Teens who are interested in writing, or who entered this year’s “It’s All Write” writing contest are welcomed to the Library for a special afternoon celebrating writing and teen writers. Participate in a writing workshop, pose questions to a panel of published young adult authors, and learn about writing resources in the community. This event will conclude with the announcement of the 2019 writing contest winners in all categories.
We are pleased to present Patrick Lohier, whose enticing debut novel, Radiant Night, blends history, mystery and adrenaline to produce a wildly entertaining and fast-paced literary thriller. Patrick’s stories, book reviews, and essays have appeared in African American Review, Harvard Review, The Georgia Review, Callaloo, The Globe & Mail and other publications. He is an alumnus of the Caldera Artists Residency program, and is a member of the Toronto Arts Council Literary Committee. Patrick lives in Toronto with his wife and two kids. Signing to follow.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Ludwig Mason is the only Marine to have survived an explosion that reduced his military Humvee to a smoldering wreck in war-torn Fallujah. Back home on American soil, the 28-year-old Iraq War vet struggles through the traumatized, booze- and drug-addled aftermath. He fears that he’s lost his family, his friends, and his last chance at anything when something like fate intervenes in the form of a mysterious stranger named Mrs. S.
The old fortune-teller tells Ludwig about an heirloom seized from her family by Nazis decades ago―a fabled tarot deck that has 23 major arcana cards instead of the customary 22. A deck that she believes is now located somewhere in Mobile, Alabama.
Whatever it was that brought Ludwig to Mrs. S.―be it chance, or fate―now draws him into an hallucinatory odyssey fraught with arcane symbols, danger, and paranoia as he ventures to retrieve the missing tarot deck and, with any luck, a piece of his own lost soul.
“Lohier’s prose is enthralling. One dark secret dissolves into another, each one more treacherous and shocking. Ludwig Mason, broken and searching, is a character you’ll never forget; more than a hero or anti-hero, he is heartbreakingly human.” — Matt Marinovich
The 2019 Shakespeare in the Arb play is Twelfth Night, Shakespeare’s story of love and identity, mistaken and otherwise, brims with some of the bard’s most well-loved speeches and songs.
The performance dates and times: Thurs.-Sun., June 6-9; 13-16; 20-23, 6:30 pm.
Now in its 19th year, Shakespeare in the Arb is directed by Kate Mendeloff of the U-M Residential College, Carol Gray, and Graham Atkin, and performed by U-M students and community players. Matthaei-Nichols members receive a discount on tickets. Matthaei-Nichols members may reserve tickets through their online box office beginning in May, and reserve tickets for any performance up to 24 hours before show time and pick up at will call.
For member and non-member questions and information, visit mbgna.umich.edu
Shakespeare in the Arb came into existence in the summer of 2001, when Residential College Drama faculty member Kate Mendeloff was asked to direct an outdoor production as part of a three year Ford Motor Company grant for Arts in the Nichols Arboretum. She chose Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for its structure — the characters were transformed by the power of the natural world. The production was such a popular success that Mendeloff remounted it the following summer, and “Shakespeare in the Arb” became an Ann Arbor tradition!
The unique experience of Shakespeare in the Arb comes from the environmental staging of the plays. There is no fixed stage; instead, the audience follows the action through different locations in the Arboretum. The staging takes advantage of the vistas and valleys, the special arrangements of the natural settings.
The wide open space of the Arb becomes a panoramic stage, creating a more realistic setting than if every scene was played out directly in front of you. As one critic commented, “The actors used the vastness of its Arb stage to full advantage, making entrances from behind trees, appearing over rises and vanishing into the woods.”
Every year, many UM students, alumni, and faculty members gather to act in Shakespeare in the Arb. The RC offers Spring term class credit to students who participate. The experience blends community, student, and professional-style participation in a theatrical production with the delicate ecology and beautiful environment of the Arb, providing dynamic educational value for participating students.
Auditions occur every April, with rehearsals starting in the Spring term. Performances occur over 3 weekends in June. For information about participation, please contact founder Kate Mendeloff.
To find information about this year’s production of Shakespeare in the Arb, go to Matthei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum (MBGNA) , or like Shakespeare in the Arb on Facebook for updates on the production!
We welcome author Sharon McRill, president of The Betty Brigade based in Ann Arbor, in support of her new book Downsizing the Silver Tsunami: Who to Call and Where Does the Stuff Go?
About the book: This is the moving reference you’ve been waiting for! Downsizing the Silver Tsunami is the compilation of years of working with thousands of clients and helping them resolve the moving problems and logistical and vendor questions that come up everyda, a comprehensive reference tool that you can refer to over and over to help you navigate the difficult pathways of estate sales, consignment dealers, picking the right real estate agent, why a trust or will are important and so many other moving and downsizing questions.
About the author: Sharon McRill is owner and president of The Betty Brigade, a relocation and organization company based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her mission is to help people live more organized and less stressful lives.
Laid off from a corporate marketing job in 2003, McRill turned the setback into an opportunity. As a busy professional herself, she wanted to help other busy people get organized and stay that way. She’s now done so successfully for 15 plus years. McRill, a graduate from Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, has expanded her brand’s influence through strategic marketing and sales reaching 100k plus on social media daily. Her highly trained team of 12 is comprised of handymen, organizing experts and logistical wizards.
McRill has done scores of television and radio interviews and has been featured in such media outlets as Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Crain’s Detroit Business, Forbes.com and The Ann Arbor Observer. Additionally, she won awards from the ATHENA foundation, Tuck School of Business, and Women Business Owners of Southeast Michigan.
For Whom
Grade K–5
Description
Meet Llama, the next great picture-book megastar, who has most definitely driven a bus and who loves tacos way more than you.
He also loves cake, and that’s where our story begins.
On Monday, Llama discovers a pile of cake, which he promptly eats.
On Tuesday, Llama squeezes into his dancing pants, which he promptly rips.
The force of the rip creates a black hole (naturally).
By Friday, Llama will (indirectly) destroy the world.
In their debut picture book, Llama Destroys the World, author/illustrator team Jonathan Stutzman and Heather Fox introduce young readers to the comical, the studious, the oblivious Llama, a picture-book hero for the ages.
This event is in partnership with Literati. It includes a signing and books will be for sale.
Jonathan Stutzman is an award-winning independent filmmaker and writer of books for children. His short films have screened around the world and on television, and he is a contributing writer to the bestselling collection The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories and Emmy-winning variety show HitRecord on TV. When he isn’t writing, Jonathan loves books, playing with his puppy, exploring, and watching old black and white movies. He is a staunch believer in the power of stories and the deliciousness of donuts. Jonathan lives in the wilds of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and as you read this, he is probably writing something new.
Heather Fox is an illustrator of stories for children. Her art is filled with quirk and dashes of whimsy that is created in both doodle and digital forms. When she isn’t creating, she is probably drinking a hot cup of coffee, eating Chinese food, or chasing down her dog (Sir Hugo) that has stolen one of her socks. Fox’s books for children include The Elephant’s Nose and Llama Destroys the World. She lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Literati is thrilled to welcome bestselling novelist Sarah Dessen in support of her latest book The Rest of the Story. A book signing will follow an author talk and Q&A. A copy of The Rest of the Story is required to join the signing line. Copies will be available to purchase in our store. If you pre-order your copy through Literati (your support makes these events possible!) before June 4th, you can receive a special tote from Epic Reads. Sarah will personalize copies of The Rest of the Story and sign up to two backlist titles.
About The Rest of the Story:
Emma Saylor doesn’t remember a lot about her mother, who died when Emma was twelve. But she does remember the stories her mom told her about the big lake that went on forever, with cold, clear water and mossy trees at the edges.
Now it’s just Emma and her dad, and life is good, if a little predictable…until Emma is unexpectedly sent to spend the summer with her mother’s family that she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl.
When Emma arrives at North Lake, she realizes there are actually two very different communities there. Her mother grew up in working class North Lake, while her dad spent summers in the wealthier Lake North resort. The more time Emma spends there, the more it starts to feel like she is also divided into two people. To her father, she is Emma. But to her new family, she is Saylor, the name her mother always called her.
Then there’s Roo, the boy who was her very best friend when she was little. Roo holds the key to her family’s history, and slowly, he helps her put the pieces together about her past. It’s hard not to get caught up in the magic of North Lake–and Saylor finds herself falling under Roo’s spell as well.
For Saylor, it’s like a whole new world is opening up to her. But when it’s time to go back home, which side of her–Emma or Saylor–will win out?
Sarah Dessen is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen novels for teens, which have received numerous awards and rave reviews. Her books have been published in over thirty countries and have sold millions of copies worldwide. She is the recipient of the 2017 Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association for outstanding contribution to young adult literature for her novels, including Keeping the Moon, Dreamland, This Lullaby, The Truth about Forever, Just Listen, Along for the Ride, and What Happened to Goodbye. A North Carolina native, Sarah currently lives in Chapel Hill with her family.
Crazy Wisdom Poetry Series hosted by Joe Kelty, Ed Morin, and David Jibson • Second and Fourth Wednesdays, 7-9 p.m. in the Crazy Wisdom Tea Room • Second Wednesdays are poetry workshop nights. All writers welcome to share and discuss their own poetry and short fiction. Sign up for new participants begins at 6:45 p.m.
Fourth Wednesdays have a featured reader for 50 minutes and then open mic for an hour. All writers welcome to share. Sign up begins at 6:45 p.m. Free. Contact Ed at 668-7523; eacmorso@sbcglobal.net or cwpoetrycircle.tumblr.com.
ONE PAUSE POETRY SALON is (literally) a greenhouse for poetry and poets, nurturing an appreciation for written art in all languages and encouraging experiments in creative writing.
We meet every Weds in the greenhouse at Argus Farm Stop on Liberty St. The poems we read each time are unified by form (haiku, sonnet, spoken word), poet, time / place (Tang Dynasty, English Romanticism, New York in the 70s) or theme / mood (springtime, poems with cats, protest poems). We discuss the poems and play writing games together, with time for snacks and socializing in between.
Members are encouraged to share their own poems or poems they like – they may or may not relate to the theme of the evening. This is not primarily a workshop – we may hold special workshop nights, but mostly we listen to and talk about poems for the sake of inspiring new writing.
Whether you are a published poet or encountering poetry for the first time, we invite you to join us!
$5 suggested donation for food, drinks and printing costs.
8-10 p.m., Argus Farm Stop greenhouse, 325 W. Liberty. $5 suggested donation. onepausepoetry.org, 707-1284.
Barbara Stark-Nemon, author of award-winning novels Even in Darkness and Hard Cider, lives, writes, cycles, swims, does fiber arts, and gardens in Ann Arbor and Northport, Michigan. She has degrees in English literature, art history, and speech-language pathology from the University of Michigan and worked with deaf and language disabled children. Even in Darkness is historical fiction based on a family story in 20th century Germany. Hard Cider is contemporary fiction set in northern Michigan. This day pass is free of charge to all members who paid for either the All Thursday Morning Lecture Series Package or the Distinguished Lecture Series and All Thursday Morning Lecture Series Package. Membership is not required for this day pass. Speaker’s Synopsis: The author will describe the path to her current career as a novelist, from her story-telling grandfather to work as a speech-language therapist and teacher. A love of narrative is the common thread. Fictional elements woven into family stories, personal experiences, research, and travel contributed to the writing of both her novels, and a third novel-in-progress. Stark-Nemon will address the challenges and rewards of embarking on an encore career as a novelist.
The 2019 Shakespeare in the Arb play is Twelfth Night, Shakespeare’s story of love and identity, mistaken and otherwise, brims with some of the bard’s most well-loved speeches and songs.
The performance dates and times: Thurs.-Sun., June 6-9; 13-16; 20-23, 6:30 pm.
Now in its 19th year, Shakespeare in the Arb is directed by Kate Mendeloff of the U-M Residential College, Carol Gray, and Graham Atkin, and performed by U-M students and community players. Matthaei-Nichols members receive a discount on tickets. Matthaei-Nichols members may reserve tickets through their online box office beginning in May, and reserve tickets for any performance up to 24 hours before show time and pick up at will call.
For member and non-member questions and information, visit mbgna.umich.edu
Shakespeare in the Arb came into existence in the summer of 2001, when Residential College Drama faculty member Kate Mendeloff was asked to direct an outdoor production as part of a three year Ford Motor Company grant for Arts in the Nichols Arboretum. She chose Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for its structure — the characters were transformed by the power of the natural world. The production was such a popular success that Mendeloff remounted it the following summer, and “Shakespeare in the Arb” became an Ann Arbor tradition!
The unique experience of Shakespeare in the Arb comes from the environmental staging of the plays. There is no fixed stage; instead, the audience follows the action through different locations in the Arboretum. The staging takes advantage of the vistas and valleys, the special arrangements of the natural settings.
The wide open space of the Arb becomes a panoramic stage, creating a more realistic setting than if every scene was played out directly in front of you. As one critic commented, “The actors used the vastness of its Arb stage to full advantage, making entrances from behind trees, appearing over rises and vanishing into the woods.”
Every year, many UM students, alumni, and faculty members gather to act in Shakespeare in the Arb. The RC offers Spring term class credit to students who participate. The experience blends community, student, and professional-style participation in a theatrical production with the delicate ecology and beautiful environment of the Arb, providing dynamic educational value for participating students.
Auditions occur every April, with rehearsals starting in the Spring term. Performances occur over 3 weekends in June. For information about participation, please contact founder Kate Mendeloff.
To find information about this year’s production of Shakespeare in the Arb, go to Matthei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum (MBGNA) , or like Shakespeare in the Arb on Facebook for updates on the production!
