New Yorker cartoonist’s graphic memoir is St. Croix Valley Big Read for 2023

Mary Divine, Pioneer Press
·2 min read
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New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast’s award-winning graphic memoir “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?” is this year’s NEA Big Read in the St. Croix Valley.

The purpose of the program, run by Art Reach St. Croix in Stillwater, is to “have as many people as possible finding connection through reading a common book,” said ArtReach executive director Heather Rutledge.

A month of events centered around themes in the book kicks off with “NEA Big Read Kick-off and Exhibition Opening” from 6-8 p.m. March 30 at ArtReach St. Croix in Stillwater. The free event features two concurrent exhibitions in the gallery space: “Roz Chast: Upper West Side Meets Upper Midwest” and “Art on Caregiving, Aging, Death and Dying.”

At 2 p.m. April 2, Minnesota Public Radio’s Cathy Wurzer will present “End in Mind’s Art of Difficult Conversations” at Trinity Lutheran Church in Stillwater. The event will feature improv artist Tane Danger, audience participation and the launch of a new online resource. Registration is required to attend.

Author Richard Leider will present “Everyone Is Getting Old, But Are You Growing Old?” at 6:30 p.m. April 19 at The Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, Wis. Leider is the author of “Who Do You Want to Be When You Grow Old?” Registration is required.

In addition, The Remember Project’s “Fortune Cookies,” a one-act play about memory loss by Bonnie Dudovitz, will be presented throughout the month.

ArtReach St. Croix is one of about 62 groups nationwide to receive the $20,000 NEA Big Read grant. This is the seventh year the group has received the grant, Rutledge said.

Part of the grant will be used to buy more than 150 copies of “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?” for libraries, Little Free Libraries and other public places, Rutledge said.

For more information, go to ArtReachStCroix.org/bigread.

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