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.
7-9 p.m., Crazy Wisdom, 114 S. Main. Free. 665-2757
Storytellers Guild members present a program of old tales and personal stories for grownups.
Free; donations accepted. annarborstorytelling.org, facebook.com/annarborstorytellers. 665-2757.
Readings by featured poets, preceded by a poetry open mike.
Reading by TBA
7-9 p.m. (sign-up begins at 6:30 p.m.), Espresso Royale, 324 S. State. $5 suggested donation. facebook.com/AnnArborPoetry.
Open mike storytelling competition sponsored by The Moth, the NYC-based nonprofit storytelling organization that also produces a weekly public radio show. Each month 10 storytellers are selected at random from among those who sign up to tell a 3-5 minute story on the monthly theme. The 3 judges are recruited from the audience. Monthly winners compete in a semiannual Grand Slam. Space limited, so it’s smart to arrive early.
7:30-9 p.m. (doors open and sign-up begins at 6 p.m.), $10. 764-5118.
Literati is delighted to be the bookseller for the Chang Lecture on Art and Medicine at the University of Michigan’s Ford Auditorium, which will be delivered by Dr. David Watts.
The process of healing is a mystery that cannot be explained completely by a scientific approach. Analysis will miss the humanistic qualities that are required to address and serve the complexity of the human spirit. If Health Care Professionals are to achieve optimum healing we must attend to both the science and the humanity of health care. Poems and stories provide balance to the provider’s life and move us away from the Cold and Distant Physician into a deeper under-standing of human nature and an affection for the patient and his/her suffering.
David Watts, M.D., is a gastroenterologist and Clinical Professor at the UCSF School of Medicine, a physician writer who has published six books of poetry, four anthologies, and two books of short stories about the complexities of the Doctor-Patient Relationship. He has also written two novels, one a mystery and the other best-selling western. He is a classically trained musician, a TV and radio host, and an NPR commentator. He has taken particular interest in measures to warm the cold and distant physician and is a strong advocate for literature and humanities in the medical school curriculum.
Local short story writer Alex Kourvo and young adult novelist Bethany Neal host an open house for writers to connect with one another and/or work on their projects.
The authors will discuss how their fiction transforms home into character. How do writers use assumptions about familiar places to find the unexpected and surprising? When is a hometown the whole trouble, and also the last, best hope for change? The authors will also talk about how the unique landscape of the upper Midwest inspires their fiction.
Kelly Fordon’s work has appeared in The Florida Review, The Kenyon Review (KRO), Rattle and various other journals. She is the author of three poetry chapbooks. The first one, On the Street Where We Live, won the 2012 Standing Rock Chapbook Award and the latest one, The Witness, won the 2016 Eric Hoffer Award for the Chapbook and was shortlisted for the Grand Prize. Her novel-in-stories, Garden for the Blind, was chosen as a Michigan Notable Book, a 2016 Foreword Reviews’ INDIEFAB Finalist, a Midwest Book Award Finalist, an Eric Hoffer Finalist, and an IPPY Awards Bronze Medalist in the short story category. She works for The College for Creative Studies, Springfed Arts and The InsideOut Literary Arts Project in Detroit.
Laura Hulthen Thomas is the author of the short fiction collection, States of Motion, published by Wayne State University Press. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in a number of journals and anthologies, including The Cimarron Review, Nimrod International Journal, Epiphany and Witness. She received her MFA in fiction writing from Warren Wilson College. She currently heads the undergraduate creative writing program at the University of Michigan’s Residential College, where she teaches fiction and creative nonfiction.
Reading by Richard Solomon, a prominent local developmental pediatrician who is also a widely published, prize-winning poet. Followed by a poetry and short fiction open mike.
7-9 p.m., Crazy Wisdom, 114 S. Main. Free. 665-2757
Membership event for the new Michigan chapter of Sisters in Crime, Saturday, July 29, 2:30 PM. Refreshments, membership sign up, and a panel discussion on “Bad Guys” with author Sarah Zettel, Judge Terrence P. Bronson, Retired U.S. Marshall Louis Stock and Pinkerton Vice President Jason Porter. The panel will be moderated by Judy Lee Burke and the event introduced by Michigan Sisters in Crime President Jan Rydzon. The panel discussion will take place at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase (across the street from Aunt Agatha’s), 212 S. 4th Ave.
