Carol Connolly, the first poet laureate of St. Paul, will hold a reading and book-signing at 4:30 p.m. Monday, April 11, in Room 102 of the O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library Center on the St. Paul campus of the University of St. Thomas.
The event will last about and hour and is free and open to all. Light refreshments will be served. For more information contact Julie Kimlinger at (651) 962-5014 or jakimlinger@stthomas.edu. The event is one of the Library Week activities at St. Thomas.
Carol Connolly
Connolly will read selected pieces from her books All This and More and Payments Due. Copies of the books will be available for signing. Payments Due was adapted for the stage and enjoyed two-year runs in both Los Angeles and Minneapolis.
Connolly, who was named St. Paul’s first poet laureate by Mayor Chris Coleman in 2006, has had a varied career in media. She has worked as a writer with the New York-based Warner Brothers Wonder Woman Foundation and served as a columnist or reviewer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Star Tribune, Mpls.-St. Paul Magazine, Minnesota Law and Politics and Ladies Home Journal. She also has been a commentator on 1500 KSTP-AM radio and was the “Duchess of Dish” at KARE-TV.
Active in politics, Connolly was involved with the peace movement of the 1960s and later with women-centered organizations. She served on and then chaired the St. Paul Human Rights Commission, served three terms as Minnesota racing commissioner, and was founder and co-chair of the Minnesota Women’s Political Caucus.
Connolly, 77, began writing poetry 35 years ago by accident; a fiction class she wanted to take was full, so she signed up for a poetry class instead.
This year she won the Kay Sexton Award, given to someone who has made substantial and long-standing contributions to the world of books and reading in the Twin Cities. She will be honored at the Minnesota Book Awards Gala on April 16 in downtown St. Paul.
Directions to the library and parking options can be found here.
