Like TashaDoesTulsa.com and This Land Events? Odds are that you’ll love This Land Press, too. Each week we publish a variety of stories about Oklahoma, with the aim of broadening the understanding of life and culture in the state.

In case you’ve been busy, here’s a selection of what’s been posted this week.

It’s festival season in Oklahoma. Get the list of the best things to see and do around the state this weekend.

HELLO CHICKEN FRY: What’s next for a Tulsa culinary landmark? A forecast for Nelson’s Buffeteria, rendered in towers of pie and breaded beef.

ORIGINAL OKIE: My latest in This Land (a photo this time): Shaun Perkins forged the Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry out of her father’s old machine shop as a tiny monument to the power of poetry in the daily lives of Oklahomans.

TOMORROW: If you help us celebrate the third birthday of This Land Press at Dilly Deli (4-7 p.m.), we will be sure you get a free temporary tattoo from Audio Producer Abby Wendle (Abby is our best tattoo artist, pictured below). Details: http://bit.ly/tlpturns3

FROM ONE FIRE: Who is Cherokee? The enthralling and complex story of the Cherokee Freedmen’s struggle with the Cherokee Nation.

RED STATE: A doctoral student at The University of Oklahoma hopes to expand the understanding of Oklahoma history by highlighting the state’s radical roots.

CHECK THIS: One of the most controversial moments in sports history happened here in Oklahoma. The 2008 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship was held in Tulsa, where International Masters Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush played a legendary Armageddon Playoff match that gave rise to a YouTube sensation. Matthew Crouch has the video and the incredible story on the heels of the playoff matches at the 2013 Championship in St. Louis.

BOOK THIS: Oklahoma is more than a place—it’s an idea. That’s the kernel that inspired the latest in our catalogue of books: Imaginary Oklahoma, an anthology in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with visual artists to provide a fictional take on this place we call home. The Paris Review had some nice things to say about it. Get your copy of Imaginary Oklahoma here.

HAVE YOU HEARD: The new This Land Radio show airs on KOSU Radio every Sunday at 1 p.m. You can subscribe to This Land Radio on iTunes and Stitcher if you won’t be near a radio. Get a preview of Episode 3 of This Land Radio here.

THIS LAND LIVE: We’re excited to introduce our latest video project: It’s This Land Live, a partnership with Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer on a series of new videos starring Oklahoma’s top music makers. Featured here is Featured here is OKC rapper Jabee with a performance of “Beautiful Day.”

GIFT A GRAD: On the hunt for just the right gift for your favorite graduate? This Land Press is the purveyor of some fine Okiecentric reads, tshirts, and housewares—all perfect for the newly free.

HOME ON THE RANGE: Not only does New York Times Chief Film Critic A.O. Scott read This Land, but he also seems to like the Home on the Range thing I wrote. (I think Tony’s writing is fine, too.) What happens when love and guns collide.

THE LAST TO KNOW: Don’t let it be you. Subscribe to This Land and get a year’s worth of stories from around here.

What have you been reading/watching/listening to this week?

Looking for the list of the most exciting events and art, music, free stuff to do and fun for the kids in Tulsa this weekend?

As featured every Friday on Six in the Morning, check out the list of the best things to do this weekend at ThisLandPress.com, a state-wide list of fun and entertainment with someone for everyone.

• Best May festivals and other things to do in Oklahoma
• Top Oklahoma Music Festivals for your spring and summer
• Weekend events in Oklahoma
• Free events in Oklahoma
• Oklahoma date-night ideas
• The best live music in Oklahoma
• Things to do with the kids in Oklahoma
• Oklahoma’s best of stage (theatre!)

HEY. ARE YOU IN OKC? Or will you be for the weekend? We list plenty of events in your part of the state, too. Simply visit our Events page and browse for events labeled OKC, or search for events near you by telling us your zip code.

Don’t see your favorite event? No sweat—we can fix that. Kindly send details.

Find it on newsstands here.

Put This Land in your mailbox here.

Festivals are stories we tell about ourselves. When you attend a festival in Oklahoma, though your fingers might be sticky with powdered sugar from a shared funnel cake, you are taking part in an important storytelling endeavor.

Festivals are stories we tell about ourselves. When you attend a festival in Oklahoma, though your fingers might be sticky with powdered sugar from a shared funnel cake, and you might be wearing a viking helmet besides, you are taking part in an important storytelling endeavor.

We build our festivals on that one thing we’re known for, the tagline on the signs we hammer into the ground alongside the roads that lead into town: The way we remember the times, places, foods, songs, and dances of our ancestors. The strawberry-sweet, rich soil under our feet, the same stuff our grandparents tilled with a plow. Our passion for sports, or our traditions (and new interests) in music. Even the time a big-talkin’ man came to town, sold us a circus, and then skipped town.

From King Henry VIII to endless spaghetti, here are our top picks for festivals on the calendar for May in Oklahoma.

Get ready, Oklahoma. A bumper crop of Cinco de Mayo festivals is about to fill your weekend with live music and plenty to spicy things to eat and drink. No matter in what part of the state you find yourself this 5th of May, there is a party in—or very near—your neck of the woods.

Get the full list of the best Cinco de Mayo parties in Oklahoma for 2013.

Wanna get fresh? Let’s make it easy. Check out this list of Oklahoma farmers markets to help you find the best and freshest produce—along with some one-of-a-kind curios and crafts—from around the state, from Tulsa, Oklahoma City and beyond.

Get the full guide to some favorite Oklahoma farmers markets

Like TashaDoesTulsa.com and This Land Events? Odds are that you’ll love This Land Press, too. Each week we publish a variety of stories about Oklahoma, with the aim of broadening the understanding of life and culture in the state.

In case you’ve been busy, here’s a selection of what’s been posted this week.

GUTHRIE DAYS: Woody Guthrie Center opens in downtown Tulsa this weekend with some fanfare: free events at the museum, plus free concerts at Guthrie Green featuring the likes of Jimmy LaFave, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, and JD McPherson, just to name a few.

BOOK THIS: Oklahoma is more than a place—it’s an idea. That’s the kernel that inspired the latest in our catalogue of books: Imaginary Oklahoma, an anthology in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with visual artists to provide a fictional take on this place we call home. The Paris Review had some nice things to say about it. Get your copy of Imaginary Oklahoma here.

HAVE YOU HEARD: The new This Land Radio show airs on KOSU Radio every Sunday at 1 p.m. You can subscribe to This Land Radio on iTunes and Stitcher if you won’t be near a radio. Get a preview of Episode 3 of This Land Radio here.

THIS LAND LIVE: We’re excited to introduce our latest video project: It’s This Land Live, a partnership with Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer on a series of new videos starring Oklahoma’s top music makers. Featured here is Dead Sea Choir (the group is playing tonight on the Blackwatch Stage at Norman Music Festival) at the IDL Ballroom in Tulsa performing “New F.A.”

AN ABUNDANCE OF ODD: Brian Hearn explores the weird, wonderful world of Oklahoma micro museums.

OUR LAND BEFORE TIME: Holly Wall digs up Oklahoma’s primordial past.

HOME ON THE RANGE: Not only does New York Times Chief Film Critic A.O. Scott read This Land, but he also seems to like the Home on the Range thing I wrote. (I think Tony’s writing is fine, too.) What happens when love and guns collide.

7,000 Strong: That’s you, TDT fans. You now number 7,000 on ye olde Facebook, and on Twitter, too. Thanks for following along with this ol’ dinosaur, a six-year-old weblog as of March.

THE LAST TO KNOW: Don’t let it be you. Subscribe to This Land and get a year’s worth of stories from around here.

What have you been reading/watching/listening to this week?

“Funny, surprising, ingenious, strange, sidelong, rueful, and satisfying. If the real Oklahoma is anything like these imaginary ones, your visit will pass in an extraordinary commotion of sights, shouts, and conversations.”
-Kevin Brockmeier

This Land Press Fiction Editor and Booksmart Tulsa founder Jeff Martin has gone and put together a new book.

Imaginary Oklahoma: 46 Takes on the 46th State explores our state through a wide variety of voices, styles, and literary devices. With stories by 46 acclaimed writers and new work by artists from across the country, the book proves that Oklahoma is much more than a place—it’s an idea.

From Franz Kafka to Rodgers and Hammerstein, writers both foreign and domestic have been speculating about Oklahoma for more than a century. In this collection, a man recalls a visit to a towering statue of Tom Mix, feral children roam the woods on the edge of a college town and the lead singer of an 80′s hair band just can’t shake his Okie roots. Authors featured in the book include Steve Almond, Ben Greenman, Jonathon Lethem, Matt Bondurant, Edith Pearlman, Deborah Willis, Craig Morgan Teicher, Tupelo Hassman, Wayne Koestenbaum, Alan Heathcock, Jess Row, Lori Ostlund, Jack Pendarvis, Brian Frazer, Aimee Bender, Padgett Powell, Carolyn Parkhurst, and many more.

Tonight, we celebrate the launch.

WHAT: Imaginary Oklahoma Book Launch with Booksmart Tulsa and This Land Press
WHEN: Tonight, Thursday, April 25, 7 p.m.
WHERE: Guthrie Green, Cincinnati and Brady
COST: Free to attend, open to the public

The evening will feature special guests, prizes, and your first chance to get your copy of the book. Come hungry: Food, beer, wine, and cocktails will be for sale at Lucky’s on the Green. Wink Burcham will bring the tunes. Free and open to the public.

Reserve your copy of the book before the event: http://bit.ly/imokbook. RSVP and invite your friends to the book-launch event on Facebook.

The time has finally come: A portion of the archives of legendary folk singer/songwriter Woody Guthrie—including the original, handwritten version of Guthrie’s landmark anthem, “This Land Is Your Land”—will be available for viewing for the first time at the grand opening of the Woody Guthrie Center in downtown Tulsa this weekend.

As part of the opening, the museum, as well as Guthrie Green, will host a weekend’s worth of fun, starring big-name musicians and those important to the Guthrie Archive. Get the full list of free opening-weekend events and concerts at ThisLandPress.com.

With the warmer weather comes a calendar full of things to do outside in Oklahoma. Not least among them are our music festivals, ranging from those that draw national artists to celebrations centered on our local, homegrown talent.

To help you audiophiles with your spring and summer planning, we at This Land Press rounded up some info on some of Oklahoma’s top music festivals, each of which offers an experience that is unique both to its locale as well as the full spectrum of music festivals going on this summer.

My advice: Pack your lawn chairs.