MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | Hannah Slavik’s Cozy Book Fair Gives Minnesota Writers a Place to Meet Their Readers

SAINT PAUL, MN (September 27, 2026). At a Saint Paul brewery, two debut authors, a mobile bookseller and a food truck owner turned a Friday evening into a series of conversations about creative work and small business.

AJ Marie had written stories since childhood but had never published a novel. Olivia Beltran had started with an idea about a college student whose rent was due and who took a job at a strange café. Danielle had an unused trailer and a wish to open a bookstore.

On Friday, all three brought the results of those beginnings to Bad Weather Brewing Company. Marie and Beltran stood beside their debut novels. Danielle welcomed visitors to Rolling Chapters, the mobile bookstore she built with her husband. Around them, people browsed books and handmade goods, joined a line for tarot readings and carried meals from The Cave Café food truck back into the gathering.

The Cozy Book Fair, held September 25 from 4 to 8 p.m. at 414 Seventh Street West, was organized by Hannah Slavik, a Twin Cities tarot reader and Reiki practitioner known as The Mystic Cryptid. It was her first book fair at the brewery, she told MinneapoliMedia. www.badweatherbrewery.com

Slavik said she had wanted to bring readers, writers and makers together but needed a place to do it. After taking part in an earlier event at Bad Weather, she spoke with the brewery’s owner about hosting a market. The fair grew from that conversation.

“I’m a big reader. I really like book fairs,” Slavik said. She made books the focus while welcoming makers whose work related to reading. Vendors applied ahead of time and supplied their own displays. Slavik said she tried to notify participants well in advance and kept a waitlist in case a space became available.

That preparation gave visitors something an online listing could not: time with the people behind the books. They could ask a new author why she chose her story, learn what it took to publish it and hear what she hoped to write next.

AJ Marie Puts Baseball at the Center of a Romance

AJ Marie, a Maple Grove author, published her debut novel, Caught Looking, in June. She described it as a baseball romance with a friendship that develops gradually into love.

Marie had noticed the popularity of hockey romances. She loved baseball and romance novels, so she decided to bring those interests together in a story of her own.

The decision to write it came in 2020. Marie was home with a newborn during the COVID-19 pandemic, reading romance and watching baseball. She had made short stories and little books as a child, but a novel remained a lifelong ambition. She decided to try.

Finishing Caught Looking changed her confidence in her abilities, she said. Taking it to events presented a different challenge: putting herself and the book before strangers. At an earlier appearance, a visitor told Marie they had come specifically to meet her. She recalled being startled that someone outside her immediate family had sought out her work.

She is still learning how to reach readers through social media and events. Marie hopes the novel will become the first of four standalone baseball romances about players on the same team. Her advice to someone hesitant to write was to get out of their own head and begin. The book’s title and publication are also listed publicly; the account of writing it comes from Marie’s interview at the fair. www.amazon.com

For someone encountering Caught Looking on Friday, Marie could explain why she wrote about baseball, how she started and what it felt like when a reader came looking for her.

Olivia Beltran Builds a World and Publishes It Herself

Minnesota author Olivia Beltran brought These Fractured Bonds, her debut novel and the first book in The Izmari Chronicles. Published in August, it follows a college student into the fantasy world of Izmari. Beltran is a Mexican-American author who writes fantasy and romantic fiction with Latina protagonists at the center.

She told MinneapoliMedia that the first idea came during a road trip. She imagined a student who needed to pay her rent and took a job at an unusual café. As the story developed, Beltran became interested in the pressures facing an eldest daughter who is trying to decide who she wants to become while feeling responsible for her family.

The journey from idea to publication took roughly a year and a half, Beltran said. She had written while growing up, but These Fractured Bonds was her first published book. She published it herself, which meant learning work beyond writing and revision. She had to find editors, early readers and a cover artist, and work out how to print the book.

Figuring out what she needed, then finding people who could help, was the hardest part, she said.

Beltran’s husband, Jack, spoke with MinneapoliMedia while she was busy at her table. He described watching her creative work become a finished book she could hold. He helped with the practical side of attending events, including packing the car and driving, while she managed the writing and publishing decisions.

Beltran said the response from readers can still feel surreal. Comments on the book and questions about her next story remind her that other people are now spending time in a world she created. She enjoys hearing interpretations she had not anticipated.

She said on Friday that she was working on a standalone urban fantasy planned for February, centered on creating one’s own happy ending. That was her stated plan at the fair, rather than a confirmed publication date.

Marie and Beltran write in different genres, but their interviews revealed a shared experience. Each had to finish a first book, put it into readers’ hands and then learn how to talk about it with people they had never met.

Rolling Chapters Takes a Bookstore on the Road

Danielle, the owner of Rolling Chapters, came to bookselling by another route. She wanted a bookstore but found the prospect of starting with a conventional storefront expensive. After seeing mobile bookstores elsewhere, she and her husband renovated a trailer they already owned.

“Within six weeks, I had my first event,” she told MinneapoliMedia.

Danielle said she has operated Rolling Chapters for about a year and a half, taking books to fairs and other gatherings. On Friday, she described a busy afternoon and shared plans for a permanent shop: a November 7 grand opening at 7404 Lamar Avenue South in Cottage Grove.

She said the space has approximately 1,500 square feet of retail area and a 1,700-square-foot patio. She hopes to use it for markets, fairs and author events. Rolling Chapters already hosts events, but she sometimes has to rent a separate space. A storefront would give her a place to bring writers and readers together more regularly.

The fair showed what that ambition could look like. Danielle was selling books in the same gathering where debut authors could meet readers directly. Her trailer had given her a way to start; her planned shop would give those conversations a more permanent address.

The Cave Café Serves the Crowd

Outside the brewery, The Cave Café food truck served visitors moving between the book fair and the taproom. Owner Tewodros “Chef Teddy” Negash worked through orders that included chicken curry, chicken wraps and lamb gyros. Those dishes appear on the truck’s published menu. cavecafe.iordered.us

Teddy spoke briefly with MinneapoliMedia while preparing food and attending to customers. His attention remained on the service, and the interviews with visitors supplied the clearest account of how the meals were received.

Abby tried both a chicken wrap and a lamb gyro. She praised the fresh ingredients and the layers of flavor, though she said an extra sauce for dipping would suit her tastes. She planned to stop again when she saw the truck in the neighborhood.

Kevin pointed to the lamb, vegetables and cucumber sauce in his wrap. Celia liked the seasoning on her chicken and considered the price good. Michelle and Matt both enjoyed their meals, though they differed over whether they wanted more spice.

Another visitor, who identified herself as Patricia, estimated that she had waited about 20 minutes. She said the food was worth the wait and that she would return.

For at least one group, the truck was the first point of contact with the gathering. A visitor told MinneapoliMedia that they had stopped for food after attending another event and had not known that writers and makers were inside the brewery. Learning about the fair gave them another reason to look around.

The food line was part of the evening’s social rhythm. People ordered, ate and continued talking. Some had come for a particular writer or for Slavik’s readings. Others found the fair while visiting the brewery.

A First Fair With More in Mind

Slavik said the evening appeared to be going well, though she wanted to see how it finished before assessing her first fair. She was already planning another book fair in the coming weeks and a Halloween-themed market later in October. She said other businesses had also expressed interest in hosting events.

No verified attendance count or sales figure was available. The interviews show what the gathering did at a more personal scale. Marie met readers for a baseball romance she had once only hoped to write. Beltran explained the family questions in her fantasy novel and the work of publishing it herself. Danielle showed how a bookstore could begin on wheels. Teddy fed visitors who stayed to see more, including people who had discovered the fair by chance.

Slavik made room for those encounters. For four hours at a Saint Paul brewery, independent writers and sellers could present their work, and readers could meet the people who made it.

❤️ SUPPORT MINNEAPOLIMEDIA

STAY CONNECTED TO MINNEAPOLIMEDIA

Local stories matter. Subscribe free to MinneapoliMedia and receive independent news, community reporting and important updates from Minneapolis, the North Metro and communities across Minnesota.

SUBSCRIBE FREE: https://minneapolimedia.town.news/subscribe

MinneapoliMedia | Community. Culture. Civic Life