Neutral Zone literary arts director and award-winning local slam poet Molly Raynor discusses writing poetry from initial idea through final revisions. For adult and teen (grade 6 & up) fiction and nonfiction writers. Also, local short story writer Alex Kourvo and young adult novelist Bethany Neal host an open house for writers to connect with one another and/or work on their projects at 7 p.m. on Apr 16.
7-8:45 p.m., AADL Westgate. Free. 327-8301.
Former deputy assistant Attorney General Jim Turner, who served under 7 consecutive presidents, discusses his new book about the landmark case that ended with the conviction of klansmen, despite 2 all-white juries who refused to convict.
4 p.m., 100 U-M Hatcher Grad Library Gallery, enter from the Diag. Free. 936-2314
Detroit children’s book writer Jack Cheng, author of See You in the Cosmos, discusses the art of writing and presents awards to the winners of the AADL short story contest for 3rd-5th graders.
1-2 p.m., AADL Westgate. Free. 327-4200.
Apr. 7 & 8. U-M drama lecturer Kate Mendeloff directs RC students in Tennessee Williams’ one-act play about an American ex-prizefighter who arrives in an unnamed South or Central American town and meets a variety of surreal characters from history, myth, and literature over the course of 10 hallucinatory scenes.
7 p.m., U-M Matthaei Botanical Gardens, 1800 N. Dixboro. Free, but limited seating. Metered parking. 647-4354.
Apr. 7 & 8. U-M drama lecturer Kate Mendeloff directs RC students in Tennessee Williams’ one-act play about an American ex-prizefighter who arrives in an unnamed South or Central American town and meets a variety of surreal characters from history, myth, and literature over the course of 10 hallucinatory scenes.
7 p.m., U-M Matthaei Botanical Gardens, 1800 N. Dixboro. Free, but limited seating. Metered parking. 647-4354.
U-M sociology professor Geneviève Zubrzycki and U-M anthropology professor Andrew Shryock discuss Zubrzycki’s book examining the importance of the annual Feast of St. John the Baptist to Quebecois national identity.
5:30 p.m., 100 U-M Hatcher Grad Library Gallery, enter from the Diag. Free. 763-8994.
Literati is thrilled to welcome poet Diane Seuss who will be reading from her new collection Still Life with Two Dead Peacocks and a Girl. Diane will be joined by fellow poet Laura Kasischke for conversation after the reading.
About Still Life with Two Dead Peacocks and a Girl:
Still Life with Two Dead Peacocks and a Girl takes its title from Rembrandt’s painting, a dark emblem of femininity, violence, and the viewer’s own troubled gaze. In Diane Seuss’s new collection, the notion of the still life is shattered and Rembrandt’s painting is presented across the book in pieces–details that hide more than they reveal until they’re assembled into a whole. With invention and irreverence, these poems escape gilded frames and overturn traditional representations of gender, class, and luxury. Instead, Seuss invites in the alienated, the washed-up, the ugly, and the freakish–the overlooked many of us who might more often stand in a Walmart parking lot than before the canvases of Pollock, O’Keeffe, and Rothko. Rendered with precision and profound empathy, this extraordinary gallery of lives in shards shows us that “our memories are local, acute, and unrelenting.”
Diane Seuss is the author of three previous poetry collections, including Four-Legged Girl, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and Wolf Lake, White Gown Blown Open, winner of the Juniper Prize. She lives in Michigan.
Laura Kasischke is a poet and novelist whose fiction has been made into several feature-length films. Her book of poems, Space, in Chains, won the National Book Critics Circle Award. She currently teaches at the University of Michigan and lives in Chelsea, Michigan.
Jim May STORYTELLING WORKSHOP. 1-3 pm. No charge, but you must register for this event as participation is limited.
Several Detroit writers discuss their contributions to this essay collection about Detroit neighborhoods, edited by Detroit native Aaron Foley, author of How to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass. Signing.
4 p.m., Nicola’s, Westgate shopping center. Free. 662-0600.
Highland-based psychic medium and writer Kristy Robinett discusses her book.
7 p.m., SDL, 555 N. Maple, Saline. Free; preregistration required. 429-5450.
