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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260418T163000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260418T173000
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CREATED:20260318T172612Z
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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
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260419T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260419T170000
DTSTAMP:20260625T135307
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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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260425T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260425T173000
DTSTAMP:20260625T135307
CREATED:20260325T172951Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260423T144801Z
UID:10505-1777111200-1777138200@francieandfinch.com
SUMMARY:Independent Bookstore Day 2026
DESCRIPTION:Come take part in Independent Bookstore Day 2026! We will be open from 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM in celebration of the special role that independent bookstores hold in our communities. We can’t wait to see you there!\nFrancie & Finch Bookshop is pleased to welcome the following authors during this celebration:\nAlan Bartels will be at the shop from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM\, presenting his new book Secret Nebraska Sandhills: A Guide to the Weird\, Wonderful\, and Obscure.\nAbout the Author:\nWhen not writing\, lifelong Nebraskan and US Army veteran Alan J. Bartels works a day job devoted to natural resources conservation. He’s been published in National Geographic\, USA Today\, and Smithsonian’s Air & Space Magazine. In 2025 Alan received the Friend of the Byway award from the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway and the Friend of Tourism award from the Nebraska Tourism Commission. A past governor bestowed Alan with the honorary title of Admiral in the Great Navy of the State of Nebraska–quite a feat considering Nebraska’s triple landlocked location.\nAbout the Book:\nIn Secret Nebraska Sandhills: A Guide to the Weird\, Wonderful\, and Obscure\, longtime Nebraskan storyteller and photographer Alan J. Bartels provides a one-of-a-kind look into the region’s lesser-known history and culture\, discovered sometimes by accident but also through dogged research\, and folklore\, memories\, and mythology shared by generous Sandhills residents. \nPatti Cherney will be at the shop from 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM\, presenting her new children’s book Mikey the Monkey Meets the Dentist.\nAbout the Author:\nWith over 45 years of experience as a dental hygienist\, author Patti Cherney is passionate about educating patients and promoting lifelong oral health. Her clinical background spans pedodontics\, periodontics\, and general dentistry. For more than 25 years\, she has also served as an educator for dentists and dental hygienists\, and currently teaches as adjunct clinical faculty in periodontology at Creighton University School of Dentistry.\nAbout the Book:\nA toothache turns into a teachable moment when Mikey the Monkey meets a kind and clever dentist who helps him smile again. Through four simple steps\, Mikey learns how to keep his teeth healthy—making dental visits less scary and a lot more fun! Written by a real dental hygienist\, this charming story helps kids:\n• Learn what happens at the dentist\n• Build good brushing and fl ossing habits\n• Feel confi dent about dental care
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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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260502T163000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260502T173000
DTSTAMP:20260625T135307
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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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260609T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260609T183000
DTSTAMP:20260625T135307
CREATED:20260506T171539Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260507T193021Z
UID:10534-1781026200-1781029800@francieandfinch.com
SUMMARY:Visiting Author - Garrett Peck - The Bright Edges of the World: Willa Cather and Her Archbishop
DESCRIPTION:On Tuesday\, June 9th\, we welcome author and historian Garrett Peck\, from New Mexico\, to Francie & Finch Bookshop! He will be presenting his book\, The Bright Edges of the World: Willa Cather and Her Archbishop. The book explores Cather’s travels to the Southwest that inspired her to write her “best book” (her words)\, Death Comes for the Archbishop. We can’t wait to see you there!\nCall or visit our website to order your copy now! \nAbout the Book:\nAuthor and historian Garrett Peck traces Willa Cather’s adventures in the Southwest and how they influenced her best book. Six months before she died\, Willa Cather called her 1927 novel Death Comes for the Archbishop her “best book.” The Atlantic magazine concurred\, including Archbishop on its Great American Novels list in 2024. A perennial favorite for people who love New Mexico\, the novel tells an unusual story of two French priests and best friends serving on the American frontier before the arrival of the railroad. This Western work of fiction is loosely based on two historical figures\, Archbishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy and Bishop Joseph Machebeuf. \nIn The Bright Edges of the World\, Garrett Peck explores how Cather’s travels to the Southwest inspired her writing. She visited the Southwest six times between 1912 and 1926\, and from these journeys came three novels\, the last of which was Death Comes for the Archbishop. Through Cather’s letters\, postcards\, articles\, and interviews\, Peck traces how integral travel was to Cather’s imagination while highlighting the vital contribution that Cather’s longtime partner\, Edith Lewis\, made to the story. The Bright Edges of the World is richly illustrated to highlight Cather and Lewis’s extensive Southwestern adventures. \nThough Archbishop is a work of fiction\, Peck explores how Cather wove some of the most legendary people in New Mexican history into her novel\, such as Archbishop Lamy\, Kit Carson\, and Padre Antonio José Martínez\, while subtly hinting toward the complexity of Pueblo Indian and Navajo (Diné) faith. Archbishop is a multicultural novel that reflects the diversity of New Mexico’s people. \nDeath Comes for the Archbishop remains a timeless book of friendship on the American frontier and an inspiration for people who\, as Cather wrote\, “have gone a-journeying in New Mexico on the trail of the Archbishop.” \nAbout the Author:\nGarrett Peck is an author\, independent historian\, and tour guide in Santa Fe\, specializing in adventure travel and historic and cultural interpretation. He leads the Willa Cather’s Santa Fe tour\, teaches stargazing\, and leads many other tours. \nThe author of nine books about American history\, Garrett’s latest is The Bright Edges of the World: Willa Cather and Her Archbishop (University of New Mexico Press\, March 2026). The book explores Cather’s travels to the Southwest that inspired her to write her “best book” (her words)\, Death Comes for the Archbishop. \nGarrett has lectured for the Library of Congress\, the National Archives\, Smithsonian Associates\, the New Mexico History Museum\, historical societies\, and literary clubs. A native Californian\, he graduated from the Virginia Military Institute and George Washington University and is a U.S. Army veteran. \nPraise for The Bright Edges of the World:\n“The Bright Edges of the World: Willa Cather and Her Archbishop is both a deep dive into one of Cather’s most beloved classics and also an exhilarating guided trek through a rugged slice of Southwestern literary history.” – Kali Fajardo-Anstine\, author of Woman of Light: A Novel\n\n“A well-researched and timely synopsis of the genesis of Cather’s Archbishop. The contextualization of her ‘best book’ through historical analysis and biography is refreshing. Peck thoughtfully traverses the captivating landscape and diverse cultures of the Southwest alongside Willa Cather\, her partner Edith Lewis\, and an assemblage of real and fictionalized characters.” – Ashley Olson\, executive director of the National Willa Cather Center \n“An entertaining and informative popular history of New Mexico as well as a strong work of literary scholarship.” – Gary Scharnhorst\, author of Bret Harte: Opening the American Literary West
URL:https://francieandfinch.com/event/visiting-author-garrett-peck-the-bright-edges-of-the-world-willa-cather-and-her-archbishop/
LOCATION:Francie & Finch Bookshop\, 130 S. 13th Street\, Lincoln\, NE\, 68508\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://francieandfinch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Garrett-Peck-1.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260613T163000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260613T173000
DTSTAMP:20260625T135307
CREATED:20260519T173128Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260519T174600Z
UID:10542-1781368200-1781371800@francieandfinch.com
SUMMARY:Visiting Author - Lisa Knopp -  Ravelings: Essays on Love\, Loss\, and Wonder (American Lives )
DESCRIPTION:Join us as we welcome author Lisa Knopp on June 13th at 4:30! She will read from her recent book of essays\, Ravelings\, published by the University of Nebraska Press.\nTo order a copy of the book\, follow the link HERE.\n\nAbout the Book: \n\nIn Ravelings\, Lisa Knopp takes up an older\, opposing meaning of the verb “ravel”—“to entangle”—as she explores the deaths and departures of loved ones and the rituals by which we mourn and honor them\, while contemplating her relationships with writing\, spirituality\, sense of home\, aging\, desire\, and the relationship between body and mind. Entangled in these losses and changes\, Knopp experiences wonder\, joy\, connectivity\, and wholeness. \n\nIn these nimble and companionable essays\, Knopp considers hunger and fullness through ethical\, disordered\, and mindful eating; awakens to common magic through two chance encounters with a magician; and finds humility and empowerment as an unpartnered sixty-year-old woman in a ballroom dance class filled with young couples. Knopp comprehends her experiences with nuance\, revealing time and again that the same ravel of text can encompass the blending in a single moment of the exotic and mundane\, of fullness and want\, of love and abhorrence\, of desire and contentment\, of freedom and bondage\, of severance and connection\, and of the creative act as both an evocation and an imposition.\n\nAbout the Author:\nLisa Knopp is a professor of English at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She is the author of eight books\, including From Your Friend\, Carey Dean: Letters from Nebraska’s Death Row\, Interior Places (Nebraska\, 2008)\, and The Nature of Home: A Lexicon and Essays (Nebraska\, 2002).\n\nPraise for Ravelings\n“When I finished this book\, I just wanted to write as my book review\, ‘Buy this book. Read it.”’1\,200 times on the page. ” — Carolyn-Roy Bornstein Hippocampus Review\n\n“[Knopp is] well-read\, offering perspectives from other writers\, and she’s at home in the world of nature after years of writing essays on that topic. Her metaphors and insights are apt and moving\, making this collection a joy.”—Booklist\n\n“Lisa Knopp’s essays invite us to notice the things of daily life while pointing us to what shimmers just beyond our line of vision. Knopp is clear-eyed and reverent as she harnesses examples from art and etymology\, memory studies and theology\, to explore loss\, aging\, and the rich layers of human appetite. These essays embody the holy work of paying attention\, of forging connection\, and of letting go. A luminous\, tender collection by a master of the form.”—Sonja Livingston\, author of The Virgin of Prince Street\n\n“You want to go deep into Lisa Knopp’s essays. They’re not meant for a quick read. Detail is all. Like the impressionists she refers to\, each one is itself\, often without need for a story. Yet the rich story of her life runs through like a stream—the death of a beloved cat\, the death of parents\, eating doves\, the comfort of a giant sweet potato\, consulting the almanac\, finding a lost car. These beautifully written essays are a record of a life lived with sensitivity and wisdom. Her essay ‘Still Life with Peaches’ is a map for how to see\, how to find words for close-seeing. I couldn’t put this book down.”—Fleda Brown\, author of The End of the Clockwork Universe\n\n“Ravelings beautifully knits together the complexities of the head\, the entanglements of the heart\, and the all-too-human hungers that hit us right in the gut. These essays delve into the rich contradictions of singleness and connection\, balance and chance\, fullness and lack—always with a sense of wonder and intellectual grace. Thoughtful\, poignant\, and beautifully written\, this is a book I will return to again and again.”—Randon Billings Noble\, author of Be with Me Always: Essays\n\n“In this collection of virtuoso essays\, Lisa Knopp puzzles and ravels topics ranging from encountering her mother’s dead body to dancing with a broom. The lowly sweet potato\, the exalted peach\, the art of Renoir and Lassnig\, all warrant her probing consideration. The essay on a familiar feeling with the little-known name of velleity is one of many startling discoveries lifted from the ordinary. With every deep dive into these streams of her life\, we vibrate like a tuning fork\, resonating and enriching our understanding of the intricate balances and delicious contradictions of everyday life.”—Pamela Carter Joern\, author of At the Corner of Past and Future: A Collection of Life Stories
URL:https://francieandfinch.com/event/visiting-author-lisa-knopp-ravelings-essays-on-love-loss-and-wonder-american-lives/
LOCATION:Francie & Finch Bookshop\, 130 S. 13th Street\, Lincoln\, NE\, 68508\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://francieandfinch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Lisa-Knopp-1.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260618T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260618T000000
DTSTAMP:20260625T135307
CREATED:20240403T050000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260618T165312Z
UID:9576-1781740800-1781740800@francieandfinch.com
SUMMARY:Pineapple Days Annual Sale
DESCRIPTION:Shop downtown merchants Tsuru\, Threads\, Lincoln Running CO.\, Stella\, A Novel Idea\, Gomez Art Supply\, Metro Art Gallery\, RayGun\, Ruby Begonias\, The Framing Company and Underground Printing. \n  \nMore to come!
URL:https://francieandfinch.com/event/pineapple-days-annual-sale/
LOCATION:NE
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=application/pdf:https://francieandfinch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Pineapple-Days-2026.pdf
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260630T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260630T183000
DTSTAMP:20260625T135307
CREATED:20260527T172413Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260602T175449Z
UID:10549-1782840600-1782844200@francieandfinch.com
SUMMARY:Book of Poetry Launch - Nicole Lachat in conversation with Ber Anena - The Red We Silk
DESCRIPTION:Join us in welcoming poet Nicole Lachat as she presents her new book of poetry The Red We Silk. Nicole will be joined in a special conversation with fellow writer\, Ber Anena. This event will be held on Tuesday\, June 30th and is open to the public!\nTo order your copy of The Red We Silk\, follow the link HERE! \nAbout the Book:\nThe Red We Silk collects inherited migrations and the weight of familial journeys into a lyric investigation of displacement and longing. Memory abides in the body and the body in memory\, propelling the speaker through geographical and spiritual landscapes\, desires\, and griefs toward the transformative work of discovery. Tender\, attentive\, and multivocal\, these are poems of belonging beyond borders. \nAbout the Author:\nNicole Lachat was born in Edmonton\, Canada\, to a Peruvian mother and a Swiss father. She holds PhD in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and an MFA in Creative Writing from NYU. Her debut collection\, The Red We Silk\, was the recipient of the 2024 Michael Waters Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in Tinderbox Poetry Journal\, Ruminate Magazine\, One by Jacar Press\, Birdfeast Magazine\, The Puerto Rico Review\, and Poets.org\, among others. She was awarded the 2022 Wilbur Gaffney Poetry Prize through the Academy of American Poets and received a 2024 Individual Arts Fellowship through the Nebraska Arts Council. She is a mentor for Adroit Journal’s 2026 Summer Mentorship Program. Nicole currently resides in Canada. \n\n\n\n\nAbout Speaker:\nBer Anena is a writer from Gulu\, Uganda. She attended the MFA Writing program at Columbia University and is finalizing a PhD in English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she has received the Vreeland Prize for Fiction and the Susan Atefat Peckham Prize for Poetry. Anena’s debut poetry collection\, A Nation in Labour\, won the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa in 2018. Her works appear in or are forthcoming from Transition Magazine\, Wasafiri\, Prairie Schooner\, The Atlantic\, adda\, Off  Assignment and Black Warrior Review. Her prose has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and nominated forthe Pushcart. Anena’s memoir\, THE LIES WE TELL FOR AMERICA is out on November 10\, 2026 from Flatiron Books by Macmillan. \nPraise for collection:\n“The Red We Silk is an impressive debut that captures with elegance and ease the truly twenty-first century phenomenon of multiple migrations and cultural intersections as they manifest in the body of a gifted poet. Nicole Lachat frames these considerations within the Peruvian myth of Chasqui\, who becomes for her a migrant voicing the poetic implications of uprooting and replanting in different spaces. Lachat’s brilliantly generous poems of deep sentiment and spiritual interrogation explore themes of family\, memory\, place\, and desire with resonant beauty.”–Kwame Dawes \n“Reader\, this is no ordinary debut. Nicole Lachat knows that all borders are lies. Citizen and immigrant. Land and body. Parent and child. The quick and the dead. Whatever lines you believe in\, whatever lines you draw\, prepare to have them dissolved. ‘Because you come / ready for war–swearing lightning\, swearing / thunder–I come light-footed. I become / leaf.’ Lachat is here to say that no onehas the right to divide us\, not even us\, that our survival depends on this: knowing we are each other\, knowing we can still become our softest selves. The Red We Silk will change you.”–Rebecca Gayle Howell \n“In this timely debut\, Nicole Lachat’s lyric verve shapes the very ground of ordinary living into a personal history that threads memory with an urgent desire for bonds that survive and transform the temporal\, emotional\, and otherwise disfiguring work of distance. Arresting and smashing.”–Canisia Lubrin
URL:https://francieandfinch.com/event/book-of-poetry-launch-nicole-lachat-in-conversation-with-ber-anena-the-red-we-silk/
LOCATION:Francie & Finch Bookshop\, 130 S. 13th Street\, Lincoln\, NE\, 68508\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://francieandfinch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Nicole-Lachat-1.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260718T163000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260718T173000
DTSTAMP:20260625T135307
CREATED:20260602T174103Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260623T182552Z
UID:10566-1784392200-1784395800@francieandfinch.com
SUMMARY:Book Launch - Alena Bruzas in conversation with Allison Bitz - The Broken Edge of the World
DESCRIPTION:Francie & Finch Bookshop is pleased to host the celebratation of the launch of Alena Bruzas 3rd novel\, The Broken Edge of the World! Come hear her in conversation with cherished local author Allison Bitz! We can’t wait to see you there!\nPre-order your copy of The Broken Edge of the World\, here!\nAbout the Book:\nTheir love is destined\, but can it survive her compulsion for beauty? Haunting and steamy\, this spellbinding fantasy romance will enthrall you with its alluring concoction of traditional Grimm’s and modern thrills. \n“With deft\, atmospheric prose and lush\, otherworldly lore\, Bruzas captures the essence of self-identity\, belonging and the kind of love that both consumes and inspires. A dazzling modern fairytale.”\n—Kika Hatzopoulou\, bestselling author of Threads That Bind \nSylvie has taken a summer job at a remote and alluring prairie preserve in the middle of the Great Plains. It’s a much-needed escape—from her sadness\, from her cruelly distant father\, and maybe even from herself: She longs to be free of the intrusive\, obsessive thoughts that are her constant burden. \nSoon\, she finds herself drawn to a stunning shepherd boy and can’t stop herself from going to him at night\, even though she’s been warned to keep away. During the day\, though\, she begins to develop a friendship with another boy\, a strange-looking and strangely gentle coworker named Jack . . . and gradually to uncover the mysteries of this place that feels more like home than anyplace has before it. \nBut those mysteries include a powerful curse\, and when she uncovers the truth of it\, she becomes recklessly determined to break it—to free the one trapped in its spell. She fails to consider the possibility that her actions could break much more than just the curse\, and that some burdens demand to be borne. \nAbout the Author:\nAlena Bruzas grew up in Seattle and currently lives in Lincoln\, Nebraska\, with her family. She is the author of the acclaimed novels To the Bone and Ever Since\, and she hopes her writing will find the people who need it most. When she’s not writing\, Alena works at a bookstore and serves on the board for Ten Thousand Villages\, Lincoln. She also occasionally cooks dinner\, worries about commas\, and wanders the prairie. \nPraise for The Broken Edge of the World:\n“This psychologically incisive supernatural novel by Bruzas blends the eerie cadence of dark fairy tales with modern suspense to probe themes of obsession. Sylvie’s unflinchingly self-critical yet deeply empathetic first-person narration captures both the claustrophobic logic of her OCD and the aching vulnerability of a girl desperate to be seen and loved. It all adds up to a sensitive\, fully fleshed-out portrayal of one teen navigating grief alongside mental health challenges.”—Publishers Weekly \n“Recommended\, particularly for readers who enjoy retellings inspired by fairy tales.”—School Library Journal
URL:https://francieandfinch.com/event/book-launch-alena-bruzas-the-broken-edge-of-the-world/
LOCATION:Francie & Finch Bookshop\, 130 S. 13th Street\, Lincoln\, NE\, 68508\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://francieandfinch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alena-Bruzas-3.jpg
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260807T163000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260807T173000
DTSTAMP:20260625T135307
CREATED:20260428T174948Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260623T181117Z
UID:10530-1786120200-1786123800@francieandfinch.com
SUMMARY:Visiting Author - Colleen Morton Busch in conversation with Judy Lorenzen - Smolder
DESCRIPTION:Join us as we welcome Ex Ophidia’s 2025 winner for the Richard-Gabriel Rummonds Poetry Prize\, Colleen Morton Busch\, as she presents her book of poetry Smolder. Colleen will be joined in conversation by writer Judy Lorenzen. We will see you there! \nAbout the Book:\nSmolder takes its title from a diagnosis my husband received 20 years ago\, of smoldering multiple myeloma—a treatable but incurable blood cancer we’d never heard of before. At that time\, the prescribed treatment was: Don’t do anything. Just watch and wait for myeloma to cause problems. Sometimes the title comes before the work. This lush word—smolder—plucked from the natural world and set down amid arid clinical terms and bewildering medical advice captivated me. I immediately wanted to write a collection of poems entitled Smolder. I did write some of the poems. But then I spent the next two decades working in prose. Eventually\, I found my way back to poetry and its ability to relate a story and accrue meaning the way only a poem can. I had my title\, Smolder\, but now I had the embodied experience of twenty years to spark and sustain the poems. Smolder explores the many kinds of fire blazing inside a life. Fires of rage\, grief\, lust\, loss\, uncertainty and acceptance. They’re love poems\, elegies\, prayers\, howls\, meditations. Together\, the poems reveal what it’s like to live with the open flame of a tender heart \nAbout the Author:\nColleen Morton Busch is the 2025 winner of the Richard-Gabriel Rummonds Poetry Prize\, an annual poetry book contest by Ex Ophidia Press. Busch’s winning collection Smolder is a collection of poems about that many kinds of fire blazing inside life. Busch is the author of “Fire Monks: Zen Minds Meets Wildfire” (Penguin Press\, 2011) that was named best book of the year by Publisher’s Weekly. Her prose and poems have been published widely\, from Willow Springs\, Poet Lore\, and Belleview Literary Review\, to Orion\, The Washington Post\, Tricycle\, and the Ekphrastic Review. Smolder is her first poetry collection \nFor more about her work\, visit www.colleenmortonbusch.com \nAbout Guest:\nJudy Lorenzen\, a former children’s librarian and English teacher\, is a poet\, writer and teaching artist\, who lives on a farm in Central City\, where she enjoys the vast beauty of the Great Plains every day of her life. Her works appear in journals\, anthologies\, newspapers\, magazines\, and on calendars and websites. Her first book\, Turning Back to Her Love Pages\, was published in May 2025\, Kelsay Books. She is working with a publisher presently on her second book\, Seasons of Reverence\, a poetic memoir of her life on the Great Plains\, which should be out later in 2026.
URL:https://francieandfinch.com/event/visiting-author-colleen-morton-busch-in-conversation-with-judy-lorenzen-smolder/
LOCATION:Francie & Finch Bookshop\, 130 S. 13th Street\, Lincoln\, NE\, 68508\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://francieandfinch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Colleen-Morton-Busch.png
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