Best-selling author and social critic Thomas Frank will be the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the JOBS NOW Coalition, Dec. 9 in St. Paul.

The meeting runs from 2:30 to 5 p.m. at the Lakes & Plains Council of Carpenters hall, 710 Olive St. in St. Paul. To attend, please RSVP Jennifer Fink by noon Monday, Dec. 6. E-mail jfink@jobsnowcoalition.org

In addition to addressing the meeting, Frank will receive JOBS NOW?s Working Class Hero Award.

"When he accepts this award, Frank will join Barbara Ehrenreich (?Nickel and Dimed?) and others whose work has advanced the cause of economic justice," JOBS NOW Executive Director Kris Jacobs said. "Like Ehrenreich, Frank is not just a social critic; he is also an artist; and, like Ehrenreich, he believes that Americans must reapply the moral principles of fairness to all areas of their lives, including the economy."

JOBS NOW staff has found great inspiration in Frank?s books, especially One Market Under God and What?s the Matter with Kansas? Jacobs said. The latter book has already sold more than 100,000 copies and was recently called "the year?s most prescient political book" by The New York Times.

Others who will be honored at the annual meeting include Ann Markusen, University of Minnesota economist and author of "The Case for a Substantial Raise in Minnesota?s minimum wage;" Herb Frey, Workforce Housing; Stormy Tromp, Steele County Food Shelf; and AFSCME Local 3800, representing clerical workers at the University of Minnesota.