Nov. 7 & 21. Monthly 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. Nov. themes: “Promises” (Nov. 7) & “Revelations” (Nov. 21). The 3 teams of 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.), Greyline, 100 N. Ashley. $8. 764-5118.
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
Poetry readings by writers and vendors from Groundcover News, the local street newspaper that seeks to end homelessness and poverty. The program begins with an open mike for poets, who are welcome to read their own work or a favorite poem by another writer. T
7 p.m., Bookbound, 1729 Plymouth, Courtyard Shops. Free. 369-4345
Storytellers Guild members present a program of old tales and personal stories for grownups.
Free; donations accepted. annarborstorytelling.org, facebook.com/annarborstorytellers. 665-2757.
Moth-style storytelling program in which local veterans tell personal stories about everything from their service in the military to the transition into civilian life.
2-3:30 p.m., Comfort Inn, 1140 S. Main, Chelsea. Free. 475-8732.
Literati is proud to partner with the Clements Library and the Detroit School to host author and professor Tiya Miles for a lecture on her latest book Dawn of Detroit at the Rackham Amphitheater.
About Dawn of Detroit:
Most Americans believe that slavery was a creature of the South, and that Northern states and territories provided stops on the Underground Railroad for fugitive slaves on their way to Canada. In this paradigm-shifting book, celebrated historian Tiya Miles reveals that slavery was at the heart of the Midwest’s iconic city: Detroit.
In this richly researched and eye-opening book, Miles has pieced together the experience of the unfree—both native and African American—in the frontier outpost of Detroit, a place wildly remote yet at the center of national and international conflict. Skillfully assembling fragments of a distant historical record, Miles introduces new historical figures and unearths struggles that remained hidden from view until now. The result is fascinating history, little explored and eloquently told, of the limits of freedom in early America, one that adds new layers of complexity to the story of a place that exerts a strong fascination in the media and among public intellectuals, artists, and activists.
A book that opens the door on a completely hidden past, The Dawn of Detroit is a powerful and elegantly written history, one that completely changes our understanding of slavery’s American legacy.
Tiya Miles is the recipient of a 2011 MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” and is a professor at the University of Michigan in the departments of American culture, Afro-American and African studies, history, women’s studies, and in the Native American Studies Program. She lives in Ann Arbor.
HOWARD MARKEL, M.D., Ph.D., is the George E. Wantz Distinguished Professor of the History of Medicine, director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan, and editor in chief of The Milbank Quarterly. His books include Quarantine!, When Germs Travel, and An Anatomy of Addiction. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and The New England Journal of Medicine. Markel is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Book:
The Kelloggs: Battling Brothers of Battle Creek
From the much admired medical historian (“Markel shows just how compelling the medical history can be”–Andrea Barrett) and author of An Anatomy of Addiction (“Absorbing, vivid”–Sherwin Nuland, The New York Times Book Review, front page)–the story of America’s empire builders: John and Will Kellogg. John Harvey Kellogg was one of America’s most beloved physicians; a best-selling author, lecturer, and health-magazine publisher; founder of the Battle Creek Sanitarium; and patron saint of the pursuit of wellness. His youngest brother, Will, was the founder of the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, which revolutionized the mass production of food and what we eat for breakfast. In The Kelloggs, Howard Markel tells the sweeping saga of these two extraordinary men, whose lifelong competition and enmity toward one another changed America’s notion of health and wellness from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, and who helped change the course of American medicine, nutrition, wellness, and diet.
Ann Arbor Community of Christ Congregation is hosting a book signing for Elaine Stienon’s newest historical novel, Children of a Northern Kingdom: A Story of the Strangite Mormons in Wisconsin and on Beaver Island, MI.
Elaine will have copies of this latest book available for purchase. She will be happy to sign this and any of her preceding publications you would bring from your home library. This and her previous books can be purchased through authorHOUSE, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. There will be remarks from the author and an opportunity for questions.
All adults and teens in grade 6 & up invited to listen to local storyteller Jim Glenn relate odd and unusual tidbits of U.S. history from the late 1700s through the mid-20th century.
7-8:30 p.m., AADL 4th-floor meeting room, 343 S. Fifth Ave. Free. 327-8301.
Sweetwaters and Toastmaster community members are creating a new Toastmasters Club at Sweetwaters! We will have 1 or 2 prepared speeches, showcase some of our (kind, encouraging and gentle) evaluations of the speeches, and some opportunities for people to have impromptu speaking fun. There will also be a chance for Q & A during the meeting too.
Come a little early and pick-up a beverage or snack from the cafe and have fun making new friendships with encouraging and supportive people!
Sweetwaters Washington St., 123 W. Washington St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Free.joshs@sweetwaterscafe.com https://www.facebook.com/events/1053675414768433/
