MPR News and the Minnesota Star Tribune are heading back to Duluth this spring for a special Talking Volumes with author Peter Geye. Talking Volumes is hosted by award-winning MPR News journalist Kerri Miller.
About the Author
Peter Geye is the author of the award-winning novels Safe from the Sea, The Lighthouse Road, and Wintering, winner of the Minnesota Book Award, Northernmost, and, most recently, The Ski Jumpers. Geye received his MFA from the University of New Orleans and his PhD from Western Michigan University, where he was editor of Third Coast. Born and raised in Minneapolis, he continues to live there with his family.
About the Book
On the rocky shores of Lake Superior, a piercing story of selfhood and determinism develops: is the future what we’re handed or what we make of it?
It’s 1910, and Theodulf Sauer has finally achieved a position befitting his ego: master lighthouse keeper at a newly commissioned station towering above Lake Superior. When his new wife, Willa, arrives on the first spring ferry, it’s clear her life has taken the opposite turn: after being summoned home from college to Duluth when her father dies, she and her scheming mother find themselves destitute, and Willa is rushed into this ill-suited arranged marriage before she can comprehend her fate.
As the lighthouse station establishes, the new relationship teeters between tense and hostile, with little mutual understanding or tenderness. Willa takes solace in her learned fascination with the cosmos, especially (despite her husband’s suspicion of the event) in viewing the imminent Halley’s Comet. Under ominous night skies, Theodulf stands sentry over the lake, clinging to long-ago and faraway memories of happiness that fill him with longing and shame.
Into this impasse, a clairvoyant girl and her resolute uncle emerge from across the cove. They see through the Sauers’ thin façade and, by turns and in different ways, convey promise, sympathy, and insight that counter Willa’s despair. Armed with renewed self-determination, Willa forges a path to happiness. But before she can grasp it, tragedy comes to their remote beacon, and her future plunges toward a dark unknown.
Set against a brooding and beautiful landscape, A Lesser Light is a story about industry and calamity, science versus superstition, patriarchy’s corrosive power, and the consequences when these forces collide in the wilderness of rapid social change.
About the Music Guest
Superior Siren is an eerie folk project created by singer-songwriter Laura Sellner. The music offers an alluring expression of vulnerability & desire, with inspiration from Lake Superior and Siren mythology. When Sellner joined forces with cellist Rachel Gobin, bassist Nyssa Krause, and drummer Emma Deaner a sisterhood of sirens was formed. For the past nine years they crafted a mesmerizing blend of vocals, strings, & percussion. The band recently welcomed violinist and Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Erin Aldridge, creating an all the more captivating sound and performance. Superior Siren is not for the faint of heart, and will enchant those who dare to listen.
About the Host
Kerri Miller joined Minnesota Public Radio in June 2004 as host of Minnesota Public Radio’s Midmorning and Talking Volumes, the joint book club of MPR and the Star Tribune. She has been a radio and television news reporter since 1981. She has won numerous awards, including the Society of Professional Journalists National Achievement Award, Minnesota Broadcasters Award, the Associated Press Award and a Gracie award from the Association of Women in Radio and Television.
Tickets
All tickets are $25.00. Get your tickets at https://thecollegeofstscholastica.ticketspice.com/talking-volumes-with-peter-geye
Please consider supporting a local bookstore when you purchase this book.
https://www.zenithbookstore.com/
Sponsors
Minnesota Public Radio and the Minnesota Star Tribune would like to thank this year’s Talking Volumes Season sponsors The Duff Endowment, and Episcopal Homes.
About Talking Volumes
Talking Volumes, a partnership of MPR News and the Minnesota Star Tribune is a winner of the prestigious Gracie Allen Award. Talking Volumes was noted for its superior quality in writing, production and programming. The program spotlights books with feature articles, live broadcasts with the author, in-person readings and discussions, and more.
