Minnesota's literary community is coming together to support immigrants and others under attack by ICE agents, who have been an unwelcome presence in the state for the past six weeks.

This past weekend, poet Heid Erdrich was featured at a candlelight vigil for Renee Good and Alex Pretti, reading her own and Good’s poems. Meanwhile, Calumet Editions and Afton Press, two affiliated publishers headquartered in suburban Minneapolis, are rushing into print ICE Out: Minnesota Writers Rising Up, an anthology edited by Ian Leask featuring more than 50 writers responding in poetry and prose to ICE’s presence.

In yet another show of solidarity, mystery authors Jess Lourey and Kristi Belcamino have organized Authors for Minnesota Day, slated for February 28, in which more than 50 Minnesota-based authors—including Allen Eskens, William Kent Krueger, Bao Phi, Margi Preus, and Curtis Sittenfeld—will stop by more than two dozen indie bookstores around the state to sign copies of their latest releases and give them out, along with swag kits in some cases, to anyone who donates to either the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota or the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota Immigration Rapid Response Fund. (Heid Erdrich is also participating; she intends to give art and poems to donors at Birchbark Books in Minneapolis.)

Participating stores include Content Bookstore in Northfield, south of the Twin Cities, and Drury Lane Books in Grand Marais, near the Canadian border. Each bookstore will stock frontlist and backlist books by the author or authors appearing at that store.

"I want as many people as possible in bookstores," Lourey said, explaining why donations had to be made onsite. She noted that foot traffic and sales have plummeted at one Minneapolis bookstore that is located half a mile from where Alex Pretti was murdered by ICE agents. "We need to support our indie bookstores: we can't have them suffering," she added.

Belcamino said that Authors for Minnesota Day has “two goals: one is to support local independent bookstores and the other is to raise money for two great organizations fighting for immigrants’ civil rights.”

The event came about, she told PW, after Lourey noticed how public Victoria Ford of Comma: A Bookshop in the Linden Hills neighborhood has been in supporting immigrants being targeted by ICE. Lourey said that Ford’s courage made her wonder how many other booksellers were risking a financial hit by speaking up. She realized that while many Minnesota bookstores are supporting their communities, some are highly visible while others are doing so quietly, so as to not draw attention to themselves out of safety concerns.

“This inspired me,” Lourey said, “We all have to work where we’re planted. I am planted in the book community; immigrant rights is front and center right now. I wanted to do something that would support the indies while also raising money for these civil rights organizations."

A list of where Minnesota authors will be appearing on February 28 will be made on participating bookstores' websites, as well as on Facebook.