On Sept. 10, local young adult fiction writer Lara Zielin and short story writer Alex Kourvo are joined by U-M Press marketing director Renee Tambeau and Michigan & Great lakes acquiring editor Scott Ham to discuss what their editors are looking for and offer tips on how best to market and promote your book. For adult and teen (grade 6 & up) fiction and nonfiction writers. Also, Zielin and Kourvo host an open house for writers to connect with each other and/or work on their projects at 7 p.m. on Sept. 24.
Literati welcomes poets Linda Gregerson and David Baker, and scholar Steven Mullaney, in celebration of their recent titles.
David Baker is author or editor of fourteen books of poetry and criticism. He holds the Thomas B. Fordham Chair at Denison University, teaches regularly in the Warren Wilson College MFA program, and is the poetry editor of the Kenyon Review.
Linda Gregerson teaches Renaissance literature and creative writing at U-M. She is the author of Waterborne, The Woman Who Died in Her Sleep, and Fire in the Conservatory. Her poems have appeared in The Best American Poetry as well as in the Atlantic, Poetry, Ploughshares, the Yale Review, TriQuarterly, and other publications. Among her many awards and honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, four Pushcart Prizes, and a Kingsley Tufts Award.
Steven Mullaney is professor of English at U-M. He is the author of The Place of the Stage: License, Play, and Power in Renaissance England.
Literati welcomes Christopher Moore to Ann Arbor to read from his latest, Secondhand Souls. This event is free and open to the public. Doors will open at 11:30am. We expect a large crowd, and seated is limited. A book signing will follow.
Christopher Moore is the author of thirteen previous novels, including Lamb, The Stupidest Angel, Fool, Sacre Bleu, and A Dirty Job. He lives in San Francisco, California.
Literati welcomes Jerry Dennis and Glenn Wolff, founders of Michigan independent publisher Big Maple Press. They will be on hand to read and present from their collaborative work.
In autumn 2014 author Jerry Dennis and artist Glenn Wolff teamed with creative director Gail Dennis to form Big Maple Press, a small press dedicated to publishing special editions of the works of Dennis and Wolff and making them available only at independent bookstores and on the Big Maple Press website.
Jerry and Glenn have won numerous awards and have received acclaim from readers and reviewers around the world for their many books published by major publishers, as well as for their essays and illustrations in such publications as The New York Times, The Village Voice,Smithsonian, Audubon, Wildlife Conservation, Sports Afield, and Orion.
JERRY DENNIS has earned international acclaim for his many works of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. His books, including The Bird in the Waterfall, The Windward Shore, and The Living Great Lakes, have won many awards, are frequently taught in colleges and high schools, and have been translated into six languages. His shorter works have appeared in The New York Times,Smithsonian, Audubon, Orion, Michigan Quarterly Review, and many other publications. Visit him at www.jerrydennis.net
GLENN WOLFF has illustrated more than 30 books, hundreds of articles and essays in such publications as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Village Voice, Audubon, and Wildlife Conservation Magazine, and his mixed-media fine art has been shown throughout the U.S. and Canada and is included in many private and public collections. More on his work can be found at www.glennwolff.com
Poet Bob Clifford is an RC creative writing alum (’79) and is former associate director and coordinator of academic programs, where he designed and implemented an academic program for over 600 student-athletes and monitored compliance of Big Ten and NCAA regulations. He is currently the associate athletic director at Oregon State University. Clifford will be at Nicola’s Books for the release of his latest collection of poetry, Gasping for Air.
Aunt Agatha’s co-owner (and BookFest president) Robin Agnew discusses the 13th annual BookFest (September 13) and introduces The Art of the Book, a new AADL exhibit organized in conjunction with the BookFest that showcases entries in its 8th annual Book Cover design contest for high school students, who were asked this year to design a cover for Bethany Beal’s young adult novel My Last Kiss. Agnew also announces the contest winners. Also, live music by harpist Deborah Gabrion and refreshments. AADL multipurpose room (lower level).
Rob Halpern’s latest collection, Common Place, was released this year from Ugly Duckling Press.
Common Place continues Halpern’s sustained inquiry into the relations of body and voice to relentless militarization and economic depredation.
Rob Halpern is the author of several books of poetry, including Music for Porn (Nightboat 2013), Disaster Suites (Palm Press 2009), and Rumored Place(Krupskaya 2006). Together with Taylor Brady, he also co-authored the book-length poem Snow Sensitive Skin, which has been reissued by Displaced Press. Recent essays and translations appear in Chicago Review, Journal of Narrative Theory, and The Claudius App. Rob currently splits his time between San Francisco and Ypsilanti.
Started in 2003, the Kerrytown BookFest is an event celebrating those who create books and those who read them. The primary goal is to highlight the area’s rich heritage in the book and printing arts while showcasing local and regional individuals, businesses, and organizations. Since 2003 we have been growing, sharing, and discovering more and more about the rich book culture in our region.
The BookFest features authors, storytellers, publishers bookbinders, book artists, book illustrators, poets, letterpress printers, wood engravers, calligraphers, papermakers, librarians, teachers, publishers, new, used, and antiquarian booksellers and many others associated with books and their diverse forms, structure, and content.
More information at kerrytownbookfest.org
All poets invited to compete in a poetry slam judged by a randomly chosen panel from the audience. The program begins with a poetry open mike and (occasionally) a short set by a featured poet.
8-11 p.m. (sign-up begins at 7:30 p.m.), $5 suggested donation. A2poetry.com.
Literati welcomes Matt Bell in support of his latest novel, Scrapper.
Matt Bell’s last novel, The House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods, was a finalist for the Young Lions Fiction Award, a Michigan Notable Book, and an Indies Choice Adult Debut Book of the Year recipient. He is also the author of two previous books of fiction, How They Were Found and Cataclysm Baby, and a nonfiction book about the classic video game Baldur’s Gate II, published in 2015 by Boss Fight Books. Born in Michigan, he now teaches creative writing at Arizona State University.
