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Sun Ray Branch

Saint Paul 55119

Magers & Quinn Booksellers

3038 Hennepin Avenue  
Minneapolis, MN 55408-2614
(612) 822-4611

Noon – 2 p.m.

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Ten years ago, Kevin Kling was nearly killed when his vintage motorcycle collided with a car in Minneapolis.

This month, he’s celebrating publication of two new books and the debut of a holiday show he wrote as Minnesota Public Radio’s writer in residence. He’s performing with Interact Theater, and on Monday, he presented a one-man show at the Guthrie.

What a difference a decade has made in the life of this slender, bespectacled Minnesotan with a national reputation as a playwright, humorist, actor, storyteller, author and National Public Radio commentator.

“Every year I get a bit stronger, and a few more brain cells seem to flow back,” Kling says, recalling the aftermath of his life-altering accident on a muggy August day in 2001.

“My memory is getting stronger, but my thoughts are different. Before the accident, they were much more linear. Although people might not believe this, I’ve moved to more poetic thinking.”

Kling’s new books are “Big Little Brother,” his first for children, and “Come and Get It,” the Minnesota Center for Book Arts Winter Book. His holiday show, “Of Mirth and Mischief,” is his first collaboration with his friend Steve Kramer, former leader of the band the Wallets.

Kling’s busy December is astonishing, considering how severely he was injured in the accident. His face was crushed, and the nerves of his right arm were torn from their sockets. Since he was born with a defect that caused his leftarm to be shorter than his right, the accident nearly destroyed his “good” arm.He went through many months of pain, surgeries and physical rehabilitation before he put his life together.

Kling, a graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College, lives in South Minneapolis with his girlfriend, Mary Ludington, who he credits with “being crucial” to keeping his busy schedule on track.

Kling says Ludington, his family and friends pulled him through those dark days after the accident. So, it’s not surprising that loved ones and hospital experiences provided inspiration for his recent work.

“OF MIRTH AND MISCHIEF”

Kling drew on his childhood stay in a hospital to write this fairy tale about a 4-year-old boy surrounded by doctors, nurses and other children who take on personas of mythical beings.

“Most fairy tales start with a kid being separated from parents and faced with a journey,” Kling explains. “A hospital is an alternative world, like the forest in ‘Hansel and Gretel.’ In my fairy tale, there are challenges and good and evil. This is a Jungian idea, the way fairy tales work. They not only guide us with morals but take us to places we most fear and let us come back safely.”

Kling says Kramer’s music for the show, ranging from bluesy piano to a Latin beat, “is just short of genius.” (A free download of the soundtrack is available at mpr.org/mirth.)

Kramer and Kling have known each other for 30 years, so they were able to “do everything at once,” as Kling puts it. He says this was an inspirational way to work: “The music informed me on a whole section I wouldn’t have written without it.”

“BIG LITTLE BROTHER”

One of the sweetest songs in “Of Mirth and Mischief” is “Nighty Night to Brother.” Kling sang a version of it his brother Steve, who’s a year and a half younger and the inspiration for this story.

“Big Little Brother” is narrated by a boy whose younger sibling grows taller and stronger and is always clutching doughnuts.

“People thought Steve had anger issues, but he really had doughnuts curled in his hand,” Kling says with a laugh.

Steve, who “gets a kick out of the book,” lives in the Maple Grove house where the brothers grew up. Their mother, Dora, lives in northern Wisconsin. Older sister Laura is in Osseo.

“Big Little Brother” ($17.95) is Kling’s third book for Borealis Books. “The Dog Says How” and “Holiday Inn” were big sellers for this division of Minnesota Historical Society Press.

Kling says “the beautiful part” about the new book is the hilarious illustrations by Duluth-based painter/cartoonist Chris Monroe, creator of the popular “Monkey With a Toolbelt” books.

“I was blown away by Chris’ artwork,” Kling says. “My writing relies on subversion, and she is more subversive than I am.”

Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews praised the book, and Kirkus also raved about the iPad app: “Kling and…Monroe combine their talent to create nothing short of a modern children’s classic…at last, an iPad storybook so good it doesn’t need additional narrative options or games or technological wizardry to distract from its flaws. Because there are none.”

“COME AND GET IT”

Kling admits to having a “pinch-myself moment” when the Minnesota Center for Book Arts asked him to write the annual Winter Book. Many of the state’s most distinguished authors have created Winter Books, which are produced by hand, and it’s an honor to receive the commission.

“Come and Get It” is made up of a story and three poems based on a play Kling did three years ago at Open Eye Theatre.

“It’s about a farm kid who is not me but goes through this process,” he says. “When you are born with a disability, you grow from it. But when you have a disability experience later in life, you have to grow toward it. You are still the person you were, but physically you aren’t. You have to transform into this new person.”

Kling describes the artwork by his friend Michael Sommers, Open Eye co-founder, as “bringing the story to a whole new level.”

As Kling looks at his busy month, he says he wouldn’t change a thing: “I’m loving it.”

Mary Ann Grossmann can be reached at 651-228-5574.

What: Kevin Kling doing just about everything

When/where: Kling and Eriq Nelson with Interact Theater performers in “Joy: A Holiday Cabaret”; 7:30 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday; Lab Theater, 700 N. First St., Mpls.; $22-$18; 612-333-3377 or thelabtheater.org.

Publication party for Kling’s Minnesota Center for Book Arts Winter Book, “Come and Get It.” 6 p.m. reception, 7:30 p.m. reading Saturday; MCBA, 1011 Washington Ave. S., Mpls.; free; mnbookarts.org/winterbook.

Kling and Chris Monroe sign copies of “Big Little Brother”; noon Dec. 17; Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.

Kling and Steve Kramer in “Of Mirth and Mischief”; 8 p.m. Dec. 16-17, 2 p.m. Dec. 18; Fitzgerald Theater, 10 E. Exchange St., St. Paul; $29-$20; 651-290-1200 or FitzgeraldTheater.org.

888-270-BOOK (2665)
We’ll answer the phone between
10 AM & 9 PM CST Monday thru Saturday
10 AM & 5 PM CST Sunday’s

With Chris Monroe!!

Kevin and Chris Monroe will be signing their new children’s book, Big Little Brother, at the Red Balloon bookstore, Sunday, November 27 at 2 p.m.

Kevin will be signing his new children’s book, Big Little Brother, from 3 – 4 p.m., on Friday, November 25.

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The Claw & The Siren

Turkey & Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots

“Big Little Brother is an exceptionally funny and bittersweet book that any reader, young or old, who has been an older sibling will warm to.”

LINK TO FULL REVIEW!

This charming interactive storybook app for kids ages 3-7 traces a familiar arc from sibling rivalry to brotherly love.

Being an older brother has its benefits, of that there’s little doubt. But how would you feel if your little brother grew to be bigger than you? And what if he insisted on touching all your things and following you everywhere you went? It’s enough to frustrate the most even-keeled of kids.

The narrator of Big Little Brother wants nothing more than to escape his brother’s sticky fingers. Then an encounter at the Old Woman in the Shoe play area involving a bully, a plastic turkey, and his big, little brother teaches him that a pesky younger sibling can actually be a pal.

Big Little Brother features audio by storyteller Kevin Kling, described as “one of our great national treasures” by public radio personality Krista Tippett. Many of the intricate illustrations by Chris Monroe hold extra dialogue and audio, available at a touch: spin the Tinkertoy wheel, put the turkey in the oven, turn out the lights. Hundreds of interactive details will surprise children (and adults) through many readings of Big Little Brother.

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“Minnesota Center for Book Arts is proud to announce the 2011 Winter Book:

Come and Get It by internationally renowned Minnesota storyteller and author Kevin Kling.”

Minnesota Center for Book Arts is proud to announce the 2011 Winter Book, Come and Get It, the twenty-first in MCBA’s perrenial series celebrating the handmade book. With text by Kevin Kling and illustrations by Michael Sommers, the book will be produced by in three editions (Chapbook, Standard, Deluxe) under the direction of MCBA Executive Director Jeff Rathermel.

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SAVE THE DATE: WINTER BOOK PUBLICATION PARTY
Saturday, December 10
6pm reception, 7:30pm reading
Free and open to the public

The Winter Book publication is the embodiment of MCBA’s artistic vision — to preserve and promote both the traditional crafts of bookmaking (hand papermaking, letterpress printing, printmaking and hand bookbinding) as well as the contemporary exploration of the book as art. Since 1988, Winter Book has engaged artists, designers, papermakers, printers, bookbinders and community volunteers in producing a handmade, limited edition artist’s book featuring poetry or prose by a Minnesota author. The artistry and hand craftsmanship of each Winter Book makes it an avidly collected series, included in museum and rare book library collections across the country and around the world.