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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260418T163000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260418T173000
DTSTAMP:20260417T233229
CREATED:20260318T172612Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260318T175403Z
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SUMMARY:Visiting Author - Elizabeth Zaleski - The Trouble with Loving Poets and Other Essays on Failure
DESCRIPTION:With excitement\, Francie & Finch welcomes you to join us for a visit from author Elizabeth Zaleski! She will be presenting her new book of personal essays\, The Trouble with Loving Poets and Other Essays on Failure and writes about the book\, “If you’ll bear with me\, we’re going to get a bit technical. And then\, I promise\, it will all start to matter.”\nTo order a copy\, follow the link HERE!\nAbout the Book:\nWhether failing to restrain herself from trying to find greater meaning in roadkill\, or to convince her dad that psychedelic mushrooms will not save his marriage\, or to believably perform enthusiasm for her teammates\, Elizabeth Zaleski is trying hard and failing spectacularly\, and thankfully\, she takes us along for the ride. \nFunny\, intimate\, and candid\, The Trouble with Loving Poets and Other Essays on Failure debuts an exciting new voice. From growing up in a quirky family in rural northeast Ohio and attending a Mennonite high school as a lapsed Catholic to struggling to get over a particularly well-endowed lover and suffering intestinal calamity while searching for closure\, Zaleski’s stories are at once captivating in their singularity and recognizable in their truthfulness. Fans of Tim Kreider and Sloane Crosley will appreciate Zaleski’s levity and wit as she takes aim at such time-honored institutions as pet ownership and gives clear-eyed dispatches from the no man’s land that is an HPV diagnosis. \nAs Zaleski writes\, “If you’ll bear with me\, we’re going to get a bit technical. And then\, I promise\, it will all start to matter.” \nAbout the Author:\nElizabeth Zaleski is the author of The Trouble with Loving Poets and Other Essays on Failure. Elizabeth grew up in rural northeast Ohio\, in Amish country. After living and traveling all over the US\, she now lives in slightly less rural northeast Ohio\, outside Akron. She works as an editor and is the curator of GreatFartsofLiterature.com. Her essays have appeared in journals such as Hippocampus\, The Normal School\, and The Missouri Review. \nPraise for The Trouble with Loving Poets and Other Essays on Failure:\n“Funny and introspective. . . . Wit and intelligence shine through the prose.” —Julia Dillman\, Foreword Reviews \n“I read an advanced copy of Elizabeth Zaleski’s The Trouble with Loving Poets and Other Essays on Failure based on a single newsletter sent out from her publisher at Belt\, Anne Trubek. It’s a delight to pick up a book by a writer totally unknown to you and finish it in a single day.” —Austin Kleon\, NYT-bestselling author of Steal Like an Artis \n“Softly deviant\, . . . [Zaleski’s] collection of essays on failure is charming and frank and disproves my hypothesis that publishers only release personal essay collections by the world’s dullest people. Zaleski: not dull! An oddball from rural Ohio with a crazy family who writes what I always wanted ‘alt lit’ to be: the lucid prose of an original mind living an unconventional life. . . . It is the type of book destined to be ignored by the few remaining reviewing organs\, and everything about it is hostile to any conceivable algorithm. So\, vote with your dollars!” —Molly Young\, former book critic for the NYT\, book recommender extraordinaire\, and maker of many cool things \n“Turns breakups\, lost faith and literary letdowns into sharply funny reflections on failure. . . . I would call the score-keeping unhealthy if it weren’t so funny[\, but] I must admire the courage Zaleski provides in her unsparing honesty.” —Brendan Tynan Buck\, Newcity Lit
URL:https://francieandfinch.com/event/visiting-author-elizabeth-zaleski-the-trouble-with-loving-poets-and-other-essays-on-failure/
LOCATION:Francie & Finch Bookshop\, 130 S. 13th Street\, Lincoln\, NE\, 68508\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://francieandfinch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Elizabeth-Zaleski.jpg
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260419T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260419T170000
DTSTAMP:20260417T233229
CREATED:20260408T172400Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260408T190748Z
UID:10510-1776585600-1776618000@francieandfinch.com
SUMMARY:Tom Hallman\, Jr.\, - Dispatches Across America
DESCRIPTION:Calling all writers that believe in the power of story to connect\, illuminate and move readers.\n  \nTom Hallman Jr.\, who won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing\, is a senior editor at Colliers magazine. He is in charge of Dispatches Across America\, a gathering place for stories that rise from the ground beneath our feet that reveal the texture of American life. Here\, essays and stories arrive like brushstrokes on our vast cultural canvas\, each one drawn from somewhere across the heartland. A small town at dusk\, a metropolitan city after dark\, a fleeting moment\, a hidden subculture\, a quiet crossroads. \nTogether\, they form a living portrait of America as it is felt in real time — tender\, restless\, ordinary\, extraordinary. It is the voice of the people\, shared with the nation. \nIf you are interested in contributing\, contact Tom at thallmanjr@gmail.com \nAll of Tom’s books\, Stories from the Banks\, Dispatches from 1320\, Sam: the Boy Behind the Mask and A Strangers Gift are all available for puchase at Francie & Finch Bookshop.
URL:https://francieandfinch.com/event/dispatches-across-america/
LOCATION:NE
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://francieandfinch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/tom-hallman.jpg
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260425T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260425T180000
DTSTAMP:20260417T233229
CREATED:20260325T172951Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260325T173019Z
UID:10505-1777111200-1777140000@francieandfinch.com
SUMMARY:Independent Bookstore Day 2026
DESCRIPTION:Come take part in a nationwide celebration of independent bookstores! It’s a day of fun you don’t want to miss!\nMore information to come!
URL:https://francieandfinch.com/event/independent-bookstore-day-2/
LOCATION:Francie & Finch Bookshop\, 130 S. 13th Street\, Lincoln\, NE\, 68508\, United States
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260502T163000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260502T173000
DTSTAMP:20260417T233229
CREATED:20260408T175032Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260408T182135Z
UID:10514-1777739400-1777743000@francieandfinch.com
SUMMARY:Visiting Author - Michael Clair -  We Sacrifice Everything to Baseball: How the Czech Republic's Amateur Underdogs Became World Baseball Classic Heroes
DESCRIPTION:Join us at 4:30 PM on Saturday\, May 2nd as we welcome Michael Clair an author and reporter at MLB.com specializing in international baseball and the World Baseball Classic. His new book We Sacrifice Everything to Baseball dives into the remarkable story of the Czech Republic’s national baseball team\, moving from underdogs to a team on the world stage.\nAbout the Book:\nDespite long odds and low funds\, the Czech Republic’s national baseball team of amateur players managed to shock the world at the 2023 World Baseball Classic—the sport’s World Cup—when they took an upset win against Spain in the WBC qualifiers and then defeated China in the actual tournament\, securing their place in the upcoming 2026 tournament. While the rest of the teams in the WBC rely on experienced professionals\, and some like Italy and Great Britain bring in American “passport” players\, the Czech Republic’s roster consists almost entirely of amateur players who were born and have played only within the Central European nation. The team’s roster consists of firefighters\, teachers\, financial auditors\, and field caretakers—even the manager is a neurologist!—and yet the team managed to not only compete on the international stage but succeed against global superstars like Shohei Ohtani. \nIn a world where athletes have become multi-million-dollar legends\, We Sacrifice Everything to Baseball reveals how teamwork\, sacrifice\, and self-belief can still make a difference. Michael Clair\, who spent time with the Czech team throughout the 2023 World Baseball Classic\, has unparalleled insight on the team and their unlikely success. \nLike the Jamaican bobsled team in Cool Runnings\, Leicester City’s unexpected Premier League soccer title\, and the United States’ remarkable victory against Russia in the 1980 Olympics\, the Czech Republic baseball team has an underdog story everyone can cheer for. Their story proves it’s still possible to build a team from the ground up\, with a small player pool\, little attention\, and a low budget\, and compete on the world stage. \n\n\n\nAbout the Author:\nMichael Clair is a reporter at MLB.com\, specializing in international baseball and the World Baseball Classic. He has written and appeared on the MLB Network shows Carded and Inside Stitch\, featured in the coverage of official World Baseball Classic\, London Series\, and All-Star Game programs\, and has published in Baseball Prospectus and its associated annuals\, as well as Japanese baseball magazine Number. Clair was given the 2024 Global Ambassador Award by MLB. \n\n\nPraise for We Sacrifice Everything to Baseball:\n“Baseball came to Czechoslovakia in 1921\, but the sport has faced a long\, jagged road to penetrate the heart of Central Europe. In We Sacrifice Everything to Baseball Michael Clair chronicles the hardscrabble push of a ragtag group of amateurs determined to do it the right way: homegrown. Clair takes us along as this endearing team of underdogs chases glory on the world stage—or\, if not quite glory\, something perhaps more lasting\, like progress\, respect\, and the fulfillment of a dream that maybe\, just maybe\, baseball can become a truly global pastime.”—Tyler Kepner\, author of the New York Times bestseller K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches and The Grandest Stage: A History of the World Series \n“You’ll never find an author and subject better suited for one another\, and Michael Clair’s passion for Czech baseball shines brightly on every page of this delightful book.”—Rob Neyer\, award-winning baseball author and commissioner of the West Coast League \n“Underdog stories usually end in victory. The Czech Republic’s improbable run in the 2023 World Baseball Classic\, with players who had day jobs as firefighters\, electricians\, and teachers\, shows us\, however\, that triumph and victory are not the same thing.”—Craig Calcaterra\, Cup of Coffee newsletter \n“Not long ago\, even the thought that a book might one day be written about the story of Czech baseball would have seemed far too bold—almost unthinkable. Let alone in English. Let alone in the very cradle of the greatest sport in the world. . . . Michael Clair captivates with his passion for the game\, his devotion to everything he believes in. It is an immense honor that he found inspiration in the story of a small country with big baseball dreams.”—Pavel Chadim\, Czech Republic national baseball team manager
URL:https://francieandfinch.com/event/visiting-author-michael-clair-we-sacrifice-everything-to-baseball-how-the-czech-republics-amateur-underdogs-became-world-baseball-classic-heroes/
LOCATION:Francie & Finch Bookshop\, 130 S. 13th Street\, Lincoln\, NE\, 68508\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://francieandfinch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Michael-Clair.jpg
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