All invited to read and discuss their poetry or short stories. Bring about 6 copies of your work to share. Hosted by local poets and former college English teachers Joe Kelty and Ed Morin.
Rankine will also present her recent work on American racism at 10 a.m. in ISR Room 1430 at 426 Thompson St. in Ann Arbor. Her talk will be followed by a cross-disciplinary discussion on American racism and the scholar-activist.
The book club offers an intimate, small-group discussion with RC alumnus Rick Petrie, Tuesday, January 17 at 6 pm. We will discuss The Drifter before Nick’s reading from his newest book, Burning Bright, at 7 pm.
Limited to 12 people. To participate, you must purchase the book discussion title from Nicola’s (at a 15 percent discount) and pre-order or purchase the new release title (at a 10 percent discount).
To sign up, contact the store directly at 734-662-0600.
Literati is delighted to be the bookseller for Margot Lee Shetterly’s visit to Ann Arbor in support of her book, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. Margot will speak at Rackham Auditorium (915 E. State Street) at 4pm, and then participate in a fireside chat at Stamps Auditorium on North Campus at 6:30pm, with a signing to follow.
Audiences of all backgrounds will be captivated by the phenomenal true story of the black “human computers” who used math to change their own lives—and their country’s future. Set against the rich backdrop of World War II, the Space Race, the Civil Rights Era, and the burgeoning fight for gender equality, this talk brings to life the stories of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, who worked as mathematicians at NASA during the golden age of space travel. Teaching math at segregated schools in the South, they were called into service during the WWII labor shortages. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had jobs worthy of their skills at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, in Hampton, Virginia. Even as Jim Crow laws segregated them from their white counterparts, the women of this all-black “West Computing” group helped America achieve a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War. They were part of a group of hundreds of black and white women who, over the decades, contributed to some of NASA’s greatest successes.
In this keynote, Margot Lee Shetterly talks about race, gender, science, the history of technology, and much else. She shows us the surprising ways that women and people of color have contributed to American innovation while pursuing the American Dream. In sweeping, dramatic detail, she sheds light on a forgotten but key chapter in our history, and instills in us a sense of wonder, and possibility.
Margot Lee Shetterly grew up in Hampton, Virginia, where she knew many of the women in her book Hidden Figures. She is an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow and the recipient of a Virginia Foundation for the Humanities grant for her research on women in computing. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Peter Ho Davies, U-M English professor, reads from his new book, followed by a conversation with Douglas Trevor, U-M English professor, Q & A with the audience, and book signing.
Inhabiting four lives, three inspired by real historical characters, “The Fortunes” captures and capsizes more than a century of our history, recasting the story of America through the lives of Chinese Americans. It brilliantly reimagines the multigenerational novel, looking through the prismatic fractures of immigrant experience, and showing that even as family bonds are denied and broken, a community can survive as much through love as blood.
Readings by WSU English professor Caroline Maun, a widely published poet whose collections include The Sleeping and What Remains, and Cruel Garters journal editor Glen Armstrong, an Oakland University writing professor who has published several chapbooks. Followed by a poetry and short fiction open mike.
U-M English professor Susan Parrish reads from her new book and discusses it with U-M history professor Perrin Selcer.
5:30-7 p.m., 100 U-M Hatcher Grad Library Gallery, enter from the Diag. Free. 764-3166.
All invited to read and discuss their poetry or short stories. Bring about 6 copies of your work to share. Hosted by local poets and former college English teachers Joe Kelty and Ed Morin.
U-M women’s studies professor Wang Zheng, political science professor Mary Gallagher, and history professor Kathleen Canning discuss Zheng’s new book.
3:10-5 p.m., 2239 Lane Hall, 204 S. State. Free. 764-9537.
Independent White House press corps member Paul Brandus discusses his new history of the White House and the people who designed, inhabited, and decorated it. Signing & reception.
7 p.m., Ford Library, 1000 Beal. Free. 205-0555.
