After recently sharing a survey asking for your thoughts about this newsletter, I loved reading all of your feedback. Based on your suggestions, we're planning to highlight even more Hot Ticket events and introduce a new centerpiece section, Spotlight, beginning next week. Instead of weekly Q&As, we’ll be mixing up the format, including a new artist profile that I’m excited to share. As always, thanks for subscribing, and feel free to reply to this email with your thoughts, ideas, and questions. Until next time!
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Shop for handmade artwork, enjoy delicious food and drinks, and listen to live music, all at the 2023 Laumeier Annual Art Fair from May 12–14! Admission is $10, and children under the age of 10 can enter for free.
Head to Third Baptist Church on Friday evening for a free concert hosted by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. The special event will celebrate “Black excellence, the 61st anniversary of the Freedom Riders, and all that is possible when people from different backgrounds stand together,” with a music program curated by Damien Sneed.
This Wednesday and Thursday, visit UMSL’s St. Louis Mercantile Library to snag a few summer reads. The sidewalk sale runs from 11 a.m.–1 p.m. each day and features hundreds of fiction and nonfiction titles for just a few dollars each. Cash, checks, and credit cards are all accepted, and proceeds support the library.
The Brothers Lazaroff will celebrate the release of their ninth studio album, Memphis, this Thursday at Joe’s Café. The album was recorded live at the historic Sun Studio and features collaborators Rabbi James Stone Goodman and Stuart Rosenberg in addition to the usual lineup. "Some [songs] we wrote during the pandemic and hadn't been able to record, others are based on poems by Rabbi Goodman, plus a couple brand new ones and a couple pieces of the Rabbi's that seemed appropriate for the setting," David Lazaroff said in the album announcement.
In this latest addition to Reedy Press’ line of bucket list books, Melanie Holmes explores some of the best adventures that Illinois has to offer, from memorable overnight trips to whitewater rafting. To hear more from Holmes, visit Alton’s Genealogy & Local History Library on June 7. The author will give a free talk beginning at 6 p.m. Register in advance for the limited-capacity event by calling 1-800-613-3163.
BRANDED CONTENT
Give STL Day celebrates a decade of nonprofit support on May 10
This year, the St. Louis Community Foundation added 10 hours of giving to the event, which will conclude at 10 a.m. on May 11. Make an impact by supporting your favorite nonprofits that make a difference in the St. Louis community! Learn more.
Courtesy of Eileen P. Duggan
Author Eileen P. Duggan returns with Touch
The new YA novel centers on a teen girl with the power to magically absorb new talents.
You might recognize Eileen P. Duggan’s byline. She was the editor of the West End Word and before that the publication’s reporter, for a total of 18 years. She reported for the South County Times as well. Or you may have enjoyed Duggan’s two earlier novels, The Not-Ready-For-Julliard Players and April Fools Daily.
Like those books, Duggan’s new novel, Touch, centers on music. Touch just took first place in YA fiction for the Missouri Professional Communicators Annual Contest. The award in the National Federation of Press Women Contest will be announced May 17.
Touch tells the story of a 15-year-old schoolgirl named Ginny who acquires talents—musical, mathematical, and athletic—by touch. The themes of familial relationships, bullying by mean girls, and becoming overwhelmed are relatable to preteens, teens, and adults. And the deep, dark family secret requires sleuthing on Ginny’s part. It’s a fun read whether you’re a kid, a teen, a young adult, or a Boomer.
While it’s common for journalists to write fiction, like Geraldine Brooks and Colson Whitehead, Duggan’s background is rare. The native St. Louisan has a degree in piano pedagogy from what was then Fontbonne College. We recently caught up with Duggan over the phone to discuss her new book and path to producing fiction.
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