Florida Atlantic University’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters has teamed up with the Palm Beach Book Festival to present New York Times best-selling authors in a virtual interview format. Heather Lende will discuss her book, “Of Bears and Ballots: An Alaskan Adventure in Small-Town Politics” with Kevin Wagner, Ph.D., professor and chair of FAU’s Department of Political Science, on Thursday, Sept. 3 at 5:30 p.m. Registration is at https://fauf.fau.edu/pbbf-lende/. All proceeds from ticket sales will go to student scholarships in the college. To purchase the book, visit www.bkstr.com/faustore/product/of-bears-and-ballots-763442-1 .

All local politics are hard, but “Of Bears and Ballots” shows us nothing worth doing is supposed to be easy. Lende’s fights and conflagrations as a member of the Haines, Alaska Borough Assembly are a perfect reflection of our national politics, and give us a good reason for hope.

“Lende is a graceful and endearing writer, recapitulating the kink of wily, folksy wit and wisdom we associate with, say, Mark Twain, so much more powerful than the predictable ‘gotcha’ snark of our social media age. What a blessing Lende’s view of democracy, which she calls ‘glorious chaos,’ is in this dark era,” says the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Upcoming book festival events with FAU include Jeffrey Toobin with “True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump” on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m.; “Tim Weiner with “The Folly and the Glory” on Thursday, Oct. 15 at 5:30 p.m.; and Mitch Albom with “Finding Chicka: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family” on Monday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. For more information, visit www.fau.edu/artsandletters/college-initiatives/fau-palm-beach-book-festival/

-FAU-