Nicola’s Books will join other bookstores across the country to celebrate ‘Curiosity Day,’ an annual event that promotes the joy of reading and learning with everyone’s favorite monkey, Curious George. For two hours it will be everything Curious George – books, games, art and activities. Costume contest at 11:00 am (for both kids and adults); come as your favorite character in a Curious George book. Beverages and snacks will also be served throughout the event.
Kate Mendeloff and the RC Visiting Artists program welcome Alice Eve Cohen, playwright, author and actor, for a production of “Thin Walls” — a play about a microcosm of the urban landscape at a turbulent time in New York City’s history. Set in a century-old residential building, once elegant and now run-down, the darkly humorous and deeply moving play interweaves the stories of the building’s long-time residents, its recent arrivals and its ghosts, as the end of the 20th century approaches.
Alice Eve Cohen’s plays and solo pieces have been produced around the world. Ms. Cohen has also written for television, and her fiction has been published by Simon and Schuster and Heinenmann Press. She has received fellowships, grants and commissions from New York State Council on the ARts, Dance Theatre Workshop and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as an Emmy Award Commendation and numerous awards from Poets and Writers, Meet the Composer andASCAP. She received her BA from Princeton University and her MFA from the New School University, where she teaches solo theatre. She works with Lincoln Center Institute, and is the founding editor-in-chief of Theatre Development Fund’s educational theatre journal, Play by Play.
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.
Includes a talk on the therapeutic power of memoir writing and a book signing of the author’s memoir, What You Feel Is Real.
Monthly open mike storytelling competition sponsored by The Moth, the NYC-based nonprofit storytelling organization that also produces a weekly public radio show. Each month 10 storytellers are selected at random from among those who sign up to tell a 3-5 minute story on the monthly theme. The 3 judges are recruited from the audience. Monthly winners compete in a semiannual Grand Slam. Space limited, so it’s smart to arrive early. September theme: Nerds and Geeks. $8. Doors open, and sign up start at 6.
Brian Freeman joins our book club on Wednesday, September 23 at 7 PM, to talk about his Jonathan Stride novel The Cold Nowhere as well as his new thriller, Season of Fear. He’ll also be presenting a PowerPoint: “Jonathan Stride’s Duluth.”
Reading by Ken Meisel, an award-winning Detroit-area poet whose recent The Drunken Sweetheart at My Door is a collection of surrealistic metaphysical poems about love. Followed by a poetry and short fiction open mike.
Local young adult fiction writer Lara Zielin and short story writer Alex Kourvo host an open house for writers to connect with each other and/or work on their projects.
Jon M. Stevens was born in Powell, Ohio, and grew up in the shadow of Ohio Stadium. He earned a master’s degree from U-M in 2004 and is currently a designer for an architecture firm in Ann Arbor. Ken Magee is an expert in Wolverine football history. He is a 30-year veteran of law enforcement, former chief of police for the University of Michigan, and a retired federal agent. A portion of this book’s proceeds will benefit the Ken Magee Foundation for Cops, which assists police officers permanently injured in the line of duty. They are the authors of The Game: The Michigan-Ohio State Football Rivalry.
