Laz joins poet Jennifer Burd in support of the release of her new book, “Day’s Late Blue.” Jennifer is an award-winning poet whose haiku and lyric poems have been widely published in print and on-line journals, as well as in three previous books. Laz has set to music a number of her poems and will sing them at this event. In addition Jennifer and Laz will present haiku / flute improvisations on solo and jointly written haiku. Book signing to follow.
Local short story writer Alex Kourvo and young adult novelist Bethany Neal are joined by children’s nonfiction author Virginia Loh-Hagan, who has published children’s books on everything from extreme mountain biking to starting a dog-walking business. She shares insights into writing aimed at young writers. For adult and teen (grade 6 & up) fiction and nonfiction writers. Also, Kourvo and Neal host an open house for writers to connect with one another and/or work on their projects at 7 p.m. on Oct. 16.
AADL Westgate Branch West Side Room, Westgate shopping center, 2503 Jackson. Free. 327-8301.
Local journalist Micheline Maynard interviews Bakehouse managing partners Frank Carollo and Amy Emberling about their new cookbook, which features 65 of their most popular recipes. Bakehouse treats and drinks.
4:30-6:30 p.m., Zingerman’s Greyline, 100 N. Ashley. $75 (includes one autographed copy of the book). Reservations required. 663-3663.
The presentation discusses three projects for social change based in Liverpool UK, Johannesburg South Africa, and with Chippewa communities of the Upper Peninsula and Canada. Two of the projects focus on activism against gender-based violence and one explores Black identities in international context. Gonzalez discussed how social activist interventions can manifest as performance-based projects, academic writings, or public scholarship. Community-based activism requires ongoing engagement with partner organizations working for common goals.
If you are a person with a disability who requires an accommodation to attend this event, please contact Center for World Performance Studies, at 734-936-2777, at least one week in advance of this event. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the University to arrange.
Open mike storytelling competition sponsored by The Moth, the NYC-based nonprofit storytelling organization that also produces a weekly public radio show. Each night 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.
7:30-9 p.m. (doors open and sign-up begins at 6:30 p.m.)
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, author of The Virgin Suicidesand Middlesex, is joined by local novelist Claire Vaye Watkins in a discussion of Fresh Complaint, his new collection of short stories about characters that range from a failed poet who turns to embezzlement to a high school student whose drastic decision upends the life of a middle-aged physicist.
7 p.m., Michigan Union Ballroom. Tickets $28.62 (includes a copy of the book) in advance at brownpapertickets.com/event/3080004. 585-5567.
Literati is excited to welcome author Tiya Miles who will be discussing her new book Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Bondage and Freedom in the City of the Straits
About Dawn of Detroit:
Most Americans believe that slavery was a creature of the South, and that Northern states and territories provided stops on the Underground Railroad for fugitive slaves on their way to Canada. In this paradigm-shifting book, celebrated historian Tiya Miles reveals that slavery was at the heart of the Midwest’s iconic city: Detroit.
In this richly researched and eye-opening book, Miles has pieced together the experience of the unfree—both native and African American—in the frontier outpost of Detroit, a place wildly remote yet at the center of national and international conflict. Skillfully assembling fragments of a distant historical record, Miles introduces new historical figures and unearths struggles that remained hidden from view until now. The result is fascinating history, little explored and eloquently told, of the limits of freedom in early America, one that adds new layers of complexity to the story of a place that exerts a strong fascination in the media and among public intellectuals, artists, and activists.
A book that opens the door on a completely hidden past, The Dawn of Detroit is a powerful and elegantly written history, one that completely changes our understanding of slavery’s American legacy.
Tiya Miles is the recipient of a 2011 MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” and is a professor at the University of Michigan in the departments of American culture, Afro-American and African studies, history, women’s studies, and in the Native American Studies Program. She lives in Ann Arbor.
Literati is excited to host a panel discussion of the new book #exstrange: A Curatorial Intervention on Ebay
About #Exstrange
#exstrange: a curatorial intervention on eBay presents the #exstrange exhibition project, which transformed one of the largest marketplaces on the web — eBay — into a site of artistic production. This book documents artworks, reveals the aftermath of auctions and correspondences between artists and bidders, and features essays by lead curators Marialaura Ghidini and Rebekah Modrak, cultural critic Mark Dery, journalist Rob Walker, media and material culture scholar Padma Chirumamilla, guest curator Gaia Tedone, and artist and writer Renee Carmichael.
Over 80 contemporary artists and designers created “artworks as auctions” for #exstrange between January 15 and April 15, 2017, each using the elements of the auction listing–descriptive text, images, pricing, and categories–as tools of production.
Works include artist Lucy Pawlak’s collaboration with the Beat Officer to sell a series of clay objects as missing evidence from unexplained events in Mexico; IOCOSE’s sale of instant protests in the category “Specialty Services” where buyers chose the protest mantras, and outsourced performers demonstrated; and Susanne Cockrell & Ted Purves’ offering of a stick-gun with the memory of their son’s play in “Entertainment Memorabilia.”
Panel Participants:
Rebekah Modrak, Co-curator of #exstrange, and Associate Professor, Stamps School of Art & Design, University of Michigan.
Sophia Brueckner, #exstrange artist, and Assistant Professor, Stamps School of Art & Design, University of Michigan.
Masimba Hwati, #exstrange artist, and MFA candidate, Stamps School of Art & Design, University of Michigan.
Fred Feinberg, #exstrange guest curator, and Professor of Marketing and Statistics, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.
Padma Chirumamilla, wrote the essay “Guarantees and Ghosts: Breakdowns in Everyday Life” for the #exstrange book, and PhD candidate, School of Information, University of Michigan.
Talk by this Peabody- and Emmy-winning international journalist and broadcaster, former global correspondent for ABC News and NBC News, who was the only American network correspondent to cover the communist takeover of Saigon and who reported from Beijing on Tiananmen Square. The program begins with lunch.
11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Michigan Union Ballroom. $45 (members, free). jill@thefairchilds.net, 417-0816.
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.
7-9 p.m., Crazy Wisdom, 114 S. Main. Free. 665-2757
