Local Author Events Abound

A trio of local literati will visit bookstores across the city thisweek. Valerie Laken, author of DreamHouse, moved to Milwaukee in 2006 and servedtwo years as the writer in residence at Carthage Collegebefore joining the creative writing faculty at UW-Milwaukee. Dream House, Laken’s first novel, offerscompelling insights into the complicated meanings of home, shelter and love.Loosely based on Laken’s own experience in a decrepit house with a bloody past,Dream House is a dynamic story thatcharts how one terrible act can impact the lives of many characters. The New York Times Book Review callsthis debut the “perfect haunted house story for these unnerving times.” Lakenwill speak at People’s Books Co-opon March 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Author Danielle Trussoni is a born and bred Wisconsinite. Trussoni’snewest book, Angelology, her secondpublication and first work of fiction, is a beautiful tale driven bydescendants of angels and a secret history that stretches back a thousandyears. This smart and entertaining narrative follows Sister Evangeline in astory that ranges from Nazi-occupied Paris topresent-day New York Cityin the struggle to defeat an ancient evil. Trussoni, a native of La Crosse, Wis.,graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and later received an MFA infiction writing from the University of Iowa Writers’Workshop. Trussoni will discuss Angelologyat Next Chapter Bookshop on March 14at 2 p.m.

Local writers Glen Jeansonne and Dave Luhrssen are no strangers tocollaboration. The duo previously joined forces on the book A Time of Paradox: America Since1890 and now teams up for ChangingTimes, a biography of President Barack Obama. Following our nation’s leaderon his historic journey to the White House, ChangingTimes is a frank look at Obama’s formative years. As a professor of historyat UW-Milwaukee, Jeansonne focuses his research on 20th-century U.S. historyand politics. Luhrssen is the arts and entertainment editor for the Shepherd Express. Both men will appearat Boswell Book Co. on March 18 at 7p.m.