2021-2022 Schedule
May
Annual Dinner and Elections
7:00 pm – Thursday, May 19, 2022
Jax Restaurant
Lisa German, University Librarian and Dean of Libraries at the University of Minnesota, has graciously agreed to speak.
The cash bar opens at 6 pm, and dinner is at 7. More details about the presentation, menu choices, and reservation information will be sent to members.
April
Auction
7:00 pm – Thursday, April 28, 2022
In person at the American Swedish Institute!
The first Ampersand Auction in quite a few years! Members who arrive at 6 pm can visit ASI’s Paper Dialogues exhibition. There will be a cash bar, with a drink ticket for each member, and light appetizers for socializing prior to the auction.
March
The Oldest Words in Language
7:00 pm – Thursday, March 24, 2022
the one and only Anatoly Liberman, linguist, medievalist, etymologist, poet, translator of poetry, literary critic, and professor at the College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota. Professor Liberman is perhaps best known to the general public for his popularization of word origins; his column on that topic, “The Oxford Etymologist”, appears weekly in the blog of the Oxford University Press.
A Zoom link will be sent to members before the meeting
February
The Last Bookseller: A Life in the Rare Book Trade
7:00 pm – Thursday, February 17, 2022
Bookseller Gary Goodman, will share stories from his career as a rare book dealer, including some juicy tales of early struggles, travels to estate sales and book fairs, remarkable finds, and the bibliophiles, forgers, book thieves, and book hoarders he met along the way from his new memoir. As a book that is both a memoir and a history of booksellers and book scouts, criminals and collectors, The Last Bookseller offers an ultimately poignant account of the used and rare book business.
A Zoom link will be sent to members before the meeting
December
The Varieties of Retail Experience; or, Buying Books in Nineteenth-Century America
7:00 pm – Thursday, December 9, 2021
Paul Erickson, Director of the Clements Library, University of Michigan, will discuss the how and where Americans bought bookd in the 19th century. “Few retail sectors have been as thoroughly transformed by the revolution in online commerce as the retail bookstore. The retail storefront dedicated primarily to the sale of printed books (new or used) has become a vanishing breed. Or so we are told. But how did readers in the past buy things to read? This talk will draw on printed, manuscript, and visual sources to shed light on the various settings for the retail traffic in print in the nineteenth-century United States.”
A Zoom link will be sent to members before the meeting
November
Fran Shor: Passages of Rebellion
7:00 pm – Thursday, November 18, 2021
Author Fran Shor will discuss his historic novel, Passages of Rebellion, and the factual stories behind it. A work of historical and political fiction, Passages of Rebellion takes place, for the most part, in Minneapolis during the years 1967-1970. The focus is on student activists and their anti-Vietnam War and anti-draft activities, some of which led to the famous real-life convictions of the Minnesota Eight.
Written by someone who was there, and grounded in actual events, Fran’s novel weaves a detailed, time-shifting, and enlightening account of the odyssey of his idealistic, but flawed protagonist, a graduate student at the University of Minnesota, through his student years as a 1960s radical and into his later life, when he is confronted with an unexpected and deeply emotional reckoning.
A Zoom link will be sent to members before the meeting
October
Minnesota Bookmakers and their COVID Projects
7:00 pm – Thursday, October 21, 2021
During Covid, amidst the confinement and restrictions it has imposed, many artists have created work related to the pandemic, including local book artists. Join us on Zoom for presentations from CB Sherlock, Jody Williams, Todd Thyberg, Regula Russelle, Chaz Nove, and Julie Baugnet.
A Zoom link will be sent to members before the meeting
September
Sinclair Lewis: 100 Years of Main Street
Time TBD – September 16, 2021
Ampersander Pat Coleman will lead a tour of his exhibit at the Minnesota History Center. Please check back for more information closer to the date. This will be an in person meeting.
Information about past topics and speakers can be found on the past meetings page.