Waking Worlds: Wondrous Reads for Curious Minds

Waking Worlds: Wondrous Reads for Curious Minds is part of the Wakpa Triennial Art Festival.

MARY CASANOVA

Mary Casanova is an award-winning children's author of novels and picture books. Many of her books stem from her life on the Minnesota-Canadian border; yet some of her stories have taken her as far away as France, Norway, and Belize. Whatever the setting for her books, Casanova writes stories that matter — and stories that kids can't put down. With 38 books published, she divides her time between writing and traveling. Nationally and internationally, at schools and conferences, Casanova shares her love of writing and reading with children and adults. She is the author of Wake Up Island (2016) and Hush Hush, Forest (2018) from the University of Minnesota Press.

FUMI NAKAMURA

Fumi Nakamura is an artist and illustrator based in New York City. Born in Shizuoka, Japan, she moved to the Bay Area of California when she was 12. She is represented by Thinkspace Art Projects in Los Angeles, and her commissions include original work for clients such as Harper's Magazine, HarperCollins, Milkweed Editions, Puma, GAP, Dior, Urban Outfitters, and the Cornucopia Institute. Nakamura illustrated Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s best-selling book World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments (2020, Milkweed Editions).

AIMEE Nezhukumatathil 

Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of the New York Times best-selling illustrated collection of nature essays and Kirkus Prize finalist, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments (2020, Milkweed Editions), which was chosen as Barnes and Noble’s Book of the Year. She has four previous poetry collections: Oceanic (Copper Canyon Press, 2018), Lucky Fish (2011), At The Drive-in Volcano (2007), and Miracle Fruit (2003), the last three from Tupelo Press. Her most recent chapbook is Lace & Pyrite, a collaboration of epistolary garden poems with the poet Ross Gay. Her writing appears twice in the Best American Poetry Series, The New York Times Magazine, ESPN, Ploughshares, American Poetry Review, and Tin House.

Honors include a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pushcart Prize, a Mississippi Arts Council grant, and being named a Guggenheim Fellow in poetry. In 2021, she became the first-ever poetry editor for Sierra magazine, the story-telling arm of The Sierra Club. She is professor of English and Creative Writing in the University of Mississippi’s MFA program

NICK WROBLEWSKI

Nick Wroblewski is a Midwest based printmaker of hand cut woodblocks. His interest in art was cultivated young by a strong community of artists in Minneapolis, MN, where he grew up. Early experiences in puppetry, painting, and sculpture led to his work as a printmaker. Nick focuses on large multicolor woodcuts and has developed a distinct aesthetic reminiscent of stylized Japanese masters, yet uniquely his own. His work depicts the reverence he has for conversations of the wild and loyalty to the honesty of handcrafted arts. Nick's work can be seen in private collections and galleries throughout the country, as well as commercial design and illustrations. He lives in Duluth, Minnesota and prints from his studio near Lake Superior. Nick’s woodcut illustrations appear in Mary Casanova’s books Wake Up Island (2016) and Hush Hush, Forest (2018) from the University of Minnesota Press.

Lead Sponsor

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.