Literary pick(s) of the week feature immigrant food, Native hope, a tender relationship and travels

Oct. 17—There are so many candidates for Pick of the Week we had to expand to more than one this week.

WHAT WE HUNGER FOR

What food means to immigrants and second generations is shared by 14 writers of a variety of ethnicities in the interesting and touching anthology "What We Hunger For: Refugee and Immigrant Stories about Food and Family," edited by Sun Yung Shin. To many immigrants, food means home, love, family, but also new experiences as their cuisine meets dishes of their new country.

As Sun Yung Shin writes in her introduction: "This book is so full of life, so vibrant, and so juicy, I am excited to share these essays with you. These writers have mined their multilayered, multisensory memories for you; they have brought their best storytelling gifts to these pages about food and families. You will find poetics of food both collective and idiosyncratic. You will travel to fragrant places here and there. You will see the beautifully human complexities in each author through their multifaceted relationships to food and family." Sun Yung Shin will be joined by contributors Lina Jamoul, Michael Torres, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Kou B.Thao reading from the anthology (Minnesota Historical Society Press) at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22. Free, in-store, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.

A TENDER RELATIONSHIP

Elizabeth Strout, Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author ("My Name is Lucy Barton') will be in-person at Stillwater Middle School, 523 Marsh St. W., at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22, to introduce her new novel "Oh William!," in conversation with Minnesota Thurber Prize recipient Julie Schumacher. This is Strout's third novel featuring writer Lucy Barton, recounting her complex, tender relationship with William, her first husband, whom she divorced, and her longtime, on-again-off-again friend and confidante. A big revelation for both of them leads him to check out mentally, the reason she left him in the first place. The title refers to her belief he will never change. Presented by Literature Lovers' Night Out, Rain Taxi Review and Valley Bookseller of Stillwater. $35, includes admission to the event and a signed copy of the book. Tickets: valleybookseller.com/event/elizabeth-strout-presents-oh-william.

NATIVE HOPE AND SURVIVAL

Plagues and natural disasters have killed millions of people on Earth and have prevented those who survive from sleeping, leading to sickness, madness and inability to rebuild. Except for the indigenous people, who have retained their ability to sleep. That's the premise of Cherie Dimaline's dystopian young adult novel "Hunting By Stars," sequel to "The Marrow Thieves." In the new book, 17-year-old French has lost his family to the boarding schools that have reopened so authorities can capture the secrets of the indigenous people, who are believed to carry this ability in their bone marrow. French heads north with his found family, dodging those who would imprison him. "Hunting By Stars" was named by Time Magazine as one of the best YA books of all time. A member of the Georgian Bay Metis Community of Ontario, Dimalin will introduce her book at a Zoom event at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20, presented by Birchbark Books. Free. Registration: birchbarkbooks.com

KLECKO AND THE GATED COMMUNITY

EAST SIDE FREEDOM LIBRARY hosts its last outdoor cultural event at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, on the front lawn of the library, 1105 Greenbrier St., St. Paul. It's free and open to the public. Baker/poet/memoirist and bon vivant Danny Klecko, author of the award-wining collection "Hitman-Baker-Casketmaker," will share how he found inspiration for his new book, "Lincolnland," his odyssey during the pandemic when he chased the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. If the audience is lucky, he might read from an even newer publication, "3 a.m. Austin Texas," his brief memoir about leaving St. Paul on a bitterly cold January day after he committed a crime, and his experiences as a broke young man on the road south to Texas. Providing music at the Freedom Library event will be The Gated Community, a country/bluegrass band started in 2006 by South Asian-American Yale graduate and political activist Sumanth Gopinath. a professor of music theory at the University of Minnesota.