Poetry readings, testimonials, and storytelling by people who have experienced homelessness. Also, an art display and information from area agencies that address homelessness.
6-8 p.m., Ypsilanti Freight House, 100 Market Pl, Ypsilanti. Free. 662-2829, ext. 226.[map]
Join us for a moving poetry night. Caroline Johnson’s first full-length publication, The Caregiver, includes 50 poems that were inspired by the 15 years she devoted to taking care of her aging parents. Midwest Book Review deemed it “very highly recommended for both personal reading lists and community library Contemporary American Poetry collections.” Joining her will be UofM MFA candidate Tara E. Jay.
The Caregiver is Caroline Johnson’s first full-length publication. The gathering includes free verse, lyrical poems, prose poetry and some formal verse. Many of the poems won contests and have been previously published in online print journals and anthologies. The poems touch on the topic of grieving but go beyond and focus on the many difficulties a caregiver experiences―both emotional and physical―yet also recognize the spiritual gifts that come with helping a loved one. Caregiving is a significant issue for our times and will only become more important as our population ages.
Caroline Johnson observed both of her parents suffer crippling illnesses such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Rheumatoid Arthritis in the 15 years she spent as family caregiver. During that time she wrote poetry as a way to grieve and celebrate their lives. This book is the culmination of that effort. She has published two poetry chapbooks, My Mother’s Artwork and Where the Street Ends, and more than 70 poems. Her awards include winning the 2012 Chicago Tribune’s Printers Row Poetry Contest, nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, and prizes in state and national competitions. A former English teacher, she works as an academic advisor for a Chicago area community college. One of her favorite activities in the past was watching James Bond movies with her father, who served in the U.S. Air Force as a bomber pilot during the Cold War in the 1950s as part of the Strategic Air Command (SAC). Please visit www.caroline-johnson.com.
As a new wave of activists from Black Lives Matter to the Trump resistance respond to the latest tide of repression, misogyny, and racism, today’s activists are becoming the next link in a long line of American social justice movements. Looking to strengthen this historical bond, in her memoir What My Left What Was Doing: Lessons from a Grassroots Activist, Detroit author Joann Castle turns to her deep experiences for lessons learned that speak to universal social and political issues, which resonate today. What My Left Hand Was Doing’s exclusive ‘Activist’s Survival Guide’ offers a relevant, critical bridge between generations of world changers fighting for a better tomorrow. Join us as for an inter-generational discussion between Joann and Alena Williams.
Joann Castle is a lifelong Detroiter and political activist. She was the mother of six young children when she became involved in the radical Catholic movement for racial equality during the Civil Rights Movement in the mid-1960s. Against the incendiary backdrop of the 1967 Detroit insurrection and its aftermath, Castle invested in community work, foster care, and co-founded Hourglass, a group which lobbied the Catholic Church to support black self-determination. By 1968, she was an active member of the Ad-Hoc Action Group struggling against police brutality and later joined the Motor City Labor League, a radical left organization. In the early 70s, she co-founded the unprecedented Control, Conflict & Change Book Club which united blacks and whites in collective consciousness raising and political action.
As Castle became more intensely involved in political activities her marriage failed, she broke with her church, and her family disowned her. Against all odds, she embraced her new life and moved on with her children at her side. Castle married Michael Hamlin in 1975, at the height of his work in the Black Power Movement. She later embarked on a twenty-seven-year career in health care services and earned an M.A. in medical anthropology.
What My Left Hand Was Doing is drawn from Castle’s personal experience as an activist corroborated by archival materials from Wayne State University’s Walter P. Reuther Library Archives. In 2012, Castle founded, Against the Tide Books, a company dedicated to the publication of Personal Histories in the Struggle for Justice.
Literati is thrilled to welcome authors Bill Shapiro and Naomi Wax who will be sharing their new book What We Keep.
About What We Keep:
With contributions from Cheryl Strayed, Mark Cuban, Ta-Nahesi Coates, Melinda Gates, Joss Whedon, James Patterson, and many more–this fascinating collection gives us a peek into 150 personal treasures and the secret histories behind them.
All of us have that one object that holds deep meaning–something that speaks to our past, that carries a remarkable story. Bestselling author Bill Shapiro collected this sweeping range of stories–he talked to everyone from renowned writers to Shark Tank hosts, from blackjack dealers to teachers, truckers, and nuns, even a reformed counterfeiter–to reveal the often hidden, always surprising lives of objects.
Bill Shapiro co-wrote What We Keep. He is the former editor-in-chief of LIFE magazine, and his previous books include Other People’s Love Letters, and Gus & Me, which he co-wrote with Keith Richards. He serves on the Art Advisory Board of SXSW.
Naomi Wax co-wrote What We Keep. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Iowa Review, and many other publications. She works on the communications team at the Ford Foundation.
Brookings Institute fellow and CNN commentator Norman Eisen reads from his new book, which examines 20th-century European history through the lens of the families that lived in the Petschek house in Prague, the residence he occupied as the U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic, 2011-14.
Noon-1 p.m., Weill Hall Annenberg Auditorium, 735 S. State. Free. 764-3490
Former LA Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti reads from The Big Chair, his 2017 memoir which offers insights on being accountable to wealthy team owners, managing players’ illegal steroid use, negotiating for players, and second-guessing field managers without seeming to interfere. Refreshments.
4-5:30 p.m., Weill Hall Betty Ford Classroom, 735 S. State. Free. 764-3490.
Literati is thrilled to welcome back author R.J. Fox who will be sharing his new novel Awaiting Identification.
About Awaiting Identification:
Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office, Detroit, Michigan: October 31, 1999.
Five unidentified bodies lie in the Wayne County morgue on Halloween night. Although each character was on a separate journey, fate leads each of the five victims to cross paths on the streets of Detroit en route to their tragic demise. Set against the backdrop of a Devil’s Night party at legendary Detroit concert venue and nightclub, Saint Andrew’s Hall, Awaiting Identification details the final night on earth for five lost souls. NYC Girl: a former dancer arrives back home from New York City to make amends with her mother and begin to rebuild her life. Leaf Man: a musician and part-time DJ is on the cusp of his big break with one final, unexpected drug deal to complete before he can go totally straight. R.I.P.: a career criminal must come up with a large sum of money to pay for his father’s medical expenses, despite his yearning for a crime-free life. The Zealot: a religious fanatic on a mission from God to rid the city of filth. Cat Man: a kind and trusting homeless man wanders the city looking for new friends. Like the city in which it takes place, Awaiting Identification is a story of hope, identity, and above all, redemption.
R.J. Fox is an English and video production teacher who uses his own dream of making movies to inspire his students to follow their dreams. He has previously worked in public relations and as a journalist. He is the author of Love & Vodka. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
This native Detroiter, an acclaimed poet, playwright, performance artist, and producer, discusses her visual art and poetry. Her most recent poetry collection, Sunlight Through Bullet Holes, “mixes observation with passion and brevity,” says an Ebony review. “It’s black intelligence filtered through rhythm and blues.”
7-8:30 p.m., AADL Downtown multipurpose rm. Free. 327-4200.
All invited to read and discuss their poetry or short stories. Bring about 6 copies of your work to share.
7-9 p.m., Crazy Wisdom, 114 S. Main. Free. 665-2757
Literati is proud to be partnering with the Helen Zell Writers Program to host author Aimee Bender and poet Philip Metres at the University of Michigan Art Museum Helmet Stern Auditorium.
Philip Metres’s writing has appeared widely, including in Best American Poetry, and has garnered two NEA fellowships, two Arab American Book Awards, and the Lannon Literary Fellowship, among others. His work has been called “beautiful, powerful, magnetically original” (Cleveland Arts Prize citation). Lawrence Joseph has written that “Philip Metres’s poetry speaks to us all, in ways critical, vital, profound, and brilliant.” His poems have been translated into Arabic, Polish, Russian, and Tamil. He is a professor of English at John Carroll University in Cleveland, where he teaches literature and creative writing, and lives with his wife Amy and their two daughters. Were it not for the Ellis Island effect, his last name would be Abourjaili.
Aimee Bender is the author of five books: The Girl in the Flammable Skirt (1998) which was a NY Times Notable Book, An Invisible Sign of My Own (2000) which was an L.A. Times pick of the year, Willful Creatures(2005) which was nominated by The Believer as one of the best books of the year, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (2010) which won the SCIBA award for best fiction, and an Alex Award, and The Color Master, a NY Times Notable book for 2013. Her books have been translated into sixteen languages. Her short fiction has been published in Granta, GQ, Harper’s, Tin House, McSweeney’s, The Paris Review, and more, as well as heard on PRI’s “This American Life”and “Selected Shorts”. She lives in Los Angeles with her family, and teaches creative writing at USC.
