Literati is excited to welcome author Vernon Smith who will be sharing his new novel The Green Ghetto.
About The Green Ghetto:
Mitchell Hosowich is pleased as a puppy with two tails that the great American rust-out has rendered parts of Detroit rural again, wild. For him, the “Green Ghetto,” as the bureaucrats have come to call it, is a safe place to grow some fairly decent Detroit dope. But when two DEA agents start sniffing around his spread, only to wind up dead, Mitchell finds himself with a lot of explaining to do. Left with two stiffs, a dead dog, a shot cow, and fifty-nine missing marijuana plants, Mitchell decides not to wait around for the law to come down on him. Instead, he goes after his stolen pot, a chase that becomes a tense, and at times hilarious, cross-border road trip to nearby rural Canada. Set in a hyper post-9/11 culture, The Green Ghetto explores the universal theme of being compromised. But mostly, it is the story of how America got here from there in the war on drugs, terror, and words.
Windsor native Vern Smith grew up twenty minutes from the green ghetto – an actual Detroit phenomenon. His fiction has appeared in Concrete Forest: The New Fiction of Urban Canada (McClelland & Stewart), as well as the Insomniac Press anthologies, Iced, Hard Boiled Love, and Revenge. His novelette, “The Gimmick,” was a finalist for Canada’s highest crime-writing honor, the Arthur Ellis Award. A veteran of four newspapers and three magazines, Smith’s non-fiction has appeared in The Detroit Free Press, The Ottawa Citizen, The Vancouver Sun, Eye, Broken Pencil, and Quill & Quire, among other publications. He most recently managed CJAM 99.1 FM, where he founded the twenty-four-hour radio marathon Joe Strummer Day to Confront Poverty in Windsor-Detroit. He now lives on the edge of Chicago where urban Illinois meets the prairie.
One MFA student of fiction and one of poetry, each introduced by a peer, will read their work. 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.
Readings by U-M creative writing grad students, including prose by Colin Shephard and poetry by Augusta Funk.
7 p.m., UMMA Auditorium, 525 S. State. Free. 764-6330.
7 p.m. Espresso Royale, 324 S. State. $5 suggested donation. facebook.com/AnnArborPoetry.
Local short story writer Alex Kourvo and young adult novelist Bethany Neal discuss different ways to use setting and description to highlight characters, actions, and themes. For adult and teen (grade 6 & up) fiction and nonfiction writers. Also, Kourvo and Neal host an open house for writers to connect with one another and/or work on their projects at 7 p.m. on Mar. 18.
7-8:45 p.m., AADL Westgate. Free. 327-4200
Literati is delighted to host the contributors to Community High School’s recently published literary magazine, VOICE: Issue 1, for a night of poetry and prose readings!
VOICE is a student-run journal of literary and visual arts at Community High School located in Ann Arbor, MI. Its first edition was published in December 2018. It features poetry, prose (fiction and essays), and art by Community High School students.
Readers Include….
Chloe Di Blassio is a student and artist at Community High School in Ann Arbor. She began drawing when she was 2 years old and has never stopped since. She works primarily with the figure, capturing small moments of emotional subtleties and inward gazes.
Nicole Tooley is a senior at Community High School. She grew a love for words in her literature and creative writing classes at school. In her spare time when she’s not composing short poems or reading a good memoir, she can probably be found dancing.
Open mike storytelling competition sponsored by The Moth, the NYC-based nonprofit that also produces a weekly public radio show. Ten storytellers are selected at random to tell a 3-5 minute story–this month’s themes are “Envy” (Mar. 5) & “Ruse” (Mar 19)–judged by a 3-person team recruited from the audience. Monthly winners compete in a semiannual Grand Slam. Seating limited, so arrive early.
7:30-9 p.m. (doors open and sign-up begins at 6 p.m.), Greyline, 100 N. Ashley. General admission tickets $10 in advance only at themoth.org beginning a week before each event. 764-5118.
Every Wed. Members read and discuss poems around themes TBA. Followed by collaborative writing games and exercises. Attendees invited to read their poems. Snacks & socializing.
8-10 p.m., Argus Farm Stop greenhouse, 325 W. Liberty. $5 suggested donation. onepausepoetry.org, 707-1284.
Local writer (and Observer contributor) Patti Smith hosts a story time for adults, with storyteller Ken MacGregor and others. Pajamas encouraged. For adults only.
7 p.m., Bookbound, Courtyard Shops. Free. 369-4345.
Detroit News arts feature writer Michael Hodges reads from his new book about the “architect of Detroit,” best known for his auto factory designs, who also designed Hill Auditorium and other U-M landmarks.
7-8 p.m., CDL McKune rm., 221 S. Main, Chelsea. Free. Preregistration requested. 475-8732.
Literati is thrilled to welcome back poet Rob Halpern who will be reading from his new collection Weak Link
Rob Halpern lives between San Francisco and Ypsilanti, Michigan, where he teaches at Eastern Michigan University and Huron Valley Women’s Prison. His most recent book of poetry, prose, essays, letters, and manifestos is Weak Link (Atelos 2019). Other books include Common Place (Ugly Duckling Presse 2015) and Music for Porn (Nightboat Books 2012).
