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Author Rachelle Chase Returns with Second Book about Buxton: An amazing integrated town was created in 1900 by a coal company and owned by a railroad, two industries known for being racist. But Buxton, Iowa was also known by many as a Black Utopia. In her second book, Creating the Black Utopia of Buxton, Iowa, author Rachelle Chase continues the story she began in her first book, Lost Buxton. She will continue her story of Buxton with a fascinating book talk on Monday, April 1 at 6:30 PM at Artisan Gallery 218 in West Des Moines. In this community of five thousand residents, African Americans and Caucasians lived, worked and attended school together. It was a thriving, one-of-a-kind coal mining town created by the Consolidation Coal Company. African Americans were 55% of the population until approximately 1914. Surprisingly, there was no forced segregation or Jim Crow. If residents could not accept integration, Superintendent Ben Buxton made them move on. The book shares stories of how this unique community provided opportunity for many of its residents. Dr. E. A. Carter was the first African American to get a medical degree from the University of Iowa in 1907. He returned to Buxton and was hired by the coal company, where he treated both black and white patients. Attorney George Woodson ran for file clerk in the Iowa Senate for the Republican Party, losing to a white man by one vote. The author stumbled upon the story of Buxton eight years ago while visiting a friend. She began researching it and promised herself that she would write a book about it one day. When she moved to Iowa four years ago, she did. That first book made her want to know even more about the town and the corporations behind it, so she kept on doing research leading to this new book just released in January. In addition to writing, Chase works as a senior business analyst for Fortune 500 companies, continues to research Buxton, and is a budding photographer, specializing in photos of bugs and food—though hopefully not in the same photo. For more information, visit www.LostBuxton.com and www.RachelleChase.com.
Located in Archive / 2019 / April
Happy Hour Book Club: Join us for our Happy Hour Book Club, at RUBAIYAT. We discuss contemporary literary fiction. Decorah Public Library has multiple copies of discussion books for checkout. For January we will be discussing "The Tattooist of Auschwitz" by Heather Morris.
Located in Archive / 2019 / January
KPL Monthly Book Club: The Knoxville Book Club meets on the second Monday of every month to discuss one title. In January, we will discuss the All Iowa Reads title "This Blessed Earth" by Ted Genoways. The topic is relevant to all Iowans, who are closely associated with farming and agriculture. Everyone is welcome.
Located in Archive / 2019 / January
You're invited to a book launch party!: I’m VERY excited to be introducing my latest book, Be the Light that You Are, and hope you'll join me for a presentation and reading, book signing, food, fun and announcements about special upcoming events. I couldn’t be happier to hold this event at Beaverdale Books. Since I grew up in that neighborhood, it always feels like coming home. (I just wish the store had existed when I was a kid!) Be the Light that You Are is the perfect follow-up to The Only Little Prayer You Need and Let Your Spirit Guides Speak. I think of it as a handbook, based on ten principles that will keep us focused on kindness and decency no matter how overwhelming the world may seem. It feels like the right time for this book—it's something we can all use every day.
Located in Archive / 2019 / April
All Iowa Reads Community Book Discussion: Join us around the fireplace as we discuss the 2019 All Iowa Reads selection This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm by Ted Genoways. This was also chosen as the One Book One Nebraska book. The family farm lies at the heart of our national identity, and yet its future is in peril. Rick Hammond grew up on a farm, and for forty years he has raised cattle and crops on his wife’s fifth-generation homestead in Nebraska, in hopes of passing it on to their four children. But as the handoff nears, their family farm—and their entire way of life—are under siege on many fronts, from shifting trade policies, to encroaching pipelines, to climate change. Following the Hammonds from harvest to harvest, Ted Genoways explores the rapidly changing world of small, traditional farming operations. He creates a vivid, nuanced portrait of a radical new landscape and one family’s fight to preserve their legacy and the life they love.
Located in Archive / 2019 / August
Yellow Suit Club: A Book Club with a Twist Unwrap a New World Every Month 6:30-8:00 p.m. First Tuesdays at Plot Twist Bookstore Chad Michael Cox, leader
Located in Archive / … / 2017 / January
Novel Conversations: Novel Conversations is a book group that alternates between classic novels and more recent works of fiction and nonfiction. Participants are welcome to come to all the meetings or just those that sound interesting. Multiple copies of each book are available for checkout in the library and are, whenever possible, made available in large print, audiobook, and ebook editions. Novel Conversations meets the third Thursday of each month from 7:00-8:00 pm in the Board Room. Refreshments are served!
Located in Archive / … / 2017 / January
Meet the Author: Thomas R. Baker: Thomas R. Baker is the associate dean of students at the University of Iowa. A judicial administrator since 1988, he specializes in civil rights investigations. He lives in Muscatine with his partner, Neva Rettig Baker.
Located in Archive / … / 2017 / January
Meet the Author: Lana Jean Mitchell: Lana Jean Mitchell began writing during the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she was born and grew up. She attended workshops where accomplished writers like Poet Haki Madhubuti, Novelist John O. Killens, Novelist/Short Story Writer Toni Cade Bambara, and Poet Sonja Sanchez taught persons interested in the craft of writing. At Wilberforce University, Lana majored in mass media communications and sociology, earning a bachelor of arts degree. She also pursued a Ph.D. at the Union Institute and University. The course work enhanced her skills and furthered her desire to write. Lana has written for newspapers, magazines, and radio. A children's Christmas story, “The Ebony Tree and the Spirit of Christmas,” written by Robert W. Green, was coproduced by Lana and broadcasted for two holiday seasons on WGUC University of Cincinnati's classical radio station. She currently writes children's books, poetry, essays, and book and film reviews. In 2013 to 2014, she wrote an Internet movie blog titled MovieswithMitchell. Lana has also published in two poetry collections. A Birthday Story is Lana's first children's book to be published. She has others in the works. Lana is a mother, grandmother, and fiancée.
Located in Archive / … / 2017 / January
Meet the Author: Dennis Maulsby: Dennis Maulsby is a retired bank president living in Ames, Iowa with his wife Ruth, a retired legal secretary and his dog Charlie, a retired CIA operative. A son and grandson, Matt and Kaden, live in the Pacific Northwest. His poetry and short stories have appeared in Lyrical Iowa, The North American Review, Haiku Journal, Spillway, The Hawai’i Pacific Review, The Briarcliff Review, and numerous other journals. A U.S. Army Veteran, Maulsby spent four and a half years on active duty. Enlisting as a private, he served two years as a Russian voice intercept operator rising to the rank of Specialist Fifth Class before attending Ft. Benning, Georgia’s Infantry Officer Candidate School. After graduation as a Second Lieutenant, he was accepted into the Military’s Intelligence branch. In 1968, he served with the 25th Infantry division while in Vietnam. Maulsby led a mobile electronic intelligence gathering platoon with elements established in firebases and Vietnamese villages in southwestern Vietnam. He received an honorable discharge in 1970. Maulsby is a past President of the Iowa Poetry Association. He holds memberships in the Iowa Poetry Association, The National Federation of State Poetry Societies, Ames Third Stanza Poets, Burlington’s Society of Great River Poets, The Military Writers Society of America, the Urbandale Omega Poets, The Ankeny Writers Workshop, The Jordan Creek Mall Barnes & Noble Writers, and The International War Veterans Poetry Archives.
Located in Archive / … / 2017 / January

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