Published by the North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies.

Wednesday night, approximately 50 people gathered to hear Brenda K. Marshall read excerpts from her new novel, "Dakota Or What's a Heaven For" and to hear Tom Fricke wax poetic about the land of North Dakota as well. Audience members were treated to a reading, a discussion of the writing process, and vivid excerpts of North Dakota history.

 If these two are accurate representatives, then Dakotans love the space that was (and always will be) their home, regardless of what Rand McNally thinks.

Marshall and Fricke each spoke of both the general character prevalent in Dakotans. Fricke also provided historical information to illuminate some of the events and people in the novel. He referenced both poetry and his own research.

Quoting from Thomas McGrath's Letter to an Imaginary Friend, Fricke gave examples of the intricate sense of hope Dakotan's have. He also mentioned the time he was doing research in western North Dakota, and a hailstorm occurred that turned an excellent crop into a loss. Talking to his friend, a farmer, he began to realize why weeks earlier there was a reluctance to speculate as to whether this would be a good year. Dakotans' lives, as much as the land, are a product of the whims of the weather.

They also each mentioned some of the themes in the novel, which include stories people tell themselves about themselves, connections built between individuals, a sense of separateness and transformation. The central character is Frances Houghton Bingham, who marries Percy in order to be near his sister, for whom she cares deeply.

Marshall explained that some of the themes converge in Frances, when she begins to see the emptiness in the landscape as a space in which she can write her own story. I see this as a blank canvas to transform herself; to tell herself the story of who she is in whatever fashion she pleases.

I look forward to reading this novel; I want to hear more from the characters I was introduced to. In addition to the preamble, Marshall read an excerpt of Kirsten Knudson, the daughter of Norwegian homesteaders whose voice was so clear and rather amusing. Kirsten's text in the novel is first person ("I"), even though that was not the author's initial intent. At some point, the voice of the character had more control than Marshall did as author.

By the end of the night, I realized that I had both been introduced to a novel and had also briefly become a tourist, learning of another land embedded in my own home country.

The Author's Forum is a collaboration between the U-M Institute for the Humanities, University Library, Great Lakes Literary Arts Center, and the Ann Arbor Book Festival. Additional sponsorship for this event was provided by the U-M Department of English Language & Literature and the MFA Program in Creative Writing.

Julia Eussen received her B.A. in English from Kansas State University. She is currently a graduate student in Eastern Michigan University's Professional Writing Program. She is also an active member of the Ann Arbor Classics Book Group and has recently begun to re-acquaint herself with good poetry. She can be reached at jeussen at emich dot com.