All invited to listen to guild members swap stories or bring their own to tell.
2-4 p.m., AADL Downtown 3rd-floor freespace rm., 343 S. Fifth Ave. Free. annarborstorytelling.org, 997-5388
These 2 Michigan picture book writers read from their new books. Crum’s Mousling’s Words is about a young mouse’s first trip out of the nest. Greene’s Let’s Go ABC! Things That Go, from A to Z celebrates machines that move, from airplanes to zeppelins. Refreshments, prizes, signings.
2 p.m., Nicola’s, Westgate shopping center. Free. 662-0600.
This local husband-and-wife writing team reads from ‘Til Death: Marriage Poems, their jointly written collection exploring the ups and downs of suburban monogamy from their dual perspectives. The program begins with open mike readings.
7-8:30 p.m., Sweetwaters, 123 W. Washington. Free. 994-6663.
Local writer Sarah Zettel reads from her new historical fiction novella set in 1839 China at the outset of the 1st Anglo-Chinese Opium War. Tea & snacks.
7-8:30 p.m., AADL Downtown multipurpose rm., 343 S. Fifth Ave. Free. 327-4200.
Literati Bookstore is excited to welcome author Fatima Farheen Mirza, who will read and discuss her debut novel, A Place for Us.
About A Place for Us:
Fatima Farheen Mirza’s masterful debut novel gathers together the lives of an Indian Muslim family in California on the eve of its eldest daughter’s wedding. As Hadia’s marriage—one chosen of love, not tradition—brings the family back together, her parents, Rafiq and Layla, must come to terms with the choices that their two daughters, and their estranged son, Amar, have made.
In a narrative that spans decades and sees family life through the eyes of each member, A Place for Us charts the crucial moments in the family’s past, from the bonds that hold them together to the differences that pull them apart.
And as Hadia, Huda, and Amar attempt to carve out lives for themselves, they must reconcile their present culture with their parents’ faith, tread a path between the old world and the new, and learn how the smallest decisions can lead to the deepest of betrayals.
This is a deeply moving and resonant story for our times: a masterful novel of love, identity, and belonging—one that eloquently examines what it means to be both American and Muslim—and announces Fatima Farheen Mirza as a major new literary talent.
Fatima Farheen Mirza was born and raised in the Bay Area, and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was a teaching-writing fellow. She currently lives in Brooklyn.
Readings by these 2 novelists. Title 13 is local writer Ferro’s satirical debut novel about an alcoholic bureaucrat who struggles with mounting paranoia, his relationships with concerned family members, his dying grandmother, and a budding office romance. Portland writer DeFreitas’s Hot Season is about 3 college roommates whose lives change when the FBI comes to campus in pursuit of an alum wanted for politically motivated crimes. Signing.
7 p.m., Bookbound, Courtyard Shops. Free. 369-4345.
Widely-published Detroit poet Lauren Bernstein-Machlay reads from her latest book, Travelers, a collection of autobiographical poems. Foreword (Traverse City) writer Susan Waggoner notes “it’s through the bravery of the concept-going back to the place where you grew up to plant your flag in uncertain turf-that the book most delivers. Poised between sinking back into nature and leaping forward to revival, flashing glimpses of Detroit stand out.” Followed by a poetry and short fiction open mike.
7-9 p.m., Crazy Wisdom, 114 S. Main. Free. 665-2757.
Poetry open mike.
Ann Arbor Poetry. Poetry open mike. 7-9 p.m. (sign-up begins at 6:30 p.m.), Espresso Royale, 324 S. State. $5 suggested donation. facebook.com/AnnArborPoetry.
Literati is pleased to welcome journalist Edward McClelland who will be discussing his new book book Folktales and Legends of the Middle West.
About Folktales and Legends of the Middle West:
America’s first superheroes lived in the Midwest. There was Nanabozho, the Ojibway man-god who conquered the King of Fish, took control of the North Wind, and inspired Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha. Paul Bunyan, the larger-than-life North Woods lumberjack, created Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes with his giant footsteps. More recently, Pittsburgh steelworker Joe Magerac squeezed out rails between his fingers, and Rosie the Riveter churned out the planes that won the world’s most terrible war. In Folktales and Legends of the Middle West, Edward McClelland collects these stories and more. Readers will learn the sea shanties of the Great Lakes sailors and the spirituals of the slaves following the North Star across the Ohio River, and be frightened by tales of the Lake Erie Monster and Wisconsin’s dangerous Hodag. A history of the region as told through its folklore, music, and legends, this is a book every Midwestern family should own.
Edward McClelland is a journalist. His writing has appeared in publications such as the Columbia Journalism Review, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and Salon. He is the author of How to Speak Midwestern, Nothin’ But Blue Skies and Young Mr. Obama. He lives in Chicago