Meet Candace Simar

Candace Simar is a writer and poet from Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, in the heart of Lake Country. As a life-long Minnesotan, the grandchild of immigrants, Candace nurtures a passion for Minnesota History. She is the author of the Spur Award-winning Abercrombie Trail Series that combines Candace's love of history intertwined with stories of her Scandinavian heritage. 
"Birdie", part of the Abercrombie Series, received the 2012 Spur Award for best juvenile fiction and is set in the west. "Blooming Prairie", also part of the series, was honored as a finalist for the 2013 Spur Award. "Farm Girls" was co-written with her sister, Angela F. Foster, a memoir written in poetry and prose that celebrates growing up on a Minnesota dairy farm “Shelterbelts” chronicles the life of a community struggling to return to normal after war, “Dear Homefolks” a collection which includes frontier stories, memoir pieces, poetry, several pieces set in modern times.

Candace’s latest book “ Escape to Fort Abercrombie.” a YA novel set in the 1850’s at the time of the Great Sioux Uprising, a tale of a young boy who is caught in the middle of the tragedy and havoc, and must save his siblings as they try to get to safety. 

Jerry Raedeke -Watercolorist

Jerry Raedeke comes to Northwoods Art & Book Festival with a distinguished past. The renowned wildlife and landscape artists paintings have been shown at major wildlife exhibitions in the nation and have received many prestigious awards. Ducks Unlimited Artist of the Year in 6 states including Minnesota. Wildlife mugs with a Raedeke design appeared regularly on television’s, “Northern Exposure”,  and in several movies. Anheuser-Busch commissioned  Raedeke to paint the World-Famous Budweiser Clydesdales in a wildlife setting. He has been in documentaries on public television... Jerry’s list of accomplishments is long and honorable.

Raedeke’s love of the outdoors has also drawn him to conservation. Over his career, he has donated roughly 85,000 prints and over 150 original paintings, with proceeds going towards conservation efforts. He has raised over $5 million for Ducks Unlimited, which is just one of the organizations he works with.

Are you a collector of Jerry's work? He would love to visit with you, and if not, you may become one. Don't miss his collection in the Community Center this Saturday, August 11, from 9-3.

Hackensack's Bill Kennedy brings Kids games to the Festival

The Hackensack Children's Fishing Contest is proud to be working with the Northwoods Arts Council Festival this year.  We will be running various kids games to be played in the baseball fields next to the community center.  The events will a free will offering to play them, and the proceeds will go towards the "Save the Pier" project at the Birch Lake Dock.  This project is a restoration of the sea wall.  This is the wall that holds the earth up around the peninsula before you reach the DNR dock.  We are in the final stages of securing the funding for this project and look forward to its completion in the Fall.  Please consider bringing your kids to the Arts Festival and we can help entertain them and raise funds too.  Visit our website at www.hackcfc.com or www.facebook.com/hackcfc to find out more about our contest or to browse photos of our event.  

Welcome back Barbara Schlichting!

Barbara Schlichting has always been dreamer, so she writes books. She likes to wander through bookstores and fall in love with fictional characters. She also loves to travel and has had an English penpal for about fifty-five years. Barbara is the author of the First Ladies Dollhouse mystery series, historical fiction as well as picture books and poetry. She has several short stories published. Originally from Minneapolis, she and her family moved further north to Bemidji, MN. The First Lady mystery series is set in downtown Minneapolis. The protagonist, Liv and her husband, Aaron, own the Dollhouse Store. Liv is a distant descendant of First Lady Dolley Madison. Using historical clues, visiting historical sites, talking to her miniature dolls and rearranging the White Houses, and customer inquiries, the reader learns a little bit of history. Historical characters make Modern history. I have attended the Art and Book Festival a number of times and enjoyed it. It’s a great chance for me to meet my readers, and that’s what writing is about. Thank you for giving me the chance to express my thanks for being a fan.

Meet Donna Salli

Donna Salli writes in multiple genres – poetry, fiction, essays, and drama. Her debut novel, A notion of Pelicans (North Star Press, 2016), is set on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Her book weaves together the voices and stories of women who attend the same church but who handle their life struggles differently. Donna lives in Brainerd, where she taught English at Central Lakes College until her recent retirement. She looks forward to talking with book lovers in Hackensack!

Start your morning at our Festival with a sample from Kaffee Havn

Most of our employees live at Stille Havn Hus, our residential care facility. We believe in the therapeutic value of employment. Stille Havn Hus’ residents use the opportunities that our cottage industry provides as one of their good reasons to get up in the morning. We believe they help us make the kind of coffee that will inspire you to start your day with a purpose as well!

Meet Bing Puddlepot

In front of the MN Art Truck.

Presents his book in front of the MN Art Truck the tale of Jimmy Jonny Brownie, bedtimes and natural consequences.  
 
You see, Jimmy Jonny Brownie did not particularly like bedtimes.  It would be wonderful, he truly believed, to stay up all night. With the approval of some rather clever parents, he does just that.
 
The following day, his good friend Ellie Knelly comes over to play, and you'll just have to read the book to find out what happens next.
 
I wrote this book because most everyone likes to stay up and play when they should be in bed.  I also know kids have the ability to make staggeringly smart decisions--they often just lack experience.  And sometimes as parents, we need to give kids the chance to create "experience" for themselves, or, in lieu of that, read them a good book.
 
- Bing Puddlepot

Welcome Back Paul Sailer

Paul Sailer is the author of The Oranges are Sweet: Major Don M. Beerbower and the 353rd Fighter Squadron – November 1942 to August 1944. He is the recipient of the Aviation Writer of the Year award from the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame for this compelling biography of Minnesota’s outstanding triple ace Don Beerbower from Hill City.

Sailer says this about his recent book, I Had a Comrade – Stories about the Bravery, Comradeship, and Commitment of Individual Participants in the Second World War: “History is not dull when it contains engaging, in-depth, true stories about the fascinating young people of the war years. Certainly, there is something we can learn from them.” The book’s foreword is by Richard E. Cole, the last surviving member of the famous 1942 Doolittle Raid against Japan.

The author received a B.S. degree in Social Studies (emphasis American History) from Moorhead State College in 1969, and a pilot’s rating from the U.S. Army’s Advanced Flight School at Fort Rucker, Alabama, in 1970. He spent a year flying helicopters in Vietnam. He and his wife, Lois, live on a tree farm in Wadena County.

Sailer has participated in the Northwoods Art and Book Festival for several years. He especially enjoys meeting people from nearby and as far away as Alaska.

Welcome Chris Norbury

Chris Norbury's first novel, Castle Danger, was published in 2016. In 2017, Castle Danger was honored with a and an Honorable Mention in the Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards. His second novel, Straight River, will be published in 2018. This is Chris's first visit to the Northwoods Art & Book Festival.

Chris has been a volunteer Big Brother since 2000 and donates a portion of his book sale proceeds to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Minnesota. Born and raised in the Twin Cities, he currently lives in Owatonna, MN with his wife and golf clubs. To learn more, please visit his website, chrisnorbury.com.

We look forward to the creative art of Diamond Willow

We specialize in products made with Diamond Willow. Fire pokers, hot-dog and marshmallow roasting forks, grilling accessories, table lamps, furniture and log beds.

We specialize in products made with Diamond Willow. Fire pokers, hotdog and marshmallow roasting forks, grilling accessories, table lamps, furniture and log beds.

Meet Judy Jeub

Judy Jeub grerw up in Chicago but prefers the county life of middle Minnesota so that she can greet the sun in her pajamas with a cup of coffee in hand. She received a degree in religious studies from Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin and worked for ten years in religious education.

After attending St. Cloud State University, she had a second career as a parent educator, which, she says, “prepared her to be a grandparent.” Her passion is writing, especially stories of ordinary people. She also has a blog where she can express her opinions about such things as politics, religion, and critters that visit her yard.

Judy enjoys reading, needlework, and likes to put the last piece in the puzzle her husband, Bernie, labored over for weeks. Both are retired and enjoy traveling, gardening, preserving the produce together, and spending time with their four children and their partners, twenty-three grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

Quirks will be at the Northwoods Art & Book Festival

Stained glass yard and garden art inspired by nature and incorporating repurposed materials. Completely hand made using traditional stained glass methods.

Meet Patricia E. Linson

Patricia Linson, a retired teacher, lives with her husband, Irv, in Minnesota. Through Irv’s daughter, they have four grandchildren. Patricia has published short stories about family members in Kindred Spirit and The Senior Paper. Originally from Winnipeg, she keeps in touch with her Canadian prairie roots through her relatives in Manitoba. A Boy Called Allis, the first of Patricia’s Allister of Turtle Mountain series, was published in 2016. Hope for Allis is Book II. Please also watch for the third book of the trilogy, Becoming Bob

Meet Geoffrey Ferster, Ph.D.

The Sincere Veneer: What Drives the Development Industry off the Rails and How to get it Back on Track

Are you interested in a central development question: Why after $4.5 Trillion spent by Official Development Aid (not incl. Humanitarian Assistance) over 56 years (1960 – 2016) do 3.5 Billion people (half the world’s population) live on $3.80 OR Less per day (2015 prices)?  After spending four decades as an applied economist working in the Development Industry, I explain why the vast resources devoted to developmental issues in recent decades have borne so little fruit commensurate with its goals. Armed with the best of intentions (sometimes) and the generous donations of taxpayers, huge foundations and NGOs, a grown cadre of “experts” has, over time, brought into being that self-perpetuating behemoth we call the Development Industry. But all is not lost in my view. The talent and resources are in place: what’s needed to get the “industry” back on track with concomitant poverty alleviation and significantly improve living standard measurements à is a reorganization of the intellectual infrastructure with a new ‘Operating System’ that guides the systems.

As the book is part memoire: Chapter 3: My Own Story (66 pages) gives examples from five countries (Tanzania, Indonesia, Jordan, Malawi and Ghana) from the field perspective (incl. finance, agriculture and health). I also provide a refresher course in the history of the development industry, describes how it works now, and offers a clear and compelling blueprint with five interoperable recommendations for change. This treatise is in the book.

I discovered preparing and participating in three Northwood Art and Book Festivals the book’s key concepts, tenants, framework, analysis, thesis and examples help people interested in poverty alleviation, economic development and international affairs see through the mists and self-serving sensationalism that so often engulf the reporting of current events. Discover the tools to focus on core issues of current international affairs and investigate them productively.

At each Festival I have several examples of current affairs à and have thoroughly enjoyed meeting people interested in discussing various aspects of poverty alleviation and economic development. Many people are taking actions in various ways to make a meaningful impact! I think the book can be classed as Non-Fiction Mystery and Current Events. I eagerly look forward to meeting you August 11th! 

 (286 pages, see www.sincereveneer.com  and www.gferster.com )

Meet National Best - Selling Author - Christine Husom

Christine Husom is a national best-selling author from Buffalo. She pens the medium-boiled Winnebago County Mysteries, with seven in print so far, and the cozy— but not too cozy—Snow Globe Shop Mysteries where her bad guys prove that not everyone here is “Minnesota nice.” She has stories in six anthologies and co-edited A Festival of Crime for Nodin Press. Chris served with the Wright County Sheriff Department and is currently a County Commissioner. She and husband have been married for 45 years, and one of their shared joys is having their family of 15 over for Sunday dinners. She’s a member of Mystery Writers of America, and active with the Twin Cities Sisters in Crime. www.christinehusom.com

Joan Rydberg introduces the Wise Women from Wadworth

Joan Rydberg introducing the Wise Women from Wadworth dolls, they add warmth to any home they inhabit. My love for polymer clay has been a part of my life for over 20 years. Here is my 'Dance to the Music' whimsical playful sculpture that you can experience and purchase.  You will not find my creations anywhere else but at high quality art and craft shows. That’s why the Hackensack art and book festival is always on my list.

Meet Laura Hansen - Poet

Laura Hansen is a contributor to regional magazines and literary journals and has self-published three chapbooks. Her poetry has been featured on Lakeland Public Television, Northern Community Radio and NPR. Her poetry appears in the anthologies such as Fog and Woodsmoke (Lost Hills Books) and The Heart of All That Is (Holy Cow Press). Laura, a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, owned and operated Bookin' It-an independent bookstore-for twenty years and is a founding member of The Great River Writers. Her poetry collection, Midnight River (N.F.S.P.S Press, 2016), won the 2015 Stevens Poetry Manuscript Competition and was a Midwest Book Awards finalist. Laura lives in a pink house on the Mississippi River in Central Minnesota.

Meet Diane Riihiluoma

While at a show in Quartzite Arizona one winter, my husband and I went to a rock and gem show.  They had more beads, stones and raw rock than I had ever seen in my life.  I was attracted to a stone called a moldavite which I had never seen or heard of before.  They had booths with nothing but turquoise.  I believe that I became hooked on stones at that time.  This started my passion with wire-wrapping stones. 

I took hand-beading classes with my friend, mom, and aunt.  At first I was not very good.  After quite a few classes, I learned lots of techniques from a wonderful teacher and started beading without the classes. 

It all started about ten years ago.  Today I have a room full of beads, stone, wire and findings.  Every time I go out of town, I seek out a shop that has stones or beads, always searching for the perfect stones to wire-wrap. What I mean by wire-wrapping is that I use 12 or 14 gauge (heavy) sterling silver or copper wire to wrap stones with wire to create a pendant.  This is done with a hammer, anvil, wire cutters, pliers, file, and stones or cabochons.  When I pick a day to wrap stones, I start off by choosing the stones that I believe meet the following criteria:  I am attracted to the stone, the stone is competent, the stones have good edges for the wire to catch.  The first wraps of the day are usually done in copper in case I make a mistake, it is less expensive.  Wire is often not forgiving allowing to reuse for wire-wrapping.  After a few copper wraps, I move on to sterling silver wraps.  Not all wraps work out.  The trick is to get the stone to stay in the wire so it does not fall out.  I have been asked to wrap other people’s stones but usually hesitant because sometimes the stones are too fragile and break or they do not have good edges to catch the wire.  My daughter taught me how to wrap stones over 10 years ago.  The finished pendants are my works of art.  For the most part I love them all but I do have my favorites.  Some stones have a story and they are just part of the piece and the art. 

I also hand-bead jewelry pieces.  I do not use any kits.  All beads are hand selected by me.  I have been told I have a good eye for color.  One of my favorite bracelets is called a Peyote Freeform Bracelet.  I usually start with about 5 different color of beads and a couple of different size beads.  Using the peyote stitch, I hand-bead a base.  The clasps are hand-beaded as well.  The bracelet is embellished with larger focal beads that are randomly hand-beaded into the base.  When finished, they are a work of art.  All done in a freeform style with peyote stitch .  I learned how to bead through the local community education office classes over 10 years ago.

What do you get when you mix Wayne and the Boys

With Portage Brewing Company? A whole lot of FUN!

Relax and enjoy the fabulous musical talent of Wayne and the Boys One - Man - Band and Legends of South Dakota Country Music Hall of Fame Inductee, Wayne Wagner, will be our toe-tapping and boot stopping entertainment this year! Don't miss his performance 11 am to 3 pm, or meander through Lake Avenue taking in all of the artists and authors while enjoying a cold brew from our neighbor to our north... Portage Brewing Company.  

A first for our Festival - We are excited to be featuring Portage Brewing Company out of Walker who will be serving their creative craft beers which will always include something malty, hoppy and funky. They focus on a complex and crushable brewing philosophy with experimentation at the center. 

 

Introducing Brenda Mason

Brenda creates unique clothing and outerwear.

---