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Laura Bird

About Laura Bird

Laura, who’s an ardent reader and debut middle-grade author, loves literary fiction, memoirs, essay collections—and helping people find their perfect book.

Still True author Maggie Ginsberg: Interview and Book Recommendations

On word vitamins, substance abuse, and her complicated love letter to small-town Wisconsin By Laura Anne Bird The moment has finally arrived for Maggie Ginsberg. Her debut novel, Still True, which took “three months, five years, or a lifetime to write,” is being launched into the world. Still True is the unsettling, slow burning, deeply pleasurable story of Lib Hanson, a fiercely independent woman with a silver braid down her back. On a hot summer night, a man shows up at her farmhouse in Anthem, Wisconsin, and she understands instantly he’s the son she left four decades ago—“a reunion-in-the-making so [...]

2022-09-14T09:35:24-07:00September 14th, 2022|

When wood and words come together: A children’s picture book is born

Q&A with debut author illustrator Joseph Taylor + three book recommendations By Laura Bird Madison, Wisconsin-based working artist Joseph Taylor is many things: pianist, vocalist, yogi, gardener, dad. Now, he’s an author illustrator, too. Taylor’s debut children’s picture book, The Walking Tree, celebrates a centuries-old woodworking technique called Intarsia—but with his own vibrant spin. “I make wooden wall art by cutting recycled skateboards and other found woods, and I arrange the pieces on hand-painted backgrounds,” Taylor says. “My final pieces might feature a whimsical submarine floating in the sky or an ancient tree balancing in the wind. I play with [...]

2022-06-30T12:32:59-07:00June 30th, 2022|

Deceit and Denial in the Windy City

An interview with Truth and Other Lies novelist Maggie Smith By Laura Anne Bird In Truth and Other Lies, debut novelist Maggie Smith weaves a riveting and swiftly moving tale of mothers, daughters, journalism, and politics. Twenty-five-year-old Megan Barnes has just lost her reporting job and her boyfriend. She leaves her apartment in Brooklyn and moves back to Chicago, feeling (and acting) like a hot mess. Helen, her mom, welcomes her in, but within minutes they’re bickering as usual, clashing over everything from reproductive rights to #MeToo. To make matters worse, Helen has announced her run for US Congress, which [...]

2022-03-13T12:53:03-07:00March 13th, 2022|
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