Over the past 6 months you may have heard off and on this blog about Wine and Words. This was a small idea as a fundraiser for our Friends Of The Brainerd Public Library that went from a “maybe” to a full-blown event, largely part of my absence from the blogesphere.
We held the event on Friday August 23rd with 5 wonderful authors gracing us with witty conversation and peaks into their mind about their latest book, writing, and life as an author.
William Kent Krueger and his wife joined us and wow…. what a down to earth fun guy. I have never spent time with him before and found him to be humble and delightful. He wowed the crowd. He spoke about his newest books, Ordinary Grace and Tamarack County (which just released a week ago today).
Lorna Landvik emceed our evening and we could not have picked a better person to wrap our event with humor and great intros of our authors. She was a gift as once she started the program – I was free to do whatever was needed as she totally had this.
Sarah Pekkanen (SSSQQQUUUEEEEE!) and Wendy Webb were awesome! Sarah’s newest book, The Best Of Us came out in April and Wendy Webb’s The Fate Of Mercy Alban (centered around the Glensheen mansion in Duluth MN) was an author you wanted to hear more about.
Sandra Brannan always sweet always so down to earth you cant help but love her was a fun addition to the group. She talked books and bloggers (YAY!) and she had the Bookies stand up (they adore her!)
Our goal for this evening out at the Beautiful Arrowwood Lodge was 100 people. That night we had 177 excited women and men join us for our debut event. The room was filled with book lovers.
We had so much fun! We had dinner, listened to the authors, a silent auction, and we sold ducks for $5 for people to see who was the “lucky duck” and won a Kindle Fire. Free wine was offered during the social hour.
One of my favorite moments of the evening was when we were done with the event and Gail (my right hand in this venture) and I made our way to the bar area to check on our authors and we found them all together in a booth chatting away like old friends. I nudged Gail and said “Oh look! They are bonding!!!”
The numbers are still coming in, we did receive 20% of the book sales that night. And I think we are safe to say we cleared over $5000. 😀
I have been tired all weekend – but good tired. Cant wait to see what is going to happen next year!
Book Journey 
Sarah Pekkanen is one of my favorite authors. She is very friendly and an awesome writer.
Wow, Sheila! What an awesome event. I am so jealous. 🙂
Looks like sooo much fun! I enjoy Lorna Landvik’s books…and I’ve also loved a book by Sarah Pekkanen. Thanks for bringing this event to us!
Wow … you had such a terrific event, and I just love the “lucky ducks” … clever!
I should mention that if you are friends with me on Facebook (Sheila DeChantal) you can see all the pictures of the event.
Congrats on your big success! William Kent Krueger’s books are terrific.
Such an amazing event! Loved attending and had such a blast!
Congratulations! Sounds like it was a wonderful time.
it seemed like a great event! i remember just reading about the conception and who knew it would turn out like this! i’ll definitely share it with the other board members of the friends of the library i’m part of as an example of how fun an event can be!
Sounds like a fantastic event, one worth putting on the yearly calendar!
I totally want a reading duck with a red/white hat. Where did you get these? huh, maybe I should read the comments to see if you answered this already.
CONGRATULATIONS! Sounds like an AWESOME event!
What an incredible event! I think it would be neat to have a board, similar to the one above, where your guest authors could write what books inspired them.
you are definitely on to something that could turn into a full-blown non-profit! So impressed with your event and lineup of authors ~ I’m forever in love with Sandra Brannan – my favorite author in the world simply because of her personality and love of bloggers (not to mention her Liv Bergen series!) Congratulations on such a successful event!
Congrats on a fantastic event, Sheila. Looks like all had a great time!
Oh, this makes me SALIVATE!!! I wish I were in Minnesota for this. What a BLAST it looked like 🙂 So glad it was so successful and I LOVE THOSE DUCKS!
I think this should become a “thing” around the country. I can’t imagine other libraries wouldn’t jump on board!
Oh my gosh, all those lovely authors!! I am so envious; you had a great crowd there. Such a fun and beautiful looking affair– you should be very proud of yourself. William Kent Krueger and Sandra Brannan, yikes! Wish I had been there, but glad you had a successful time.
If you guys do this again next year, I may have to go back home for a visit.
This looks like an amazing event! And everyone dressed up, too! Congratulations on starting a successful ANNUAL fundraiser for the Friends! 🙂
Duckies by the wine is too adorable.:) 🙂