Anna Weir is a highly-caffeinated publicist at UNP.

School is back in session, pumpkin spice lattes have returned, and the South Dakota Humanities Council is once again celebrating Great Plains literature with the South Dakota Festival of Books. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

I’m off to Deadwood today to represent UNP’s books and authors at the festival. The schedule is loaded with one excellent event after another, making for a highly-anticipated weekend. Here are a few events I’m looking forward to:

• Reflections on The Things They Carried with Tim O’Brien—one of my favorite books.
• Life’s Too Short to Read Depressing Books with Susan Elizabeth Phillips—so true.
• Building Themed Anthologies from the Ground Up with Doug Murano—because we publish many anthologies but I rarely get to work with them at their earliest stages.
• Writers’ Groups: Optional or Essential? with Marilyn Johnson & Faith Sullivan—because I just know this will be a fun conversation.
• Black Elk’s Legacy in South Dakota & Beyond with Philip Deloria, S. D. Nelson, and UNP author Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve—with Black Elk Speaks as this year’s One Book One Nebraska, this conversation feels incredibly timely and so important.

A complete schedule of events can be found here.

UNP will be at table 42 with many wonderful books for sale, including but not limited to South Dakota local Dan O’Brien’s latest book, Great Plains Bison, and former Kansas Poet Laureate Denise Low’s memoir, The Turtle’s Beating Heart. We’ll also have a collection of Black Elk books available for a giveaway and, if you’re feeling adventurous, blind-date books for $5. If you find yourself in Deadwood this weekend, stop by to say hello!