St. Paul & Online – Minnesota Writers Off the Page: Bronson Lemer
October 9 @ 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm CDT
Join us for an engaging reading and discussion exploring the collection of contemplative essays that form “The Lonely Veteran’s Guide to Companionship” by Bronson Lemer. Bronson will be joined by poet and Veteran Jessi Atherton as they consider how the book chronicles a journey for a sense of self, community, and belonging, Bronson’s experiences of serving in the military, gaining awareness of his sexual orientation, and living abroad as a gay man. Following the discussion, audience members are invited to participate in a Q&A session, enjoy light refreshments, and have further informal conversation with the featured speakers. Copies of “The Lonely Veteran’s Guide to Companionship” will be available for purchase, and the evening will finish with a book signing. This is a hybrid event; participants can join in-person or online.
About the Speakers
Bronson Lemer served as a carpenter in the Army National Guard for six years, including deployments to Kosovo in 2000 and Iraq in 2003. Besides “The Lonely Veteran’s Guide to Companionship,” he is the author of “The Last Deployment: How a Gay, Hammer-Swinging Twentysomething Survived a Year in Iraq” (University of Wisconsin Press, 2011). In 2019, he was named a McKnight Writing Fellow. He lives in St. Paul and teaches writing at the University of Minnesota, Rochester.
Jessi Atherton is a mother, healer, Veteran, poet, lover of scrabble and charcuterie. Her writing touches on lived experiences and themes of motherhood, military, mental health, grief, healing, and humanity. Jessi is a Minnesota Humanities Center 2019 Veterans Voices awardee, a member and facilitator of Warrior Writers, a board member of the League of Minnesota Poets, and the Minnesota Assistant Counsel for Veterans. She is a 2023 Pat Tillman Scholar and US Army Veteran who served in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Jessi’s work has been published throughout the years with Nodin Press, The Cuddy Foundation, Iliad Press, McGregor Publishing, the International Library of Poetry, and Middle West Press. Her first full collection, “The Time War Takes,” came out in April 2023 and received honorable mention in Senators Bob and Elizabeth Dole Inaugural Biennial Award for Distinguished Book in Veterans Studies, 2024 and made Community of Literary Magazines and Presses must read for Women’s History Month, 2024. Jessi is the mom to three amazing daughters, a mental health nurse, and works as a Psychiatric Mental Health nurse practitioner.
This event is part of the Minnesota Writers Off the Page series, bringing the inspirational voices of Minnesota’s authors directly to readers. This event is presented in partnership with Quatrefoil Library; based in Minneapolis, Quatrefoil Library collects, maintains, documents and circulates gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer materials and information in a safe and accessible space, in order to promote understanding, an appreciation of diversity and history, and the value of communities.
Registration
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
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