Literati is excited to welcome author Julie Dobrow who will be sharing her new biography, After Emily.
About After Emily:
Despite Emily Dickinson’s world renown, the story of the two women most responsible for her initial posthumous publication–Mabel Loomis Todd and her daughter, Millicent Todd Bingham–has remained in the shadows of the archives. A rich and compelling portrait of women who refused to be confined by the social mores of their era, After Emily explores Mabel and Millicent’s complex bond, as well as the powerful literary legacy they shared.
Mabel’s tangled relationships with the Dickinsons–including a thirteen-year extramarital relationship with Emily’s brother, Austin–roiled the small town of Amherst, Massachusetts. After Emily’s death, Mabel’s connection to the family and reputation as an intelligent, artistic, and industrious woman in her own right led her to the enormous trove of poems Emily left behind. So began the herculean task of transcribing, editing, and promoting Emily’s work, a task that would consume and complicate the lives of both Mabel and her daughter. As the popularity of the poems grew, legal issues arose between the Dickinson and Todd families, dredging up their scandals: the affair, the ownership of Emily’s poetry, and the right to define the so-called “Belle of Amherst.”
Utilizing hundreds of overlooked letters and diaries to weave together the stories of three unstoppable women, Julie Dobrow explores the intrigue of Emily Dickinson’s literary beginnings. After Emily sheds light on the importance of the earliest editions of Emily’s work–including the controversial editorial decisions made to introduce her singular genius to the world–and reveals the surprising impact Mabel and Millicent had on the poet we know today.
Julie Dobrow is a professor with appointments in the department of Child Study and Human Development and the Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University and serves as director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies. Her writing has appeared in the Boston Globe Magazine and the Huffington Post, among other publications. She lives outside of Boston.
The Mark Webster Reading Series showcases work by second-year MFA students in the Helen Zell Writers’ Program.
Usually held on Friday evenings, Webster Readings present two readers (most often one poet and one fiction writer), each introduced by a fellow poet or fiction writer also in the graduating cohort.As the culminating event for students of the program, Webster Readings are hosted in partnership with the University of Michigan Museum of Art and held in Helmut Stern Auditorium. An opportunity to hear from emerging writers in a warm and relaxed setting, these readings are free and open to the public.
The Mark Webster Reading Series remembers the poetry and life of Mark Webster. Webster’s work is available in the Hopwood Room.
Today: Ian Burnette and Carl Lavigne
The Webster Readings are organized by second-year students, and feature their poetry and prose. Post-graduate Zell fellows are regularly invited to introduce and/or open for writers scheduled to visit local bookstore Literati.
Today: Katarina Bishop and Thea Chacamaty.
A farce by Patrick Barlow, presented by RC Players. 39 Steps is a parody of the classic Hitchcock spy thriller, where four actors play every role.
Also Saturday, March 23, at 8 pm.
Keene Theater, East Quadrangle, 701 East University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Free.
An evening of Buddhist storytelling with Rafe Martin. Listen to Buddhist Jataka Tales. He will be joined by longtime Zen Buddhist teacher and storyteller, Haju Sunim, and Zen storyteller Sandong Kurt Iselt. Children and families welcome, as well as all those who are curious about the wondrous stories that underpin Buddhism and Buddhist teachings. Rafe will be available for book signings after the event. $25. $15/ages 16 and under. Contact Zen Buddhist Temple at 761-6520; annarbor@zenbuddhisttemple.org or zenbuddhisttemple.org.
A farce by Patrick Barlow, presented by RC Players. 39 Steps is a parody of the classic Hitchcock spy thriller, where four actors play every role. Keene Theater, East Quadrangle, 701 East University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Free.
All invited to listen to guild members swap stories or bring their own to tell.
2-4 p.m., Ann Arbor District Library 3rd fl. Freespace, 343 S. Fifth Ave. Free. annarborstorytelling.org .
Readings by writers featured in Surrendurance, the 11th annual edition of Prison Creative Arts Project book that features work by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated writers. Also, a performance by the U-M Men’s Glee Club. Book sale.
3 p.m., Pierpont Commons East Room. Free. 647-6771.
Join us for a free public screening of Chernobyl Heart and White Horse, followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Maryann De Leo and Residential College and Slavic Languages and Literatures professor Herb Eagle.
Maryann De Leo is an American director and producer. She has been working in documentary filmmaking for over twenty years. Her work addresses timely issues under the umbrella of social justice, such as gender-based violence (Rape: Cries from the Heartland, 1991 and Terror at Home, 2005), mental illness (Bellevue: Inside Out, 2001), and urban blight (High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell, 1995). De Leo has received numerous awards, including an Academy Award for Chernobyl Heart, 2003.
Chernobyl Heart (39 min.) is an Oscar-winning documentary about the effects of radiation on the children of Belarus, 16 years after the accident at the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl. The film begins with the journey into the exclusion zone, driving to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and follows the invisible trail of radiation to the country’s hospitals, cancer centers, orphanages, and mental asylums, where the children live, or are being treated for their disease.
White Horse (17 min.) is a short documentary by filmmakers Maryann DeLeo and Christophe Bisson that features a man (Maxym Surkov) returning to his Ukraine home for the first time in twenty years. Evacuated from the city of Pripyat, Ukraine in 1986 due to the Chernobyl disaster, he has not returned since then. White Horse was nominated for a Golden Bear in the 2008 Berlinale.
