Calendar

Sep
5
Wed
Robert W. Turner II: Not For Long @ Literati
Sep 5 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

We are excited to welcome sociologist and former professional football player Rober W. Turner II to Literati to discuss his new book Not For Long: The Life and Career of the NFL Athlete. 

About Not For Long:
The NFL is the most popular professional sports league in the United States. Its athletes receive multimillion-dollar contracts and almost endless media attention. The league’s most important game, the Super Bowl, is practically a national holiday. Making it to the NFL, however, is not about the promised land of fame and fortune. Robert W. Turner II draws on his personal experience as a former professional football player as well as interviews with more than 140 current and former NFL players to reveal what it means to be an athlete in the NFL and explain why so many players struggle with life after football.

Without guaranteed contracts, the majority of players are forced out of the league after a few seasons. Over three-quarters of retirees experience bankruptcy or financial ruin, two-thirds live with chronic pain, and too many find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Robert W. Turner II argues that the fall from grace of so many players is no accident. The NFL, he contends, powerfully determines their experiences in and out of the league. The labor agreement provides little job security and few health and retirement benefits, and the owners refuse to share power with the players, making change difficult. And the process of becoming an elite football player–from high school to college and through the pros–leaves athletes with few marketable skills and little preparation for their first Sunday off the field.

With compassion and objectivity, Not for Long reveals the life and mind of high school, college, and NFL athletes, shedding light on what might best help players transition successfully out of the sport.

Robert W. Turner II earned his Ph.D. in sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is Assistant Professor of Clinical Research and Leadership at George Washington University. Dr. Turner played football professionally in the now defunct United States Football League, the Canadian Football League, and briefly in the National Football League.

Sep
6
Thu
Ann Arbor Youth Poetry Night @ Nicola's Books
Sep 6 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Performances by 2018 Ann Arbor Youth Poetry Slam finalists Hasna Ghalib, Aldo Leopoldo Pando Girard, Anika Love, Karley Misek, and Thea Rowe.
7 p.m., Nicola’s, Westgate shopping center. Free. 662-0600.

Fiction at Literati: Sarah Zettel @ Literati
Sep 6 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Literati is thrilled to welcome author Sarah Zettel who will be reading from her new novel The Other Sister.

About The Other Sister:
Two sisters. One murder plan.
An intense psychological thriller full of family secrets, perfect for fans of The Woman in the Window and Watch Me Disappear.
Everyone thought reckless, troubled Geraldine Monroe was the bad sister-especially when she fled town after her mother’s death twenty-five years ago.
But people don’t know the truth.

Marie Monroe knows. She was there for their father’s cruel punishments, the constant manipulation, the lies. Everyone thinks she’s the perfect daughter-patient and kind, and above all obedient. No one would suspect her of anything. Especially not murder. Now Geraldine’s home again, and she and Marie have united in a plan for the ultimate revenge. But when old secrets and new fears clash, everyone is pushed to the breaking point . . . and the sisters will learn that they can’t trust anyone-not even each other.

“An exhilarating ride full of twists and turns, this page-turner will leave you guessing until the very end!” -Steena Holmes, New York Times bestselling author of The Forgotten Ones
“Sarah Zettel’s THE OTHER SISTER is as dark and twisted as they come; a compelling and sinister psychological thriller in which every character is deeply flawed, their desire for revenge understandable and relatable. With its intricate web of secrets long buried, readers won’t be able to stop turning the pages!” -Karen Dionne, author of The Marsh King’s Daughter

Sarah Zettel is an award-winning author. She has written eighteen novels and multiple short stories over the past seventeen years in addition to practicing tai chi, learning to fiddle, marrying a rocket scientist and raising a rapidly growing son.

Sep
7
Fri
Poetry at Literati: Ruth Behar @ Literati
Sep 7 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Literati is excited to welcome poet Ruth Behar who will be reading and sharing from her newest collection Everything I Kept: Todo Lo Que Guardé 

About Everything I Kept: Todo Lo Que Guardé ​​​​​​​
Moving between the speech and silence of a woman struggling to speak freely, Ruth Behar embarks on a poetic voyage into her own vulnerability and the sacrifices of her exiled ancestors as she tries to understand love, loss, regret, and the things we keep and carry with us. Behar’s vivid renderings of wilted gardens, crashing waves, and firefly-lit nights recall the imagery of her inspiration, Dulce María Loynaz, who is often known as the Cuban Emily Dickinson. Presented in a beautiful bilingual English-Spanish edition–Behar serves as her own translator–Everything I Kept/Todo lo que guardé will haunt readers with the cries and whispers which illuminate the human spirit and the spectrum of emotions that make for a life and lives well-remembered.

Ruth Behar is the Victor Haim Perera collegiate professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan.

Sep
8
Sat
Booktoberfest! @ Thomson-Shore
Sep 8 @ 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Join us for a celebration of authors, books, art, and bratwurst.

Booktoberfest will feature industry experts from around the country, offering advice and insight for authors, as well as fun and educational activities for the whole family.

Authors can even pitch their books to a panel of experts for a chance to win a publishing package from Thomson-Shore! (Must sign up for the pitch contest ahead of time by visiting thomsonshore.com/booktoberfest.)

Enjoy a day of music, food, and fun, while learning about the ever-changing world of publishing and bookmaking. A portion of proceeds will benefit 826 Michigan.

Kerrytown BookFest Reception @ AADL 4th floor
Sep 8 @ 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm

Announcement of the winners of Kerrytown BookFest Cover Contest. Also, the grand opening of an AADL exhibit showcasing entries in the contest. In conjunction with the 16th annual Kerrytown BookFest (see 9 Sunday listing). Also, live music by local ensemble Horizon Strings and refreshments.
4:30-6 p.m., AADL Downtown 4th floor. Free. 327-4200

Sep
9
Sun
Kerrytown Bookfest! @ Ann Arbor Farmers Market
Sep 9 @ 10:30 am – 5:00 pm

The Kerrytown BookFest is held each September and is a celebration of books, those who create them and those who read them. Our primary goal is to highlight our area’s rich heritage in the book and printing arts and showcase local individuals, businesses, and organizations. The day will be filled with entertainment, education, and hands-on experiences.

We’ll have a booth setup at the festival throughout the day, so stop by and say hello!

For a complete schedule of events, please visit the Kerrytown Bookfest: ktbookfest.org

Sep
10
Mon
Ann Pearlman: Infidelity: A Memoir @ Literati
Sep 10 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Literati is excited to welcome author Ann Pearlman who will be sharing her new memoir Infidelity.

About Infidelity:
“Thirty years. Thirty years of my life have been gifted to this man. How do I prevent making the rest of my life a testament to his infidelity? If I leave him, it’s because of this. If I stay, I will always think of it. How do I make my story different from Mother’s, from Lala’s? How do I make it right for me?”
She thought they were the perfect couple. She authored Keep the Home Fires Burning: How to Have an Affair with Your Spouse and appeared on Oprah, Donahue, and Sally Jessy Raphael as an expert on the joys of sexual monogamy. She was a marriage and family therapist who counseled patients coping with cheating spouses. She believed she had escaped her family legacy of marital infidelity. She was wrong. After thirty years of marriage and three children, Ann Pearlman discovered her husband’s affair with another woman.
In Infidelity, Pearlman tells the true story of the devastating effect of adultery across three generations of American women, beginning with her grandmother, Lala, whose husband fell in love with another woman during the Depression and maintained the relationship until his death. The unfortunate legacy continued with Lala’s daughter, Nora, who wed a womanizing entrepreneur, Pearlman’s father. An award-winning author, columnist, psychotherapist, marriage and family therapist, Pearlman draws on sociological and anthropological works as well as her own experience to write out her rage, pain, depression, doubts, and, eventually, her journey back to confidence and strength.

Ann Pearlman has won vast critical and commercial success for her fiction and nonfiction books. Keep the Home Fires Burning: How to Have an Affair With Your Spouse garnered the attention of the Oprah Winfrey Show and was featured on many other talk shows. Her memoir, Infidelity, was nominated for National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize, and made into a Lifetime movie by Lionsgate. Inside the Crips, with a foreword by Ice T, took readers into the life of a Crip gang member and the California Prison system. Her first novel, The Christmas Cookie Club, became an international bestseller, spawning cookie exchanges and a follow-up cookbook. A Gift for My Sister won first place in the Sharp Writ Book Awards, 2013. She lives in Ann Arbor, MI.

Emerging Writers: Hooking a Reader @ AADL Westgate
Sep 10 @ 7:00 pm – 8:45 pm

Talk by local short story writer Alex Kourvo and young adult novelist Bethany Neal. For all fiction & nonfiction writers grade 6-adult. Also, Kourvo & Neal host an open house for writers to connect with one another and/or work on their projects at 7 p.m. on Sept. 24.
7-8:45 p.m., AADL Westgate. Free. 327-4200.

 

Newzad Brifki: My Journey to America: A Kurdish-American Story @ AADL 4th floor
Sep 10 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Kurdish Community of America (Moorhead, MN) founder/director Newzad Brifki reads from his memoir about his family’s flight from Kurdistan in 1988 to spend 4 years in a refugee camp in Turkey before coming to the U.S.
7-8:30 p.m., AADL Downtown 4th-floor meeting rm. Free. 327-4200.

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