Tag: Author features

Explore the frightening landscape where water and thirst are political, and drought is a business opportunity.

September 3, 2014

Click here to download the graphic version of this article. This week is World Water Week in Stockholm, where more than 200 organizations are convening to discuss global water and development issues. In light of this event, we wanted to take the opportunity to feature a new book that responds to these same issues and … More Explore the frightening landscape where water and thirst are political, and drought is a business opportunity.

Lorna Landvik: Why I wrote Best to Laugh, Part 2.

September 2, 2014

BY LORNA LANDVIKStand-up and improvisational comedian, public speaker, and best-selling author —– This is the third post in a weekly series by Lorna Landvik.#1: On destiny. #2: Why I wrote Best to Laugh, Part 1. —– Several years ago on a visit to Los Angeles, I took a long, leisurely stroll down my old stomping … More Lorna Landvik: Why I wrote Best to Laugh, Part 2.

Lorna Landvik: Why I wrote Best to Laugh, Part 1.

August 25, 2014

BY LORNA LANDVIKStand-up and improvisational comedian, public speaker, and best-selling author — This is the second in a weekly series by Lorna Landvik. Check out the first post, on destiny, here. — I was asked the other day why I finally decided to write about the time I spent in Hollywood doing stand-up comedy. “Why now?” … More Lorna Landvik: Why I wrote Best to Laugh, Part 1.

Lorna Landvik: Do we really "choose" our destinies—or are they written in the stars?

August 20, 2014

BY LORNA LANDVIKStand-up and improvisational comedian, public speaker, and best-selling author — This is the first in a weekly series by Lorna Landvik. — It’s a true story I often tell, about knowing that I wanted to be a writer when I learned how to read in the first grade.  “See Spot jump!” “See Puff … More Lorna Landvik: Do we really "choose" our destinies—or are they written in the stars?

Understanding inequality—across ecosystems, species, and human populations.

August 13, 2014

BY DAVID NAGUIB PELLOWAuthor of Total Liberation and professor and Don A. Martindale Endowed Chair of Sociology at the University of Minnesota The concept of total liberation stems from a determination to understand and combat all forms of inequality and oppression. It is comprised of four pillars: an ethic of justice and anti-oppression inclusive of … More Understanding inequality—across ecosystems, species, and human populations.

Return to the Enchanted Forest: ‘Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage’

August 6, 2014

Writer Haruki Murakami. BY MATTHEW C. STRECHER, PH.D.Professor of Japanese language, literature, and culture at Winona State University In just a couple of days, the English translation of Haruki Murakami’s most recent novel, Shikisai o motanai Tazaki Tsukuru to, kare no junrei no toshi will be released (aka Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of … More Return to the Enchanted Forest: ‘Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage’

Linda LeGarde Grover on the merits of time-honored oral tradition and contemporary fictional storytelling.

July 30, 2014

BY LINDA LEGARDE GROVERRecipient of the Flannery O’Connor Award and the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize; associate professor of American Indian studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth Although I didn’t know it at the time, The Road Back to Sweetgrass began during a visit to an elderly Ojibwe man’s house some years ago. Invited by … More Linda LeGarde Grover on the merits of time-honored oral tradition and contemporary fictional storytelling.

Sexuality in school: LGBT issues are not the exclusive concern of LGBT students.

July 23, 2014

BY JEN GILBERTAssociate professor in the Faculty of Education at York University, Toronto When lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues emerge in schools, it is often as controversy. Battles over sex education, worries about young children reading picture books about same-sex families, outrage at boys taking boys to the prom, lawsuits over gay-straight alliances, and … More Sexuality in school: LGBT issues are not the exclusive concern of LGBT students.

Reflections on Jacques Derrida, born on this day in 1930.

July 15, 2014

BY CARY WOLFEFounding editor, Posthumanities Series at University of Minnesota Press On this occasion of what would have been Jacques Derrida’s 84th birthday, it is worth reflecting once more on the resonance of his work for our own moment—a resonance that depends not only on his own remarkable body of writings, of course, but also … More Reflections on Jacques Derrida, born on this day in 1930.

Racial inequality remains etched into the very foundation of the U.S. interstate highway program and its cities.

July 10, 2014

A Los Angeles freeway in 2009. In his new book, Eric Avila digs into thecultural history of the U.S. interstate highway program.Image via Creative Commons. BY ERIC AVILAProfessor of history, Chicano studies, and urban planning at UCLA——- Avila is the author of The Folklore of the Freeway: Race and Revolt in the Modernist City, which … More Racial inequality remains etched into the very foundation of the U.S. interstate highway program and its cities.