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
This year’s theme is “Travels with Books”.
A special feature this year is our third annual Writer in Residence, R.J. Fox. This teacher and author will critique manuscripts submitted ahead of time the day of the festival. Contact Hart Johnson, hartjohnson23@gmail.com, to reserve a slot.
Main Tent
10:30 – 11 a.m. 9th Annual Community Book Award Presentation to Washtenaw Literacy. Director Amy Goodman will accept the award, presented by board member Dallas Moore. Free coffee and donuts will be served in the Main Tent to help celebrate Washtenaw Literacy and kick off the day.
11:00 a.m.- Noon Under the Radar Michigan’s Tom Daldin talks about Michigan’s undiscovered gems.
12:15 – 1:15 p.m. The Quest for Identity Writers Desiree Cooper (Know the Mother), Kelly Fordon (Garden of the Blind), and Andrew Mozina (Contrary Motion) discuss their work with moderator and author Donald Lystra(Something That Feels Like Truth).
1:30 – 2:30 p.m. A Mysterious Sense of Place Mystery writers William Kent Krueger (Manitou Canyon), Hank Phillippi Ryan (What You See) andPatricia Abbott (Shot in Detroit) discuss the sense of place in their novels with author and moderator Carrie Smith (Silent City).
2:45 – 3:45 p.m. Travel through Time with author B.A. Shapiro, who discusses her novels The Art Forger and The Muralist with art historianEllen Longsworth.
4 p.m. Travel North with John Smolens as he discusses his writing and his latest novel Wolf’s Mouth with writer and moderator Benjamin Busch (Dust to Dust).
Kerrytown Concert House
11:00 a.m. – Noon Writing for Hire Join writers Casey Daniels (Irish Stewed) and Vicky Delany (Reading up a Storm), as they discuss the many ways to make a living writing. Both of them have written books “for hire” from TV adaptations to cozy mysteries to flashcards to Goosebumpsinstallments. They’ll discuss the state of publishing today with writer and moderator Barbara Gregorich (Guide to Writing the Mystery Novel: Lots of Examples, Plus Dead Bodies).
12:15 – 1:15 p.m. Stride’s Duluth Thriller writer Brian Freeman illustrates with photos taken on photo safari in Duluth, Minnesota, how he uses the setting to inform his Jonathan Stride novels. He’ll read a passage from one of them to show how his setting influences his writing.
1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Eating Wildly with Ava Chin, who discusses her book on urban foraging with bookseller and moderator Rachel Pastiva, the manager of Crazy Wisdom.
2:45 – 3:45 p.m. Travel the Lakes with Loreen Niewenhuis, who has walked around the entire Great Lakes. She’ll be interviewed by authorMaureen Dunphy (Great Lakes Island Escapes).
4 p.m. The ABCs of Washtenaw Literacy, an informative tour of the agency’s highly effective programs including a video and a presentation from learners.
Children’s Tent
11-11:45 a.m. the beloved Mother Goose shares nursery rhymes with the littlest BookFest visitors
11:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Shanda Trent reads her new book Giddy-Up, Buckaroos
12:15 – 1 p.m. Writer Kristen Remenar and illustrator Matt Faulkner read their latest collaboration Groundhog’s Dilemma
1 – 1:45 p.m. author Kelly DiPuccio shares How to Potty Train Your Dragon
2 – 3;30 p.m. Storytellers Laura Pershin Raynor and Kayla Coughlinentertain listeners of all ages & share a craft.
3:30 – 5 p.m. writer & illustrator Ruth McNally Barshaw (Ellie McDoodle)leads a drawing workshop – “How to make a Lion from a 5″
Writer in Residence R.J. Fox, ongoing through the day. Mr. Fox will critique the first twenty pages of your manuscript. For information and to reserve a slot, contact Hart Johnson at hartjohnson23@gmail.com.
The Edible Book Contest is open to anyone; entries can be dropped off beginning at 9:30 a.m. the day of the bookfest. More details to come.
Random House, Penguin, Macmillan, and Harper Collins publishing house representatives discuss their best new titles from late summer and upcoming releases.
The Hopwood Awards Program celebates summer awardees with a reception at 3:15 and awards at 4:10. Three RC students won summer awards:
Literati is proud to be the bookseller for Sam Kean’s visit to Ann Arbor. Thanks toMiSciWriters and RELATE, this New York Times-bestselling author will be visiting the University of Michigan campus to talk about science writing. This event will take place in the Rackham Amphitheatre and is free and open to the public. You can RSVP to the Facebook event here.
Sam Kean spent years collecting mercury from broken thermometers as a kid, and now he’s a writer in Washington, D.C. His stories have appeared in The Best American Science and Nature Writing, The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, Mental Floss, Slate, and Psychology Today, among other places, and his work has been featured on “Radiolab” and NPR’s “All Things Considered,” among other shows. His books The Disappearing Spoon and The Violinist’s Thumb were national bestsellers, and both were named an Amazon “Top 5” science books of the year. The Disappearing Spoon was nominated by the Royal Society for one of the top science books of 2010, while both The Violinist’s Thumb and The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons were nominated for PEN’s literary science writing award.
Literati is thrilled to welcome our friends at harlequin creature back to the store for the launch of their latest, greatest issues.
About the journal: 2016 marks five years of harlequin creature, and to celebrate, we’re launching a special double issue. please join us for the launch of issues 8/9 with an evening of readings. issue 8, “not a metaphor,” was curated by a group of guest editors from across the country, including JP Howard & Casey Rocheteau (poetry), Ginger Buswell (prose), & Alisha Wessler (art). it includes the poetry of Tara Betts, Destiny O. Birdsong, Amber Flame, Micaela Foley, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Amanda Johnston, Stacey Knecht, and Pamela L. Laskin, prose by Emily Hunt and Meg Whiteford, and art by Matt Neff. cover design by Kayla Romberger. issue 9, “sitting between chairs,” is dedicated to translation and was shaped by guest editors Kristin Dickinson, Emily Goedde, and Anne Posten, and features translations from a wide range of languages, including serbian, welsh, portugese, ukrainian and hungarian.
RC Creative Writing alumnus Nicholas Petrie will be Writer in Residence at the RC October 12-13, and will read in Benzinger Library on the 13th. He is the author of The Drifter (2016) and Burning Bright (January 2017). Nicholas won a Hopwood for short fiction in 1991; he received his MFA in fiction from the University of Washington. His story “At the Laundromat” won the 2006 Short Story Contest in the The Seattle Review, a national literary journal. A husband and father, he runs a home-inspection business in Milwaukee.
RC Alumna Anna Clark (2003) speaks on her forthcoming book, “Water’s Perfect Memory: Flint and the Poisoning of an American City”. The James H. and Jean B. Robertson Memorial Lecture Series was established by the Robertson family in 2011 to honor the first Director of the Residential College and his spouse and to provide for an annual lecture on education and the liberal arts.
• Panel discussion about the present and future of research in bipolar disorder
• Reception
The signed book will be available for purchase at the event.
This event is free and open to the public, but we kindly ask you to pre-register:http://www.prechterfund.org/lecture/
“Baird’s lonely, angry, grief-stricken, and occasionally grandiose account of his illness and its shattering costs is the reason we can’t put [this book] down. His sharply detailed recollections are sometimes sane and sometimes not, but his writing is lucid even when his thinking isn’t. His manuscript is a plea to understand his experience and, by extension, others.” – The Boston Globe
University of Michigan, Kahn Auditorium, A. Alfred Taubman Biomedical Science Research Building, 109 Zina Pitcher Place. Free. kbergman@umich.edu http://www.prechterfund.org/lecture/ [map]
Geraldine Markel, PhD, a board certified executive coach, enhances leadership and workplace productivity. As principal of Managing Your Mind Coaching & Seminars, Geri provides systematic processes to enhance business performance and profits. Geri helps leaders, entrepreneurs and business owners cut to core issues and apply practical strategies to move from good intentions to cost-effective actions. Her style of providing feedback using compassionate candor leads to accelerated learning and change.
Dr. Markel is an educational psychologist and served as faculty in the School of Education and as seminar leader of the Instructional Design Workshop at the Executive Education Center, School of Business, University of Michigan. For over 15 years, she helped develop instructor-led and self-directed learning materials to enhance performance, productivity and effectiveness for corporate, governmental and educational organizations. As a consultant and trainer, Geri worked with companies such as Ford Motor Company, Disney Corporation, and Department of Agriculture. As a speaker, she has worked at corporate offices of VIACOM, Time Warner, Merrill Lynch, and TIAA-CREF; educational institutions such as University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Michigan State University; and law firms such as Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Kelly, Drye & Warren.
She is an award winning author; her most recent books are:
Actions Against Distractions: Managing Your Scattered, Distracted and Forgetful Mind
Defeating the 8 Demons of Distraction: Proven Strategies to Increase Productivity and Reduce Stress
Finding Happiness with Aristotle as Your Guide: Action Strategies Based on 10 Timeless Ideas
Finding Your Focus: Practical Strategies for the Everyday Problems Facing Adults with ADD
On October 21st, Literati is thrilled to welcome Margaret Atwood to Ann Arbor (at Rackham Auditorium) in celebration of her most recent novel, Hag-Seed, part of the Hogarth Shakespeare project. Click the button below to purchase a ticket.
About Hag-Seed
Hag-Seed is a re-visiting of Shakespeare’s play of magic and illusion, The Tempest, and will be the fourth novel in the Hogarth Shakespeare series.
In Margaret Atwood’s novel take on Shakespeare’s original, theater director Felix has been unceremoniously ousted from his role as Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Festival. When he lands a job teaching theater in a prison, the possibility of revenge presents itself–and his cast find themselves taking part in an interactive and illusion-ridden version of The Tempest that will change their lives forever.
There is a lot of Shakespearean swearing in this new Tempest adventure–but also a mischief, curiosity and vigor that is entirely Atwood.
About Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood is the author of more than forty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. Her latest book of short stories is Stone Mattress: Nine Tales (2014). Her MaddAddam trilogy–the Giller and Booker prize-nominated Oryx and Crake (2003),The Year of the Flood (2009), and MaddAddam (2013)–is currently being adapted for HBO. The Door is her latest volume of poetry (2007). Her most recent non-fiction books are Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth (2008) and In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination (2011). Her novels include The Blind Assassin, winner of the Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; and The Robber Bride, Cat’s Eye, The Handmaid’s Tale–coming soon as a TV series with MGM and Hulu–and The Penelopiad. Her new novel, The Heart Goes Last, was published in September 2015. Forthcoming in 2016 are Hag-Seed, a novel revisitation of Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, for the Hogarth Shakespeare Project, and Angel Catbird–with a cat-bird superhero–a graphic novel with co-creator Johnnie Christmas (Dark Horse.) Margaret Atwood lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.
About the Event
This event will take place at Rackham Auditorium on the campus of The University of Michigan on October 21st, 2016, at 7pm. Doors for seating will open at 6:15. Tickets are $30, and include a hardcover copy of the novel to be picked up at the venue the day of the event. Other titles by Margaret Atwood will be available to purchase in the lobby. Ticket holders may also have books signed. Due to venue time constraints, the signing will be limited. Those wishing to have more than 3 titles signed are asked to wait until the end of the signing. Books may be personalized.
