Crystal Falls Library to Host U.P. Authors for Spring Reading Events

Sue Harrison's novels have sold more than two million copies across 25 countries and in 13 languages, but Iron County readers didn't need a plane ticket to meet her. They needed a Zoom link and 6 p.m. on a Thursday in March.

That was the 56th installment of the Crystal Falls Community District Library's U.P. Notable Book Club, a free monthly author series the library runs in partnership with the U.P. Publishers & Authors Association. Spring 2026 continues the program, with sessions drawing from the UPPAA's 7th Annual U.P. Notable Books List, released in January, which includes authors whose work is rooted in Upper Peninsula history, landscape, and regional identity.

The UPPAA launched the Notable Books program in 2019 specifically to counter what organizers saw as the long-standing dominance of downstate university presses in Michigan's literary recognition circuits. Each year's list lifts writers working in and about the U.P. that might otherwise go unnoticed by broader audiences. The 2026 list includes Tyler Tichelaar's "The Mysteries of Marquette," Terri Martin's "Straw Horse: A Kat Wilde U.P. Mystery," and Helen Raica-Klotz's "Superior Stories," among others.

For Crystal Falls and Iron County, the sessions have become something more than a book club. December's 53rd event featured Larry Jorgensen discussing "Make It Go in the Snow: People and Ideas in the History of Snowmobiles," a subject with deep roots in a county that stakes much of its winter economy on the sport. That kind of local resonance, built event by event over several years, is what has pushed the series past 56 appearances with no signs of slowing.

Library Director Evelyn Gathu coordinates access for each session. Residents can call 906-875-3344 or email egathu@crystalfallslibrary.org to receive the Zoom meeting information. The sessions are free, and no registration fee is required.

The Friends of the Crystal Falls District Community Library, which formed in October 2021, have directed nearly $24,000 toward library programs and resources since incorporation, providing part of the financial backbone that sustains ongoing programming like the Notable Book Club alongside story hours, adult literacy activities, and summer reading planning.

The spring 2026 sessions run Thursday evenings and are open to anyone in the region with an internet connection.