2-4 p.m., Ann Arbor District Library Freespace (3rd floor), 343 S. Fifth Ave. Free. 971-5763.
Local journalist M. Joanne Nesbit discusses her new book that celebrates such diverse characters as the person who chose maize and blue as the U-M colors, the first Ann Arborite to race in the Indy 500, and Lewis the cat from Downtown Home & Garden.
2-3:30 p.m., AADL Westgate Branch West Side Room, Westgate shopping center, 2503 Jackson. Free. 327-8301.
Talk by New York Times Pulitzer-winning correspondent Sheri Fink, author of Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital, an examination of decisions made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
5-6:30 p.m., UMMA Apse, 525 S. State. Free. 615-8482.
Literati is thrilled to welcome Bill Goldstein who will be discussing his new book The World Broke in Two: Virgina Woolf, T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, E.M. Forster and the Year that Changed Literature. He will be joined by Douglas Trevor, chair of the Zell’s Writers Program at the University of Michigan
About The World Broke in Two
The World Broke in Two tells the fascinating story of the intellectual and personal journeys four legendary writers, Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, E. M. Forster, and D. H. Lawrence, make over the course of one pivotal year. As 1922 begins, all four are literally at a loss for words, confronting an uncertain creative future despite success in the past. The literary ground is shifting, as Ulysses is published in February and Proust’s In Search of Lost Time begins to be published in England in the autumn. Yet, dismal as their prospects seemed in January, by the end of the year Woolf has started Mrs. Dalloway, Forster has, for the first time in nearly a decade, returned to work on the novel that will become A Passage to India, Lawrence has written Kangaroo, his unjustly neglected and most autobiographical novel, and Eliot has finished—and published to acclaim—“The Waste Land.”
As Willa Cather put it, “The world broke in two in 1922 or thereabouts,” and what these writers were struggling with that year was in fact the invention of modernism. Based on original research, The World Broke in Two captures both the literary breakthroughs and the intense personal dramas of these beloved writers as they strive for greatness.
Bill Goldstein, the founding editor of the books site of The New York Times on the Web, reviews books and interviews authors for NBC’s “Weekend Today in New York.” He is also curator of public programs at Roosevelt House, the public policy institute of New York’s Hunter College. He received a PH.D in English from City University of New York Graduate Center in 2010, and is the recipient of writing fellowships at MacDowell, Yaddo, Ucross and elsewhere.
Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, creators of the wildly popular podcast Welcome to Night Vale, discuss It Devours!, their new mystery novel that explores the intersections of faith and science and a growing relationship between two young people who want to trust each other. Signing.
7 p.m., Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, 911 North University. Tickets $23.31 in advance at brownpapertickets.com/event/3084372 (includes a copy of the book). 585-5567.
Reading by Diane DeCillis, Detroit native whose award-winning 1st book of poems, Strings Attached, was described by Gargoyle Magazine (Washington, D.C.) editor Richard Peabody as a collection of “warm, philosophical poems [which] explore a cultural and emotional terrain similar to the work of Naomi Shihab Nye.” Followed by a poetry and short fiction open mike.
7-9 p.m., Crazy Wisdom, 114 S. Main. Free. 665-2757
Northern California native Tim Hunt reads from his latest book, Poem’s Poems & Other Poems, a collection of poems in which a persona named Poem seeks self-definition through the writing of poetry. DePauw University English profesor Deborah Geis says Poem is “always somewhere that he doesn’t quite belong, or is asking the ‘wrong’ questions, yet ultimately charms us with his love of both illusions and allusions.” The program begins with open mike readings.
7-8:30 p.m., Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea, 123 W. Washington. Free. 994-6663
Doug Stanton is a journalist, lecturer, screenwriter, and author who has appeared on numerous TV and radio outlets, including NBC’s “Today,” CNN, Imus In The Morning, Discovery, A&E, Fox News, NPR, MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and NBC’s Nightly News, and has been covered extensively in prominent publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and New York Times. He has written on travel, sport, entertainment, and history, and his writing has appeared in Esquire, Outside Magazine, Men’s Journal, the New York Times, TIME, Newsweek, Slate, The Daily Beast, and the Washington Post.
The Odyssey of Echo Company: The 1968 TET Offensive and the Epic Battle to Survive the Vietnam War
On January 31st, 1968 as many as 100,000 North Vietnamese soldiers attacked thirty-six cities throughout South Vietnam in an attack known as the Tet Offensive. This attack was a turning point in the decade-long war that led to, among other things, LBJ’s decision not to run for re-election. It was a national watershed moment, but for 19-year-old Stan Parker and the young men of the US Army’s recon platoon, Echo Company of the 101st Airborne Division, the attack was the start of a brutal fight for survival.
As we approach the 50th Anniversary of the Tet Offensive, The Odyssey of Echo Company: The 1968 TET Offensive and the Epic Battle to Survive the Vietnam War offers a breathtaking portrait of war, homecoming, and a search for peace.
More than ten years in the making, and based on hours of interviews with soldiers, detailed letters written to and from Echo Company, Pentagon after-action reports, photographs and video footage, this new book by New York Times bestselling author of In Harm’s Way and Horse Soldiers offers the untold and remarkable story of a platoon of American soldiers and their heroic efforts to survive the Vietnam War – both on the battlefield and after their return home to the US.
Monica Youn is the author of three books of poetry: Blackacre (Graywolf Press, 2016); Barter(Graywolf Press, 2003); and Ignatz (Four Way Books, 2010), which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including the New Yorker, the Paris Review, and the New York Times Magazine, and she has been awarded fellowships from the Library of Congress and Stanford University, among other awards. A former attorney, she now teaches poetry at Princeton University and at the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers. She previously taught at Bennington College, Columbia University, and at the Sarah Lawrence College MFA Program. Youn’s poetry has been described as “interested in the intersection between the beauty we want in life, and the darkness that often serves as an invisible barrier for it,” with her background in law allowing her to “probe and navigate these gray areas gently, using an economy of language that both cuts to the heart of the matter and reveals nuanced layers of caution, lust, and desperation.”
One of the most prolific American writers of the 20th century, Joyce Carol Oates counts historical biographies, depictions of working class families, and magical realist Gothic fiction among her oeuvre. She often depicts hardships and violence in American towns, and has received both critical and popular acclaim in her 50-year career. Oates is the author of over 70 books, including the novels them (1969), winner of the National Book Award; Bellefleur (1980); You Must Remember This (1987); Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart (1990); We Were the Mulvaneys (1996); Blonde (2000), winner of the National Book Award; The Gravedigger’s Daughter (2007); and The Accursed (2013). Her short stories and essays have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Harper’s, and have been widely anthologized. In an interview for the Paris Review, she says: “I try to write books that can be read in one way by a literal-minded reader, and in quite another way by a reader alert to symbolic abbreviation and parodistic elements. And yet, it’s the same book—or nearly. A trompe l’oeil, a work of ‘as if.’”
Literati is excited to welcome Jennifer Weiss-Wolf in support of her new book Periods Gone Public.
About Periods Gone Public
Leading menstrual rights advocate, writer, and attorney Jennifer Weiss-Wolf’s PERIODS GONE PUBLIC examines the cultural and political history of menstruation and the new, high-profile menstrual equity movement dispelling stigma and promoting advocacy on a global level.
The first book to explore menstruation in the current cultural and political landscape and to investigate the new wave of period activism taking the world by storm.
After centuries of being shrouded in taboo and superstition, periods have gone mainstream. Seemingly overnight, a new, high-profile movement has emerged—one dedicated to bold activism, creative product innovation, and smart policy advocacy—to address the centrality of menstruation in relation to core issues of gender equality and equity.
In Periods Gone Public, Jennifer Weiss-Wolf—the woman Bustle dubbed one of the nation’s “badass menstrual activists”—explores why periods have become a prominent political cause. From eliminating the tampon tax, to enacting new laws ensuring access to affordable, safe products, menstruation is no longer something to whisper about. Weiss-Wolf shares her firsthand account in the fight for “period equity” and introduces readers to the leaders, pioneers, and everyday people who are making change happen. From societal attitudes of periods throughout history—in the United States and around the world—to grassroots activism and product innovation, Weiss-Wolf challenges readers to face stigma head-on and elevate an agenda that recognizes both the power—and the absolute normalcy—of menstruation.
Jennifer Weiss-Wolf is a leading advocate and voice for equitable menstrual policy in America. Her petition to end the tampon tax, launched in partnership with Cosmopolitan, catalyzed a national movement. Newsweek deemed her the “architect of the U.S. policy campaign to squash the tampon tax.” Weiss-Wolf’s writing and work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, TIME, Newsweek, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, The Nation, Bloomberg, and Ms. magazine, among others. She is on the Advisory Board of ZanaAfrica Foundation, which provides essential menstrual health education and products to girls in Kenya. She lives in Maplewood, New Jersey.
