Today, we welcome regional author, Connie Claire Szarke. Incorporating period music and engaging the audience, Connie will discuss key elements of fiction as they apply to literary/historical works, and to what readers sense as they enjoy good books. Presentation topics include environment, humanities, impact on lives, and the topic of transformation: how novel characters transform along their arcs, how good books can affect and transform readers, and how authors are able to transform ideas, memories, and “seeds” into cohesive story lines, resulting in successful novels.
Connie Claire (Peterson) Szarke is an award-winning Minnesota author, who came of age in the southwestern and central parts of this state, influenced by life on the prairie, among farms, small towns, woods, sloughs, rivers, and lakes. A writer of literary/historical fiction, Szarke receives much of her inspiration from the natural world. A former Chaska High School French teacher, and lifelong pianist, her links with European culture, history, and the arts provide additional material for novels and short stories, resulting in a trilogy: Lady in the Moon, A Novel in Stories, Delicate Armor, and A Stone for Amer; and two stand-alone short stories: “Stone Wall,” set in Ireland, and “Omertà,” set in Sicily. Her early work also won prizes and publication in various anthologies and magazines. An avid alpine skier, Szarke also enjoys kayaking with her two Shetland Sheepdogs on a bay near their home, west of the Twin Cities.
To learn more aboutr Connie and her work, please visit her website: www.connieclaireszarke.com
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