Sunday Salon - April 3

First off, I need to say happy birthday to my nephew, who is celebrating his 21st birthday today. I can still vividly remember seeing him for the first time. He weighed over 9 1/2 lbs when he was born; big enough that when my then 3 year old son wanted to hold him, I let him. Love that picture!

This month at Lit and Life, I'm going to be talking a lot about Omaha and Nebraska authors. I realized one day that I had books for review this month from both Timothy Schaffert and Rainbow Rowell and that I also had Mary Helen Stefaniak's The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia on my shelves. I'm always jealous that so many of you get to attend great author events but I suddenly realized that there are plenty of authors right here to be excited about.

Rainbow Rowell

Rainbow Rowell, in addition to be the author Attachments, which I'm currently reading, is a columnist for the Omaha newspaper who just happened to write an article about the same subject and introduced me to a lot of new names.I'll be reviewing Attachments tomorrow then I hope to get to The Bookworm book store next week to have her sign my copy. She'll also be in Des Moines and Kansas City soon. I've been reading Rainbow's articles since she first started writing for the paper (I can't tell you how much I missed that female voice when she left for a while!) so I feel a little bit like I've watched her grow up!

Timothy Schaffert

Timothy Schaffert's latest book is The Coffins of Little Hope which I'll be reviewing next week. I'm also looking forward to seeing Schaffert that week, also at The Bookworm, and having my book signed. You've heard me talk about Schaffert before; he's the driving force behind Omaha Lit Fest which I discovered last year. The Coffins of Little Hope is getting great reviews; no surprise there, it is published by Unbridled Books. They never let me down! Schaffert's going to be hitting the road in May; look for him in Milwaukee, Chicago and Iowa City.

Are any local authors on your reading plans soon?