Former Brandon resident publishes book

Andrew Olson, the son of Dan and Diane Olson of Brandon, recently had a book, Barn Stripping and Other Stories, published through Knuckledown Press in Fargo.

Olson is an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College in Sterling near Washington, D.C. He lives there with his wife, Maria.

At Minnesota State University Moorhead, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and mass communication and later received his Master of Fine Arts in creative writing.

He was a technical writer and worked at an independent bookstore in Fort Collins, Colorado. He grew up in Brandon and enjoyed spending time at his grandparents’ farm in Herman and Starbuck as a boy.

Olson’s work has been published in The Linnet’s Wings, Leaf Garden Press, The Monarch Review, Down in the Dirt Magazine, Read This! and more.

Barn Stripping takes readers to rural Minnesota where children are essential parts in the machinery of everyday life. Portals to wonderment, they must learn the hard way about their own bodies and their own fragility. Young men learn that hard work is its own reward and that promises can be reaped from the land. However, workaday tragedies lie in wait. Fortunately, the small community’s sense of duty helps to temper both grief and loss.

Olson will read from Barn Stripping and Other Stories and meet readers at the following venues.

• Sixth Avenue Wine and Ale in Alexandria at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 12.

• Evansville Art Center in Evansville at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 13.

Barn Stripping and Other Stories is available as an e-book through Amazon.com and Smashwords.com. The book is scheduled to become available through Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kobo, SONY, Baker and Taylor and the Diesel eBook store in the near future.

For more information, e-mail Olson at andrew@andrew-j-olson.com or visit knuckledownpress.com or andrew-j-olson.com.

Tags: local news, book reading, news, published