Literati is thrilled to welcome author Merle Kröger who will be reading and discussing her new book Collision
About Collision:
A cruise ship full of holidaymakers and crewmembers collides with a raft of refugees in the Mediterranean
A raft with eleven Algerian refugees, running low on fuel. A cruise ship with a small town’s worth of international passengers and crew members. An Irish freighter. A Spanish rescue vessel. One single point of convergence in a vast wash of blue water. Miami-based The Spirit of Europe, the third largest cruise liner in the world, plows through the Mediterranean every summer, offering its passengers a temporary escape from their everyday lives. But even the bloated tackiness of the ship’s much-hyped belly flop competition is not immune to the chaos of the European migration crisis. When a disabled raft nears The Spirit of Europe, the ship’s captain is forced to do something headquarters in Miami wants to avoid: cut the engines.
Collision is a maritime thriller by one of Germany’s most celebrated crime writers, building suspense through the eyes of a diverse array of memorable characters, among them Karim Yacine, the Algerian captain of the raft disable; Lalita Masarangi, member of the massive cruise ship’s security team; and Sybille Malinowski, an elderly passenger on holiday with her sister, which, as the drama at sea continues to unfold, seems to be turning increasingly sinister. Central to all of it is Nikhil “Nike” Mehta, the cruise ship’s ambitious head of security who, like an illusionist, makes the ship’s relentless problems disappear. As Collision races toward its surprising conclusion, Nike’s particular solution for the Algerian refugees at sea might be his greatest slight of hand yet.
Merle Kröger is co-author and producer of the award-winning cinema documentaries Day of the Sparrow (2010) and Revision (2012). Kröger has published several novels and was awarded the German Crime Novel Award 2013. She will be releasing a documentary film in Germany based on the events that served as the inspiration for Collision, a bestseller in Germany.
Creative Writing Faculty read from their works:
Lolita Hernandez, Lecturer, RC Creative Writing and Literature
Laura Kasischke, RC ’84, Lecturer, RC Creative Writing and Literature Christopher Matthews, Lecturer, RC Creative Writing and Literature
Ken Mikolowski, Lecturer Emeritus, RC Creative Writing and Literature
Laura Thomas, RC ’88, Lecturer and Program Head, RC Creative Writing and Literature
Literati is excited to welcome Nick Riggle to discuss his new book On Being Awesome.
About One Being Awesome:
A lively philosophical exploration of the competing pheonomena of being awesome and sucking, and why we need awesomeness now more than ever
In this original, fun, and slyly helpful investigation of a thoroughly modern condition, pro-skater-turned-philospher Nick Riggle argues that our collective interest in being awesome (and not sucking) marks a new era in American culture, one that is shaped by relatively recent social, cultural and technological shifts. At the core of his work is the idea that awesome people are those who excel at creating social openings. Sucky people, by contrast, are those who foil such attempts. To be cool, down, game, basic, wack, or a preference dictator are just a handful of ways we can create these openings, respond, or fail to be awesome in the office, at home, or with our friends and loved ones.
Can introverts be awesome? How do our expectations of awesome relate to race, gender and sexuality? And what can the invention of the high five tell us about the origins of awesome? These are just a few of the questions Riggle explores. An accessible, philosophical road trip through the ethics of our time, On Being Awesome provides a new and inspiring framework for understanding friendship, success, and happiness in our everyday lives.
Nick Riggle dropped out of high school to become a pro-skater, participating in stunt shows, demos, and world class competitions (including three ESPN X-Games). Riggle has a BA in philosophy from UC Berkeley and a PhD from NYU, America’s leading philosophy program; he currently works as a philosophy professor at the University of San Diego. He speaks widely at conferences and workshops and is the organizer for the first major academic conference on street art and graffiti. He continues to publish in key and notable philosophical publications as well as more popular outlets including McSweeney’s, Aeon (on the high five, awesomeness and suckiness), and Hyperallergic. His current academic work focuses on the role of aesthetics in human life and is supported by a grant from The Experience Project, a 4.8 million dollar, three-year initiative at UNC Chapel Hill and the University of Notre Dame.
Literati is thrilled to welcome Bill Goldstein who will be discussing his new book The World Broke in Two: Virgina Woolf, T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, E.M. Forster and the Year that Changed Literature. He will be joined by Douglas Trevor, chair of the Zell’s Writers Program at the University of Michigan
About The World Broke in Two
The World Broke in Two tells the fascinating story of the intellectual and personal journeys four legendary writers, Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, E. M. Forster, and D. H. Lawrence, make over the course of one pivotal year. As 1922 begins, all four are literally at a loss for words, confronting an uncertain creative future despite success in the past. The literary ground is shifting, as Ulysses is published in February and Proust’s In Search of Lost Time begins to be published in England in the autumn. Yet, dismal as their prospects seemed in January, by the end of the year Woolf has started Mrs. Dalloway, Forster has, for the first time in nearly a decade, returned to work on the novel that will become A Passage to India, Lawrence has written Kangaroo, his unjustly neglected and most autobiographical novel, and Eliot has finished—and published to acclaim—“The Waste Land.”
As Willa Cather put it, “The world broke in two in 1922 or thereabouts,” and what these writers were struggling with that year was in fact the invention of modernism. Based on original research, The World Broke in Two captures both the literary breakthroughs and the intense personal dramas of these beloved writers as they strive for greatness.
Bill Goldstein, the founding editor of the books site of The New York Times on the Web, reviews books and interviews authors for NBC’s “Weekend Today in New York.” He is also curator of public programs at Roosevelt House, the public policy institute of New York’s Hunter College. He received a PH.D in English from City University of New York Graduate Center in 2010, and is the recipient of writing fellowships at MacDowell, Yaddo, Ucross and elsewhere.
Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, creators of the wildly popular podcast Welcome to Night Vale, discuss It Devours!, their new mystery novel that explores the intersections of faith and science and a growing relationship between two young people who want to trust each other. Signing.
7 p.m., Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, 911 North University. Tickets $23.31 in advance at brownpapertickets.com/event/3084372 (includes a copy of the book). 585-5567.
Reading by Diane DeCillis, Detroit native whose award-winning 1st book of poems, Strings Attached, was described by Gargoyle Magazine (Washington, D.C.) editor Richard Peabody as a collection of “warm, philosophical poems [which] explore a cultural and emotional terrain similar to the work of Naomi Shihab Nye.” Followed by a poetry and short fiction open mike.
7-9 p.m., Crazy Wisdom, 114 S. Main. Free. 665-2757
Northern California native Tim Hunt reads from his latest book, Poem’s Poems & Other Poems, a collection of poems in which a persona named Poem seeks self-definition through the writing of poetry. DePauw University English profesor Deborah Geis says Poem is “always somewhere that he doesn’t quite belong, or is asking the ‘wrong’ questions, yet ultimately charms us with his love of both illusions and allusions.” The program begins with open mike readings.
7-8:30 p.m., Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea, 123 W. Washington. Free. 994-6663
Monica Youn is the author of three books of poetry: Blackacre (Graywolf Press, 2016); Barter(Graywolf Press, 2003); and Ignatz (Four Way Books, 2010), which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including the New Yorker, the Paris Review, and the New York Times Magazine, and she has been awarded fellowships from the Library of Congress and Stanford University, among other awards. A former attorney, she now teaches poetry at Princeton University and at the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers. She previously taught at Bennington College, Columbia University, and at the Sarah Lawrence College MFA Program. Youn’s poetry has been described as “interested in the intersection between the beauty we want in life, and the darkness that often serves as an invisible barrier for it,” with her background in law allowing her to “probe and navigate these gray areas gently, using an economy of language that both cuts to the heart of the matter and reveals nuanced layers of caution, lust, and desperation.”
One of the most prolific American writers of the 20th century, Joyce Carol Oates counts historical biographies, depictions of working class families, and magical realist Gothic fiction among her oeuvre. She often depicts hardships and violence in American towns, and has received both critical and popular acclaim in her 50-year career. Oates is the author of over 70 books, including the novels them (1969), winner of the National Book Award; Bellefleur (1980); You Must Remember This (1987); Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart (1990); We Were the Mulvaneys (1996); Blonde (2000), winner of the National Book Award; The Gravedigger’s Daughter (2007); and The Accursed (2013). Her short stories and essays have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Harper’s, and have been widely anthologized. In an interview for the Paris Review, she says: “I try to write books that can be read in one way by a literal-minded reader, and in quite another way by a reader alert to symbolic abbreviation and parodistic elements. And yet, it’s the same book—or nearly. A trompe l’oeil, a work of ‘as if.’”
Literati is excited to welcome Jennifer Weiss-Wolf in support of her new book Periods Gone Public.
About Periods Gone Public
Leading menstrual rights advocate, writer, and attorney Jennifer Weiss-Wolf’s PERIODS GONE PUBLIC examines the cultural and political history of menstruation and the new, high-profile menstrual equity movement dispelling stigma and promoting advocacy on a global level.
The first book to explore menstruation in the current cultural and political landscape and to investigate the new wave of period activism taking the world by storm.
After centuries of being shrouded in taboo and superstition, periods have gone mainstream. Seemingly overnight, a new, high-profile movement has emerged—one dedicated to bold activism, creative product innovation, and smart policy advocacy—to address the centrality of menstruation in relation to core issues of gender equality and equity.
In Periods Gone Public, Jennifer Weiss-Wolf—the woman Bustle dubbed one of the nation’s “badass menstrual activists”—explores why periods have become a prominent political cause. From eliminating the tampon tax, to enacting new laws ensuring access to affordable, safe products, menstruation is no longer something to whisper about. Weiss-Wolf shares her firsthand account in the fight for “period equity” and introduces readers to the leaders, pioneers, and everyday people who are making change happen. From societal attitudes of periods throughout history—in the United States and around the world—to grassroots activism and product innovation, Weiss-Wolf challenges readers to face stigma head-on and elevate an agenda that recognizes both the power—and the absolute normalcy—of menstruation.
Jennifer Weiss-Wolf is a leading advocate and voice for equitable menstrual policy in America. Her petition to end the tampon tax, launched in partnership with Cosmopolitan, catalyzed a national movement. Newsweek deemed her the “architect of the U.S. policy campaign to squash the tampon tax.” Weiss-Wolf’s writing and work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, TIME, Newsweek, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, The Nation, Bloomberg, and Ms. magazine, among others. She is on the Advisory Board of ZanaAfrica Foundation, which provides essential menstrual health education and products to girls in Kenya. She lives in Maplewood, New Jersey.
Literati is pleased to welcome the Honorable Raymond M. Kethledge who will be discussing his new book Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude.
About Lead Yourself First:
To inspire and lead others, you must first lead yourself: a powerful and invaluable guide to productive time spent alone.
Famous leaders have long used solitude as means for inspiration. Solitude is a state of mind, a space in which to focus on one’s own thoughts without distraction, with a unique power to bring mind and soul together in clear-eyed conviction. In our time-challenged world today, such space is ever more important to leaders, and increasingly difficult to find. We are losing solitude without even realizing it.
Lead Yourself First will inspire leaders to spend time alone. Through firsthand interviews with a wide range of contemporary leaders in politics, business, sports, the military, and family life, as well as through illuminating historical accounts of Abraham Lincoln, Jane Goodall, Pope John Paul II, Aung San Suu Kyi, and others, leadership experts Raymond Kethledge and Michael Erwin show how solitude can improve clarity and bolster creativity; generate the emotional balance needed to sustain certainty and the moral courage required to challenge convention; and strengthen a leader’s ability to make courageous decisions in the face of adversity and criticism. In years past, leaders used solitude subconsciously; today it takes a conscious choice to unplug from one’s daily life. Introduced by Jim Collins (author of the bestseller Good to Great), Lead Yourself First is a crucial and timely guide, a rallying cry for how leaders can reclaim the power of solitude in today’s over-connected world.
Raymond M. Kethledge, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, formerly served as a law clerk to Justice Anthony Kennedy. He lives near Ann Arbor, Michigan.
