There’s so many upcoming literary events that it’s almost spooky! If you’re looking for something to do in October, here are some upcoming literary events* that may pique your interest!
October 1, 2024 Jon Volkmer Poetry Reading and Discussion Zoom, 6:30 – 7:30 pm Jon Volkmer is a prolific writer spanning genres of fiction, non-fiction, and YA. Listen as he discusses his poetry and then talk with Jon about his literary career.
October 2, 2024 UNO Fall 2024 Writer’s Workshop Reading Series presents Lisa Fay Coutley University of Nebraska – Omaha, Criss Library, 6401 S University Dr Rd N. Omaha, 7:30 pm Join for UNO’s Fall 2024 Reading Series, free and open to the public! Lisa Fay Coutley is an Associate Professor of Poetry & CNF in the Writer’s Workshop at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She is the author of HOST, tether, Errata, and winner of the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition, In the Carnival of Breathing, winner of the Black River Chapbook Competition, and Small Girl: Micromemoirs. She is also the editor of the grief anthology In the Tempered Dark: Contemporary Poets Transcending Elegy.
October 4, 2024 First Friday Book Talk & Reading with Terese Svoboda Zoom, 12:00 pm First Friday book talk with Terese Svoboda, who is the author of 21 books of poetry, fiction, stories, memoir, biography, and translation. This year she is publishing two books: “The Long Swim”, winner of the Juniper Prize, and the speculative novel “Roxy and Coco”.
October 5 & 19, 2024 Nebraska Warrior Writers – Omaha Workshops Nebraska Wildlife Rehab’s Baldwin Conference Room, 9777 M St. Omaha, 10:00 am – 12:00 Noon A workshop designed to help veterans and active duty military personnel express their thoughts and feelings in words. Participants need only be interested in writing in any form – they do not need to have any previous writing experience to benefit from the workshops. Facilitated by professional writing instructors, the workshops consist of six to eight biweekly sessions focused on developing strategies and skills. Facilitated by Jen Stastny and Cindy Cronn.
October 8, 2024 Visiting Author: Dr. Simon A. Wood in Conversation with Dr. Abla Hasan: “The Caliphate or Supreme Imamate” Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S 13th St. Lincoln, 5:30 – 6:30 pm Join as the UNL Institute for Ethnic Studies welcomes Dr. Simon Wood and Dr. Abla Hasan to Francie & Finch Bookshop. Simon’s most recent work of translation brings the 1923 work “The Caliphate or Supreme Imamate” by Muhammad Rashid Rida to English-speaking professors and students for the first time.
October 8, 2024 On Writing Presents: Zedeka Poindexter Benson Theatre, 6054 Maple St. Omaha, 6:00 – 8:00 pm Every second Tuesday of the month, join us in the Benson Theatre lobby for an intimate conversation and reading with local authors of all disciplines from poetry to plays and more. This month we welcome local poetic legend and Co-Director of Nebraska Writers Collective, Zedeka Poindexter to get us in the mood for spooky season with her Stranger Things Character Poetry Book!
October 10, 2024 Visiting Author: DeMisty D. Bellinger – “All Daughters Are Awesome Everywhere: Stories” Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S 13th St. Lincoln, 6:00 – 7:00 pm Join as DeMisty D. Bellinge, winner of the Barbara DiBernard Prize in Fiction, discusses her novel “All Daughters Are Awesome Everywhere: Stories”. Fantastical, sensual, and as beguilingly strange as they are insightful and real, the stories of “All Daughters Are Awesome Everywhere” are centered around intimate familial or romantic relationships, featuring protagonists who make awesome discoveries—from the beautiful to the horrible—in seemingly mundane situations. The protagonists in each story come from marginalized communities, which sometimes exacerbates their problems but always allows for unique perspectives and epiphanies.
October 10, 2024 CUMULATE Art Installation Reveal Calvin T. Ryan Library, 2508 11th Ave. Kearney, 6:00 – 7:30 pm The University of Nebraska at Kearney will present its newly renovated Calvin T. Ryan Library and will reveal itss newest permanent public art installation, CUMULATE, made possible through Nebraska’s 1% for Art program. CUMULATE’S visual language highlights the beauty and role of clouds in the Nebraska landscape interlacing it visually, audibly, and tangibly with the work of Nebraska poets, evoking the beauty of the Nebraska landscape and its people.
October 11, 2024 Nebraska Celebration of Books: Literary Trivia Night White Elm Brewing Company, 720 Van Dorn St. Lincoln, 5:30 pm Join us for a pre-festival event at White Elm Brewing’s Tap Room. This event will feature Nebraska themed book, author, and literary trivia and $4 pints for trivia participants.
October 12, 2024 The Nebraska Celebration of Books University of Nebraska – Lincoln, 1400 R St. Lincoln, 10:00 am – 5:30 pm This year’s Book Awards Celebration will be a combined event with the Nebraska Book Festival, called “The Nebraska Celebration of Books.” The event is free and open to the public, and will feature several Nebraska authors, and presentation of the Nebraska Center for the Book’s Nebraska Book Awards, Mildred Bennett Award and Jane Geske Award, as well as the announcement of the 2025 One Book One Nebraska selection.
October 12 & 26, 2024 Nebraska Warrior Writers – Lincoln Workshops Pius X High School Conference Room, 6000 A St. (West Entrance 11) Lincoln, 9:00 am – 11:00 am A workshop designed to help veterans and active duty military personnel express their thoughts and feelings in words. Participants need only be interested in writing in any form – they do not need to have any previous writing experience to benefit from the workshops. Facilitated by professional writing instructors, the workshops consist of six to eight biweekly sessions focused on developing strategies and skills. Facilitated by Tom Seib.
October 13, 2024 Sunday Outside the Museum: Matt Mason and Aliyah American Horse Poetry Readings Purple Dragon Paper Co., 512 N. Main St. Fremont, 2:00 – 3:00 pm We’re taking Neihardt on the road! The John G. Neihardt Foundation and Paper Dragon Paper Co. will partner to host an in-store poetry reading and book signing by Nebraska State Poet Matt Mason and Regional Youth Poet Aliyah American Horse. This event is free and open to the public.
October 16, 2024 UNO Fall 2024 Writer’s Workshop Reading Series presents Anna Monardo University of Nebraska – Omaha, UNO Art Gallery, 6505 University Dr S. Omaha, 7:30 pm Join for UNO’s Fall 2024 Reading Series, free and open to the public! Anna Monardo is an recipient of fellowships from Yaddo, the Djerassi Foundation, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, as well as three fellowships from the Nebraska Arts Council, she is Professor Emeritus in the Writer’s Workshop at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She grew up in Pittsburgh, with strong ties to her Calabrian family; her memoir, “After Italy: A Family Memoir of Arranged Marriage” is the story of her family’s immigration to the U.S. Her second novel, “Falling In Love with Natassia”, included excerpts first published in Prairie Schooner and nominated for Pushcart Prizes.
October 17, 2024 How to Fall Down into the Grass: Nature Journaling Workshop by Aimee Nezhukumatathil Nebraska East Union, Prairie Suite, 1705 Arbor Dr. Lincoln, 3:30 pm Part of UNL’s E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues with help from the Nebraska Writers Collective and Lincoln Parks and Recreation. Poet, professor and author of “World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments”, Aimee Nezhukumatathil presents this workshop.
October 18, 2024 How to Fall Down into the Grass: Nature Journaling Workshop by Aimee Nezhukumatathil Pioneers Park Nature Center, 3201 South Coddington Lincoln, 3:30 pm Part of UNL’s E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues with help from the Nebraska Writers Collective and Lincoln Parks and Recreation. Poet, professor and author of “World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments”, Aimee Nezhukumatathil presents this workshop.
October 25, 2024 Visiting Author: Artist Edgar Jerins – “Edgar Jerins Life in Charcoal” Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S 13th St. Lincoln, 5:30 – 6:30 pm Join Nebraska artist Edgar Jerins to celebrate his book of art, “Edgar Jerins Life in Charcoal”! This beautiful book exhibits Edgar’s talent for portraiture and capturing the human spirit in the hardest of times.
October 26, 2024 Infecting the Text: Letting Trauma Take its Necessary Shape with Lisa Fay Coutley Zoom, 10:00 – 11:30 am By now you’ve heard writers—especially poets and lyric essayists—suggest that you should let your content inform your form as often as you’ve heard them say show don’t tell, though as it is with most things, both are easier said than done. The former requires us to write from the body while letting go—a feat not easily mastered by any writer and complicated even more by difficult content. Often what we need most is permission and imaginative examples. This workshop will provide you with both.
October 16, 2024 UNO Fall 2024 Writer’s Workshop Reading Series presents Liz Kay University of Nebraska – Omaha, UNO Art Gallery, 6505 University Dr S. Omaha, 7:30 pm Join for UNO’s Fall 2024 Reading Series, free and open to the public! Liz Kay holds an MFA from the University of Nebraska, where she was the recipient of both an Academy of American Poets Prize and the Wendy Fort Foundation Prize for exemplary work in poetry. Her poems have appeared in such journals as Beloit Poetry Journal, RHINO, Nimrod, Willow Springs, The New York Quarterly, Iron Horse Literary Review, Redactions, and Sugar House Review. She is the author of Something to Help Me Sleep, The Witch Tells The Story And Makes It True, and Monsters: A Love Story.
Check out the NCB Calendar to stay up to date on upcoming literary events happening near you!
*The time, date, and location of these events are subject to change. Some of this month’s events, workshops, or conferences may require registration or charge a fee. Feel free to contact us if you have an event that you would like to be featured.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Tessa Timperley 402-471-3434 800-307-2665
Shortlist for 2025 One Book One Nebraska Announced
What book will all Nebraskans be encouraged to read in 2025? We will all find out on October 12th at the Nebraska Celebration of Books (N.COB) literary festival. A collection of nonfiction essays about Nebraska, a novel set in 1950’s about personal journeys, a historical fiction novel about the Pacific theater in World War II —all stories with ties to Nebraska—are the finalists for the 2025 One Book One Nebraska statewide reading program. The finalists are:
My Nebraska: The Good, the Bad, and the Husker by Roger Welsch, The Globe Pequot Press, 2006.
The Lincoln Highway: A Novel by Amor Towles, Viking Press, 2021.
The Long March Home: A World War II Novel of the Pacific by Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee, Revell, 2023.
The One Book One Nebraska reading program is sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book, Humanities Nebraska, and the Nebraska Library Commission. It encourages Nebraskans across the state to read and discuss the same book, chosen from books written by Nebraska authors or that have a Nebraska theme or setting. A Nebraska Center for the Book committee selected the three finalists from a list of nineteen titles nominated by Nebraskans. In the coming weeks, Nebraska Center for the Book board members will vote on the 2025 selection.
Nebraskans are invited to take part in the Nebraska Celebration of Books (N.COB) Literary Festival where the choice for the 2025 One Book One Nebraska will be announced. Held on Saturday, October 12th, from 10:00am-5:30pm, in the Regency Suite, Heritage Room, and Swanson Auditorium located on the second floor of the UNL City Campus Union, this event aims to celebrate Nebraska’s literary heritage and contemporary authors. The festival will honor the 20th anniversary of the One Book One Nebraska program with a panel of past authors, in addition it will feature Nebraska authors, a SLAM poetry showcase, book vendors, and presentation of the Nebraska Center for the Book’s Nebraska Book Awards, Mildred Bennett Award and Jane Geske Award.
This year’s One Book One Nebraska selection, Dancing with the Octopus: A Memoir of a Crime by Debora Harding, will be featured with a memoir writing workshop facilitated by Lucy Atkins from Larksong Writers Place. See http://onebook.nebraska.gov or https://www.facebook.com/OneBookOneNebraska for more information about ongoing 2024 One Book One Nebraska activities.
The Nebraska Center for the Book is housed at the Nebraska Library Commission and brings together the state’s readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators, and scholars to build the community of the book, supporting programs to celebrate and stimulate public interest in books, reading, and the written word. The Nebraska Center for the Book is supported by the national Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and the Nebraska Library Commission.
As the state library agency, the Nebraska Library Commission is an advocate for the library and information needs of all Nebraskans. The mission of the Library Commission is statewide promotion, development, and coordination of library and information services, “bringing together people and information.”
