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ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Oct. 11, 1884: Eleanor Roosevelt born.
Sunday, October 11, 2026
Saturday, October 10, 2026
Q&A with Elba Luz
Elba Luz is the author of the new novel How to Ruin a Wedding. Her other books include the YA novel Legally Yours, Violet Lopez. She is based in New York.
Q: What inspired you to write How to Ruin a Wedding, and how did you create your character Lucy?
A: I really love classic rom-coms like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Wedding Planner, 27 Dresses, and literally every JLo movie. They have these big, out-of-the-box premises and ridiculous situations, but are still loaded with depth.
I wanted to write a book that captured that same feeling, which eventually led me to the idea of someone who ruins weddings for a living. From there, I knew I wanted to take a familiar romance trope like fake dating and make the stakes as messy and chaotic as possible.
I’ve always considered myself a late bloomer, and I know what it feels like to look around and think everyone else has reached these milestones in their career, relationships, or friendships while you’re still trying to figure yourself and Lucy came from that.
I wanted her to be messy and flawed but hopeful. She’s had a lot go wrong in her life, but she still finds ways to laugh, care deeply about the people around her, and move forward.
Q: How would you describe the relationship between Lucy and Anders?
A: Lucy and Anders have a lot of chemistry from the very beginning, but what I love most about them is how much they bring out the best in each other.
Lucy is funny, caring, bright, and completely herself, even when her life is falling apart. Anders is very upfront about who he is and what he wants, and despite the very questionable circumstances that bring them together, he’s actually a huge green flag. They give each other a place to be entirely themselves, two safe spaces.
They’re also both a little burned by love in different ways, which makes it especially fun that they end up fake dating to sabotage a wedding. And, of course, there’s a lot of sizzling interactions along the way.
Q: What do you think the novel says about love?
A: I think it says love is a kaleidoscope. Romantic love is obviously a huge part of How to Ruin a Wedding, especially Lucy’s relationship with Anders, but I never wanted it to be the only love that mattered in her life. There’s the love she has for her sister, the love she finds through friendship and found family, even her love for animals and Save a Paw.
I hope it shows that we all deserve a life that is completely saturated with love in all its different forms.
Q: The writer Riss M. Neilson said of the book, “With messy characters that feel as real as you and me, sizzling chemistry, and the perfect amount of forced proximity, Elba Luz gripped me from the very first line...” What do you think of that description?
A: I love it, especially the word messy. I really wanted these characters to feel like people. Lucy makes mistakes, she doesn’t always know what she’s doing, but she always moves forward. I wanted her to be allowed to be imperfect and still completely deserving of love and a happy ending.
And obviously I will happily accept sizzling chemistry as a description of Lucy and Anders! Their build-up was my favorite part of writing.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: My next novel is a YA romance, Legally Yours, Violet Lopez, which follows an ambitious teen with a near-perfect record defending students before her school’s disciplinary board who gets blackmailed into taking a case she never wanted. And I’m also working on another adult romance (to be announced) that will sit nicely beside How to Ruin a Wedding!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Elba Luz.
Q&A with Romina Garber
Romina Garber is the author of the young adult novels Lobizona and Cazadora, her Wolves of No World duology, now available in a new collector's edition. She was born in Argentina and raised in Miami.
Q: What led to this new collector’s edition of your Wolves of No World duology?
A: The Saint Paul Public Library selected Lobizona for this year’s citywide book club, a program called Read Brave.
In March, following the ICE surge in the Twin Cities, I spoke with students at eight schools and even shared the stage with the mayor for a powerful discussion about community and resilience. We were introduced by Library Board Chair and Councilmember Saura Jost, who thanked me “for giving our city a story that we needed, one that helped us connect, recover, heal, & understand one another during one of the most difficult challenges that our city has ever faced.”
It was one of the most moving experiences of my life, and my publisher and I both agreed that if this story about witches and werewolves could give teens the tools for discussing fear and belonging, then maybe it was time to give the series a refresh. After all, books are empathy incubators, and if there’s one thing we could all do with more of right now, it’s empathy.
Q: How did you create your character Manuela?
A: With Manu, I wanted to introduce a character who was a perpetual outsider. In our world, her residency isn’t legal. Among the Septimus, she’s not a bruja, but the first lobizona. Manu is undocumented in the literal sense: No one like her has ever been documented before.
She’s not a human or a Septimus. She’s someone new entirely.
One of Manu’s friends, Diego, says it best in Lobizona: “When someone deviates from an accepted norm, they signal a gap in the system. A hole that hasn’t been plugged. The danger with exposing a foundation’s failings is it opens the door to the possibility that it’s a faulty structure altogether and should be torn down and built anew.”
Q: How much did Argentinian folklore inspire the writing of these novels?
A: Very much! I studied Guaraní stories about the lobizón, and I based the existence of the Septimus on a real Argentine law. The ley de padrinazgo presidencial 20.843 declares the president of Argentina godparent to the seventh consecutive son or daughter in a family. It’s still in effect today, and it harkens back to a time when people feared that seventh children were cursed to turn into monsters.
The fact that such an outrageous belief could have once taken root in a population and even concretized into an actual law made me think of the power of words. In particular, I thought of the term illegal, and how it negates a people’s humanity and worth, paving the way for subhuman treatment.
Q: Especially given the current focus on immigration, what do you hope readers take away from the books?
A: I hope readers think about the power of words and labels. After spending 700 pages in Manu’s shoes, I hope they agree that people matter more than paperwork. Everyone deserves a chance to flourish.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: It’s been too many years since I’ve had space to explore, without deadlines looming over me, so that’s what I’m doing now! After publishing eight YA novels, I think I’m ready to take on a new challenge . . . . More to come!
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Signed copies are available for purchase from Books & Books!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
Friday, October 9, 2026
Q&A with Caleb Campbell
Caleb Campbell is the author of the new book Unstriving: 12 Lessons on Authentic Success from a Recovering Overachiever. He is a former Army officer and NFL athlete, and he lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
Q: What inspired you to write Unstriving?
A: I think Unstriving came from a couple of places.
For the better part of the last decade, I’ve been in a season of deep personal
transformation, and at some point I could feel that season beginning to shift.
There was a sense of completion to it, like something I had been living and
learning for years was finally ready to be shared.
There was also something creative happening that I didn’t want to ignore. The
book felt like it was asking to be written, and I had reached a point where I
was ready to trust that impulse and give language to what had changed my own
life.
And secondly, as a keynote speaker, I travel the country speaking to a lot of
high-achieving people, and I keep hearing a similar longing. People are tired
of believing they have to endlessly push and strive in order to make their
lives happen. A lot of people have built successful lives and are waking up
with the kind of tired that more sleep doesn’t solve.
I wrote Unstriving because I believe we’re hungry for a new way forward, and I
wanted to put words to what that way might look like.
Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify
for you?
A: The title came to me through a pretty random series of events.
I ended up having coffee with someone who didn’t really know me or my story,
and I started telling him about the last decade of my life and the book I had
been trying to write. At some point, I told him how frustrated I was because I
still didn’t have a title.
He looked at me and said, “I know exactly what the title is.”
When he said the word Unstriving, I got goosebumps all over my body. I knew
immediately that was it. In the most unstriving way possible, the title found
me.
Over time, that word has come to represent something much bigger for me. So
many of us learn how to survive our lives through striving. We learn to push
harder and make things happen because, for a long time, it works. It helps us
build careers and create lives we’re proud of.
Eventually, though, we can outgrow the identity that got us there and we see it
manifest through soul exhaustion.
Unstriving is the process of untethering ourselves from who we had to become in
order to survive our lives and allowing our identity to evolve. It’s through
this inner evolution that a new way of being begins to emerge allowing us to
become who need to become in order to fully live our lives in a way where
ambition and wholeness can coexist.
Q: The author Jonathan Martin said of the book, “While Caleb
Campbell writes with remarkable vulnerability about his own healing journey,
this book is ultimately less about his story than it is an invitation into your
own.” What do you think of that description?
A: I love that description because that was always my hope for the book. I knew
I needed to tell the truth about my own life, and I wanted my story to become a
doorway that helped people see their own lives more clearly.
My story is obviously woven throughout the book, but the deeper invitation is
for you to begin asking your own questions. Who did you have to become in order
to survive your life? What ways of living helped you get here but may no longer
fit who you’re becoming? What might your life feel like if you stopped trying
so hard to make it happen and learned to participate more fully in the life
that is already here?
So when Jonathan described the book that way, I felt like he understood exactly
what I hoped Unstriving would become. My story may be the vehicle, but the
reader’s life is where the book is meant to lead.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?
A: My biggest hope is that people finish Unstriving with a deeper sense of
permission to live their own lives.
So much of our striving comes from the stories we’ve inherited about who we
need to be, what success should look like, and what we need to accomplish in
order to finally feel like we’re enough. Over time, those stories can become so
familiar that we stop questioning if they’re actually ours.
I hope this book helps people become curious about the life underneath all of
that. I hope it gives them permission to loosen their grip on who they think
they’re supposed to be and begin listening to what their own life is asking of
them now.
There’s no greater gift than waking up knowing you’re living the life you’re
meant to live.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Between keynote speaking and raising a 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old
son with my beautiful wife, life is pretty full right now.
But something did happen during the book launch party of Unstriving that
I’m still sitting with.
I partnered with an artist to create an immersive experience around the themes
of the book. We paired his artwork with a guided audio experience by me that
invited people to move through different stages of unstriving and experience
the ideas in the book in a way that went beyond simply reading about them.
I was really inspired and moved as I watched people have a deeply personal
experience with the work, and it made me curious about what else might be
possible.
I don’t fully know what that means yet, and I’m trying not to rush to figure it
out. But, there's something about creating experiences where people can
actually feel and experience Unstriving for themselves that is catching my
heart’s attention. I have a sense that this could become a new expression of
the work, so for now, I’m giving it some space to show me what it wants to
become.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I believe that Unstriving is the journey that allows us to transform at an
identity level. It essentially becomes the vehicle that takes us from where we
are to where we want to be by helping us to become someone new.
And if Unstriving is the vehicle, then self-compassion is the fuel.
One of the hardest and most profound lessons I’ve learned in my own life is
that you cannot hate yourself into a life that you love. Being gentle with
ourselves is a non-negotiable on this journey.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
Q&A with Jim Minarik
Jim Minarik is the author of the new memoir Reckoning: A Journey Through Tragedy, Triumph & Transformation. It focuses on the impact on his life of his brother's murder conviction. Also a businessman and former CEO, he lives in California.
Q: Why did you decide to write Reckoning?
A: I began writing it for my children, grandchildren, and future generations, so they would know the whole story of my life—not just the business side.
As I wrote, I realized how much I had spent trying to outrun
the impact of my brother’s crime through achievement. The story grew into an
exploration of experiences many people face: tragedy, depression, success, and
the search for meaning.
Q: How would you describe your relationship with your brother John?
A: John was my older brother, and I loved him. His crime caused devastating harm, and I have never minimized that. We stayed connected during the 55 years he spent in prison, and I saw how much of his life he devoted to helping others.
I hold both truths: he was accountable for what he did, and
he was more than the worst thing he ever did.
Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: “Reckoning” describes the process of facing what happened, understanding its effect on your life, and asking what matters now. The subtitle—A Journey Through Tragedy, Triumph, and Transcendence—describes the arc of my story.
Q: What impact did it have on you to write the book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?
A: Writing the book was painful, but it helped me see how the events of my life were connected and how long I had been running from difficult questions. I didn’t write it because I had all the answers.
I hope readers find their own experiences in it and come away with better questions about identity, purpose, forgiveness, and what matters to them.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m focused on sharing Reckoning and speaking with readers about its themes. I remain involved in business and board work, while trying to live with more attention to being, not just doing.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: At its heart, this is a book about what happens to a family after tragedy and how people change over time. I hope it will be useful to readers facing their own challenges. They can learn more at ReadReckoning.com.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
Q&A with Katie Rizzo
Katie Rizzo is the author of the new memoir The Trimesters of Grief or Are You Gonna Listen to What Is Going on in Here?. It focuses on the death of her son from opiod addiction. She also has written the poetry collection None of Them Are You. She is also an educator, and she lives in Arizona.
Q: First of all, I'm so sorry for your loss...
Why did you decide to write The Trimesters of Grief?
A: I looked everywhere for a book on how to hold on after losing a kid to addiction, and couldn’t find one. So I decided to write it. As a scientist, I observed, kept a journal, and looked for patterns. Life felt so unlivable, so I fell back on trying to understand how things had gone so utterly wrong.
What I found in my curiosity is that birth and death aren’t distant relatives. They’re different sides to the same coin, or one is a door and the other a window. If my body still holds some of Nicholas’s cells, as science has shown, then is it such a stretch to think of my body as capable of experiencing his death as well as his birth?
I need this book to chronicle our experience and then to radiate out some heavy truth. Eighty thousand people died of overdose in 2024, the year our son died. We’ve met parents so overburdened with shame they haven’t told others about their child’s death.
It’s time to address the shame and bring it into the open. Drug addiction doesn’t have an easy cure. Look at relapse rates; for opioids, it’s as high as 90 percent return to their drug of choice after a costly rehab. Instead of treating addiction as a moral failing, it’s time to treat it as a disease.
Our son was prescribed Xanax and opioids, and once he grew tolerant to their effects, he was always trying to get back to a normal baseline. He didn’t want to be addicted; he didn’t want to die. He just wanted to feel “normal” again.
Q: The writer Colin Campbell said of the book, “I cried several times reading this memoir, but I also laughed out loud.” What do you think of that description?
A: The whole thing about grief is that it feels ridiculous. Our son can not possibly be gone.
And our words that surround grief can be cruel: you can laugh, or be angry and shake your fist. Either way, he’s still gone.
And Nicholas’s life wasn’t just longing and despair. He was a rambunctious kid, and laughter followed him.
Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: The Trimesters of Grief: or Are You Gonna Listen to What Is Going on in Here? The title picked itself. My body held grief in similar ways to pregnancy. The subtitle is an Easter egg, and every time I see the title, the words rumble a little in my chest.
Q: What impact did it have on you to write the book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?
A: Writing The Trimesters of Grief was an experience in letting my best self look at the data to find a way to survive. I’ve had to reexamine everything. I used to believe that “things happen for a reason” and “time heals all wounds,” but now those truisms are lies. The grief expert David Kessler says that I will grieve as long as Nicholas is gone, and that feels about right.
I hope readers deep in grief find grace for themselves. So much of my grief was overshadowed by guilt and shame. I would love to take those emotions from readers.
In addition, people who have addiction feel such deep self-loathing. Who benefits from that? I hope we as a culture start looking at addiction as a physical dependence on a substance that doesn’t allow them to return to baseline of security, peace, or comfort. It’s literally like being in an Edvard Munch painting. Who benefits from treating addiction like a moral failing?
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’ve written two YA books that are out on submission. One is about a young woman who sets out to find who dumped mining tailings into the Roaring Fork River. It's fiction but based on growing up in the valley. I’m hoping to write more about life and death and the Elk Mountains.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: My compendium book of poems - None of Them Are You - is available as well.
For those in Colorado, I’m doing a book launch on Oct 9 at Explore Books.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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