Calendar

Jennifer Burd has published lyric poetry and haiku in a variety of print and online journals. She is the author of a book of poems, Body and Echo, and a book of creative nonfiction, Daily Bread: A Portrait of Homeless Men & Women of Lenawee County, Michigan. She has co-written (with Laszlo Slomovits) a children’s play based on Patricia Polacco’s picture book I Can Hear the Sun, which was produced in 2015 by Ann Arbor’s Wild Swan Theater. Jennifer received her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington, and she teaches online courses through the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. She works as an editor and writer for HighScope Educational Research Foundation in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Laszlo Slomovits is one of the twin brothers in Ann Arbor’s nationally-known children’s folk music duo, Gemini (GeminiChildrensMusic.com).  A fine singer and multi-instrumentalist, Laszlo has given concerts throughout the U.S. and a number of his award-winning songs are featured in songbooks music teachers use throughout the country.  In addition to his music for children, Laszlo has set to music the work of many poets. His recordings of these song-settings include five CDs of the poetry of ancient Sufi mystics, Rumi and Hafiz as well as “White Picture” by the Holocaust-era Czech poet Jiri Orten and “Cry of Freedom,” the poetry of contemporary American poet Linda Nemec Foster.

Ray Robertson is the author of Lives of the Poets (with Guitars): Thirteen Outsiders Who Changed Modern Music, and the novels Home Movies, Heroes, Moody Food, Gently Down the Stream, What Happened Later, and David, as well as a collection of non-fiction, Mental Hygiene: Essays on Writers and Writing. He is a contributing book reviewer to the Globe and Mail.

A twenty-year editor for Guitar Player and the founding editor of Pure Guitar magazine, Jas Obrecht has been writing about music since the mid 1970s. His current book is Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar. He wrote the first nationally published cover stories on Eddie Van Halen, Eric Johnson, Steve Lukather, Steve Morse, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani. His other Guitar Player cover stories include Mick Ralphs, Pat Travers, Jeff Beck, Jeff Baxter, Billy Gibbons, Duane Allman, Craig Chaquico, Charlie Christian, Steve Morse, Andy Summers, Randy Rhoads, Brian May, Muddy Waters, Brian Setzer, Jimi Hendrix, Angus Young, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Neil Young, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Ry Cooder, Keith Richards, Albert Collins, and John Lennon. He written for all of the major blues magazines, as well as for scholarly journals, fanzines, and websites. His books include Masters of Heavy Metal, Blues Guitar: The Men Who Made the Music, Rollin’ & Tumblin’: The Postwar Blues Guitarists, and My Son Jimi, co-authored with James A. Hendrix. He wrote the liners for Robert Johnson’s King of Delta Blues, Blind Willie Johnson’s Dark Was the Night, and John Lee Hooker’s 50 Years: John Lee Hooker Anthology, and produced DVDs and CDs for Buckethead. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and can be reached at jasobr@earthlink.net .

Local young-adult novelist Patrick Flores-Scott, author of the award-winning debut novel Jumped In, discusses his writing and announces the 2016 winners of the annual AADL teen short story writing contest, which features $1,500 in prizes. Refreshments.
2-3 p.m., AADL multipurpose room

Crazy Wisdom Book and Performance Event — Come join the co-authors Greg Jobin-Leeds, Dey Hernández, Jorge Diaz and movement leaders for a multi-media hour of art, theatre and lively conversation. Longtime social activist Greg Jobin-Leeds joins forces with AgitArte-a collective of innovative artists and organizers-to capture the stories, philosophies, tactics, and art of six of today’s most pressing movements: immigrant rights, the LGBTQ movement, the fight for quality public education, the prison justice movement, the struggle for economic power, and the environmental movement.
Recently published by The New Press, WHEN WE FIGHT was highly praised by Noam Chomsky, Amy Goodman and Thom Hartmann.

Jonathan Rudinger, RN LMT has been instrumental in developing the field of canine massage for people at home and PetMassageTM at the professional level since the mid-1990’s. PetMassage workshops draw students from all over the worlds. Jonathan has authored several books and DVD’s and taught over 300 professional level canine massage workshops.

Jonathan is often called upon for interviews in national media, invited to lecture about canine massage, and is recognized as a lobbyist supporting the rights for animal massage practitioners to practice legally. Recognized as an authority on massage for dogs, he has been featured in Whole Dog Journal, Dog Fancy Magazine, Natural Dog, Cosmopolitan, AARP, Glamour, Massage Magazine, Animal Wellness Magazine, Massage Today, Massage Therapy Journal, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Jonathan has given live demonstrations at human massage, dog training, and veterinary conferences, at the Westminster Dog Show in New York and Crufts in the United Kingdom.

This Chicago crime writer and documentary filmmaker discusses Brighton, his new thriller about 2 lifelong friends in a rapidly changing Boston who must face the sins of their youth in the midst of a series of brutal murders. In conjunction with the Ann Arbor Book Festival.