Francie & Finch Bookshop

Visiting Authors - Poetry Reading with Carolina Hotchandani and Maria Zoccola
2025-02-22 16:30 - 17:30 (America/Chicago) | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us on Saturday, February 22nd at 4:30 as we welcome poets
Carolina Hotchandani and Maria Zoccola!
Maria will be reading from her debut poetry collection Helen of Troy, 1993: Poems, and Carolina will be pulling from her award-winning anthology of poetry from the last few years. We can’t wait to see you there!
To order a copy of Carolina’s latest publication The Book Eaters, follow the link HERE.
To order a copy of Maria’s debut poetry collection Helen of Troy, 1993: Poems, follow the link HERE.
Copies will be available for purchase at the event.
About the Authors:
Carolina Hotchandani is the author of The Book Eaters, the 2023 Perugia Press Prize winner and one of ten debut poetry books featured in Poets & Writers Magazine’s 2024 debut poets issue. She was awarded a 2024 Nebraska Arts Council Individual Fellowship, a 2024 Nebraska Book Award, and her poetry has appeared in The Atlantic, AGNI, Prairie Schooner, and other magazines. She is a Goodrich Assistant Professor of English in Omaha, Nebraska.
Maria Zoccola is a poet and educator from Memphis, Tennessee. She has writing degrees from Emory University and Falmouth University, and has spent many years leading creative writing workshops for middle and high school youth. Maria’s work has previously appeared in The Atlantic, Ploughshares, Kenyon Review, The Sewanee Review, ZYZZYVA, and elsewhere, and has received a special mention for the Pushcart Prize. Helen of Troy, 1993 (Scribner, 2025) is her debut poetry collection.
Advance Praise for Helen of Troy, 1993:
“There is a gracious plenty of grittiness and threat in Maria Zoccola’s poems, but the poetry’s verbal vitality, coupled with the novelistic satisfaction of the narrator’s epic-worthy story, achieves the heightened pain and pleasure of the sublime. I cannot foresee a better book of American poetry published this year.” —Ron Rash, award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Serena and Poems: New and Selected
“Sinking into Helen of Troy, 1993 felt like the magic of finding a kindred spirit on the stool next to me in a dive bar. Zoccola’s poems kept me saying, ‘Yes, yes exactly.’ In her rendering of the rural South, she takes things I have felt only indistinctly and delivers them to me with sharp and beautiful and brutal clarity.” —Stacey Swann, author of Olympus, Texas, a GMA Book Club Pick

First Friday Art Walk - Featured Artist - Jude Martindale
2025-03-07 17:30 - 19:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us for Downtown Lincoln’s First Friday Art Walk on March 7th!
This month Francie & Finch Bookshop will be featuring artist Jude Martindale!
About the Artist:
To read more visit the link HERE.
Jude grew up in rural Nebraska and currently lives and paints in Lincoln. She studied biology and art for a BS from UNL before studying portraiture at the Art Students League of New York. Jude then earned a Masters in Scientific Illustration at the University of Arizona, illustrating a book on extinct mammals for her thesis. After moving back to Lincoln, she freelanced as a illustrator and developed her skills with watercolor and abstraction. The recent book “Flying Free” (2020) showcases some of her widely acclaimed crane art. Her artistic journey has been reported in Nebraska Life magazine and other media.
Jude is a signature member of the International Society of Experimental Artists. She has won many awards, and her work has been shown nationally and internationally. Her solo show, The Great Migration: A Celebration of Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska is at the Great Plains Art Museum in Lincoln from January through June 19, 2021. It includes 36 paintings and collages, including some uniquely colorful and fanciful birds. While her background includes artistic realism, Jude has been working primarily in abstract expressionism for the last several years.

Visiting Author - Stacey Waite - A Real Man Would Have a Gun: Poems
2025-03-11 18:00 - 19:00 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us on Tuesday, March 11th at 6:00 as author Stacey Waite presents her new work of poetry A Real Man Would Have a Gun. Follow the link HERE to pre-order your copy today.
About the Book:
Stacey Waite’s newest collection of poems interrogates gender, sexuality, and parenthood. From a genderqueer perspective, the poems set their unflinching gaze on the habits and impacts of masculinity. Poignant, angry, heartfelt, and at times funny, this collection asks us, again and again: What kind of world do we make with gender?
About the Author:
Stacey Waite is Associate Professor of English and Graduate Chair at the University of Nebraska—Lincoln and is the author of five collections of poetry: Choke (winner of the Frank O’Hara Prize for Poetry), Love Poem to Androgyny, the lake has no saint (Winner of the Snowbound Prize for Poetry), Butch Geography (2013), and just released A Real Man Would Have A Gun (University of New Mexico Press, 2025). Waite is also the author of Teaching Queer: Radical Possibilities for Writing and Knowing (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017). Working in both creative writing and composition studies, Waite is also co-editor of Inventing the Discipline: Student Work in Composition Studies and the textbook, Ways of Reading. Waite’s poetry and essays have appeared in such journals as Writing on the Edge, Assay, New Territory, Literacy in Composition Studies, and Black Warrior Review. Waite’s poems have been anthologized in a range of collections including Best American Poetry and The Norton Introduction to Literature. Visit Waite’s website at www.staceywaite.com.
Praise for the Book:
“A Real Man Would Have a Gun believes in poetry’s ability to salve and save. In it, Stacey Waite walks a tight rope of language in these well-wrought poems that celebrate and question gender as much as they serve to cherish family. And these poems know no bounds. They chat and scream and whisper—and they even dance if you count the Cupid Shuffle. This is a brilliant beauty of a book.”—Jericho Brown, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Tradition
“This book isn’t only bold, it’s tender and broken and more complex than the tired trope of ‘queer triumph.’ This book is about family and memory and fuckups through the eyes of a poet who understands that sometimes you can’t extinguish rage; it just ‘turn(s) into / a fire of a different kind.’ We all can see ourselves in this book’s magnificent glow.”—Aaron Smith, author of Stop Lying: Poems
“I will never get over the poems of Stacey Waite—and I don’t want to. A Real Man Would Have a Gun is both slow burn and bright flame, lyric compression and narrative expansion, a book that breaks childhood and parenthood, gender and sexuality—embodiment itself—freshly and sharply open.”—Julie Marie Wade, author of Skirted

Book Launch and Poetry Reading - Frizabel Waki - One Voice: Original Poetry
2025-03-29 16:30 - 17:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us for a night of poetry as we welcome Frizabel Waki in celebration of her new book of poetry One Voice!
Books available at F&F and there will be a book-signing after the reading.
About the Author:
Frizabel Waki is a multifaceted creative whose work spans poetry, life writing, and fiction. As the author of One Voice, she weaves poignant narratives that resonate with authenticity and emotional depth. A Certified Nursing Aid with over six years of experience, Frizabel brings a unique perspective to her writing, blending compassion and insight from her professional life. Beyond her literary pursuits, she is a skilled makeup artist, hair stylist, and entrepreneur, showcasing her versatility and passion for self expression. A devoted Christian, Frizabel finds inspiration in gospel music, dance, and the joy of travel, which fuels her love for exploring new places and cultures. when she’s not writing, she enjoys binge-watching comedies, indulgin gin fashion, and embracing the simple pleasures of life. Frizabel’s work reflects her vibrant spirit, unwavering faith, and commitment to storytelling that connects and uplifts.

Visiting Author - Karen Russell in conversation with Judi M. gaiashkibos - The Antidote
2025-04-01 17:30 - 18:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us on Tuesday, April 1st at 5:30 as we welcome Pulitzer finalist Karen Russell! She will be presenting her new novel The Antidote, “a gripping dust bowl epic about five characters whose fates become entangled after a storm ravages their small Nebraskan town.” You don’t want to miss this exciting opportunity to meet with the author of the bestseller Swamplandia!, and hear what went into the making of her exciting new novel. We’ll see you there!
Pre-Order a copy of The Antidote HERE
About the Book:
From Pulitzer finalist, MacArthur Fellowship recipient, and bestselling author of Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove Karen Russell: a gripping dust bowl epic about five characters whose fates become entangled after a storm ravages their small Nebraskan town.

The Antidote opens on Black Sunday, as a historic dust storm ravages the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska. But Uz is already collapsing—not just under the weight of the Great Depression and the dust bowl drought but beneath its own violent histories. The Antidote follows a “Prairie Witch,” whose body serves as a bank vault for peoples’ memories and secrets; a Polish wheat farmer who learns how quickly a hoarded blessing can become a curse; his orphan niece, a basketball star and witch’s apprentice in furious flight from her grief; a voluble scarecrow; and a New Deal photographer whose time-traveling camera threatens to reveal both the town’s secrets and its fate.
Russell’s novel is above all a reckoning with a nation’s forgetting—enacting the settler amnesia and willful omissions passed down from generation to generation, and unearthing not only horrors but shimmering possibilities. The Antidote echoes with urgent warnings for our own climate emergency, challenging readers with a vision of what might have been—and what still could be.
About the Author:
KAREN RUSSELL is the author of five books of fiction, including the New York Times bestsellers Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove. She is a MacArthur Fellow, was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, and named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She has received two National Magazine Awards for Fiction, the Shirley Jackson Award, the 2023 Bottari Lattes Grinzane prize, the 2024 Mary McCarthy Award, and was selected for the National Book Foundation’s “5 under 35” prize and The New Yorker‘s “20 under 40” list (She is now decisively over 40). She has taught literature and creative writing at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the University of California-Irvine, Williams College, Columbia University, and Bryn Mawr College, and was the Endowed Chair of Texas State’s MFA program. She serves on the board of Street Books, a mobile-library for people living outdoors. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, she now lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, son, and daughter.
Praise for The Antidote:
“In The Antidote, Karen Russell writes indelible characters who keep choosing messy community over silo’d righteousness, motion over despair. She presents for inspection America’s most persistent chorus of moral self-defense, “Better them than us,” and shows how it rots the minds, hearts, and land of all who sing it. Only Karen Russell could write a dust bowl opus with such raucous brio—The Antidote soars with exigent joy and laugh-out-loud scenes, with memory witches and enchanted cameras and the world’s most lovable sentient scarecrow. It’s magic, a book doing this big work and also making it propulsive, eminently readable. Russell has rendered with soul and urgency the vast inexpressible ache at the heart of American gratitude.” —Kaveh Akbar, author of Martyr!
“The Antidote is an achingly gorgeous book about dust, memory, basketball, murder, yearning, photography, and the way the land holds both the memory of what went before and the dreams of what may come. Karen Russell is one of our most humane and generous writers; this book is as profound as it is wonderfully strange.” — Lauren Groff, author of The Vaster Wilds

“This novel swept me up and carried me away, even while somehow burying me, and digging up something about the story of this country I didn’t know I needed to know. As with all of Russell’s work, heaviness and levity are always kept in balance, and so I was lifted even while being devastated by the book’s many brutal truths and stark beauty. I’d already considered Russell’s vivid and inventive imagination to be endless, but here exploring a history of Nebraska we get an unearthing of this country’s still relatively untold origin story, the part about its original people, and the cost paid in order that this country might be formed. Finishing the book I felt completely covered in the forgotten dust of what too few look back on, with rare clarity, not to mention the intricate braid of narratives masterfully woven here. The Antidote is one, for an all too poisoned American narrative about land and family and belonging.” — Tommy Orange, author of Wandering Stars

First Friday Art Walk - Featured Artist - Kinzee Hillis
2025-04-04 17:30 - 19:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us on Friday, April 4th for Downtown Lincoln’s First Friday Art Walk! Our featured artist this month is Kinzee Hillis.
Artist’s Bio
I have lived in Lincoln, Nebraska my whole life but I love to travel and see new things. I graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 2020 with a major in studio art. I have focused on using acrylic paint as my medium while emphasizing texture/color. After graduating, I completed an internship at the Bemis Center for art. I continue to volunteer at The LUX Center for the arts and show my work in local stores, antique businesses, and other spaces around the Lincoln area. If I am not working on art I work for Oak Creek Plants and Flowers. My job title is Plant Maintenance which means I water, replace, and clean plants. The more I learn about plants the more they have become a part of my life and art.
Artist Statement
My artwork is whimsical and bold but has a depth that rewards close looking. Sometimes it is overwhelming to think about what is going to happen next when we do not have a lot of answers to our questions. Different emotions and anxiety can overwhelm our lives. I make the art I do to create a glimpse of joy. It is important to me that people have something to turn to and get lost in. Something that is not telling them about a diagnosis or receiving bad news. Letting a person just be able to reflect and meditate. Something that is not asking us to do anything but look, and let our mind wander.
Artist information obtained from: kinzeehillisart.weebly.com

Visiting Author - Ken Meter - Building Community Food Webs
2025-04-16 17:30 - 18:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us on Wednesday, April 16th at 5:30 as we welcome Ken Meter to Francie & Finch Bookshop! Ken studies food systems and economies and is looking forward to signing books and talking with us. We can’t wait to see you there!
About the Book:
In Building Community Food Webs, Ken Meter shows how grassroots leaders across the U.S. are constructing civic networks to create healthier and more equitable food systems. Overturning extractive economic structures, these inspired food leaders are engaging low-income residents, farmers, and local organizations in their quest to build stronger communities.
Network-building takes a variety of forms and arises out of multiple activities. Farmers and researchers may convene to improve farming practices collaboratively. Food banks engage their clients to challenge the root causes of poverty. Municipalities invest large sums to protect farmland from development.
Building Community Food Webs captures the essence of these efforts, and offers pragmatic insights for community food leaders anywhere.
About the Author:
Ken Meter is one of the most experienced food system analysts in the U.S., integrating market analysis, business development, systems thinking, and social concerns. Meter holds more than 50 years of experience in inner-city and rural community capacity building. His local economic analyses have promoted local food networks in 145 regions in 42 states, 2 provinces, and 4 tribal nations. He developed strategic regional food plans for 22 regions across the U.S. Meter consulted with the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service and Colorado State University as one of 14 co-authors of a toolkit for measuring economic impacts of local food development. He is author of Building Community Food Webs, published by Island Press in 2021. Meter served as co-editor of Sustainable Food System Assessment: Lessons from Global Practice, published by Routledge (UK) in 2019. He is also a member of the International Economic Development Council and the American Evaluation Association, invited to speak to leadership groups of both organizations.

Visiting Author - Deborah Jackson Taffa - Whiskey Tender: A Memoir
2025-04-17 17:30 - 18:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us on Thursday, April 17th at 5:30 as we welcome Deborah Jackson Taffa, author of the widely praised and anticipated memoir Whiskey Tender. This work has been regarded as an Oprah Daily “Best New Book”, a New York Times “New Book to Read, a Parade “Best New Work By Indigenous Writers”, and an NPR “Book We Love”!
Order your copy of Whiskey Tender HERE
About the Book:
Finalist for the National Book Award
Longlisted for a Carnegie Medal for Excellence
Winner of the Southwest Book Award
A Best Book of the Year: Washington Post, Esquire, Time, The Atlantic, NPR, and Publishers Weekly
Reminiscent of the works of Mary Karr and Terese Marie Mailhot, a memoir of family and survival, coming-of-age on and off the reservation, and of the frictions between mainstream American culture and Native inheritance; assimilation and reverence for tradition.
Deborah Jackson Taffa was raised to believe that some sacrifices were necessary to achieve a better life. Her grandparents—citizens of the Quechan Nation and Laguna Pueblo tribe—were sent to Indian boarding schools run by white missionaries, while her parents were encouraged to take part in governmental job training off the reservation. Assimilation meant relocation, but as Taffa matured into adulthood, she began to question the promise handed down by her elders and by American society: that if she gave up her culture, her land, and her traditions, she would not only be accepted, but would be able to achieve the “American Dream.”

Whiskey Tender traces how a mixed tribe native girl—born on the California Yuma reservation and raised in Navajo territory in New Mexico—comes to her own interpretation of identity, despite her parent’s desires for her to transcend the class and “Indian” status of her birth through education, and despite the Quechan tribe’s particular traditions and beliefs regarding oral and recorded histories. Taffa’s childhood memories unspool into meditations on tribal identity, the rampant criminalization of Native men, governmental assimilation policies, the Red Power movement, and the negotiation between belonging and resisting systemic oppression. Pan-Indian, as well as specific tribal histories and myths, blend with stories of a 1970s and 1980s childhood spent on and off the reservation.
Taffa offers a sharp and thought-provoking historical analysis laced with humor and heart. As she reflects on her past and present—the promise of assimilation and the many betrayals her family has suffered, both personal and historical; trauma passed down through generations—she reminds us of how the cultural narratives of her ancestors have been excluded from the central mythologies and structures of the “melting pot” of America, revealing all that is sacrificed for the promise of acceptance.

About the Author:
Deborah Jackson Taffa is a citizen of the Quechan (Yuma) Nation and Laguna Pueblo. She earned her MFA at the Nonfiction Writing Program (NWP) in Iowa City and is the director of the MFA in Creative Writing Program at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her writing has appeared in The Rumpus, the Boston Review, the Los Angeles Review of Books, A Public Space, Salon, the Huffington Post, Prairie Schooner, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, and other outlets.

Praise for Whiskey Tender:
“We have more Native stories now, but we have not heard one like this. Whiskey Tender is unexpected and propulsive, indeed tender, but also bold, and beautifully told, like a drink you didn’t know you were thirsty for. This book, never anything less than mesmerizing, is full of family stories and vital Native history. It pulses and it aches, and it lifts, consistently. It threads together so much truth by the time we are done, what has been woven together equals a kind of completeness from brokenness, and a hope from knowing love and loss and love again by naming it so.” — Tommy Orange, National Bestselling Author of There There
“In a memoir populated by dreams but legislated by family and culture and reality, Deborah Taffa suggests that if we are going to heal, we need to be able to remember our wounds. In a style that is by turns measured, then biting, then humorous, then humble, then soaring, Taffa has a personal and moral conversation with an untold history. This story—which centers around being both Native and American at the same time—is a great lesson for how we can hold, and even embrace, our divisions and our tensions to create a new mosaic for the future.” – Colum McCann, National Book Award winner and author of Apeirogon
In this finely drawn memoir, Deborah Jackson Taffa has written an essential story of America. A meticulously researched and critical look at self and country, Whiskey Tender breaks your heart and then makes it soar. –Kelli Jo Ford, author of Crooked Hallelujah
“Screaming from the heart, Taffa’s confiding memoir pierces generations of colonial harm. A mature, illuminating text that will also appeal to coming-of-age readers. –Cynthia Leitich Smith, American Indian Youth Literature Award winner for Hearts Unbroken

April Poetry Reading
2025-04-21 17:30 - 19:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us on Monday, April 21st at 5:30 as we welcome four esteemed poets to Francie & Finch Bookshop! MC Hyland, Elizabeth Clark Wessel, Luis Othoniel Rosa, and Katie Marya will be reading from their collections. Bring a friend, enjoy refreshments, and listen to poetry!
MC Hyland (she/they) is the founding editor of DoubleCross Press, a poetry micropress. She is the author of over a dozen poetry chapbooks/artist books and two previous full-length books of poems, THE END (Sidebrow 2019) and Neveragainland (Lowbrow Press 2010). Her book of short essays, The Dead and the Living and the Bridge, is out with Meekling Press this April, and a book collecting poems from two long-running art practices, Walks & Weathers, will be published by Beauty School Editions later this year. Holding MFAs in book arts and creative writing from the University of Alabama and a PhD in English literature from NYU, MC is a teacher, scholar, artist, and freelance editor/fundraiser, and lives in St. Paul, MN with her partner, Jeff, and cat, Dakota.
Elizabeth Clark Wessel lives in Stockholm, Sweden and works as a translator of Swedish literature. She was born in rural Nebraska and lived for many years in New York, where she pursued a BA at Sarah Lawrence College and an MFA at Columbia University. In 2010, she co-founded Argos Books, which has been publishing innovative poetry books ever since. She’s the author of four chapbooks of poetry, and her poems have appeared in Fence, Boston Review, and the American Poetry Review. None of It Belongs to Me (Game Over Books, 2024) is her first full-length collection.
Luis Othoniel Rosa (Bayamón, Puerto Rico, in 1985) studied at the University of Puerto Rico and earned his Ph.D. at Princeton. He is the author of the short novels Otra vez me alejo (2012) and Caja de fractales (2017). The last one was translated into English as Down with Gargamel! (2020). He is also the author of the bilingual collection of poems, Triste la furia / Sadness, the Fury (2025), of the bilingual artisanal book, Calima (2023), and of the scholarly book, Comienzos para una estética anarquista: Borges con Macedonio (2016; 2020). He is the founding and current head editor of El Roommate: Colectivo de Lectores and a founding member of The LOUDREADERS Trade School. He is the Associate Director of the Institute for Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska. To find more, visit luisothonielrosa.com
Katie Marya is a writer from Atlanta, Georgia. Her work has appeared in literary magazines such as Southern Indiana Review, North American Review, Guernica, Waxwing, AGNI, Fence, and on the national poetry podcast The Slowdown Show. Her debut poetry collection Sugar Work was the Editor’s Choice for the 2020 Alice James Book Award. Marya lives in Nebraska where she teaches writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Nebraska Author - Mike Theiler - Nikon Road
2025-04-25 08:00 - 2025-04-27 17:00 | NE
Congratulations to Arch.Hall.Group Reunion 2025!
One of your classmates can’t be there but we know you wish he were!
Copies can be ordered at 402 781 0459 or info@francieandfinch.com

Mike takes us on a photographic journey around the world from the frontlines, the sidelines, the VIP sections and inside the ropes…..a Forest Gump experience, witnessing history, rubbing elbows with the most famous names and datelines in the world. His new book, Nikon Road takes us on a photographic journey around the world from 1971-2021. Magical places visited include the Forbidden City, Tibet and the Yangtze River. China was negotiating the future of British Hong Kong. Indira Ghandi was assassinated in Delhi, Vietnam celebrated the 10th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. President Reagan, the Love Boat and Mickey Mouse came calling to China. Mike experienced and photographed the Moscow Olympics, Pope John Paul II and the Charles and Diana’s wedding in London, and their honeymoon in Egypt.
On January 6th, 2021, Mike was at our country’s capitol – “All my professionalism from 50 years of photography kind of takes over. I started shooting, knowing deep down that you can’t make a bad picture in a situation like that. There were maybe 20 of the rioters in the hallway and only a handful of police trying to restrain them. That’s when I saw that the guy with a Confederate flag had kind of moved off by himself. I’m thinking in the context of — we’re in this hallowed hallway, with the gilded framed paintings on the wall, the bust, the kind of thing that speaks to anyone who has ever been to the Capitol, and I kind of isolated him with that in the background.”
J
Signed copies can be ordered at 402 781 0459 or info@francieandfinch.com
Francie & Finch Bookshop
130 S. 13th St
Lincoln, NE 68508

Visiting Poet - John Brehm - The Poetry of Grief, Gratitude and Reverence
2025-04-25 17:30 - 18:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Poet and editor of the new anthology The Poetry of Grief, Gratitude and Reverence, John Brehm, will be visiting Francie & Finch on Friday, April 25th!
Buy your copy of the book HERE!
About the Book:
A new anthology from the editor of the bestselling Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy. Explorations on a journey through the darkest and brightest moments of our lives, the poems gathered here are explorations of loss, of thanksgiving, of transformation. Some show a path forward and others simply acknowledge and empathize with where we are, but all are celebrations of poetry’s ability to express what seemed otherwise inexpressible, to touch deep inside our hearts—and also pull ourselves out of our selves and into greater connection with the world around us.
Includes poems by
Rainer Maria Rilke, Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, Czeslaw Milosz, Seamus Heaney, Billy Collins, Joy Harjo, Danusha Lameris, Ada Limon, Kevin Young, Arthur Sze, Ellen Bass, Li Young-Lee, Natasha Tretheway, and many more.
The editor also includes an essay on appreciative attention and links to guided meditations for select poems, offering us a chance to have an even deeper experience of reflection.
About the Author:
John Brehm was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska and educated at the University of Nebraska and Cornell University. He is the author of four books of poetry, Sea of Faith, Help Is on the Way, No Day at the Beach, and Dharma Talk. He has also published a collection of essays, The Dharma of Poetry, which is a companion to his acclaimed anthology, The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy. His poems have appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, The Gettysburg Review, The Sun, The Southern Review, Plume, New Ohio Review, The Writer’s Almanac, The Best American Poetry, The Norton Introduction to Literature, and many other journals and anthologies. His most recent book is a new anthology, The Poetry of Grief, Gratitude, and Reverence (Wisdom Publications, 2023).
To learn more about John visit his website HERE!
Praise for the Anthology:
“John Brehm weaves together timeless wisdom and a deep poetic sensibility.”—Joseph Goldstein, author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening
“This beautiful and poignant poetry will reach places in your mind and heart that you didn’t know existed. Your life will be enriched once you’ve cracked open its pages and drunk from its words of beauty and anguish.”— Joanne Cacciatore, PhD, author of Bearing the Unbearable, Grieving Is Loving, and Bearing the Unbearable: A Guided Journal for Grieving
“It has been said that of all gateways to the deep mystery that is our true home, none is so immediate and potent as grief. Grief itself is wisdom, calling us back to who we really are. The braiding of fine, moving, and readable poems gathered in this beautiful new anthology on grief and its sisters—gratitude and reverence—shows us clearly why. Let this wonderful collection, wisely conceived and beautifully executed, open up whatever needs to be opened, and lead us all back to the true home we’ve long been seeking. This is a book to treasure.”— Henry Shukman, author of Original Love and One Blade of Grass

National Independent Bookstore Day
2025-04-26 10:00 - 18:00 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Come celebrate Independent Bookstore Day! This national party celebrates independent bookstores across the country online and in-store. It’s a day you don’t want to miss!
We will have author signings, tasty treats, and 2 free ARCs with a purchase of $30 or more!
We will be open extended hours:
Saturday 4/26, 10:00-6:00
Sunday 4/27, 12:00-4:00

GUEST LINE-UP
4/26, 10:00-11:30 – J.M. Fleming
Author of “Meet Andy the Goose”, a picture book about a very special goose!
4/26, 2:00 – 4:00 – Heather Dawn Torres
Heather Dawn Torres grew up on an Iowa farm, where she spent hours reading books to get out of doing farm chores. She now spends her days in the city dreaming of farm life and creating stories for children. When not rhyming words, Heather can be found back at the family farm enjoying long walks, homemade pies, and tractor rides. Heather currently lives in Nebraska with her husband and their two sons. Visit her online at www.heatherdawntorres.com.

Don’t forget about Lincoln and Seward’s Bookstore Crawl!
Pick up your card at any location and mark them off as you go. Each store has a different deal! April 27th is the last day to turn in your completed card.
See below for participating stores:
Chapters Books & Gifts
A Novel Idea Bookstore
Francie & Finch Bookshop
Badgers Bookshop
Elleinad Books
Sower Books

Author Visit - Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis - Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World
2025-05-01 14:00 - 15:00 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Author, activist, preacher, and Senior Minister of Middle Collegiate Church in New York City, Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, has a full day lined up in Lincoln. If you can’t catch her at Francie & Finch Bookshop, you can join any of the events below.
Purchase Fierce Love HERE
MAY 1ST EVENTS:
Mayor’s Interfaith Prayer Breakfast – “Just Love” – 7:30 a.m. – The Cornhusker Marriott Hotel, featuring greetings from Mayor Leirion Gaylor-Baird, readings and prayers by representatives of many of the faiths represented in Lincoln, a keynote from Dr. Lewis along with special music. Reservations include a full vegetarian breakfast and can be made through Eventbrite (or by sending $30 per person to “Mayor’s Interfaith Prayer Breakfast” c/o First Christian Church, 430 S. 16th Street, Lincoln 68508 by April 21st. Dr. Lewis will be available to sign copies of her book after the breakfast.
“Just Love’ in Our City – 11:30 a.m. – First Christian Church, 430 S. 16th Street – special 30 minute presentation by Dr. Lewis followed by a sack luncheon and conversation. Box lunches (options: Maple Pecan Chicken Salad on Seeded Bread, Roast Beef and Blue on Croissant, or Vegetarian Cobb Salad, all accompanied by fruit salad and cookie) may be ordered by April 24 – $15.00 per person – contact D’Arcy Blosser – 402-429-6902 to place your order. Box lunches catered by Relish. Or you may bring your own sack lunch to enjoy. A free will offering will be taken at this event.
Special Book Talk and Signing at Francie & Finch Bookshop – 2 p.m. – 130 S. 13th Street – Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World can be reserved by calling the shop – 402 781 0459 – or purchased by following the link above.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
“Fierce Love” – A healing antidote to our divisive culture, full of evocative storytelling, spiritual wisdom, and nine essential daily practices—by the first female, Black senior minister at the historic Collegiate Churches of New York.
We are living in a world divided. Race and ethnicity, caste and color, gender and sexuality, class and education, religion and political party have all become demographic labels that reduce our differences to simplistic categories in which “we” are vehemently against “them.” But Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis’s own experience—of being the first female and first Black minister in her church’s history, of being in an interracial marriage, and of making peace with childhood abuse—illustrates that our human capacity for empathy and forgiveness is the key to reversing these ugly trends.

Inspired by the tenets of ubuntu—the Zulu philosophy that we are each impacted by the circumstances that impact those around us, and that the world won’t get better until we all get better—Fierce Love lays out the nine daily practices for breaking through tribalism and engineering the change we seek. From downsizing our emotional baggage to speaking truth to power to fueling our activism with joy, it demonstrates the power of small, morally courageous steps to heal our own lives, our posse, and our larger communities. Sharing stories that trace her personal reckoning with racism as well as the arc of her journey to an inclusive and service-driven faith, Dr. Lewis shows that kindness, compassion, and inclusive thinking are muscles that can be exercised and strengthened. With the goal of mending our inextricable human connection, Fierce Love is a manifesto for all generations: a bighearted, healing antidote to our rancorous culture.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis uses her gifts as author, activist, preacher, and public theologian toward creating an antiracist, just, gun violence free, fully welcoming, gender affirming society in which everyone has enough. Jacqui is the Senior Minister and Public Theologian at Middle Collegiate Church. She earned her M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary and a M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Drew University in Psychology and Religion. A womanist theologian, Jacqui has preached at the Festival of Homiletics, the Wild Goose Festival, The Children’s Defense Fund’s Haley Farm, The American Church in Paris and was a featured speaker on the Together national tour with best-selling author, Glennon Doyle. Dr. Lewis’ work has also been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, the front page of The New York Times, New York Times Video, The
New York Post, CNN i-report, Essence, Ebony.com, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, The Associated Press, The San Francisco Chronicle, U.S. News, The Public’s Radio, The Houston Chronicle, The Seattle Times, The San Diego Union Tribune, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and The Yakima Herald. She has blogged for The Huffington Post, GLAAD, Patheos, and Believe Out Loud. Her books include The Power of Stories; Ten Essential Strategies (with John Janka); Becoming Like Creoles (with Curtiss de Young, et al), and the children’s book, You Are So Wonderful! Harmony/Penguin Random House published her book, Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World in 2021. Her next book is the Just Love Story Bible for Children (Beaming Books, 2025). Jacqui’s done television on CBS, ABC, PBS Jacqui shares her life with her best friend and spouse, John Janka. Together, they founded the Middle Church annual national justice conference, currently called Freedom Rising; now in its 19th year. Together they also spoil their two grandchildren, just a little bit.

Latin American Literature, stories and poems with Luis Othoniel Rosa, Sarah Banderas & Iliana Rosabal Perez
2025-05-02 17:30 - 19:00 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us on Friday, May 2nd as we welcome three talented writers Luis Othoniel Rosa, Sarah Banderas & Iliana Rosabal Perez to Francie & Finch Bookshop for a night of poetry and storytelling!
About the Authors:
Luis Othoniel Rosa (Bayamón, Puerto Rico, in 1985) studied at the University of Puerto Rico and earned his Ph.D. at Princeton. He is the author of the short novels Otra vez me alejo (2012) and Caja de fractales (2017). The last one was translated into English as Down with Gargamel! (2020). He is also the author of the bilingual collection of poems, Triste la furia / Sadness, the Fury (2025), of the bilingual artisanal book, Calima (2023), and of the scholarly book, Comienzos para una estética anarquista: Borges con Macedonio (2016; 2020). He is the founding and current head editor of El Roommate: Colectivo de Lectores and a founding member of The LOUDREADERS Trade School. He is the Associate Director of the Institute for Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska. To find more, visit luisothonielrosa.com
Sarah Banderas is Mexican. She holds a Bachelor Degree in Political Science and a Master in Ibero-American Literature. She is currently studying a PhD in Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For the past 15 years she has worked as a scholar, teacher and writer of speeches in her home country. Her research interests are laughter and its stylistic resources in different narrative genres, representations of motherhood in literature and empty spaces. Relatos caseros de una vida ordinaria is her first publication, which won the Seventh International Award of the Mexican publishing house Bitácora de Vuelos.
Iliana Rosabal-Pérez is a poet, essayist, and researcher born in Santiago de Cuba in 1970. She earned a degree in Hispanic Philology from the Universidad de Oriente in 1993, followed by a master’s degree in Cuban and Caribbean Studies in 2004. For twenty-two years, she served as a professor of Art, Literature, Spanish Language, and Tourism Communication at the Universidad de Oriente. Additionally, she has been a jury member for literary and audiovisual contests, an organizer of film and literature events, a publisher, scriptwriter, and host of radio shows. Iliana double majored in Spanish and Digital Film Production, minoring in Communication Studies at Wayne State College. She is a member of the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society and has received several mentions and awards in literary competitions, including the Grand Prize for Poetry at the “Palma Real” Contest in Torino, Italy (2001), and the Second Prize of the Jury in the XIV Floral Games in Santiago de Cuba (2009). Her essays and research have been published in various Cuban cultural and academic journals. Iliana has published two poetry collections: Escrituras del límite (Scriptures of the Limit, Santiago de Cuba, 2007) and Lluvia en las dunas (Rain on the Dunes, Houston, TX, 2019), along with the artistic essay “Seven Sculptors of Santiago de Cuba” (Trinidad and Tobago, 2010). She is currently a Spanish Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her academic interests include cultural studies, women’s and gender approaches, film and literature, critical discourse analysis in the media, and Caribbean and Cuban studies.

Visiting Author - R.F. McEwen - Old Rags and Iron: New and Selected Poems
2025-05-03 16:30 - 17:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
NOTE: This event starts at 4:30 p.m! (It was inadvertently posted in some places as 5:30)
Recently published by the University of Nebraska Press as part of the Ted Kooser Contemporary Poetry Series, Old Rags and Iron: New and Selected Poems is R.F. McEwen’s latest work.
Order a copy of Old Rags and Iron HERE!
About the Book:
Old Rags and Iron is a collection of narrative poems about the life experiences of working-class people with whom the author, R. F. McEwen, is not only acquainted but whose lives he has shared. McEwen supplemented his income as a teacher while working as a professional logger and tree trimmer, and he writes with great love and respect for blue-collar families.
Set primarily in the back-of-the-yard neighborhood of South Side Chicago, where McEwen grew up, as well as Pine Ridge, South Dakota, western Nebraska, Ireland, and elsewhere, the poems celebrate many voices and stories. Utilizing tree-trimming as a central metaphor, these poems of blank verse fictions reverberate like truth.

About the Author:
Poet R. F. McEwen was born in Chicago, Illinois. Since 1962 he has been a professional logger and tree trimmer, and he has taught English in Chadron, Nebraska, since 1972. McEwen is the author of several books, most recently The Big Sandy, Bill’s Boys and Other Poems, and And There’s Been Talk . . .
Praise:
“R. F. McEwen’s collection presents a compelling chorus of voices in different tones and registers, and widely dispersed across time, place, and human experience. McEwen masterfully revives here the noble tradition of the extended poetic narrative, adding richly and intensively to that enduring poetic tradition that his poems at once amplify and enrich. Meticulously conducted and finely detailed in language, image, and emotional intensity, these are brawny poems that we shall not easily forget. They set root in the mind, reminding us, through the moving voices and histories of the characters we meet in them, of the terrible and terrifying adventure of human community, of the triumph and torment that, in all its extraordinary diversity, unites us all, branches upon a deep-rooted tree that reach ever toward the sky.”—Stephen Behrendt, George Holmes Distinguished Professor of English emeritus at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln

“We enter the world of these narrative poems like Robert Frost’s rider of birches—a whiplash to the eye as you make your way into the tangled twigs, then a fantasy taking flight on bent branches up through the traumas of childhood through the arc of adulthood, from winds having their say, stops along the road outside Kadokah, the rising White River or Fast Horse Creek, up the tree trimmer’s hold, down the streets of vagrants and rolling bottles, from Chicago to reservation towns, past the complications of families mixed and otherwise, across the waters to the Emerald Island itself. These poems thrust us up and out of the page a while, then bring us back down firmly on Earth, good both going and coming, unsettling and exhilarating in the same sweep. No discussion of Great Plains literature is complete without at least one trip into the understory with R. F. McEwen as your guide.”—Matt Evertson, professor of English at Western Colorado University

“R. F. McEwen’s Old Rags and Iron is a generous and joyful gathering of work written across a lifetime. In finely crafted narrative poems, McEwen gives eloquent and tender voice to the human and the nonhuman worlds that harbor his subjects. He reminds us that wherever there are people, there are animals and trees, all contending with or enjoying the seasons in Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, and Ireland. Both mythic figures like Lonesome Frank in ‘Hammer Ring’ and an old aunt in ‘A Strong Wind Clear and Keen’—‘I see her still, my mother’s aunt, her feet like freezing soldiers doddering along’—come vibrantly alive in the distinctive, sparkling, and wonderful poems that compose this collection.”—Eamonn Wall, author of “My Aunts at Twilight Poker”

Book Launch - Ted Genoways - Tequila Wars: José Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico
2025-05-06 17:30 - 19:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us as we welcome the author of This Blessed Earth, Ted Genoways to Francie & Finch Bookshop! He will be talking about his new book Tequila Wars, published by W.W. Norton and Company. In this work of non-fiction, Genoways dives into the life of José Cuervo and how he impacted not only the business of tequila, but also how international relations between Mexico and the United States played out. You don’t want to miss this fascinating event!
Pre-order your copy of Tequila Wars HERE
About the Book:
At the dawn of the twentieth century, José Cuervo inherited his family’s humble distillery, La Rojeña, in the Tequila Valley. Within a decade, he had transformed it into a complex national enterprise that would become Mexico’s leading producer of tequila. Cuervo grew his kingdom of agave by acquiring thousands of acres of estates throughout the valley; he brought electricity and a railroad line to Tequila, so he could reach drinkers across the country. But when the Mexican Revolution erupted, a charge of treason and a death threat against him by Pancho Villa forced Cuervo to flee. His disappearance turned him into an obscure, shadowy historical figure–despite having one of the most famous names in Mexican history.
In Tequila Wars, award-winning author Ted Genoways restores Cuervo to his place as a key player in Mexico’s formative period. Before the revolution, Cuervo’s acclaim spread worldwide, and once war broke out, Cuervo remained an impresario, kingmaker, and cultural force. In the face of his own government’s corruption and the nationalism of his northern neighbors, Cuervo reached American drinkers by establishing Mexico’s covert form of cross-border commerce with the United States. As the largest and most important distilleries in the Tequila Valley recognized the threat posed by Mexico’s unraveling, Cuervo also lobbied for suspending normal competition in favor of “a union of tequila makers” — what would become the first Mexican cartel.
With extensive original research, including access to the secret archives of the Cuervo and Sauza families, Genoways follows the violent, unpredictable, and hugely profitable world of tequila through the story of its most successful maker. The first biography of Cuervo, Tequila Wars uncovers the history of the man who would forever change not only the business of tequila, but international relations between Mexico and the United States.
About the Author:
Ted Genoways is a two-time James Beard Award winner and the author of six books, including Tequila Wars and This Blessed Earth. He is a senior editor at the Food & Environment Reporting Network and a President’s Professor at the University of Tulsa, where he edits Switchyard.
Praise:
The comprehensive story of a liquor empire built during a pivotal period in Mexican history… This rich, edifying book remedies a striking gap in the historical record. — Kirkus Reviews
I am amazed by the research that Ted Genoways has done on the Cuervo family. I treasure these stories of more than two hundred years of my ancestors, particularly the stories of the life of my great-uncle Jose Cuervo—and every word of it is true. . . . May Tequila Wars be read widely, now and for generations to come. — Luís Cuervo Hernández, author of La Familia Cuervo
Ted Genoways is one of the most intoxicating scribes in the country today. If he can knock you out with his prose, imagine what he can do with an unlimited flow of tequila! This is the best kind of history book—one that reveals astonishments, surprises and even mythology about something we think we know so well. After you read this book, every sip of tequila will put you back on the road with Ted, sharing the mystery, history and delight of this Spirit of Mexico. I will travel anywhere with him. — Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil’s Highway
Finally, Ted Genoways brings us the real truth . . . the vibrant and violent past of the Cuervo and Sauza families, brought to life as only Genoways knows how, and all of it backed by detailed research in the historical documents. Tequila Wars is the book we’ve been waiting for. — Guillermo Erickson Sauza, director general of Tequila Los Abuelos

Visiting Author - Liese Greensfelder with Roger Holmes -- Accidental Shepherd: How a California Girl Rescued an Ancient Mountain Farm in Norway
2025-05-08 17:30 - 19:00 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
A summer job turns serious when a young woman takes the reins on a remote farm—and learns far more than how to herd sheep.
In May 1972, twenty-year-old Liese Greensfelder arrived in a small Norwegian town prepared for her first summer farmhand job, only to learn the startling news that she’d need to singlehandedly watch over the centuries-old farm while its owner recovered from a stroke. Confronted with dangers and obstacles for which she was utterly unprepared, she tells a story of remarkable resilience and records the fascinating but rapidly vanishing traditions of the community that took her in.
Liese will be in conversation with Lincoln woodworker, writer and editor Roger Holmes. Book signing to follow the conversation.
Mark your calendars and join us for this fascinating true tale!
Order your copy HERE
About the Authors:
Liese Greensfelder is a freelance writer focusing on medicine, biology, and agriculture. She has worked as a farm advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension and as a science writer for UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley, and she initiated an agricultural development project in the Guatemalan highlands. In 1975, an epistolary account of her first six months on Johannes’s farm became a bestselling book in Norway. She lives in rural Nevada County, California, on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Roger Holmes, author and furniture maker, manages a workshop in Lincoln, NE, where he combines traditional handwork and contemporary technology. Author of The Woodworker’s Companion, he has been an editor for Fine Woodworking magazine and has written extensively on furniture and furniture making.
Praise:
“Liese Greensfelder’s vivid writing transported me into the heart of a community still relying on sustainable, grass-based farming practices handed down through generations. Her story of the triumphs, catastrophes, elation, and heartbreak she experienced there will keep you reading to the end.” —Craig McNamara, farmer and author of Because Our Fathers Lied: A Memoir of Truth and Family, from Vietnam to Today
“A sobering and insightful account of one woman’s time in a place that time forgot.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Packed with great details and memorable characters, Accidental Shepherd is a compelling memoir about the myriad challenges of farm life.” —Foreword Reviews

Art Show - Stephen Lahey - Philosophy in Limestone: The Sculptures on the Nebraska Capitol
2025-05-09 17:30 - 19:00 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us for this beautiful art show!

About the Artist:

Stephen Lahey, Cotner Professor of Religious Studies, University of Nebraska Lincoln presents paintings of the sculptures and bas relief images designed by Nebraska philosopher Hartley Burr Alexander for the Capitol building in 1924.

Poetry Reading - Julie Paschold, Amy Haddad, and Bonnie Johnson-Bartee
2025-06-07 16:30 - 17:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Saturday, June 7th at 4:30 PM we will be joined by three prize winning poets at Francie & Finch Bookshop! Learn more about these writers below!
Julie S. Paschold (Tansy Julie the Soaring Eagle) is a poet and artist from Nebraska. They have their BS and MS in agronomy from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. They have published three poetry books. Horizons (Atmosphere Press: paperback & audiobook) honors soil through family, identity, and nature, and won a Nebraska Book Award in 2024. Their chapbook You Have Always Been Here (Bass Clef Books: paperback) is an unconventional love story. Human Nature (WSC Press: paperback & Atmosphere Press: audiobook) explores humanity’s ecological and environmental connection to nature and the planet earth. Julie has been published in a wide range of publications. Their poem “Multitudes of Blue Arrows” was a semi-finalist in the first Kate Sommers Memorial Prize in 2023, and two of their chapbooks won honorable mention in contests by Writer’s Digest in 2021 and 2022. They volunteer as a human book with the international Human Library Organization. For more, read their blog on https://medium.com/@jpaschold or their author website at https://jpaschold.blogspot.com/. Their book Horizons won the Nebraska Book Award for Design.
Amy Haddad is a poet, nurse and educator whose poetry has been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Janus Head, Journal of Medical Humanities, Touch, Bellevue Literary Review, Aji, Oberon Literary Journal, Abandoned Mine, Rogue Agent, Rinky Dink Press, Intima, Red-Headed Stepchild, and several anthologies. Her chapbook, The Geography of Kitchens, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2021. Her first poetry collection, An Otherwise Healthy Woman, was published by Backwaters Press, an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press in 2022. An Otherwise Healthy Woman won first place in the Creative Works category of the American Journal of Nursing Book Awards 2022. Read more about her poetry at www.amyhaddadpoetry.com.
Bonnie Johnson-Bartee is the author of three chapbooks of poetry, Bildungsroman 38 (2004) and Named, but Unknown (2006), and Cord Blood (Sandhills Press, 2023) which won the Nebraska Book Award, Poetry Honor Award. Bonnie is also the editor of Teachers College: Essays on the Art of Education (WSC Press, 2007). Her work can be found in Words Like Rain (WSC Press, 2005) and editions of Voices Out of Nowhere, Judas Goat and Nebraska Life. She teaches creative writing and literature courses at Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska, and at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Nebraska, where she also serves as the director of the Visiting Writers Series and is the faculty editor of Northeast Community College’s annual student magazine, Voices Out of Nowhere.

Book Launch Celebration - Kwame Gyamfi - Prism of Perspectives: The Life and Names of Kwame Gyamfi
2025-06-19 17:30 - 19:00 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us at Francie & Finch Bookshop for a Juneteenth book launch celebration!
About the Author and Book:
Kwame Gyamfi has lived several lives, and very few people know all of them. With the help of four writers, he tells his story of being abandoned as a child and experiencing foster care, adoption, gang violence, and prison. Along the way, he discovered sports, music, beauty, and love, which would shape him into the mentor and man he is today.

Visiting Author - Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder - Mother, Creature, Kin: What We Learn from Nature's Mothers in a Time of Unraveling
2025-06-26 17:30 - 18:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Essayist Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder will be visiting Francie & Finch Bookshop on June 26th at 5:30! Steinauer-Scudder’s new book Mother, Creature, Kin, described as “heartachingly beautiful” by writer Kerri ní Dochartaigh, is a work of non-fiction that you don’t want to miss.
Purchase your copy of Mother, Creature, Kin HERE!
About the Book:
Luminous nonfiction about the natural world from essayist Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder, who asks: what can other-than-human creatures teach us about mothering, belonging, caregiving, loss, and resiliency?
What does it mean to be a mother in an era of climate catastrophe? And what can we learn from the plants and creatures who mother at the edges of their world’s unraveling?
Becoming a mother in this time means bringing life into a world that appears to be coming undone. Drawing upon ecology, mythology, and her own experiences as a new mother, Steinauer-Scudder confronts what it means to “”mother”” to do the good work of being in service to the living world. What if we could all mother the places we live and the beings with whom we share those places? And what if they also mother us?
In prose that teems with longing, lyricism, and knowledge of ecology, Steinauer-Scudder writes of the silent flight and aural maps of barn owls, of nursing whales, of real and imagined forests, of tidal marshes, of ancient single-celled organisms, and of newly planted gardens. The creatures inhabiting these stories teach us about centering, belonging, entanglement, edgework, homemaking, and how to imagine the future. Rooted in wonder while never shying away from loss, Mother, Creature, Kin reaches toward a language of inclusive care learned from creatures living at the brink.
Writing in the tradition of Camille Dungy, Elizabeth Rush, and Margaret Renkl, Steinauer-Scudder invites us into the daily, obligatory, sacred work of care. Despair and fear will not save the world any more than they will raise our children, and while we don’t know what the future holds, we know it will need mothers. As the very ground shifts beneath our feet, what if we apprenticed ourselves to the creaturely mothers with whom we share this beloved home?
About the Author:
Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder is the author of MOTHER, CREATURE, KIN (Broadleaf Books, 2025). She grew up in the Great Plains of Nebraska and Oklahoma. After receiving her masters of theological studies at Harvard Divinity School, her writing became focused on the confluence of relationship to place with experiences of the sacred. From 2017-2022, she worked as a staff writer and editor for Emergence Magazine, an online and print publication exploring the intersection of culture, ecology, and spirituality. Her writing can also be found in The Atlantic, The Common, The Slowdown, Decor Maine, Crannóg Magazine, EcoTheo Review, From the Ground Up, CooNoor&Co, the edited poetry collection Writing the Land, and in Katie Holten’s The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape. She lives with her family in Rochester, Vermont.
For more information about the author, visit her website HERE.

Visiting Poets - Tyler Michael Jacobs & Maria Nazos
2025-06-28 16:30 - 18:00 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us as we welcome Tyler Michael Jacobs and Maria Nazos! Both of these talented poets will be reading from their newest works. We can’t wait to see you there!
To order a copy of The Weight of Drought, follow the link HERE!
To order a copy of PULSE, please call Francie & Finch Bookshop at 402-781-0459!
ABOUT THE BOOKS:
PULSE cuts open arteries of a troubled world and inspects what makes us bleed, suffer, and perish. It demonstrates how we overcome difficulties, even when it hurts to breathe. PULSE interrogates the personal, from the loss of friends to cancer, and the Republican party, to hate crimes, and mass shootings, including that of the 2016 Pulse Nightclub. The poems examine the life force that continues to beat relentlessly through a fragmented world. It seeks out the tiny music of our bodies that continues to pulse, breathe, and regenerate, even through grief and loss. From Provincetown beaches and Costa Rican crab shacks, to Midwestern plains, and a Tampa nightclub, the collection rides a carousel of madness, redemption, and love.
In The Weight of Drought, Jacobs reaches toward the natural world with compassion, nudging the muzzle of a horse with the back of his hand, bottle-feeding an abandoned calf, and watching chickens take flight; to get there, these poems must acknowledge the cruelty of the natural world, the relationship between drought and flood, and question what meaning lies behind dying. With landscapes and intimacy, these poems capture what it means to connect by digging in the soil, feeding another, and holding. Through devotions, pastorals, and still lifes, The Weight of Drought looks at the duality of beauty and ugliness, love and violence to explore what it means to be whole.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Maria Nazos is a Greek American poet raised in Athens. Kaveh Akbar chose her work as a Palette Poetry Contest winner. Her poetry, translations, and essays are published in The New Yorker, Copper Nickel, and elsewhere. She’s the author of PULSE (forthcoming from Omnidawn in 2026) and the translator of A Slow Horizon that Breathes (World Poetry Books, 2023), a collection of poems from Greek poet Dimitra Kotoula. She has worked every job imaginable, including a disastrous, three-day stint as a table dancer in Mykonos. She quit after she realized she had lost too many friends. Find her at www.marianazos.com.
Tyler Michael Jacobs is the author of The Weight of Drought (Stephen F. Austin State University Press) and Building Brownville (Stephen F. Austin State University Press). His words have appeared or are forthcoming in Passages North, Variant Literature, Plainsongs, Pidgeonholes, Sierra Nevada Review, and elsewhere. His poems have also been featured on Nebraska Public Media’s Friday LIVE. He received his MFA from Bowling Green State University.
PRAISE FOR THE BOOKS:
Advance praise for “PULSE” and other works
“I love the journey this poet takes me on, the fullness of its vision. Granular to cosmic, miraculous, magical thinking to an egg balancing on a single nail. The poem feels subtly but densely peopled, too. It’s its own ecosystem, this love.” —Kaveh Akbar, New York Times bestselling author of the novel Martyr! and poetry collections Calling a Wolf a Wolf and Pilgrim Bell
“Luscious psalms to divine recklessness, the poems in Maria Nazos’s PULSE wear their formal brilliance lightly, leaping and pirouetting with raw, gritty grace and a clear-eyed love of our human brokenness, from which they never flinch. A marvel.” –-Joy Castro, author of One Brilliant Flame, Flight Risk, and Island of Bones
Maria Nazos in PULSE has written for the world a seismic, incandescent tribute to life. It is devotional with a ferocious tenderness. Here is a poet who can and has resurrected ghosts in our veins—the parents destined to drown in quiet despair, and the lovers who linger like bruises. This collection doesn’t flinch from darkness or the suffocating weight of grief. Yet Nazos transforms pain into a strange, stubborn grace. From the cliffs of Delphi to the cornfields of Nebraska, she maps a world where history bleeds into the present. Her voice is both elegy and rebellion, hymn and rhyme. To read PULSE is to touch the “dirty human sweetness” of existence itself: flawed, forgiving, and furiously alive.” —Saddiq Dzukogi, author of Your Crib, My Qibla and Bakandamiya: An Elegy
Advance praise for The Weight of Drought
“The Weight of Drought is an exploration of emptiness as the prerequisite of creation. It is the place in which ‘idea’ (often synonymous with longing) acts as a generating force, not unlike light, water, dirt. This is the bravest kind of poetry because it has to work with almost nothing—a whisper, a gesture, a world of shadows and dearth; it is a ‘drought’ aesthetic that can’t rely on the vivacity of words. The poet must find ‘weight’ in the barest semblance of song, much as a mime must communicate solid, technicolored structures with apparitions and signs. And yet, as Jacobs’s labor unfolds across these pages like a blossom-cathedral, we know we are floating with the divine, receiving the first breath, the starter seed of everything, where ‘what you love takes shape/inside your chest’ and demands that you live.” —Larissa Szporluk, author of Virginals
“In The Weight of Drought, Tyler Michael Jacobs reconsiders the word ‘landscape’ as relentlessly inclusive. Yes, the reader will find the blurry fields of the horizon here, but also the innumerable petals of previously unknown plants, the spit from a grasshopper’s mouth, the yearning ghosts of horses and fathers. Whether Jacobs is excavating a core memory or illuminating the silence of a present moment, love and loss are bonded at the center of each poem, and despite having a keen sense of place and human experience, many of these poems float in the dreamlike realm of ‘if.’ Jacobs has the nerve to write about the ‘soul’ and of ‘God,’ but always in the context of yearlings or flowers or Fords. This book is sinewy, deeply observant, heartfelt—and it has the rust and dirt and sky of the Great Plains and the Midwest planted in its bones.” —Dan Rzicznek, author of Settlers
“So much sky in this book, so much earth and water. And what between? Snow, rain, their absence. The weight of drought is distance, is loneliness, is emptiness. In this book, Tyler Michael Jacobs reminds us how to fill such silent spaces: with singing, with dreaming, with care, with faith that our prayers will lead to green fields. Yes, the world is burning and barren, but these poems are an incantation against harm: a call to pay attention to the fragile beauty around us lest we lose it. In other words: look at the fucking flowers.” —Amorak Huey, author of Dad Jokes from Late in the Patriarchy

Author Visit - Dusty & Erin Stanczyk - The Happy Healthy Plant-Based Cookbook: 75+ Colorful Recipes to Nourish Your Whole Body, Feed Your Family, and Have Fun Along the Way
2025-07-02 17:30 - 18:30 | NE
Help us welcome these two Lincolnites back to town!
ABOUT THE BOOK:
With a title that will remind readers of Kathy Patalsky’s Healthy, Happy Vegan Kitchen and family photos that evoke the wholesome, veggie-forward, kid-friendly approach taken in Ilene Godofsky Moreno’s The Colorful Kitchen and Dreena Burton’s Plant-Powered Families, this new book will attract parents interested in all things wellness. The authors take a slightly more movement- and lifestyle-centered approach than some family cookbooks, using a framework focused on how to live purposefully by eating, moving, and resting with purpose. The book’s focus on foundational habits is rooted in their own health journeys and draws on lessons they’ve learned about the improvements that come from intentional choices, especially when it comes to taking moments of mindfulness throughout the day. The 30-day plan laid out here includes meal plans, mindfulness-based activities, exercises with variations for degrees of fitness and experience, and prompts for reading, writing, connecting, and reflecting. They’ve used a structure that focuses first on nutrition, then movement, and finally mindfulness so that readers can habit-stack in sustainable ways. Even parents who can’t imagine adding spirulina to lemonade to make it into “mermaid juice” will find playful, colorful takes on healthy foods that will meet nutritional needs while satisfying kids’ taste preferences.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Erin and Dusty Stanczyk are certified health and lifestyle coaches, and creators of the lifestyle brand and website, EatMoveRest.com. Together with their two children, Max and Liv, and their Bernese Mountain Dog, Beau, they inspire and empower others to get back to the basics, by doing the 3 things we all do every day, better–eat, move, and rest. They live in Florida.

Order Signed Copies HERE

Visiting Author - Pamela Carter Joern - At the Corner of Past & Future: A Collection of Life Stories
2025-07-12 16:30 - 17:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
On Saturday, July 12th, author Pamela Carter Joern will be visiting Francie & Finch Bookshop to celebrate her new book At the Corner of Past & Future: A Collection of Life Stories!
Order a copy of At the Corner of Past & Future HERE!
About the Book:
With keen observation and deep reflection, Pamela Carter Joern probes her life. No topic is too small or too sacred, from gutting chickens to Gaudí’s cathedral. Through a range of experiences—growing up in rural Nebraska, raising children, surviving cancer, becoming a writer—she explores the tenuous link between memory and truth. Joern displays a gift for mining wisdom through surprising connections, juxtaposing her father’s life to the discoveries of Isaac Newton or the writer’s task to the ancient art of alchemy. She weds philosophical insight and spiritual imagination and laces this amalgam with candor and wit, resulting in a work that is engaging, intimate, and illuminating.
About the Author:
Pamela Carter Joern is the author of four works of fiction: Toby’s Last Resort, In Reach, The Plain Sense of Things, and The Floor of the Sky, all published by the University of Nebraska Press. She has written six plays that have been produced in the Twin Cities of Minnesota and taught writing at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis for ten years.
Praise for At the Corner of Past and Future: A Collection of Life Stories
“The Nebraska voice of Pamela Carter Joern shines like the stars in the vast dome of her natal sky, at once lyrical and straightforward. With sharp observation, tenderness, and wry humor, her collected stories and essays carry us irresistibly from a three-year-old’s memory of a red couch by a window to wise and surprising meditations on mortality in a wider world. It’s a wonder and a gift.”—Gayla Marty, author of Memory of Trees: A Daughter’s Story of a Family Farm
“Pamela Carter Joern delivers what I want from a well-crafted memoir in essays: emotional honesty, unstinting candor, lyrical writing, artful storytelling, attention to context, and a deep and fearless questioning of what she knows, or thinks she knows, about herself and her place in the world.”—Lisa Knopp, author of What the River Carries and The Nature of Home
“Pamela Carter Joern shows us the big sky in this affective and eloquently written collection. The big sky of a Great Plains childhood. The big sky of flying leaps, finding meaning, and facing mortality. The big sky of Nebraska itself, a necessary landscape that pulls her home, holds her steady, and keeps letting her leave and return again. These heartrending essays about place, personhood, and the passage of time invite us to bask in all our big skies of troubled and ecstatic living.”—Barrie Jean Borich, author of Body Geographic and Apocalypse, Darling

August First Friday Celebration with artist Tom Sheppard
2025-08-01 17:30 - 19:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us as we welcome back beloved local artist Tom Sheppard as he shows his watercolor collection inspired by the landscape and culture of New Mexico and Georgia O’Keeffe. We will be open late, until 7:30, for a reception during Lincoln’s First Friday Art Walk on August 1st! We can’t wait to see you there!
About the Show:
“The watercolors in this show are primarily from a trip I took with my son, Aaron, the summer after he graduated from high school. We went to Santa Fe, Taos, Abiquiu (home of Georgia O’Keeffe) and many out of the way places in New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska. On that trip we painted various locations, wrote poetry and prose, and sampled an excellent assortment of food. We were fortunate enough to be able to rent a 120 year-old adobe in the hills above Abiquiu that had been modernized recently (painting of it is in this show). There will be a book of our trip on display as well.”
About the Artist:
Tom Sheppard grew up in Harvard, Hastings, Fullerton, Neligh and Kearney, Nebraska, as well as Culver City and Monrovia, California. He graduated from Manilla (IA) High School in 1964 and then attended Hastings College, graduating with a B.A. in Art Education with supporting areas in English and coaching (physical education). In art he studied under Richard Brink, Gary Coulter and Anne Kingsbury. He has taken numerous hours of studio art from the University of Iowa (Iowa City), the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Concordia University (Seward, NE). He received his M.A. in Art Education from UNL, and spent many years teaching art, coaching, and painting.
Note from the Artist:
“After graduating from Hastings College I began my teaching career but I also began painting in earnest, having discovered it to be the most enlightening activity I had encountered. I began entering competitions with my paintings and maintained as rigorous of a schedule as I could, trying to experiment and refine my work. I have always considered watercolor a favorite and use it to advance my technique and develop better hand-eye coordination. Many examples of my watercolors will be considered to be representational (but rarely what I consider to be realistic). Most of my larger paintings on canvas are abstract and non-objective. Even so, I consider my time painting in watercolor as my primary method to further enhance my skill, even on the larger more abstract work. The Sheldon and the Museum of Nebraska Art (MONA) both have examples of my work in their holdings.”

Acoustic Performance and Book Signing - Brad Colerick and Scott Feldmann - Zintka!: Lost Bird of Wounded Knee - Zintkála Nuni
2025-08-07 17:30 - 18:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
On Thursday, August 7th, musician and author Brad Colerick will be visiting Francie & Finch Bookshop to sign books and perform an acoustic set of songs that he has written! His new book Zintka! began as a song about a Lakota infant who survived the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee and the ensuing three-day blizzard. She was miraculously found alive — saved by the warmth of her mother’s dying body. The song was turned into an award-winning short film with his creative partner Scott Feldmann who will also be joining us at the event! The book also contains artwork from the film as well as sheet music (in lead sheet form) to the song. You don’t want to miss this unique event and the fascinating story of Zintkála Nuni!
To order a copy of the book call Francie & Finch Bookshop at 402-781-0459.
About the Book:-
A true story of “found and lost” . . . and found again. Zintka! tells the troubled tale of a Native American girl caught between two worlds, accepted by neither. A Lakota (Sioux) baby and her mother who were fleeing for safety became victims in the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890. The baby was found four days after a South Dakota blizzard, alive by the warmth of her mother’s dead body. She was adopted by a prominent soldier and his famous suffragette wife to be raised in their white, high-society circles. Zintka was not accepted there because of racial prejudices in the era of forced assimilation. Neither was she was accepted by her own people when she sought out her roots, in part because she did not speak their language.
Named “Lost Bird” at the moment she was separated from her Lakota caregivers, Zintka was chronicled in newspapers from her discovery to her death. She attempted to succeed in show business, joining Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, San Francisco’s vaudeville circuit and as an extra in Hollywood silent films. Zintka died in the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1920 and was buried in a pauper’s grave in Hanford, California. Finally, in 1991 her story was discovered through efforts of her biographer Renée Sansom Flood. Lakota leadership from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota ceremoniously reburied her at the Wounded Knee Monument, near the mass grave of the disaster, which included her birth mother.
The name “Lost Bird” came to describe Native American children adopted off the reservation by non-Indians after the publication of her biography “Lost Bird: Spirit of the Lakota” (Scribner, 1995).
About the Artist:
When he’s not on the road playing music, Brad Colerick splits his time between South Pasadena, California and his Rocky Mountain getaway in Fraser, Colorado. The Nebraska native writes songs that seep into your heart with a single listen. His full-hearted lyrics find the poetry in everyday language. He built a successful career making music for commercials where he wrote and produced ditties recorded by such musical icons as BB King, Buddy Guy, and Johnny Cash. He has earned an Emmy Award, a London International Advertising Award Billboard Magazine, and other industry accolades. Billboard Magazine called him “one of a baker’s dozen of acts to watch in the folk community around the world.” Colerick’s albums land firmly in the Americana wheelhouse with guest appearances by Suzy Bogguss, Chris Hillman, and April Verch.
Contributor Bio and Statement on Illustrations:
Scott Feldmann is an artist and animator who just returned to his first craft after a 35-year detour. A Disney artist for a decade, right after college at R.I.T., was followed by another decade heading up the creative agency Magic Pencil. Yet another decade passed with Scott at the helm of a small-town Chamber of Commerce, leading to a partnership with Brad Colerick and the creation of the South Pasadena Eclectic Music Festival and Arts Crawl. During the Pandemic, a Saturday class at Art Center and an inspiring song by Brad Colerick led to Scott’s directorial debut, as an animator, in the creation of a music video Manzanar (Yuki). The two now collaborate regularly, having formed the Deep Magic Song & Drawing Co. Feldmann lives in Pasadena, California
“For the book and short film Lost Bird (Zintkála Nuni) I leaned into the genre of ledger art as a way of paying respect to the Lakota culture. The artwork is derived from old newspaper articles and archival photographs. It’s a technique we’ve come to call “animontage” – a combination of animation and montage. We’re proud to have been called out by BookLife as “A stunning recreation of Zintkála Nuni’s story”. Both Brad and I are drawn to investigate and tell stories about lesser known historic figures who have overcome struggles to thrive in life.”
Praise for the book:
“This stunning YA debut transcends the confines of a single book, as the authors . . . employ song, ledger art, winter counts, and film with exquisite, emotionally charged images, ensuring that Zintka’s story will never be forgotten.” – BookLife Review, Editor’s Pick
“I love the book… it tells such an important story with empathy and precision.” – Mary Pipher, Ph.D., author of 11 books including 4 New York Times bestsellers
“Zintka mashes together Brad Colerick’s haunting, thought-stimulating song with Scott Feldmann’s dancing, juxtaposed visual imagery into a compelling portrayal.” – Steve Fjeldsted, Director of Library, Arts, and Culture, South Pasadena Public Library from 2006 – 2019
“You have an amazing way of presenting history, and that needs to be shared broadly!” – Chris Hochstetler, Executive Director – Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer

Visiting Writers - Abby E. Murray in conversation with Ava Winter
2025-08-08 17:30 - 18:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us on Friday, August 8th as poet Ava Winter talks with Abby E. Murray about their second poetry collection Recovery Commands. Selected out of 300 entries as the 2024 winner of the Richard-Gabriel Rummonds Poetry Prize, this book explores the intersection of military and civilian life.
To order a copy of Recovery Commands, call Francie & Finch Bookshop 402-781-0459!
Early Praise for Recovery Commands:
Murray gets your attention, but not in the way you’re thinking, not up in your face, but through every crack in your soul; the incantation heals what needs healing. – Gary Copeland Lilley, author of Raven on Moaners’ Bench
About the Book:
Recovery Commands is a book of poems about the collision of military and civilian life found inside one loving, long-term, and contradictory marriage. Two people, each informed by and embedded within cultures that would seem to be at odds with one another, somehow hold fast to each other through decades of war and its lasting legacies. Recovery Commands is an instruction manual for how to love despite the practical reasons not to.
About the Authors:
Abby E. Murray (they/them) is the editor of Collateral, a literary journal concerned with the impact of violent conflict and military service beyond the combat zone. Their first book, Hail and Farewell, won the Perugia Press Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. Abby served as the 2019-2021 poet laureate for the city of Tacoma, Washington, and currently teaches rhetoric in military strategy to Army War College fellows at the University of Washington.
Ava Nathaniel Winter is the author of Transgenesis, which was a winner of the National Poetry Series. Her poetry has appeared in The Baffler, Beloit Poetry Journal, Poetry International, TriQuarterly, and elsewhere. Ava holds an MFA From the Ohio State University and a PhD from the University of Nebraska—Lincoln, where she teaches in the Department of English and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. Learn more at www.avanwinter.com.

Book Launch Party - Dr. Addison Killeen’s - The Shift: A Leadership Fable of the Transition from Overwhelm to Focus
2025-08-21 17:30 - 19:00 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Join us for the official launch and signing event!
Come celebrate the release of Dr. Addison Killeen’s newest book, The Shift: A Leadership Fable of the Transition from Overwhelm to Focus—a transformational story for leaders in business and beyond. In a world full of distractions, burnout, and reactive decision-making, this book offers a refreshing blueprint for regaining control and building systems that restore clarity, focus, and joy in leadership.
This compelling fable follows a young dentist who is on the verge of burnout—until he meets a mentor who introduces him to a new way of thinking and operating. Blending story, strategy, and soul, The Shift is already resonating with leaders nationwide:
“A powerful leadership fable with great insights, reminders, and practical advice in becoming a more effective leader coupled with the development and practical application of the necessary systems to ensure a thriving enterprise. Well done, Addison!” —James Hunter, author of the internationally best-selling book The Servant
“So often we don’t reach out when we need help—finding the right person to serve as a mentor can be of immense help. This book demonstrates the importance of having a person who cares, who has certain expertise to provide insight and encouragement.” —Tom Osborne, Former U.S. Congressman and National Champion Football Coach
Meet the author, get a signed copy, and watch a Q&A with the Author interviewed by Dan Parsons.
Drinks and light refreshments will be provided.
No RSVP required—just bring a friend and your curiosity.
Pre-order your copy HERE

Visiting Author - Brandon Scranton - Secrets in the Shadows of House Nassau
2025-08-22 17:30 - 19:00 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Author Brandon Scranton will be visiting Francie & Finch Bookshop on August 22nd at 5:30 to celebrate his new book Secrets in the Shadows of House Nassau! He will be doing a reading and signing copies of his book. Read about this exciting new book below!
To pre-order a copy of Brandon’s new book, follow the link HERE, or call Francie & Finch Bookshop at 402-781-0459!
About the Book:
In the shadows of the House Nassau, secrets hide in plain sight! In June 1920, sixteen-year-old Michael Nassau’s life transforms as his father, Robert, inherits the title of Earl Nassau and the grand House Nassau. But beneath the palace’s opulent façade, a dark plot unfolds.
The disappearance of footman Antoon leads to a horrifying discovery: blood in the laundry and a brutal murder. As the renowned Brigadier Johannes de Groot investigates, a chilling connection to a mysterious figure emerges. Michael, recovering from an attempted kidnapping, and his father race against time to expose a sinister political conspiracy.
Every hidden passage and every family secret holds a piece of the puzzle.
Will the truth be uncovered before the shadows of House Nassau claim another victim?
“Secrets in the Shadows of House Nassau” is a captivating mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.
About the Author:
Brandon Scranton was raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, where a deep-rooted sense of public service and a fascination with history helped shape his path as both a first responder and a writer. With over 29 years of experience as a Critical Care Paramedic, Brandon has served in a wide range of roles – from 911 metropolitan and county-based EMS to helicopter flight paramedicine and hospital-based critical care. He has also proudly served for 15 years as a Reserve and Part-Time Police Officer.
Brandon’s lifelong interest in his Dutch and English heritage, paired with frequent travels to the Netherlands, inspired the creation of his debut novel, Secrets in the Shadows of House Nassau – a historical murder mystery set against the backdrop of a royal Dutch estate.
In September 2025, Brandon will be relocating permanently to the Netherlands, where he will continue writing and researching for the second installment in the series.

Book Launch Celebration - Jaye Viner - The Island of Dreams
2025-08-23 16:30 - 17:30 | Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE, 68508, United States
Come on down to Francie & Finch Bookshop as we welcome back author Jaye Viner! We will be celebrating her new fantasy novel The Island of Dreams!
To pre-order, follow the link HERE!
About the Book:
When a young woman casts a love spell to snare an eligible young bachelor, she mistakes Peter Pan as the spell’s target and tricks him into choosing for The Neverland instead of her prettier friend. Little does she know, their bargain means her death. The ISLAND OF DREAMS is an epic fantasy with death gods, disability, and utopia gone wrong, perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, Alix E Harrow, Peter Pan, George MacDonald, and Penny Dreadful. At first glance, the island looks like paradise. Justine might be dead, but this afterlife is better than living. She spends her days playing mother to a group of boys, telling them stories, going on adventures. For the first time in her life, Justine feels like the girl she is, and she’s a god’s object of infatuation—even if he’s a little immature. But when Mak’s estranged brother leads a gang of pirates to invade the island, bringing with them Time, which spreads in ripples across her paradise, she understands Pan will no longer love her if she ages into a woman. His offer to bond with her to create a magical barrier against the pirates is hardly a choice. Only later does she begin to understand how she has been deceived. Trapped between two immortal brothers, between passing Time and the promise of the childhood she never had, Justine must discover a power greater than the gods in order to heal the island: a power within herself.
About the Author:
Jaye Viner lives on what used to be the plains of eastern Nebraska with two feline fur bombs and a very tall man. She knows just enough about a wide variety of things to embarrass herself at parties she never attends. She holds an MFA and MA from the University of Nebraska. Her writing has been published in Drabblecast, The Roanoke Review, Everyday Fiction, and the Soul Jar anthology from Forest Avenue Press. She is the author of Jane of Battery Park, the Elaborate Lives series, and The Island of Dreams.
