The nice thing about a surprise is that you never know when you’ll find one. “That kept showing up in the book,” says author Bart Sutter of the title and theme of his new book So Surprised to Find You Here. “And surprise has begun to seem more and more important in these later years of writing.”
The poems within the book were written independently, but Sutter says that once collected together, likenesses were revealed. “After you’ve got 30 or so [poems] you find that some of them seem to bear some family resemblance to the others,” says Sutter. “You see interesting contrast.” Some of the groupings relate to at-home topics that ring as very personal, while others travel far from home and touch on community issues.
Throughout a lifetime of writing, Sutter has accumulated praise and prizes. He is a three-time winner of the Minnesota Book Award and was the first ever Poet Laureate for the City of Duluth. Through it all, Sutter has kept the reader in mind. “Even people who think they might hate poetry… they’d be able to say ‘I thought I hated poetry – I like this.’”
So Surprised to Find You Here is a 2022 publication by Nodin Press. It can be purchased locally at Zenith Bookstore, the Bookstore at Fitgers, and online.
Minnesota Reads is produced at The North 103.3 with funding provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
