2020 SOUTH DAKOTA October | Virtual at sdbookfestival.com CONTENTS 4 Mayor’s Welcome 6 SD Humanities Council Welcome 7 Exhibitors’ Hall 8 A Tribute to Children’s and Y.A. Literature Sponsored by Black Hills Reads, Children’s Museum of South Dakota, First Bank & Trust, Northern Hills Federal Credit Union 9 A Tribute to Fiction Sponsored by City of Brookings and Visit Brookings 10 A Tribute to Poetry Sponsored by Brass Family Foundation 11 A Tribute to Non-Fiction Sponsored by Brookings Register and South Dakota State University 12 A Tribute to Writers’ Support Sponsored by Robert E. Fishback & Patricia S. Fishback Foundation and South Dakota Arts Council 13 A Tribute to History and Tribal Writing Sponsored by South Dakota Public Broadcasting 14 Presenters Cover image: The Fairytale by Mary Groth The South Dakota Festival of Books Guide is proudly published by Stay Connected View the schedule, changes to the author roster and other news at SDBookFestival.com or on the SDHumanities Facebook and Twitter pages. Use #sdbookfest when commenting or to view others’ comments. 410 E. Third St. • Yankton, SD 57078 800-456-5117 • www.SouthDakotaMagazine.com 3 WELCOME... DEAR FESTIVAL OF BOOKS PARTICIPANTS, N BEHALF of my office, the Brookings City Council, Visit Brookings and Brookings residents, welcome to our Ocommunity. We are excited to host the 2020 South Dakota Festival of Books. As an education advocate and lifelong learner, I encourage you to explore our vibrant city. Brookings is a progressive and growing community with arts, cultural gems and hands-on activities that connect us to our past and our future. Historic Downtown Brookings offers visitors a boutique shopping experience with urban art in the alleys and savory bites. Brookings combines the best of small town and big city living, with an impressive quality of life that’s perfect for families, students, young professionals and retirees alike. I am confident you will agree that “Bring Your Dreams” isn’t just Brookings’ tagline, but a belief and a way of life. Sincerely, Keith W. Corbett Mayor of Brookings ADVERTISING DIRECTORY Appaloosy Books ...................................4 Siouxland Heritage Museums ............. 18 Arts South Dakota ............................... 22 South Dakota Art Museum ................. 17 Candlewick Press ................................ 14 South Dakota Historical Society Press .....2 Center For Western Studies................. 20 South Dakota Magazine ............... 16, 18 Christopher Schmitz ........................... 16 South Dakota State Library .................. 21 Delaine Shay ..........................................6 South Dakota State University ............. 19 GWW Books ..........................................5 South Dakota State University, English ...6 Kate Meadows Writing & Editing ...........4 TruCount CPA ..................................... 21 McCrory Gardens ................................ 23 Western Writers of America ................ 15 Osher Lifelong Learning Institute ......... 15 4 • SOUTH DAKOTA FESTIVAL OF BOOKS 5 LOST IN STORY Finding refuge in reading ELCOME TO THE South Dakota Festival of Books in Brookings. While 2020 has been memorable in ways we Wdidn’t expect, one tried and true measure has helped us come through this year’s events: reading. As we were settling into stay-at-home days, I spent time with Karen Blixen’s Winter’s Tales and Seven Gothic Tales. I found these in the Deadwood Public Library during last year’s Festival of Books.While waiting to share information with an author, I noticed a trolley cart of books the library was discarding. For a dollar a book, any title could be mine. When I saw the name “Karen Blixen,” it was no question: I hadn’t read anything by Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and only knew her from the movie Out of Africa and by her stellar reputation as a writer shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature more than once. All winter, I’d wend my way through the evening routine, looking forward to that moment when, finally, I could put the world’s concerns out of mind by falling into the cloth-bound books with soft yellow pages. There I was lost in Blixen’s characters and stories of Denmark and the North Sea. One gift of the Festival of Books is that it helps readers find and become immersed in new stories. We are happy to help you connect with many wonderful authors, all ready to share their talents with you. We hope you find a few tales to take you through daily events to new worlds of thought. Ann Volin Ann B. Volin Executive Director South Dakota Humanities Council Visit sdbookfestival.com for news about special events like virtual sessions with bestselling authors and a Sioux Falls appearance by Tommy Orange, author of There There, on November 16! 6 • SOUTH DAKOTA FESTIVAL OF BOOKS EXHIBITORS’ HALL WHERE’S Located in the foyer of the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center, 1601 University Blvd. in Brookings. Open from 1 to 5 pm on Friday and 9 am to 4 pm on Saturday. THE SCHEDULE? AUTHORS Ruby R. Wilson, Bruce, RubyRWilson. Phyllis Cole-Dai, Brookings, WordPress.com Due to all the uncertainties PhyllisColeDai.com of life in the age of the BOOKSELLERS & PUBLISHERS coronavirus, the South Betsey DeLoache, Red Bird Studio, Center for Western Studies, Sioux Falls, Dakota Humanities Council Edisto Island, SC, RedBirdStudioSD. Augie.edu/cws opted to remove the South com Children’s Museum of South Dakota, Dakota Festival of Books Rory Foresman, Rapid City, Brookings, PrairiePlay.org schedule from this year’s RoryForesman.com guide. We are strongly South Dakota Agricultural committed to holding this Jeff Gould, I Like That Story LLC, Heritage Museum Press, Brookings, Sioux Falls, ILikeThatStory.net AgMuseumStore.com year’s festival in Brookings as planned; however, if Mo Hurley, Sioux Falls South Dakota Historical Society Press, the pandemic makes this Pierre, SDHSPress.com impossible, know that we Bill Markley, Pierre, BillMarkley.com will bring the best in books Spoon River Poetry Press/Ellis Press/Plains A.C. Miller, Des Moines, IA, Press, Granite Falls, MN, EllisPress.com to South Dakota by whatever ACMillerAuthor.com means are open to us. St. Rita’s Amazing Traveling Bookstore, Keep up to date on Colin Mustful, Roseville, MN, Eureka, MT, SaintRitasBooks.com the schedule by visiting ColinMustful.com Usborne Books & More, Amanda Roth, SDBookFestival.com or Mattie Richardson, Appaloosy Books, Dell Rapids, WeReadTogether.com by calling (605) 688-6113. Lisbon, ND, AppaloosyBooks.com We will also post updates at Zandbroz Variety, Sioux Falls, SD & Fargo, twitter.com/sdhumanities Bruce Roseland, Seneca, ND, Zandbroz.com and facebook.com/ HeartOfThePrairie.net ORGANIZATIONS sdhumanities and through Christopher D. Schmitz, Kate Meadows Writing & Editing, Black the Festival Updates Bulletin, Redwood Falls, MN, Hawk, KateMeadows.com a handout available at the AuthorChristopherDSchmitz.com Exhibitors’ Hall information South Dakota Public Broadcasting, desk in the foyer of the Oscar Delaine Shay, Sioux Falls, SDPB.org DelaineShayAuthor.com Larson Performing Arts South Dakota State Poetry Society, Center, 1601 University Blvd., Holly Sortland, Rapid City SDPoetry.org Brookings. Gary Wietgrefe, Sioux Falls, Western Writers of America, RelatingtoAncients.com WesternWriters.org FESTIVAL GUIDELINES Please abide by the following guidelines to make this event enjoyable for all: no soliciting or distributing flyers, literature, etc., of any kind at any festival venue without prior consent. No videotaping or tape recording without prior consent. Turn cell phones and pagers off during presentations. The Festival of Books, its sponsors and venues are not responsible for lost or stolen items. 7 CHILDREN’S/Y.A. SPINNING A GOOD STORY During a stint writing chapters and sidebars for history textbooks, Steve Sheinkin collected hundreds of stories that didn’t make it into the published versions. In 2008, he left the textbook world to Creating Bink and Gollie write King George: What Was His Problem?, a book filled with funny LISON MCGHEE and Kate to think about the books, which anecdotes that help explain the DiCamillo were both be- was really hard when we American Revolution. Sheinkin has tween projects when a novel weren’t with each other.” since written about Jim Thorpe and idea struck: Why not collabo- That meant the plots of Arate on a children’s book? The thought each story arose organi- the Carlisle Indian School, Daniel Ellsburg and the Pentagon Papers was both exhilarating and slightly un- cally. McGhee describes and Benedict Arnold. His subjects are nerving. “We’re both very disciplined herself and DiCamillo diverse, but there’s one constant. “I writers in terms of process and neither as “state fair freaks,” so think the whole key is telling a good of us had ever worked on a book with one story follows Bink and story,” Sheinkin says. “I find a good another writer,” McGhee says. “It’s a Gollie to the state fair. When hook, something that grabs the very strange thing to do. We were both ideas were few and far be- readers’ attention, and then keep used to writing in our own ways, in our tween, they turned to props. the plot moving quickly forward. own silent rooms and never talking “It was at a stage in my life when I was No different from what a novelist or about a book that was in process until addicted to this pair of brightly striped screenwriter would do, except that we had finished a draft. This was just socks,” McGhee says. “I wore them I can’t make anything up. But that’s upending everything for both of us.” every day. At one point, we were at a the great thing about history — you Those doubts have long been swept loss for ideas, so I took off one of my don’t have to. True stories have all the away, considering the success of the socks and said, ‘Here, we’re going to drama and high stakes a writer could pair’s Bink and Gollie books. A spe- use this as a prop. Let’s just see where ever want.” cial collection, Bink & Gollie: Three it goes.’” It blossomed into a story But if a writer (or reader) did want for One, was selected as the 2020 called, “Don’t You Need a New Pair more, Sheinkin has the answer in his Young Readers One Book South Da- of Socks?” kota.