The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

BOOKS & AUTHORS
Raking through Books

If you've been resenting the lack of story time for adults, then this evening's Raking Through Books will please you immensely. Twin Cities local literati — Shannon Olson, Carl Brookins, Heidi Erdrich, Todd Boss, and Colleen Kruse — will read from books they liked as children. What fun! They won't be tucking you in and giving you a kiss on the forehead, but if you down a couple of cocktails, you should have no problem drifting into peaceful slumber once you're home. Featured books, including Olivia Helps with Christmas, are for sale at a twenty percent discount at the University of Minnesota Bookstore.

5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Kieran's Irish Pub, 330 2nd Ave. S., Minneapolis; free.

Joe Sacco

The comic book has come a long way since Superman, with graphic novels now (rightfully) garnering literary cred and occupying their own constantly expanding section at the local Barnes& Noble. But with his unique brand of “cartoon journalism,” Joe Sacco has put his influential stamp on the medium. When Sacco applies his “comic book” treatment to subjects like the occupation of Palestine, war in Bosnia, and the Gulf War, the results are superior works of both art and reporting. Sacco conducts hundreds of interviews for his books, and tells these personal narratives with feverish mishmashes of frames that are more evocative and harrowing than most front-page news photos. Tonight, as part of Walker’s Brave New Worlds political art series and the Rain Taxi reading series, he discusses his approach and inimitable artistic style. —Danielle Kurtzleben, photo by Michael Tierney

7 p.m., Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-375-7600; $10 (members $8).

Melissa Fay Greene

Melissa Fay Greene made her big splash with National Book Award finalist (and perennial book club favorite) Praying for Sheetrock, a social history of a tiny Georgia county struggling to come to grips with the challenges and ramifications of the Civil Rights movement. In all of her work, Greene combines meticulous historical research with the dogged chops of a first-rate journalist and the narrative skills ofa novelist. Her most recent book, There Is No Me Without You, is the tale of Haregewoin Teferra, a foster mother in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the AIDS orphans she has raised. At the Weisman, she will be joined in conversation with Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs professor Larry Jacobs. —Brad Zellar

7:30 p.m., Weisman Art Museum, 333 East River Rd., Minneapolis; 612-625-3363.

FILM SEMINAR
Rupture: Dark Fantasy and Dissolution in Post-Soviet Cinema

For the last couple months, and through the end of the year, The Museum of Russian Art will be featuring the art of Geli Korzhev, one of the most influential painters of the 20th century. Russian art, in all its forms, has a strong history of bleakness, and Korzhev certainly lives up to this reputation. Tonight, Cold War cinema specialist Mike Bailey will explore Korzhev's cinematic counterparts. Just as he was influenced by the cotidian sorrows expressed in postwar Italian films, the bleak nature of Korzhev's later work finds its complement in Russian cinema of the 1980s to the present. "Under Gorbachev's glasnost policy, Soviet filmmakers exercised new freedoms to criticize and reflect on the nation's history," a trend that continued until just recently, as filmmakers experimented with genre and allegory in an effort to express and shape a new post-Soviet identity. If you go, make sure to ask Bailey for his take on why these filmmakers lack the sense of humor and playfulness of post-Franco Spain. Economy?

7 p.m., Museum of Russian Art, 5500 Stevens Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-821-9045; reservation required.

DANCE
Koresh Dance Company

Artistic Director Ronen Koresh takes on the history of American music (or at least a couple formative decades) with the Koresh Dance Company's latest production, Looking Back: The Music of the ‘40s and ‘50s. Already known for their eccentric and energetic performances, the dancers paint a picture of this vibrant era, "weaving together the many styles, beats, fashions, and metaphors of this time period into one fantastic performance."

7:30 pm, Northrop Auditorium, 84 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-624-6600; $31-$52.