Author to bring wit, humor to Opera Hall

Brent Olson admits that he wasn't influenced by anyone in particular when he began a career as a writer.
"I woke up one day 27 years ago and decided I wanted to take a whack at writing," he said. "It's not uncommon for me. I lead a complicated life. Bill Holm was the closest I ever had to a mentor and I didn't even meet him until after my first two books were published."
Olson, who has now published five books, will be appearing at the Opera Hall during Boxelder Bug Days at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10. The event is free and open to the public.
"I wish I could tell a thoughtful tale of tender mentorship, but the first college level writing class I was in, I was the instructor," he noted.
Olson's presentation will focus on the similar experiences we all have growing up, whether they are good or bad. He pokes fun at himself and injects his stories with a bit of sarcasm and humor that makes his readers or those listening to him speak wanting more.
"I do try to work humor into what I do because so often people confuse serious with boring," Olson said. "I think Mark Twain was probably the most serious writer America has ever produced, but he could also be hilarious while making his point. Bill Holm was like that as well."
Wendy Sarazyn, the President of the Society for the Preservation of Minneota Heritage (SPMH) has read some of Olson's online writings as well as his books and contacted him to see if he might be interested in traveling to Minneota to speak in the Opera Hall during the town's annual Bug Days festivities.
"I started reading Brent Olson when a co-worker shared his column, 'Independently Speaking', with me and I became a big fan of his writing style and sense of humor," Sarazyn said. "His articles usually make me laugh and always give me something to think about."
Olson grew up on a small farm six miles from Clinton in western Minnesota. He has lived in that location, in Otrey Township, which his great-grandparents homesteaded in 1880, for the past 47 years since he married his wife, Robin. They have three children and five grandchildren.
He and his wife spent a week at Bill Holm's house in Iceland one summer.
"That week moved my writing further than any other single action I've taken," Olson said. "Bill was a very good writer, thoughtful and erudite, and had an endearing level of self-awareness. As a person, he was unfailingly generous to me, always treating me as a peer, although he so clearly was on a different level than me."
Olson has written his syndicated column, "Independently Speaking", for 27 years for the Meredith Corporation, DTN, Minnesota Farm Guide, as well as a few newspapers. In all, he has had 1,312 essays published, won numerous writing awards, been a keynote speakers at many private and professional events, and has dabbled in countless other endeavors.
"I keep the copyright for my column and a few days after the people who pay for it receive it, I publish it online," Olson revealed. "I had the back page in a Meredith Publication, "Living the Country Life", for about 12 years until it went belly-up during the last recession."
Olson also wrote for "Successful Farming", which went out to China, New Zealand, Argentina, Norway and Uganda. He also wrote for a Danish magazine and several United Methodist publications.
If anything, Olson will leave you laughing, thinking and appreciate the simple things in life.