U-M history of medicine professor Howard Markel reads from his acclaimed new book about these Michigan brothers who revolutionized American notions of health and wellness. He also discusses the book with U-M English professor Michael Schoenfeldt.
5:30-7 p.m., 100 U-M Hatcher Grad Library Gallery, enter from the Diag. Free. 764-3166.
Readings by U-M creative writing grad students, including fiction writers Christina Kim and poet Chelsea Walsh.
7 p.m., UMMA Auditorium, 525 S. State. Free.
The Mark Webster Reading Series presents emerging writers in a warm and relaxed setting. We encourage you to bring your friends – a Webster reading makes for an enjoyable and enlightening Friday evening.
Nov. 17 & 18. RC students perform Theresa Rebeck’s 2011 Broadway drama about 4 young writers, their professor, and the tensions and romances that develop as they attend a 10-week intensive writing seminar.
8 p.m., Keene Theatre, East Quad, 701 East University. Free; donations welcome. 763-0176.
Literati Bookstore is excited to partner with the Michigan Chapter of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators with a fun-filled reading with three Michigan childrens book authors!
Supriya Kelkar was born and raised in the Midwest. She learned Hindi as a child by watching three Bollywood films a week. After college she realized her lifelong dream of working in the film industry when she got a job as a Bollywood screenwriter. She has credits on one Hollywood film and several Hindi films. Ahimsa, inspired by her great-grandmother’s role in the Indian freedom movement, is her debut middle-grade novel. Supriya still lives in the Midwest with her husband, their three children, and a very hyper dog.
Amy Nielander lives in Royal Oak, Michigan, with her husband and two children. The Ladybug Race received international recognition as a Silent Book Contest finalist. It is her first picture book.
Deb Pilutti has many fond memories of summer vacations spent in Michigan. She has lived in Ann Arbor for most of her adult life and loves exploring Michigan with her husband, Tom, and their kids, Kyle and Jack. Deb is the author and illustrator of several books for children.
Nov. 4 & 18. All adults and teens in grade 9 & up invited to work on their novel for this nonprofit promotion (also known as National Novel Writing Month) challenging teens and adults to write a 50,000-word novel by the end of November.
1-3 p.m., AADL Westgate Branch West Side Room, Westgate shopping center, 2503 Jackson. Free. 327-8301.
Maureen Jennings joins us with her first Inspector Murdoch novel since 2010 on Saturday, November 18 at 2 pm. Kick off your holiday shopping with Maureen & Inspector Murdoch.
The Driftwood Shrine author, John Gendo Wolff, will discuss poetry by Americans like Emily Dickinson, and William Carlos Williams, highlighting the influence of Zen in their work. 45 minute duration, followed by Q&A.
https://www.driftwoodshrine.com
John Gendo Wolff, Sensei, is a Zen priest and teacher in the White Plains Asanga. He is the Dharma heir of Susan Myoyu Andersen, Roshi, and the Spiritual Director of the Great Wave Zen Sangha in Northern Michigan. He is a college professor of writing and literature with numerous publications of poetry and essays, and also a graduate of Huron High School in Ann Arbor.
Crazy Wisdom Bookstore & Tea Room., 114 South Main Street. Free. (734) 276-5979. Chris@wuigglemylegs.comhttps://www.driftwoodshrine.com
Nov. 17 & 18. RC students perform Theresa Rebeck’s 2011 Broadway drama about 4 young writers, their professor, and the tensions and romances that develop as they attend a 10-week intensive writing seminar.
8 p.m., Keene Theatre, East Quad, 701 East University. Free; donations welcome. 763-0176.
Stage name of Kelly Mays, who uses poetry to explore her indigenous heritage (she’s a member of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe) and the struggles of being female in a patriarchal culture. Preceded by a poetry open mike.
7 p.m. Espresso Royale, 324 S. State. $5 suggested donation. facebook.com/AnnArborPoetry.
Author and world traveler Robert (Bob) Downes has been inspiring readers to pursue their dreams of travel and adventure for more than three decades.
A resident of Traverse City, Michigan, Downes, 64, is the author of three nonfiction books: “Planet Backpacker” (2008),” Biking Northern Michigan” (2014), and “Travels With My Wife” (2015) and his novel, “Windigo Moon,” (2017).
A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Downes earned a B.A. in journalism from Wayne State University in Detroit in 1976.
Book:
The great love of Blue Heron and Red Bear sustain an Ojibwe clan as it struggles to survive war, famine, and the coming of foreign explorers bearing deadly diseases.
The blood feud between two rival warriors over the love of Ashagi, a strong-willed woman of great beauty and greater determination threads through this story of one Ojibwe clan on the cusp of great change. A young woman from a peaceful village, Ashagi (Blue Heron) is abducted in a raid conducted by the Sioux, the ancestral enemies of her clan, and made a concubine of a fat, slovenly chief who already has two wives. When she is rescued by Misko (Red Bear), an Ojibwe youth, the two fall in love and a lifelong bond is formed. But Nika, Misko’s rival, demands that Misko surrender Ashagi to replace his brother who was killed during a raid involving the young warriors’ two clans. As Nika’s pride and obsession with Ashagi eats away at his sanity, greater danger for the whole Ojibwe way of life creeps ever closer.
Warfare, vengeance, supernatural monsters, and strange spirits all claw at the edges of this love triangle, but the power of the clan and the love of family and tradition helps sustain a culture on the verge of harrowing times. Beginning in 1588 and spanning twenty-five years, WINDIGO MOON encompasses warring tribes of the Upper Great Lakes, the onset of the Little Ice Age of the 1600s, the diseases introduced by foreign explorers, and, always and forever, the great love of Blue Heron and Red Bear.
Meticulously researched and beautifully written, WINDIGO MOON will appeal to fans of Kathleen O’Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear, Jean Auel, Alexander Thom, Anna Lee Waldo, and other top authors of historical fiction.
