Graphic Memoir—Art and Prose Capturing the Human Experience
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November 1, 2023

Memoir allows readers a glimpse into the lives of others, the struggles they’ve gone through, the lessons they’ve learned, showing the width and breadth of the human experience. And with the added visual element, graphic memoir brings another dimension to the story and pulls the reader into the setting without the need for prose description, visually transporting readers to lands and perspectives different from their… [Read More]

Reading in Duluth
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October 25, 2022

Award-winning author Jeannine Ouellette will be in Duluth at the end of October for two literary events — live and in-person, both free and open to the public. On Wednesday, October 26, Jeannine Ouellette will read from her memoir, The Part That Burns, at 6 pm in the Kathryn A. Martin Library Rotunda on the campus of the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Ouellette will share the… [Read More]

The Long Surrender
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January 25, 2022

Brian McDonald has accepted an offer of publication for his new memoir, THE LONG SURRENDER (Working Title), from Wisdom Editions, an imprint of Calumet Editions for April 15, 2022. After 30 years of preaching, Brian Rush McDonald walked away from the pulpit. He had become a Jesus freak during the tumult of high school desegregation in the 70s in Mobile, Alabama, and then immersed himself… [Read More]

Classes, Workshops & Retreats for Winter 2022
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December 21, 2021

In an effort to create more opportunities to work with writers, Swenson Book Development LLC will begin to offer virtual classes, workshop, and retreats in January 2022. All sessions will be held via Zoom and documents will be shared using Google Drive. If you are interested in registering for a class, workshop or retreat, please email Jill at Swenbooks dot com by January 3, 2022…. [Read More]

Graphic Memoir—Powerful Stories through Illustration
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October 6, 2021

With a beautiful blend of art and prose, graphic novels are one of the most accessible mediums out there. Even if you’re not a huge reader, a graphic novel is easy to pick up and digest. More than just superhero comics and manga, graphic novels contain stories from many different genres—mystery/thriller, romance, sci-fi/fantasy, and so much more. While comics and graphic novels are certainly not… [Read More]

The Part That Burns – A Book Giveaway
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March 16, 2021

Jeannine Ouellette’s new memoir, The Part That Burns, has garnered critical acclaim since its release on February 1. Joyce Carol Oates called it “simply beautiful. Precisely imagined, poetically structured, compelling, and vivid.” Last week Ouellette joined Jo Ann Beard, Katherine Angel, Dantiel Moniz and Michele Filgate for a panel discussion on “Desire” for the Red Ink Series, sponsored by Books Are Magic bookstore in Brooklyn… [Read More]

Becoming Our Whole Self – an Interview with Jeannine Ouellette
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December 15, 2020

You can tear a thing apart and tape it back together, and it will still be torn and whole. There is no other way. In her fiercely beautiful memoir, Jeannine Ouellette recollects fragments of her life and arranges them elliptically to witness each piece as torn and whole, as something more than itself. Caught between the dramatic landscapes of Lake Superior and Casper Mountain, between her stepfather’s… [Read More]

A Journey Through Healing – Petals of Rain by Rica Keenum
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January 21, 2020

Taking a girl’s voice is the same as taking her power. Petals of Rain: A Mother’s Memoir by Rica Keenum is a memoir about love and loss, secrets and lies. When a young girl from a broken family meets a charming man, she attempts to build a new life. But after a whirlwind marriage and the birth of two sons, their love story rips apart… [Read More]

Memoir as Synecdoche
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May 8, 2018

If you are an author of memoir, then you know the story isn’t entirely about you. It’s about the reader. Taking the “me” out of memoir is important if you seek publication for your story. If you use the pronoun “I” in every sentence you actually create a division between you and the reader. Imagine the difference between these two passages. The trees formed a… [Read More]

Marcel’s Letters is a Minnesota Book Awards Finalist
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February 27, 2018

  While book awards are not always something that authors think about while writing, being nominated for one is a special honor and a recognition of talent and hard work. Recently, graphic designer and author Carolyn Porter was announced as a 2018 finalist in the Minnesota Book Awards for her memoir Marcel’s Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man’s Fate (Skyhorse Publishing, June… [Read More]