June 16 & 17. Adults & kids of all ages invited to meet more than 50 top area cartoonists and participate in workshops on making web comics, writing and drawing minicomics, creating video games, and much more. Kids can also vote in the 6th annual Kids’ Comics Awards. Winners announced during a ceremony featuring puppets, super villains, and more. At 7 p.m. on June 15, Maris Wicks, whose science-themed work is on display this month (see Galleries), discusses “Gorillas, Guts, and Gastropods.” See a2caf.com/programming for full schedule.
11 a.m.-6 p.m. (Sat.) & 12:30-5:30 p.m. (Sun.), AADL Downtown. Free. 327-4200.
Debbie Taylor’s Over In Motown! is an energetic picture book celebrating the musical genres and rhythms of the industry that fueled Detroit in the Motown era. Based on the Over In The Meadow rhyme, this counting book features beautiful illustrations by Keisha Morris.
Join us as Debbie Taylor reads from and discusses the creation of this new book published by the library’s Fifth Avenue Press imprint and chosen as a Junior Library Guild 2020 selection!
The event includes a simple craft for children.
Debbie Taylor is also the author of Sweet Music in Harlem.
This event is part of AADL’s Black History Month series and will include a signing with books for sale.
Paul Selig, who says he receives “clairaudient dictation from unseen intellects called Guides,” reads from his new book. Signing.
6-7:30 p.m., Crazy Wisdom, 114 S. Main. Free. 665-2757.
Every Wed. Members read and discuss poems around themes TBA. Followed by collaborative writing games and exercises. Attendees invited to read their poems. Snacks & socializing.
8-10 p.m., Argus Farm Stop greenhouse, 325 W. Liberty. $5 suggested donation. onepausepoetry.org, 707-1284.
Join us for a panel presentation featuring accomplished authors from the state of Michigan! Detroit author Michael Ferro is celebrating the release of his debut novel Title 13, named a “Most Anticipated Small Press Book of 2018” by literary blog Big Other. Kelly Fordon is a former writer-in-residence at InsideOut LIterary arts in Detroit, whose collection of interconnected stories, Garden for the Blind, was named a Michigan Notable book. Joining them will be University of Michigan creative writing professor Laura Hulthen Thomas, speaking about her acclaimed short story collection States of Motion
Michael A. Ferro‘s fiction and essays have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies. He won the Jim Cash Creative Writing Award for Fiction, received an Honorable Mention from Glimmer Train for their New Writers Award, and been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Born and bred in Detroit, Michael has lived, worked, and written throughout the Midwest; he currently resides in rural Ann Arbor, Michigan. TITLE 13 is his first novel.
Prior to writing fiction and poetry, Kelly Fordon worked at the NPR member station in Detroit and for National Geographic magazine. Her fiction, poetry, and book reviews have appeared in The Boston Review, The Florida Review, Flashquake, The Kenyon Review, and various other journals. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks, On the Street Where We Live, which won the 2011 Standing Rock Chapbook Contest, and Tell Me When It Starts to Hurt, which was published by Kattywompus Press in 2013. She received her MFA in fiction writing from Queens University of Charlotte and worked for InsideOut Literary Arts in Detroit as a writer-in-residence.
Laura Hulthen Thomas’s work has appeared in 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.
Join us for an evening in Ann Arbor with author Lindsey McDivitt. McDivitt will discuss the research and writing process for her new picture book NATURE’S FRIEND: THE GWEN FROSTIC STORY.
Gwen Frostic is one of Michigan’s most beloved artists whose nature-inspired artwork has captivated fans for generations. After a debilitating illness as a child, Gwen sought solace in art and nature. She learned to be persistent and independent-never taking no for an answer or letting her physical limitations define her. She was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame and May 23rd is official Gwen Frostic Day in Michigan.
Books will be available for purchase at the event through Literati Bookstore.
This event will focus on the author’s writing process, targeted towards older writers and readers but children are welcome!
Morgan & York, 1928 Packard Street. Free. 7346196226. julia.hlavac@sleepingbearpress.comhttps://www.facebook.com/events/391308184611065/
Readings by local writers. Books and authors include Emily Siwek’s A Monster on Main Street (picture book), Rebecca Biber’s Technical Solace (poetry), and Andy Gutman’s Charlie the Caterpillar and Pop Lullaby (picture books). Signings. Refreshments.
7-8:30 p.m., AADL Westgate, Westgate shopping center, 2503 Jackson. Free. 327-4200
Local flavor and fragrance expert Michelle Krell Kydd, creator of the award-winning smell and taste blog Glass Petal Smoke, discusses both the smell of books (old and new) and literary passages that illustrate just how powerfully the sense of smell can be used in the hands of a gifted writer. Aromatic references in various texts are accompanied by specific scents mentioned in these passages. For all grade 6 & up.
6:30-8:45 p.m., AADL Downtown 4th-fl. meeting rm. Free. 327-4200.
Every Wed. Members read and discuss poems around themes TBA. Followed by collaborative writing games and exercises. Attendees invited to read their poems. Snacks & socializing.
8-10 p.m., Argus Farm Stop greenhouse, 325 W. Liberty. $5 suggested donation. onepausepoetry.org, 707-1284.
Every Wed. Members read and discuss poems around themes TBA. Followed by collaborative writing games and exercises. Attendees invited to read their poems. Snacks & socializing.
8-10 p.m., Argus Farm Stop greenhouse, 325 W. Liberty. $5 suggested donation. onepausepoetry.org, 707-1284.
