On Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, Rain Taxi held their 24th annual Twin Cities Book Festival in the Progress Center at the Minn. State Fair Grounds. The event hosted a wide range of attendees and presenters from across the literary sphere. In keeping with Rain Taxi’s local focus, the event highlighted local publishers, authors and other various literary-related groups.
But what is Rain Taxi and why should people interested in all things literary be aware of their work? According to their website, Rain Taxi is “a literary organization that fosters engagement with innovative writing through programs and publications.”
In addition to publishing a quarterly magazine, they also organize the Rain Taxi Reading Series, which is a series of book events hosted around the Twin Cities, and annual Twin Cities Book Festival. On a broader level, the organization itself works within the local Twin Cities literary world, acting as a gateway into the workings of the space for people to engage with.
Entrance into the event was free, wherein 58 authors were exhibiting alongside 105 literary organizations, ranging from Feminist Book Club to Graywolf Press to Paranoid Tree Press.
Many of the attending authors had the opportunity to present their books on small stages scattered throughout the space. The Showcase stage — which hosted talks from authors whose books had come out within the last year — featured Macalester English Professor Sarah Ghazal Ali speaking on her new poetry book “Theophanies.” Justine and Olivia arrived at the venue around noon and spent the subsequent two hours exploring the rows of tables, talking to presenters and in turn being talked into various purchases. They both walked out with arms laden with books, stickers, flyers, business cards and so much more, including a stuffed manatee named Albert.
Justine came out of the event with four new books and many more on future to-read lists. The first, “Jellyfish Have No Ears” by Adèle Rosenfeld, follows the life of a hard-of-hearing main character named Louise grappling with the decision of whether or not to get cochlear implants, particularly as it will affect her relationship to the world around her. Written originally in French by a hard-of-hearing author, the work has been translated into English by a Deaf translator.
The second, marketed at the Festival as a must read for fans of Madeline Miller, is “Daughters of Sparta,” tells the story of the siege of Troy from the perspectives of Helen and Klytemnestra. Written by Claire Heywood, it promises to be a fun read for fans of Greek mythology.
The third book that Justine left with was “The Argonauts” by Maggie Nelson. This memoir tells the story of Nelson meeting her partner Harry Dodge, falling in love and building a family with them. Featuring a gender-fluid love interest, the book centers around queer family-making, both on a personal level and through an examination of the institutions of marriage and raising children as a whole. It was at this same table that Justine also grabbed some stickers, proudly declaring that “it isn’t hoarding if it’s books!”
Justine’s final purchase, “The Illustrated World of Tolkien,” serves as an overview and introduction to the world of Middle Earth, though its main draw is the beautiful illustrations found within. Coming from a wide range of artists, the art portrays scenes from Tolkien’s works, from the creation of the world, to the Gods, to various battles that were fought.
Olivia gravitated towards the tables advertising presses that specialized in mystery, thriller and horror. Her first purchase, however, was not a book at all, but a 3D printed dragon “reading buddy” which she delightedly bought from the Inky Bookwyrm table.
Olivia’s first literary purchase was from Joe Koch’s table, an author with publisher Weirdpunk Books, who advertise their works as both beautiful and grotesque. After a lovely conversation with Koch, Olivia bought both “The Wingspan of Severed Hands,” a novella, and “Come and Admire Him,” a small chapbook based on the 1981 horror film “Possession.”
Weirdpunk Books had their own table set up in another aisle, where Olivia purchased another novella titled “She Who Rules the Dead” by Maria Abrams. In this novella, the main character Claire has been kidnapped by a man named Henry, who murders people in a demonic-induced psychosis, and how she will be his fifth victim. The story unfolds as Henry gets more than he bargained for by choosing Claire for his final kill, as she is not as human as she seems.
Olivia then visited author Rod Vick’s table, who, according to his chalkboard sign, accepted payment types including cash, Venmo, chickens and freshly baked pie. She purchased his book, “A Phantom Walks Among Us”, a chilling mystery about one seemingly innocent local Mukwonago children’s rhyme, hiding dark clues to a recent series of murders which are recreating disturbing scenes from town folklore.
Next on Olivia’s book-buying journey was author Chloe Spencer’s “Vicarious,” published by Slashic Horror Press. This novel revolves around the grisly, passionate romance of Gertie and her former school bully, Bea. As Gertie conceives a master revenge plan against Bea, her vengeance becomes messier (and bloodier) than expected.
Olivia also ended up chatting with children’s book author and Season 6 contestant on Project Runway Christopher Straub, whose book “Albert the Confused Manatee” charmed her so much that she adopted her own Albert plushie (she has utmost confidence in her purchase).
Both Olivia and Justine perused Rain Taxi’s designated area where they sold tons of used books, records and comics for extremely low prices – which is where Olivia picked up her last book purchase “Bone Rattler” by Eliot Pattison, a colonial-era murder mystery.
There’s a large literary community in the Twin Cities for Mac students to engage with. As seniors, this was Justine and Olivia’ s first time attending this event. However, they both found themselves pleasantly surprised by the welcoming atmosphere within the space. They met talented, hard-working authors excited to sell their books, publishing organizations from the Twin Cities like Milkweed Editions and Coffee House Press looking to expand their audience, graduate writing programs from local universities hoping to attract potential students and so many more.
