NEW ULM — As a voracious reader, Marcie R. Rendon found writing to be a natural extension of that. She has used her creativity to produce everything from children’s books to a theater production featuring three Anishinaabe performers.
An enrolled member of the White Earth Nation, she will present a storytelling and book signing event beginning at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, at Lykke Books in New Ulm. Registration is $5 and available at LykkeBooks.com/events (all registrants receive a $5 coupon good the night of the event).
“I think mostly I’m a compulsive reader, and so the next step seemed to be to just write,” she said by phone last week while traveling out west. She started by writing plays and poetry and short stories; today, she is best known for her Cash Blackbear mystery series.
Her protagonist, a young Ojibwe woman, isn’t representing any one person she has met, she said. Instead, she’s a combination of the traits she has witnessed in her peers.
“The strength and resiliency. You know, there’s the generational trauma, but there’s the resiliency that as a character she represents,” Rendon said. “It is every single Native woman that I’ve ever known.”
Rendon noted that she has always been a member of writing groups, and that ties in nicely with what Lykke Books (pronounced loo kah) is all about. In fact, Brie Taralson, owner of Lykke Books, is pleased that groups have found them as a place to gather for support.
“One of the things that I was pleasantly surprised by was there’s a number of people, writers, people that are either freelance writers or they want to write a book” who have found Lykke, she said. “We’ve had little … groups that have met here and just use themselves as accountability partners as they’re writing their own books.”
Recognizing that New Ulm is a bit of a “book dessert” between Mankato and Sioux Falls, Taralson opened in May of last year and is working to fill those gaps in a building that’s been dubbed Ulm Sweet Ulm. Bringing in regional authors like Rendon, whose books are set in the not too distant Red River Valley, is one way to do that.
Speaking at libraries and bookstores is something that happens often for Rendon, whose books are popular in New Ulm, Taralson said.
Tammy Klawitter, social media and event coordinator, booked her appearance.
The organic author appearances continue Oct. 2 when William Kent Krueger, bestselling author of the Cork O’Connor series and stand-alone novels like Edgar Award-winning “Ordinary Grace,” appears. Ticket costs is $10, which an accompanying $10 coupon valid that night.
Speakers appear either in the coffee shop area or the larger event room in back, which holds up to 49 people. Both spaces are used by other organizations — from church groups to crocheting groups to activist groups — fulfilling Taralson’s gap-filing goals.
Krueger will be promoting his latest Cork O’Connor book, “Apostle’s Cove,” and Taralson is looking forward to it. It was released Sept. 2.
“We supported his event in Sleepy Eye just a few months ago, and (I’m interested) to see if he talks about something different or kind of how he does that,” she said.
Speaking of watching how a story unfolds, Rendon said in her own reading she would get tired when authors strayed from the main story, often looking ahead to find where it picked up again. She works to avoid that in her writing and keeps the story moving full steam ahead.
“The adult novels, they’re character driven. So, the character is there and as long as it seems like I stay true to what the character would do or say or how they live, it works,” she said. “I try not to write those where my readers get stuck.”
And in presenting at these gatherings, she enjoys seeing how her books have been accepted.
“I have found it fascinating that the books, even though they’re Native-centric, they resonate with so many people. And I think that’s because they’re rural,” she said. They feature the rural, farming or small town lifestyle that promote a sense of community.
“I wasn’t prepared for so many others to really watch it, Cash as a character and the stories themselves,” Rendon said.