bay Rd
Tuesday, April 23, 7 pm reception, 7:30 pm event

Milwaukee Reads presents a ticketed evening with Susan Beckham Zurenda, author of The Girl from the Red Rose Motel, a novel about the power of the families we both inherit and create. Cohosted by Boswell.

Tickets for this event cost $52 plus tax and fees, and each ticket includes admission, a glass of wine, light refreshments, and a hardcover copy of The Girl from the Red Rose Motel. Please click here to visit susanbeckhamzurendawws.eventbrite.com and purchase tickets now.

Impoverished high school junior Hazel Smalls and affluent senior Sterling Lovell meet unexpected in in-school suspension, and Sterling finds himself drawn to the gorgeous, studious girl seated nearby, and an unlikely relationship begins. Navigating between privilege and poverty, vulnerability and strength, Hazel, Sterling, and their stern but compassionate teacher Angela Wilmore must band together to confront what they need from themselves and each other as Hazel gains the courage to make a bold, life-changing decision.

Gripping and richly drawn, The Girl from the Red Rose Motel explores the complex bonds between adults and teenagers and the power of the family. Inspired by the author's experiences teaching in a South Carolina high school, the novel is also an unflinching look at the challenges faced by America's public school teachers and the struggles of thousands of homeless children who live, precariously and almost invisibly, amid the nation's most affluent communities.

Susan Beckham Zurenda taught English for thirty-three, and her debut novel, Bells for Eli, received several awards, including the Independent Publisher Book Award for Best First Book in the 2021.


AH Kim, author of Relative Strangers
in conversation with Jenny Lee at Boswell
Wednesday, April 24, 6:30 pm

Boswell hosts an evening with AH Kim, author of Relative Strangers, a modern-day Sense and Sensibility about two Korean American sisters supporting their newly widowed mother through a contentious estate battle with a man who claims to be their half-brother from Seoul. Kim will be in conversation with Jenny Lee, and this event is cohosted by AAPI Coalition of Wisconsin.

Please here right here to visit ahkimmke.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of Relative Strangers now, too.

The Nest meets Vactionland in this sharply witty family drama. Eleanor and Amelia Bae-Wood are rallying around their mother Tabitha, who’s just been evicted from her home. Newly single, unemployed, and broke - as usual, Eleanor has too much on her plate, including being caught up in a court battle with someone who claims to be their deceased father’s first-born child and only son – a secret love child from his Korean youth - who’s fighting for a piece of everything that belongs to the Bae-Wood women. This enormously entertaining retelling of Sense and Sensibility is a modern, feminist version for the 21st century that explores timely themes of complicated family politics, race, class, and wealth.

Julia Claiborne Johnson, author of Be Frank with Me, says: "Prepare to stay up half the night, like I did, to finish this twisty romantic page-turner! Relative Strangers is the best kind of story, one of finding hope and happiness in the hot mess that is life." And Wisconsin’s own Christina Clancy, author of Shoulder Season, says: "Kim draws on the heart and humor you'd expect from a Jane Austen novel and sets it to a faster, more contemporary beat. I had a blast reading this literary power remix."

AH Kim is author of A Good Family as well as an immigrant, a graduate of Harvard College and Berkeley Law, and lawyer.


at the Wisconsin Club, 900 W Wisconsin Ave Thursday, April 25, 12 pm

The Friends of Milwaukee Public Library’s Spring Literary Luncheon presents New York Times bestselling author Douglas Brunt for an afternoon with his latest work of history, The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel.

Tickets available now. Individual tickets cost $100. Tickets for Friends members cost $85. Each ticket includes admission, lunch, and a hardcover copy of The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel. To purchase tickets, click here and visit the MPL Foundation website. Sponsorship levels also available.

Brunt’s book not only explores hidden history of one of the world’s greatest inventors, a man who disrupted the status quo, it also answers a hundred-year-old question: what became of Rudolf Diesel after he disappeared into thin air on the eve of World War I? In September of 1913, on the steamship Dresden halfway between Belgium and England, Rudolf Diesel was on his way to London to establish a new company that would help Britain improve its failing submarine program. But then, he vanished during the night. Headlines around the world speculated: was it was an accident, suicide, or murder?

Mike Rowe says: "This book is the granddaddy of books that show you something you didn’t know about people you do… an odyssey… a terrific who-dunnit, there’s everything to love about this book." And from author Jay Winik: "Equal parts Walter Isaacson and Sherlock Holmes, The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel yanks back the curtain on the greatest caper of the 20th century in this riveting history."

Douglas Brunt is host of the top-rated SiriusXM author podcast Dedicated.


Paul Yamazaki, author of Reading the Room: A Bookseller's Tale
in conversation with Daniel Goldin at Boswell
Friday, April 26, 2 pm

Boswell hosts an afternoon event with Paul Yamazaki, the longtime Principal Buyer at the legendary City Lights Booksellers in San Francisco. Yamazaki appears with his new memoir, Reading the Room, which is a love letter to the work of bookselling and an engaged life of the mind. Yamazaki will be in conversation with Boswell proprietor Daniel Goldin.

Please click here to register for this event at paulyamazakimke.eventbrite.com. And be sure to order your copy of Reading the Room now, too.

Over twenty-four hours, Yamazaki leads readers through the stacks of storied City Lights Booksellers, detailing the care and prowess of his approach to book buying, his upbringing in a Japanese American family in Southern California, and moving to San Francisco at the height of revolutionary foment. Yamazaki recalls working with legendary figures in the book publishing industry like Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Sonny Mehta, and others and lays out his vision for the future of bookselling. Navigating building trust with readers and nurturing relationships across the literary industry, Yamazaki testifies to the value of generosity, sharing knowledge, and dialogue in a life devoted to books.

Two-time Pultizer-winner Colson Whitehead says: "All booksellers are the unsung heroes of American literature, but Paul Yamazaki is a superhero." And from one-time Putlitzer-winner Hua Hsu: "A wry, stirring, profoundly uplifting ode to bookselling - complete with riffs on capitalism, San Francisco, jazz, even the meaning of life - from one of the underappreciated literary titans of our time."

Paul Yamazaki has been the principal buyer at City Lights Booksellers for more than fifty years. A champion for national and global literature, writers, publishers, and independent bookstores, Yamazaki was the recipient of the National Book Foundation's 2023 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.


in conversation with Apurba Banerjee at Boswell
Friday, April 26, 6:30 pm

Milwaukee author, poet, & public health professional Prasanta Verma appears at Boswell for an evening featuring her new book, Beyond Ethnic Loneliness, a book in which she unpacks the exhausting effects of cultural isolation, the dynamics of marginalization, and the weight of being other. In conversation with Apurba Banerjee.

Please click here to visit prasantavermamke.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of Beyond Ethnic Loneliness now, too.

Majority white American culture has historically marginalized people of color, who at times feel invisible and alienated and at other times are traumatized by oppression and public discrimination. This reality leads to a particular kind of aloneness: ethnic and racial loneliness.

An Indian American immigrant who grew up in white Southern culture, Prasanta Verma names and sheds light on the realities of ethnic loneliness. In the midst of disconnection and erasure, she points to the longing to belong, the need to share our stories, and the hope of finding safe friendships and community. Our places of exile can become places where we find belonging - to ourselves, to others, and to God.

Prasanta Verma’s essays and poetry have appeared in outlets including Sojourners, Inheritance Magazine, and the Indianapolis Review. She served as a speech and debate coach for over ten years.


at Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, 1111 E Brown Deer Rd
Saturday, April 27, 10 am

Schlitz Audubon Nature Center presents Jessica Stremer, who appears with Lights Out, her inspirational picture book about how even a small act like flipping a switch can make a big difference in helping migrating birds. Cohosted by Boswell.

No registration required for this event. Be sure to order your copy of Lights Out now. For more information, click here and visit the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center's event page.

When the seasons change and it’s time for a flock of sparrows to move on, a map made of stars guides their way. But when they reach the city, light pollution masks the map and confuses the birds. One sparrow becomes separated from the flock. A girl rescues the lost sparrow and decides to take action so this doesn’t happen again.

From Boswellian Kay Wosewick: "Lights Out begins on a sad note, explaining how birds get very confused by city lights when they migrate in spring and fall. But there is hope! The author describes how locally led educational programs are persuading more and more cities around the world to turn off lights during migration. The book ends with great ideas to help kids start programs in their own city. Bonus: Milwaukee is a perfect place for Lights Out because Lake Michigan's coastline is a major migration route."

Jessica Stremer is author of the nonfiction picture book Great Carrier Reef. Stremer combines her love of science and writing to create books that inspire kids to explore the world around them and beyond.


Suzanne Scanlon, author of Committed: On Meaning and Madwomen
in conversation with Meg Kissinger at Boswell
Tuesday, April 30, 6:30 pm

Boswell hosts an evening with Chicago novelist Suzanne Scanlon for a conversation about her first book of nonfiction, Committed, a raw and masterful memoir and cultural exploration about becoming a woman and going mad - and doing both at once. Scanlon will be in conversation with Wisconsin journalist Meg Kissinger, author of While You Were Out.

Please click here to visit suzannescanlonmke.eventbrite.com to register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of Committed now as well.

When Suzanne Scanlon was a student at Barnard in the 90s, grieving the loss of her mother - feeling untethered and swimming through inarticulable pain - she made a suicide attempt that landed her in the New York State Psychiatric Institute. After nearly three years, Suzanne left the ward on shaky legs. In the decades it took to recover, Scanlon came to understand her suffering as part of something larger: a long tradition of women whose complicated and compromised stories of self-actualization are reduced to "crazy chick" and "madwoman" narratives. Soon, journey of Scanlon’s life converged with her journey through the literature that shaped her.

Transporting, honest, and graceful, Committed is a story of discovery and recovery, reclaiming the idea of the madwoman as a template for insight and transcendence through the works of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Audre Lorde, and others. Per Pulitzer-winning author Natasha Trethewey: "Scanlon’s memoir Committed is a lyrical and illuminating account of a young woman’s struggle with mental illness and institutionalization… Scanlon questions the cultural conversations around women and mental illness, framing a compelling narrative of her own recovery and redemption."

Suzanne Scanlon is author of the novels Promising Young Women and Her 37th Year, An Index, and her writing has appeared in Granta, BOMB Magazine, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other places.


Jennifer Chiaverini, author of The Museum of Lost Quilts
at the Cedarburg Public Library, W63N589 Hanover Ave
Wednesday, May 1, 6:30 pm

Jennifer Chiaverini appears for a special evening at the Cedarburg Public Library, where she’ll chat about The Museum of Lost Quilts, the first new novel in her beloved Elm Creek Quilts series in nearly five years! This book is a warm and deeply moving story about the power of collective memory. Cohosted by Boswell.

Please click here to visit cedarburglibrary.org/events/12215 and register for this event now. And be sure to order your copy of The Museum of Lost Quilts now, too.

Summer Sullivan, the youngest founding member of Elm Creek Quilts, is pursuing a master’s in history at University of Chicago. Her unexpected return home is met with delight but also concern - Summer hasn’t finished her thesis, and she can’t graduate until she does. Elm Creek Manor offers respite while Summer struggles to meet her deadline. She finds welcome distraction in organizing an exhibit of antique quilts as a fundraiser to renovate Union Hall, the 1863 Greek Revival headquarters of the Waterford Historical Society. But her research uncovers startling facts about Waterford’s past, prompting unsettling questions about racism, economic injustice, and political corruption within their community, past and present. As Summer’s work progresses, quilt lovers and history buffs praise the growing collection, but controversy threatens the exhibit’s success. Her only hope is to rally the quilting community to her cause.

Here’s BookPage’s take on Chiaverini’s acclaimed series: "Chiaverini has made quite a name for herself with her bestselling Elm Creek Quilts series. From the Civil War to the roaring ’20s to contemporary settings, these novels have offered suspense, romance and, at times, in-depth looks into the social, political and cultural differences that helped shape a nation."

Jennifer Chiaverini is author of thirty-four novels, including critically acclaimed historical fiction and the beloved Elm Creek Quilts series. The Wisconsin Library Association awarded her the honor of Notable Wisconsin Author for her significant contributions to the state’s literary heritage. Chiaverini earned a BA from the University of Notre Dame and an MA in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago.


Janet Skeslien Charles, author of Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade
at Woman’s Club of Wisconsin, 813 E Kilbourn Ave
Saturday, May 4, 11:30 reception, 12 pm lunch and talk

Woman’s Club of Wisconsin and Boswell Book Company, with the collaboration of Alliance Française de Milwaukee, present a special, ticketed event featuring Janet Skeslien Charlies, author of the acclaimed novel The Paris Library. She visits for a special luncheon featuring her latest, Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade, a novel based on the true story of Jessie Carson, the American librarian who changed the literary landscape of France, and Anne Morgan, daughter of JP Morgan and founder of the American Committee for Devastated France.

Each ticket costs $75 plus ticket fee, and each includes admission, lunch, and a copy of Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade. Reception begins at 11:30, followed by lunch at 12, with author talk to follow. Tickets are available now via Eventbrite. Click here to purchase tickets at eventbrite.com/e/852933576287.

In 1918, as the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears. In 1987, NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson in the archives and becomes consumed with learning her fate. In her obsessive research, she discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York’s famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time.

Based on the extraordinary little-known history of the women who received the Croix de Guerre medal for courage under fire, Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, the power of literature, and ultimately the courage it takes to make a change. From author Patti Callahan Henry: "An astonishing novel of postwar WWI France with the beating heart of courageous women who change the world through books… and a moving tale of sacrifice, heroism, and inspired storytelling immersed in the power of books to change our lives."

Janet Skeslien Charles is the author of The Paris Library. Her shorter work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, The Sydney Morning Herald, LitHub, and more.


at Boswell
Tuesday, May 7, 6:30 pm

Join us at Boswell to celebrate the release of Milwaukee scholar Jon M Sweeney’s latest work, a new memoir entitled My Life in Seventeen Books, which is a book for the bookish-inclined, in which Sweeney recounts personal stories that reflect the magic of books to move a person from one stage of life to the next.

Please click here to visit jonmsweeneymke.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of My Life in Seventeen Books now, too.

Former bookseller, longtime publisher and author Jon M Sweeney shows - with history and anecdotes centering around books such as Thoreau’s Journal, Martin Buber’s Hasidic Tales, and Tolstoy’s Twenty-three Tales - what it means to be carried by a book. He explores the discovery that once accompanied finding books, and books finding us. He ponders the smell of an old volume, its heft, and why bibliophiles carry them around even without reading them. He demonstrates how and why there is magic and enchantment that takes place between people and books.

Mary Gordon says: This is a small gem of a book, tender, humble, loving, needed now as ever before when so many of us fear that reading - and the books that we read - are endangered species." And from AN Wilson: "I love this book. The addictive experience of reading, which guides and charts our inner journey, is glancingly but vividly caught. Everyone will have their own list of books which they carry in their pockets and reread constantly. For some readers, this will instantly become such a book."

Jon M Sweeney is author of more than forty books on spirituality, mysticism, and religion, including Meister Eckhart’s Book of the Heart, Nicholas Black Elk: Medicine Man, Catechist, Saint, and Thomas Merton: An Introduction to His Life and Practices. Sweeney began his career in books the 1990s as a theological bookseller, and he founded SkyLight Paths Publishing. He’s worked in books and publishing ever since. Today he writes, reviews, edits, and recommends books, speaks regularly at literary and religious conferences. He lives in Milwaukee.


in conversation with Piet Levy at Boswell
Thursday, May 9, 6:30 pm

Boswell hosts Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Arts and Books Editor Jim Higgins for an evening featuring his new book, Sweet, Wild, and Vicious, in which he offers up a deeply personal, album-by-album guide to one of rock’s most influential songwriters and performers: Lou Reed.

Please click here to visit jimhigginsmke.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of Sweet, Wild, and Vicious now, too.

Jim Higgins explores Lou Reed’s legacies as an artist, noisemaker, provocateur, and professional songwriter. Higgins examines how Reed portrayed the world of his patron Andy Warhol and the gender complexities that were part of it; how, during his decades as a solo performer, Reed developed songs he wrote in the Velvet Underground; and how deeply his music reflects the doo-wop and R&B Reed loved as a youth. Higgins delves into the many songs Reed wrote and performed about drug and alcohol addiction. Higgins recommends tracks and suggests playlists for each decade of Reed’s career.

Greg Kot, cohost of Sound Opinions, says: “I didn’t think we needed another book on Lou Reed or the Velvet Underground until I read Sweet, Wild and Vicious… His recordings - by turns brilliant, confounding and daring - finally get the book they deserve.” From founding Violent Femmes member Victor DeLorenzo: “Jim presents a very good take on Lou, and I'm sure the audience that adores Mr. Reed will enjoy the way Jim listens and responds to the recordings.” And from Boswellian Chris Lee: “Jim Higgins’s Lou Reed book is viciously good!”

Jim Higgins is arts and books editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and a former pop music and jazz critic for the Milwaukee Sentinel. He is a two-time winner of Wisconsin Area Music Industry award for music journalist of the year and twice won the Sentinel staff-voted award for humor writing. Higgins also author of Wisconsin Literary Luminaries: From Laura Ingalls Wilder to Ayad Akhtar.


a Virtual Event
Friday, May 10, 2 pm

Boswell Book Company and Historic Milwaukee present a virtual event with Raymond Wiggers, author of Milwaukee in Stone and Clay, a wide-ranging book about the fascinating geology found in the building materials of Milwaukee County's architectural landmarks.

To tune in for this virtual event, please click here and register via Zoom. And be sure to order your copy of Milwaukee in Stone and Clay now, too.

With his new book, Wiggers reveals the intriguing and often surprising links between science, art, and engineering. Wiggers introduces the fundamentals of Milwaukee's geology and its amazing prehuman history as he provides a site-by-site guide to touring the city’s geologically significant buildings. Engaging yet informal, Wiggers’s work presents the first in-depth exploration of the interplay among the region's most architecturally significant sites, the materials they're made of, and the sediments and bedrock they're anchored in.

From Mayor Cavalier Johnson: "Milwaukee in Stone and Clay is much more than a compendium of our buildings and their composition. This is a celebration of the material and the beauty that make up Milwaukee. Every reader will enjoy a greater understanding and appreciation of the structures that define our city. And yes, I wholeheartedly agree with the author that Milwaukee City Hall is the most marvelous city hall on the planet!"

Raymond Wiggers is a geologist, science writer, and retired college Earth and life sciences instructor. He is the author of Chicago in Stone and Clay, Geology Underfoot in Illinois, and three other books.


Tracy Ullman, coauthor of The Serial Killer's Apprentice
at Boswell
Friday, May 10, 6:30 pm

Boswell hosts an evening with Chicago-based documentarian Tracy Ullman for The Serial Killer’s Apprentice, a new true crime examination of serial killer and rapist Dean Corll and his accomplices, known for the Houston 'Candyman murders' of the early 1970s. Ullman examines the blurred lines between victim and accomplice and how a killer can be created.

Please click here to register for this event at tracyullmanmke.eventbrite.com. And be sure to order your copy of The Serial Killer’s Accomplice now, too.

Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr. was only fourteen when he first became entangled with serial rapist and murderer Dean Corll in 1971. Fellow Houston, Texas, teenager David Brooks had already been ensnared by the charming older man, bribed with cash to help lure boys to Corll’s home. When Henley unwittingly entered the trap, Corll evidently sensed he’d be of more use as a second accomplice than another victim. He baited Henley with the same deal he’d given Brooks: $200 for each boy they could bring him. By the time he was seventeen, Henly had helped with multiple murders and believed he’d be killed, too.

Ullman tells the story of Corll and his accomplices in its fullest form to date. This book is the story of the unspeakable evil and sorrow that befell Houston in the early 1970s. From Harold Schechter, author of Murderabilia: "Consistently gripping… not only the definitive account of the infamous 'Candy Man' case - offering eye-opening information never before revealed - but a brilliant study of the minds and motivations of pedophiliac predators: both a page-turning true crime narrative and a major contribution to the field of forensic psychology."

Tracy Ullman is a documentary producer, director, and writer who has produced non-fiction programs for Discovery Networks, Oxygen, and PBS. Her most recent production is a six-part limited documentary series about serial murderer John Wayne Gacy and the new discoveries made in his case for NBC's Peacock.


Rachel Khong, author of Real Americans
in conversation with Chris Lee at Boswell
Wednesday, May 15, 6:30 pm

Boswell welcomes Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin, for an evening featuring her second novel, Real Americans, which is an exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family and asks: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures? Khong will be in conversation with Boswellian Chris Lee.

Please click right here to visit rachelkhongmke.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of Real Americans now as well.

Real Americans begins on the precipice of Y2K in New York City, when twenty-two-year-old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media company, meets Matthew. Matthew is everything Lily is not: easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster, and, most notably, heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. Lily couldn't be more different: flat-broke, raised in Tampa, the only child of scientists who fled Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Despite all this, Lily and Matthew fall in love. Then, in 2021, fifteen-year-old Nick Chen feels as if he doesn’t belong on the isolated Washington island where he lives with his single mother, Lily. He can't shake the sense she's hiding something. When Nick sets out to find his biological father, the journey threatens to raise more questions than it provides answers.

In immersive, moving prose, Khong weaves a profound tale of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance - a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home. Real Americans is one of the most Most Anticipated books of 2024, with nods from Oprah Daily, TIME, New York Magazine, and many, many more. And here's Chris Lee's take: "Khong’s immersive second novel is a literary saga that follows three generations of a Chinese American family through more than half a century, from Mao’s Cultural Revolution to the Y2K panic in America to Covid and beyond. The courses of their lives are entwined, like strands of DNA, with the machinations of a pharmaceutical corporation that dabbles in genetic engineering. Real Americans asks, is any person ever truly free to choose who they become? It’s a stunner of a book about fate, luck, country, science, and even a tic of magic.

Rachel Khong is author of Goodbye, Vitamin, winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction and named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, Vogue, and Esquire. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Paris Review, and Tin House. Khong is founder of The Ruby, a work and event space for women and nonbinary writers and artists.


Katherine Applegate, author of The One and Only Family
at Brookfield East High School, 3305 Lilly Rd
Wednesday, May 15, 6:30 pm

Newbery Medal winner Katherine Applegate appears for an evening featuring The One and Only Family. This book is the fourth and final installment of Applegate’s award-winning middle grade series, one that’s become a modern classic. In this book, Ivan takes on his most exciting adventure yet – parenthood. Cohosted by Boswell and Elmbrook Schools, this event is free and open to the public.

Please click here to visit katherineapplegatebrk.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of The One and Only Family now, too.

Ivan has been living in a wildlife sanctuary, with his friend Ruby next door in the elephant enclosure, frequent visits from his canine friend Bob, and his mate Kinyani by his side. And in the happiest turn of all, Ivan and Kinyani have welcomed a set of twins to their family! Ivan loves being a papa, even though it can be hard sometimes. As he navigates the joys and challenges of parenthood, Ivan can’t help but recall his life before the glass walls of the mall circus, his own childhood in the jungle, and his own twin.

In the tradition of timeless classics like Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, the one and only Katherine Applegate has crafted a poignant, delightful, heartbreaking, unforgettable final foray into the world of Ivan, the world’s favorite silverback gorilla.

Katherine Applegate is the Newbery Medal-winning author of numerous books for young readers, including the One and Only series, the Endling series, Crenshaw, Wishtree, the Roscoe Riley Rules chapter books series, and the Animorphs series.


at Boswell
Thursday, May 16, 6:30 pm

Acclaimed foreign correspondent Jacob Kushner visits Boswell with his new book, Look Away, which is a masterwork of reporting that reveals how a group of young Germans carried out a shocking spree of white supremacist violence and how a nation and its government ignored them until it was too late.

Please click here to visit and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of Look Away as well.

After the Berlin Wall fell, three teenagers became friends in the East Germany during the economic crisis that found some four million East Germans out of jobs. The friends began attending far-right rallies with people who called themselves National Socialists: Nazis. Like the Hitler-led Nazis before them, they blamed minorities for their ills. From 2000 to 2011, they embarked on a horrific string of white nationalist killings. Look Away follows Beate Zschäpe and her two accomplices as they radicalized, escaped into hiding, and carried out their terrorist spree. Unable to believe that the brutal killings and bombings were being carried out by white Germans, police blamed - and sometimes framed - the immigrants instead.

From Jeffrey Toobin: "Jacob Kushner’s Look Away is, at one level, a compelling true-crime thriller about a trio of German terrorists on the run. But it’s also a warning about the dangers of white supremacy and right-wing extremism – and about how the fear and hatred of immigrants, combined with the incompetence (or worse) of law enforcement, remains a threat around the world."

Jacob Kushner is author of China’s Congo Plan, and his writing has appeared in dozens of publications, including the New York Times, the Atlantic, and the New Yorker. A Fulbright-Germany scholar and Logan Nonfiction Fellow, he was a finalist for the Livingston Award in International Reporting. He teaches at the Pulitzer Center, the Overseas Press Club, and several universities.


at Boswell
Friday, May 17, 6:30 pm

Journalist and scientist Brad Balukjian appears at Boswell for an evening featuring his new pro wrestling travelogue, The Six Pack, in which he embarks on an eye‑opening road trip adventure into a pocket of iconic pop culture - professional wrestling - starring the Iron Sheik, Hulk Hogan, Tito Santana, and many more larger‑than‑life characters of the WWF of the 1980s.

Please click here and visit bradbalukjianmke.eventbrite.com to register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of The Six Pack now, too.

Pro wrestling is a subculture without a cultural home, somewhere between sport and theater, often dismissed as low‑brow. But what makes it so compelling is the humanity beneath each wrestler. In The Six Pack, Balukjian hits the road with the spirit of a fan and the rigor of an investigative reporter, in search of truth in a world built on illusion. He revisits the heady days when the Iron Sheik, Hulk Hogan, and the rest first found fame and sees where their journeys took them. They were real people, with families and feelings and bodies that could break. Most of them did, in fact, break; some have been repaired, but none of them will ever be the same.

Mary Roach says of Balukjian: “His humility, intelligence, and devotion to fact serve a work that is revelatory, emotionally on point, and addictively readable. It's all here - the lawsuits and exploitation, the clashing egos, the brain damage and the debauchery. But this is less an exposé than a love letter - to the strutting monsters of Balukjian's youth and to the men they ultimately became: surprisingly reflective, sometimes broken, always fascinating. What an achievement this book is.” And from Mick Foley: “Balukjian has created something unique in the crowded genre of pro-wrestling literature. Part wrestling confessional, part a series of eye-opening road stories, Balukjian writes of the joys (and dangers) of meeting one’s idols, as he peels back layers of some of wrestling’s greatest stars - revealing the real men within.”

Brad Balukjian is author of The Wax Pack, an NPR best book of 2020, and his writing has been published in Rolling Stone, Smithsonian, and National Geographic. He is a Research Associate at the California Academy of Sciences, and he discovered 17 species of insects (green flash bugs) in Tahiti.


in conversation with Talia Dutton at Lion’s Tooth, 2421 S Kinnickinnic Ave
Tuesday, May 21, 5:30 pm

Cartoonist and disability rights advocate Christi Furnas appears at Lion’s Tooth for a conversation about her new, autobiographically-inspired graphic novel, Crazy Like a Fox, a book that explores mental health and schizophrenia in a surprising and emotionally honest story with a fantastical cast of animal characters. Cohosted by Boswell.

Check back for registration info. Preorder your copy of Crazy Like a Fox now from Boswell by clicking the title above. Copies will also be for sale at the event, provided by our friends of Lion’s Tooth.

Fox Foxerson's got a new roommate. Fox Foxerson's got a new job. Fox Foxerson's got a date. The roommate is only a little strange, sometimes. The job seems to involve… filing? It's not very clear. The date seems to be more interested in someone else. Fox would rather be making art. As the oppressive weight of the everyday routine beats down, nothing is going right. And it doesn't seem like anyone can help — not Fox's roommate, not Fox's friends, and definitely not the nurses and doctors at the hospital, who don't seem to take notice of anything Fox tries to tell them. This quirky, humorous graphic novel tinged with pathos, immerses readers in the constant question: are you okay? Fox is not okay, but Fox is working on it.

Amy Kurzweil calls Furnas’s graphic novel: "A work of blunt brilliance. With disarming humor and irresistible charm, Fox Foxerson calls everything exactly what it is. I highly recommend this funny and loving book."

Christi Furnas has exhibited in galleries across Minnesota and in New York City, and her career includes over ten years of arts administration, teaching art workshops, and numerous speaking engagements. The protagonist of her graphic novel, Fox Foxerson currently has an advice column in Dispatch, a Twin Cities publication covering arts and culture.


Holly Wilson, author of Kittentits
at Boswell
Thursday, May 23, 6:30 pm

Boswell welcomes Wisconsin writer Holly Wilson, Associate Professor at UW-Whitewater, for an evening featuring her debut novel, Kittentits. It’s a bold, surrealist take on the American coming-of-age novel set in the Midwest.

Please click here to register for this event at hollywilsonmke.eventbrite.com. And be sure to order your copy of Kittentits now, too.

Wilson’s new novel is a feral, heart-busting, absurdist tale about Molly, a rambunctious and bawdy ten-year-old searching for friendship and ghosts. It’s 1992, and Molly is tired of living in the fire-rotted, nun-haunted House of Friends: a Semi-Cooperative Living Community of Peace Faith(s) in Action with her formerly blind dad and their grieving housemate Evelyn. But when twenty-three-year-old Jeanie, a dirt bike–riding ex-con with a shady past, moves in, she quickly becomes the object of Molly’s adoration. When Jeanie fakes her own death in a hot-air balloon accident, Molly runs away to Chicago to hunt down Jeanie. What follows is a race to New Year’s Eve, as Molly plans a séance to reunite with their lost moms in front of a live audience at the World’s Fair.

Wilson’s novel is the latest novel from Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn’s new imprint, which features offbeat, gasp-inducing page-turners. Gillian Flynn says: "Molly is one of the greatest young female characters I’ve had the luck of reading since I picked up Joy Williams… I TRULY LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!!" And from Kevin Wilson: "Sacred and profane, filled with big emotions, all amplified by grief… This is a wildly funny and utterly convincing coming-of-age novel like nothing I’ve read before."

Holly Wilson's writing has appeared in Narrative, Short Story, New Stories from the South, and elsewhere. She was a Kingsbury Fellow at Florida State University, where she received a PhD in creative writing.


in conversation with Steve Schaffer at Boswell
Wednesday, June 5, 6:30 pm

Wall Street Journal columnist Lettie Teague appears at Boswell with her new book, Dear Readers and Riders, a new biography of Marguerite Henry, a children’s author who was born and grew up in Milwaukee and went on to win a Newbery award and influence generations of aspiring writers and devoted equestrians. Teague will be in conversation with Milwaukee County Historical Society Archivist Steve Schaffer.

Please click here to visit lettieteaguemke.eventbrite.com and register for this event. And be sure to order your copy of Dear Readers and Riders now as well.

Marguerite Henry was a remarkably prolific and influential author who penned nearly sixty meticulously researched historical novels about influential horses and the hosts of fascinating characters who surrounded them, including the Newbery Award winner King of the Wind, Misty of Chincoteague, and Justin Morgan Had a Horse. Yet despite a professional existence that was profoundly public, Henry’s own life was mostly shielded from view.

Lettie Teague‘s biography provides a unique glimpse into Marguerite Henry’s life and work. Notably, the city of Milwaukee also figures into Henry’s story quite a bit, as her father ran the L Breithaupt printing company in the city throughout her life. This is a warm, wonderful biography for bibliophiles, horse lovers, aspiring writers, and Marguerite Henry fans, young and old.

Lettie Teague is the Wall Street Journal's wine columnist, is author of Wine in Words and Educating Peter, and co-author and illustrator of Fear of Wine. Her writing has won three James Beard Awards, including the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award. Like Henry, Teague grew up in the Midwest aspiring to be a writer.


in conversation with Lori Fredrich at Boswell
Thursday, June 6, 6:30 pm

Boswell welcomes summer with an event featuring Terese Allen, author of The Dane County Farmer’s Market Cookbook, a gorgeous, warm-hearted salute to the vendors, shoppers and chefs who make the Dane County Farmers’ Market, now going strong for more than 50 years, a community. Allen will be joined in conversation by Milwaukee food writer Lori Fredrich, author of Wisconsin Field to Fork.

Please click here to register for this event at tereseallenmke.eventbrite.com. And be sure to order your copy of The Dane County Farmers’ Market Cookbook now, too.

Hundreds of Wisconsin growers and thousands of shoppers gather weekly around the white-domed State Capitol in Madison with an ever-growing diversity of farm-fresh crops, world-class cheeses, pastured meats, and specialty products. Allen brings the sights, sounds, and flavors of the Dane County farmers’ market together in this new collection of bold-flavored, internationally-focused recipes cooked up from local ingredients.

Allen’s new book collects both stories and dishes from the vendors, shoppers, and chefs who build cultural and community bonds at one of the nation’s largest, most renowned farmers’ markets. Allen demonstrates how to build a pantry with everything from purple daikon radishes and harissa paste to bandaged cheddar and black currants and how to prepare both contemporary and heritage dishes. From Luke Zahm, host of Wisconsin Foodie: "Recipes and stories that invite us to fall in love with the food of the Upper Midwest all over again, and to truly live the connection between land, people and table."

Wisconsinite Terese Allen is author of The Flavor of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Local Foods Journal, Fresh Market Wisconsin, and other books. She has been a food columnist for Edible Madison, Edible Door, and Wisconsin Trails magazine, and is a co-founder and long-time leader of the Culinary History Enthusiasts of Wisconsin (CHEW). She served for a decade as food editor for Organic Valley Family of Farms and for fifteen years was a key leader of REAP Food Group, an organization that fosters a sustainable food system in southern Wisconsin.


RO Kwon, author of Exhibit
at Boswell
Friday, June 7, 6:30 pm

Boswell welcomes RO Kwon, bestselling author of The Incendiaries, for an evening featuring her new novel, Exhibit, an exhilarating, blazing-hot novel about a woman caught between her desires and her life.

Please click here to register for this event at rokwonmke.eventbrite.com. And be sure to order your copy of Exhibit now, too.

At a lavish party in the hills outside San Francisco, Jin Han meets Lidija Jung and nothing will ever be the same for either woman. A brilliant photographer, Jin is at a crossroads in her work and marriage. Lidija is an alluring ballerina on hiatus from her company under mysterious circumstances. Drawn to each other by their intense artistic drives, the two women talk all night. Jin finds herself telling Lidija about a familial curse, breaking a lifelong promise. She's been told that if she doesn’t keep the curse a secret, then death and ruin could lie ahead. As Jin and Lidija become more entangled, they begin to explore hidden desires. Something is ignited in Jin, but can she avoid the specter of the curse?

Vital, bold, powerful, and deeply moving, Exhibit asks: how brightly can you burn before you light your life on fire? Madeline Miller, author of Circe, says: "In prose at once sharp and lush, Kwon crafts a gripping tale of a woman wrestling with the past, while boldly making her own future. A haunting and powerful exploration of art, racism, feminism, and desire, this novel will stay with me a long time."

RO Kwon is author of The Incendiaries, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award which was named a best book of the year by over forty publications. Kwon coedited the Kink, a New York Times Notable Book and the recipient of the inaugural Joy Award. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, and Vanity Fair, and she has received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Yaddo, and MacDowell.


at Boswell
Thursday, June 13, 6:30 pm

Neal Barnard, editor-in-chief of the Nutrition Guide for Clinicians and editor of Good Medicine magazine, appears at Boswell with his new book, The Power Foods Diet, with which he offers a offers an evidence-based, food-as-medicine protocol for kickstarting weight loss and keeping it off.

Please click here and register for this event at nealbarnardmke.eventbrite.com. And be sure to order your copy of The Power Foods Diet now as well.

Weight loss is a top health concern, so much so that people are keep looking for good ways to lose weight - preferably a way that is easy, effective, and permanent. It turns out that, when properly chosen, certain foods cause weight loss, with no need for the deprivation and planning that most weight-loss regimens require. These breakthroughs make weight loss easy, without calorie counting or deprivation. Barnard’s diet encourages people to eat, not to stop eating, and reveals that some of the foods we think are good for us can actually be harmful, like salmon, goat cheese, and coconut oil, all of which pass easily into body fat and overstay their welcome.

Harvard Professor of Medicine Michelle O’Donoghue calls Barnard’s book: "A comprehensive and invaluable resource for those seeking a lifelong path to better health and weight loss!" And from Cleveland Clinic consultant Caldwell B Esselstyn: "With an evidence-based approach, Neal Barnard has created an encyclopedia of nutrition knowledge, defining and orchestrating the foremost use of food for taste and optimal health."

Neal D Barnard is author of Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes, The Get Healthy Go Vegan Cookbook, and most recently Your Body in Balance. He is President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.


Claire Lombardo, author of Same As It Ever Was
in conversation with Lisa Baudoin and Daniel Goldin at Boswell
Monday, June 17, 6:30 pm

Boswell Book Company joins forces with our friends of Books & Company in Oconomowoc for a special, in-person edition of Readings from Oconomowaukee, the event series that puts authors in conversation with bookstore proprietors Daniel Goldin and Lisa Baudoin. This event features Claire Lombardo, author of Same As It Ever Was, the follow-up to her bestselling novel The Most Fun We Ever Had.

Please click here to register for this event at clairelombardomke.eventbrite.com. And be sure to order your copy of Same As It Ever Was now, too. Click here to order from Boswell, or click here to order from Books & Company. Do note, there will be an afternoon edition of this event at Books & Company in Oconomowoc at 2 pm the same day. Click here for more info about that event.

Lombardo’s second book is a brilliantly observed family drama in which the enduring, hard-won affection of a long marriage faces imminent derailment from events both past and present. Same As It Ever Was showcases the style, wit, and profound emotional intelligence that Lombardo became known for with The Most Fun We Ever Had. In this remarkable follow-up, another elegant, tumultuous story in the tradition of Ann Patchett and Celeste Ng, Lombardo introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters, this time by way of her singularly complicated protagonist.

From Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry: "Witty and insightful... a powerful exploration of marriage, motherhood, and self."

Claire Lombardo is author of The Most Fun We Ever Had, which has been optioned for television by Reese Witherspoon. She has taught at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and Grinnell College and works part-time as a bookseller at Prairie Lights Books.


at Boswell
Tuesday, June 25, 6:30 pm

Boswell hosts an evening with Ananda Lima, author of Craft, an intoxicating and surreal debut collection of contemporary, Kafkaesque stories all told through the lens of a Brazilian-American writer who spent a night with the devil

Please click here to register for this event at anandalimamke.eventbrite.com. And be sure to order your copy of Craft now, too.

At a Halloween party in 1999, a writer slept with the devil. She sees him again and again throughout her life and she writes him stories about beautiful and impossible things. Lima’s book offers an intoxicating and unsettling linked collection that lures readers into surreal pockets of the United States and Brazil where they’ll find bite-size Americans in vending machines and the ghosts of people who are not dead. With a singular voice in the narrative-bending tradition of Kafka, Cortázar, and Bulgakov, Lima speaks to Brazilian-American immigrant experiences - of ambition, fear, heartbreak, and home - with equal parts warmth and agitation.

From the Chicago Review of Books, which named Craft a Most Anticipated book of 2024: "A perfect balance of humor, heart, and hauntedness… I expect Craft to immediately put Lima in the company of writers like Carmen Maria Machado, Kelly Link, and Samanta Schweblin."

Ananda Lima is author of the poetry collection Mother/land, winner of the Hudson Prize, and her work has appeared in the American Poetry Review, Gulf Coast, and Pleiades. She has an MA in Linguistics from UCLA, an MFA in Creative Writing in Fiction from Rutgers University, and has been awarded the inaugural WIP Fellowship by Latinx-in-Publishing.


Tracy Chevalier, author of The Glassmaker
a ticketed event at Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, 1111 E Brown Deer Rd
Wednesday, June 26, 6:30 pm

Schlitz Audubon Nature Center and Boswell present a special evening with bestselling historical novelist Tracy Chevalier, author of the beloved book Girl with a Pear Earring. Chevalier appears with her latest novel, The Glassmaker, a rich, transporting story that follows a family of glassmakers from the height of Renaissance-era Italy to present day.

Tickets for this event cost $34 plus tax and ticket fee and include admission and a hardcover copy of The Glassmaker. Ticket link coming soon – check back on this page.

It’s 1486 and Venice is an opulent trade center. Orsola Rosso is the eldest daughter in a family of glassblowers on Murano, the island revered for the craft. As a woman, she is not meant to work with glass, though she has the hands for it, the heart, and a vision. When her father dies, she teaches herself to make glass beads in secret, and her work supports the Rosso family fortunes. Skipping like a stone through the centuries, in a Venice where time moves as slowly as molten glass, we follow Orsola and her family as they live through creative triumph and heartbreaking loss, from a plague devastating Venice to Continental soldiers stripping its palazzos bare, from the domination of Murano and its maestros to the transformation of the city of trade into a city of tourists. In every era, the Rosso women ensure that their work, and their bonds, endure.

Chevalier is a master of her craft, and The Glassmaker is as inventive as it is spellbinding: a mesmerizing portrait of a woman, a family, and a city as everlasting as their glass. The Glassmaker celebrates the strength, character, complexity and endurance of women across the ages and brings a whole family of indelible women to life with evocative, unerring prose.

Tracy Chevalier is the New York Times bestselling author of ten previous novels, including Girl with a Pearl Earring, which was made into an Oscar-nominated film, a play, and an opera, as well as Remarkable Creatures, A Single Thread, and The Last Runaway.


Peng Shepherd, author of All This and More
at Boswell
Thursday, July 11, 6:30 pm

Boswell welcomes back Peng Shepherd, the critically-acclaimed author of novels like The Cartographers and The Book of M for an evening with her inventive new book, All This and More. It’s a literary choose-your-own-adventure about a woman who wins the chance to rewrite every mistake she’s ever made and find her elusive "happily ever after."

Please click here to register for this event at pengshepherdmke.eventbrite.com. And be sure to order your copy of All This and More now, too.

Marsh is forty-five and her life is in shambles: stagnant career, imploded marriage, and a teenage daughter growing more distant by the day. Convinced she’s missed her chance at everything, Marsh is desperate for a do-over. So when she’s selected to star in a game show that uses quantum technology to allow contestants to revise their past, Marsh is determined to get it right this time. But as she turns things around, she begins to fear the show’s promises might be too good to be true.

Perfect for fans of The Midnight Library, Shepherd’s All This and More is an utterly original, startlingly poignant novel with an interactive twist.

Peng Shepherd is author of The Cartographers, named a Best Book by the Washington Post, and The Book of M, which won the 2019 Neukom Institute for Literary Arts Award for Debut Speculative Fiction. In 2020, Shepherd received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.


Maribeth Fischer, author of A Season of Perfect Happiness
in conversation with Mike Fischer at Boswell
Wednesday, August 28, 6:30 pm

Maribeth Fischer appears at Boswell with her new novel, A Season of Perfect Happiness, a propulsive, beautifully heartrending portrayal of one woman’s efforts to find her voice. Set in Wisconsin while paying homage to Ten Chimneys and the Lunts, it asks fundamental questions of what makes a “good” mother. In conversation with Milwaukee theater critic Mike Fischer – her brother!

Please click here to register for this event at maribethfischermke.eventbrite.com. And be sure to order your copy of A Season of Perfect Happiness now as well.

Ten years after an unspeakable tragedy caused Claire to flee her hometown, she finally has a quiet, tidy life in Wisconsin and a carefully constructed identity predicated on a simple plan: keep the past a secret. But when she meets Erik, a lighthearted theater nerd who gives Claire more of a chance than she’s given herself in a long time. Claire discovers that life after an accident could be full of joy

But when a person from her past arrives, Claire is forced to confront what happened all those years ago. As her past is revealed, her new life and the deep friendships she’s made hang in the balance. If Claire confides in the people she’s grown to love, will they be able to forgive her? Will she finally forgive herself? Or will the life she’s spent the last decade building fall apart?

Maribeth Fischer is author of The Language of Goodbye and The Life You Longed For. She is founder and executive director of the Rehoboth Beach Writers’ Guild, has received three Delaware Division of the Arts Fellowships and two Pushcart Prizes, and holds an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University.


Please visit our Boswell-Run Book Club page for an updated schedule of our book club discussions.

Please remember that while we try to update this page as frequently as possible, all events are subject to change. If you have any concerns, please contact Boswell. Also note that ticketed events do sell out, and all events are subject to capacity. It never hurts to arrive early.