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Minnesota Star Tribune CEO and publisher Steve Grove will be in Duluth next week to discuss his new memoir, How I Found Myself in the Midwest: A Memoir of Reinvention.
The event is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9, at Ursa Minor Brewing. Grove will be joined in conversation by former Duluth Mayor Emily Larson. The program is free and open to the public, hosted by Zenith Bookstore.
Published in June by Simon & Schuster, Grove’s book tracks his decision to leave Silicon Valley — where he spent more than a decade as a Google and YouTube executive — and return to his home state of Minnesota. He writes about his work in Gov. Tim Walz’s administration during the pandemic and the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, while reflecting on how the Midwest shaped his views of community and the country’s future.
Grove, 47, became Star Tribune publisher in 2023. Before that, he was commissioner of Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development. His résumé includes founding Google’s News Lab, serving as YouTube’s first head of news and politics, and advising the White House and State Department on counter-terrorism policy. Grove and his wife, Mary, also co-founded Silicon North Stars, a nonprofit that helps Minnesota students from underserved communities pursue careers in technology. The couple lives in Minneapolis with their twins, a yellow lab and two farm cats.
Larson, who led Duluth from 2016 to 2023 as the city’s first woman mayor, will moderate the conversation. A St. Paul native and St. Scholastica alum, Larson is an avid trail runner and longtime reader of memoirs.
The evening is billed as a casual conversation in the taproom setting of Ursa Minor, with plenty of room for audience questions.
