All invited to read and discuss their poetry or short stories. Bring about 6 copies of your work to share. Hosted by local poets and former college English teachers Joe Kelty and Ed Morin.
Literati is pleased to welcome Gloria Whelan back to the store in support of the anthology Bob Seger’s House and Other Stories.
Bob Seger’s House and Other Stories is a collection of short stories written by some of Michigan’s most well-known fiction writers. This collection of twenty-two short stories serves as a celebration not only of the tenth anniversary of the Made in Michigan Writers Series in 2016 but also of the rich history of writing and storytelling in the region. As series editors Michael Delp and M. L. Leibler state in their preface, “The stories contained in this anthology are a way to stay connected to each other. Think of them as messages sent from all over the map, stitching readers and writers together through stories that continue to honor the ancient art of the fire tale, the hunting epic, and all of the ways language feeds the blood of imagination.”
Gloria Whelan is the bestselling author of many novels for young readers, includingHomeless Bird, winner of the National Book Award; Fruitlands: Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect; Angel on the Square; Burying the Sun; Once on This Island, winner of the Great Lakes Book Award; and Return to the Island. Her books for adults includeLiving Together. She lives in the woods of northern Michigan.
Local children’s writer and poet Shutta Crum reads her poetry. “Shutta invites us to sit on the front porch, to listen to the crickets, to watch the fireflies sparkle and dance on a warm summer night, and to listen,” says writer Charles Van Heck. The program begins with an open mike for poets, who are welcome to read their own work or a favorite poem by another writer.
Storytellers Guild members present a program of old tales and personal stories for grownups. Free; donations accepted.annarborstorytelling.org, facebook.com/annarborstorytellers. 665-2757.
Barbara J. Rebbeck is a teacher and writer who lives in Royal Oak, Michigan. She has degrees from Eastern Michigan University and Oakland University in French and English. She has published poetry, fiction and professional articles. She is a past-president of the Michigan Council of Teachers of English and a former Director of the Oakland Writing Project. She especially likes to get her students excited about writing about their own lives. Barb’s father was born in London, England so she loves to visit there as often as possible. Her dad always said she was more British than he was. She has been to England for very special events such as the royal wedding of William and Catherine and the Queen’s Jubilee where she could be found in the crowds along the streets. She has a huge collection of British royalty china and figurines from the era of Queen Victoria through little Prince George. She loves going to the theater and is also a movie buff. She is very interested in the history of her family; the Brits on her dad’s side and the French on her mom’s side. But her favorite time of all is spent with her many nieces and nephews. She recently adopted a little kitty named Gracie-Willow. Sound familiar? Yep, she named her after her character Grace, one of the NOLA Gals.
Local young-adult novelist Patrick Flores-Scott, author of the award-winning debut novel Jumped In, discusses his writing and announces the 2016 winners of the annual AADL teen short story writing contest, which features $1,500 in prizes. Refreshments.
2-3 p.m., AADL multipurpose room
Arthur W. Wiggins is the author of The Joy of Physics (with cartoons by Sidney Harris) and the coauthor, with Charles M. Wynn Sr., of the The Five Biggest Ideas in Science, Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction, The Five Biggest Unsolved Problems in Science, and the textbook Natural Science: Bridging the Gaps. Wynn and Wiggins have also edited And God said, “Let There Be Evolution!”: Reconciling the Book of Genesis, the Qur’an and the Theory of Evolution. Wiggins is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Physics, Oakland Community College in Michigan.
Literati is delighted to welcome staff-favorite Rebecca Makkai in support of Music for Wartime! Rebecca will be joined in conversation by Whiting Award-winning author Michael Byers.
Music for Wartime is a collection of short stories with intelligence, wit, and heart. A reality show producer manipulates two contestants into falling in love, while her own relationship falls apart. Just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a young boy has a revelation about his father’s past when a renowned Romanian violinist plays a concert in their home. In an unnamed country, a composer records the folk songs of two women from a village on the brink of destruction. Ranging from comedy to tragedy to the surreal, from the world of academia to war zones, these fifteen stories ask the question of what it means to be an artist in a brutal and sometimes ugly world.
“Though these stories alternate in time between WWII and the present day, they all are set, as described in the story “Exposition,” within “the borders of the human heart”—a terrain that their author maps uncommonly well.” — Publisher’s Weekly, starred and featured review
Rebecca Makkai is the Chicago-based author of the novels The Hundred-Year House, winner of the Chicago Writers Association’s Novel of the Year award, andThe Borrower, a Booklist Top Ten Debut which has been translated into eight languages. Her short fiction was chosen for The Best American Short Stories for four consecutive years (2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008), and appears regularly in journals like Harper’s, Tin House, and New England Review. The recipient of a 2014 NEA fellowship, Makkai will be visiting faculty this fall at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
Michael Byers is the author of The Coast of Good Intentions, which was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award and won the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; Long for This World, which won the annual fiction prize from Friends of American Writers; and the acclaimed novel Percival’s Planet. Byers’ fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards; his nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Best American Travel Writing, and elsewhere. A former Stegner Fellow at Stanford, he teaches creative writing at the University of Michigan.
Crazy Wisdom Book and Performance Event — Come join the co-authors Greg Jobin-Leeds, Dey Hernández, Jorge Diaz and movement leaders for a multi-media hour of art, theatre and lively conversation. Longtime social activist Greg Jobin-Leeds joins forces with AgitArte-a collective of innovative artists and organizers-to capture the stories, philosophies, tactics, and art of six of today’s most pressing movements: immigrant rights, the LGBTQ movement, the fight for quality public education, the prison justice movement, the struggle for economic power, and the environmental movement.
Recently published by The New Press, WHEN WE FIGHT was highly praised by Noam Chomsky, Amy Goodman and Thom Hartmann.
Literati is pleased to host Megan Tompkins-Stange in support of her book Policy Patrons: Philanthropy, Education Reform, and the Politics of Influence.
Policy Patrons offers a rare behind-the-scenes view of decision making inside four influential education philanthropies: the Ford Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. The outcome is an intriguing, thought-provoking look at the impact of current philanthropic efforts on education. Over a period of several years, Megan E. Tompkins-Stange gained the trust of key players and outside observers of these four organizations. Through a series of confidential interviews, she began to explore the values, ideas, and beliefs that inform these foundations’ strategies and practices. The picture that emerges reveals important differences in the strategies and values of the more established foundations vis-à-vis the newer, more activist foundations—differences that have a significant impact on education policy and practice, and have important implications for democratic decision making. In recent years, the philanthropic sector has played an increasing role in championing and financing education reform. Policy Patrons makes an original and invaluable contribution to contemporary discussions about the appropriate role of foundations in public policy and the future direction of education reform.
“Policy Patrons takes us deep inside traditional and venture philanthropies to learn, in the unfiltered words of decision makers, about profound shifts affecting public education and the practice of democracy. Tompkins-Stange has delivered an eye-opening portrait of this fast-changing field.” — Dale Russakoff, author of The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools?
Megan E. Tompkins-Stange is an assistant professor at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.
