“Family Fun Day” Book Signing Reception to Include Four Authors

Authors Jon Hassler, Kathleen Norris, Mike Sipe and the Rev. Hilary Thimmesh will be guests at a book signing reception from 2 to 3 p.m., sponsored by the Saint John’s University Bookstore as part of Saint John’s “Family Fun Day” Saturday, May 20. The “Family Fun Day” is being presented as part of the Saint John’s Sesquicentennial.

Jon Hassler, one of Minnesota’s most beloved writers, recently published “The New Woman,” which chronicles 89-year-old Agatha McGee’s introduction to assisted living. Agatha is one of the superstars of Hassler’s creative imagination. Several other Hassler books will also be available. Although he will greet his fans and friends, the author has curtailed signing books as a result of the muscular-degeneration ailment that he has battled for several years.

Norris will sign copies of her books including “The Cloister Walk,” “Dakota: A Spiritual Geography,” “Quotidian Mysteries” and “Amazing Grace.” Sipe will sign copies of “Collegeville, a Photo Essay,” which he published in collaboration with his son, Michael. Thimmesh will sign copies of “Saint John’s at 150: a Portrait of this Place Called Collegeville.”

Norris is an award-winning writer, poet and essayist. “The Cloister Walk,” written after two extended residencies at Saint John’s, takes readers through one liturgical year – its rituals, its prayers and its daily activities.

The Sipe “Collegeville Photo Essay” includes full-page color and black and white photos – landscapes, portraits and buildings – taken by the father and son team over several years in and around Collegeville. Thimmesh wrote a brief history of Saint John’s that is included in the book.

Thimmesh’s book was published to celebrate Saint John’s 150th anniversary. Its 150 pages contain dozens of historic and contemporary photographs as well as several essays and brief articles that provide a panoramic review of Saint John’s since five pioneer Benedictine monks arrived in Stearns County in May 1856.

The “Family Fun Day” begins at 11 a.m. and continues throughout the day with a variety of free music and entertainment. Bishop John Kinney will celebrate Mass in the Abbey Church at 5 p.m. Singer John McCutcheon will perform concerts at 7 and 9:30 p.m. in the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater ($10 reserved seats) to conclude the day’s activities.