A Literary Day

The town of Dorset, Minnesota is located six miles northeast of Park Rapids and six miles west of Nevis in northern Minnesota. Dorset is a century old town with a population of 22 depending on who you talk to. Perhaps you have heard of this town that boasts the youngest politician with its mayor, Robert Tufts. He is just four years old and assumed the office at the age of three after winning the draw. He became mayor when the town picked his name out of a hat and will hold that post for a year.  On August 4, 2013 a new mayor will be picked. Any residency or age candidate is accepted. The only requirement is filling in a vote sheet and attaching $1.00.

Not only does the town have the youngest mayor, but it also calls itself "Restaurant Capital of the World" because it allegedly has more restaurants per capita than anywhere else. These restaurants are all located right down both sides of main street.

photo from 2012
This is one of Dorset's big events in August Taste of Dorset.
There is food, entertainment, games and socializing. This year's event is scheduled for August 4, 2013.

But what drew me to Dorset this year on June 22 was their annual Festival of Authors and Artists. Sister Wolf Books (photo below) presented a wonderful day of literary guests. This independent bookstore is a small gem located right on Main Street. The store is open May through October. Along with an amazing array of book selections they offer weekly book and poetry discussion groups.  This link below is to their summer and fall schedule.
http://www.sisterwolfbooks.com/book-grp.html

All day a variety of Minnesota authors who have published locally and nationally did book signings and readings.

Among the impressive list of local authors featured were Kent Krueger with his recent books  "Ordinary Grace " and "Trickster's Point" and Lorna Landvik with her recent publication "Mayor of the Universe".




But what was most exciting was the opportunity for me to be a part of this literary event. I belong to a writer's group called BARDS OF A FEATHER. We recently self published a small book called Bards of a Feather Write Together. Each of the eight members made contributions to the book which were a variety of published and unpublished material that included  poems, works of fiction and memoirs. This was our first attempt at a printed collection. The writing group meets April -December. Our group values creativity and free artistic expression. We support the literary arts in our community.

One of the best parts of the day was having your own spot in the bookstore to sell our books. And some other good news was the bookstore kept some of our book to sell after the literary event.

This is one of our BARDS members book selling. 
It truly was exciting to be a part of all these esteemed writers and authors for a literary day spent in Dorset.