Calendar

Feb
28
Fri
Colum McCann: Apeirogon @ First United Methodist Church
Feb 28 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Literati Bookstore is thrilled to welcome internationally bestselling author Colum McCann to First United Methodist Church of Ann Arbor in support of his latest novel, Apeirogon. The program will feature a conversation with Julie Buntin, author of the acclaimed debut novel Marlena. An audience Q&A will follow.

The event is free and open to the public, though a free general admission ticket is required. A limited number of book bundle tickets are also available, and these include a hardcover copy of Apeirogon, reserved general admission seating at the front of the venue, and signing line priority (note that for parties wishing to sit together in this reserved area, each member must purchase a book bundle ticket).

Additional copies of Apeirogon and a selection of Colum McCann’s previous books will be available for purchase for all guests. Note: a copy of Apeirogon is required to join the signing line.

About the book: Colum McCann’s most ambitious work to date, Apeirogon–named for a shape with a countably infinite number of sides–is a tour de force concerning friendship, love, loss, and belonging.

Bassam Aramin is Palestinian. Rami Elhanan is Israeli. They inhabit a world of conflict that colors every aspect of their daily lives, from the roads they are allowed to drive on, to the schools their daughters, Abir and Smadar, each attend, to the checkpoints, both physical and emotional, they must negotiate.

Their worlds shift irreparably after ten-year-old Abir is killed by a rubber bullet and thirteen-year-old Smadar becomes the victim of suicide bombers. When Bassam and Rami learn of each other’s stories, they recognize the loss that connects them and they attempt to use their grief as a weapon for peace.

McCann crafts Apeirogon out of a universe of fictional and nonfictional material. He crosses centuries and continents, stitching together time, art, history, nature, and politics in a tale both heartbreaking and hopeful. Musical, cinematic, muscular, delicate, and soaring, Apeirogon is a novel for our time.

Colum McCann is the internationally bestselling author of the novels TransAtlantic, Let the Great World Spin, Zoli, Dancer, This Side of Brightness, and Songdogs, as well as three critically acclaimed story collections and the nonfiction book Letters to a Young Writer. His fiction has been published in over forty languages. He has received many international honors, including the National Book Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, a Guggenheim fellowship, the Pushcart Prize, and an Oscar nomination for his short film Everything in This Country Must. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the Irish association of artists Aosdána, and he has also received a Chevalier des Artes et des Lettres award from the French government. In addition, he has won awards in Italy, Germany, and China. A contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Paris Review, he teaches in the Hunter College MFA Creative Writing program. He lives with his family in New York City, where he is the cofounder of the global nonprofit story exchange organization Narrative 4.

Julie Buntin is from northern Michigan. Her debut novel, Marlena, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize, translated into ten languages, and named a best book of the year by over a dozen outlets, including the Washington Post, NPR, and Kirkus Reviews. Her writing has appeared in the Atlantic, Vogue, the New York Times Book Review, Guernica, and elsewhere. She has received fellowships from Bread Loaf and the MacDowell Colony, and is an editor-at-large at Catapult. Her novel-in-progress is the winner of the 2019 Ellen Levine Fund for Writers Award. She teaches creative writing at the University of Michigan.

Mar
3
Tue
Epic Reads Tour: Elana K. Arnold, Mindy McGinnis, Evelyn Skye @ AADL Downtown (Multipurpose Room)
Mar 3 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

AADL partners with Literati Bookstore to host an Epic Reads Meet Up featuring Elana K Arnold (Red Hood),  Mindy McGinnis (Be Not Far From Me), and Evelyn Skye (Cloak of Night)! Attendees will participate in casual 10-12 minute group discussions with each author.

Elana K. Arnold is the author of many books for kids and teens, including Damsel, a 2019 Michael L. Printz Honor book; What Girls Are Made Of, a 2017 National Book Award finalist, and A Boy Called Bat, the first book in her young middle grade series that was selected for the Global Read Aloud.

Mindy McGinnis is the author of several young adult novels, including The Female of the Species and A Madness So Discreet, winner of the Edgar Award. She writes across multiple genres, including postapocalyptic, historical, thriller, contemporary, mystery, and fantasy.

Evelyn Skye is also the author of the New York Times bestselling Crown’s Game series.

This event is in partnership with Literati Bookstore and includes a signing  with books for sale.

Mar
4
Wed
Poetry Salon: One Pause Poetry @ Argus Farm Stop
Mar 4 @ 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

ONE PAUSE POETRY SALON is (literally) a greenhouse for poetry and poets, nurturing an appreciation for written art in all languages and encouraging experiments in creative writing.

We meet every Weds in the greenhouse at Argus Farm Stop on Liberty St. The poems we read each time are unified by form (haiku, sonnet, spoken word), poet, time / place (Tang Dynasty, English Romanticism, New York in the 70s) or theme / mood (springtime, poems with cats, protest poems). We discuss the poems and play writing games together, with time for snacks and socializing in between.

Members are encouraged to share their own poems or poems they like – they may or may not relate to the theme of the evening. This is not primarily a workshop – we may hold special workshop nights, but mostly we listen to and talk about poems for the sake of inspiring new writing.

Whether you are a published poet or encountering poetry for the first time, we invite you to join us!

$5 suggested donation for food, drinks and printing costs.

8-10 p.m., Argus Farm Stop greenhouse, 325 W. Liberty. $5 suggested donation. onepausepoetry.org, 707-1284.

 

 

 

Mar
9
Mon
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: The Financial Anxiety Solution @ AADL Westgate, West Side Room
Mar 9 @ 7:00 pm – 8:45 pm

Most adults today experience some degree of anxiety. In the United States alone, 51% of adults report feeling anxious. And what is one of the top causes of this chronic anxiety? Money.

Join us as Lindsay Bryan-Podvin discusses financial anxiety and her new book The Financial Anxiety Solution: A Step-by-Step Workbook to Stop Worrying about Money, Take Control of Your Finances, and Live a Happier Life.

Financial anxiety is ranked #2 in terms of what is stressing Americans out. And the more anxious a person is about money, the less likely they are to take action toward improving their financial health. Here’s the good news—anxiety is treatable and financial literacy is easier than you think. This presentation will address how to conquer money-related stress and take control of your financial life.

Lindsay Bryan-Podvin (pronouns she/her/hers) is a biracial female social worker-turned-financial therapist and author. The first financial therapist in Michigan, she holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Michigan State University, and practices in Washtenaw County.

This event is in partnership with Literati Bookstore and includes a signing with books for sale.

Mar
11
Wed
Ausma Zehanat Khan: The Importance of Minority Voices in Crime Fiction or How Literature Can Promote Intercultural Understanding @ AADL Downtown (1st Floor Lobby)
Mar 11 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

How can literature address a climate of growing intolerance and hate? How can empathy in literature be used to confront exclusionary discourses by examining their underlying agendas? Canadian novelist and crime & fantasy author (A Deadly Divide, Among The Ruins)  Ausma Zehanat Khan will discuss the importance of counter-narratives that open up spaces for members of minority communities to speak. She explores questions of identity and belonging, marginalization and exclusion, through the lens of a Canadian Muslim detective who investigates crimes connected to global human rights issues. Through the stories she tells, she considers the disproportionate impact of these issues on minority communities, reflecting on how our understanding of justice is shaped by our ability to achieve it. Finally, she discusses the vital role literature can play in developing and deepening empathy, thus challenging intolerance and serving to defuse hate.

This event includes a signing with books for sale and is in partnership with the Department of English Language and Literature at Eastern Michigan University.

Poetry Salon: One Pause Poetry @ Argus Farm Stop
Mar 11 @ 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

ONE PAUSE POETRY SALON is (literally) a greenhouse for poetry and poets, nurturing an appreciation for written art in all languages and encouraging experiments in creative writing.

We meet every Weds in the greenhouse at Argus Farm Stop on Liberty St. The poems we read each time are unified by form (haiku, sonnet, spoken word), poet, time / place (Tang Dynasty, English Romanticism, New York in the 70s) or theme / mood (springtime, poems with cats, protest poems). We discuss the poems and play writing games together, with time for snacks and socializing in between.

Members are encouraged to share their own poems or poems they like – they may or may not relate to the theme of the evening. This is not primarily a workshop – we may hold special workshop nights, but mostly we listen to and talk about poems for the sake of inspiring new writing.

Whether you are a published poet or encountering poetry for the first time, we invite you to join us!

$5 suggested donation for food, drinks and printing costs.

8-10 p.m., Argus Farm Stop greenhouse, 325 W. Liberty. $5 suggested donation. onepausepoetry.org, 707-1284.

 

 

 

Mar
12
Thu
Dan Pfeiffer: UnTrumping America @ AADL Downtown (1st Floor Lobby)
Mar 12 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Political strategist Dan Pfeiffer’s new book, Un-Trumping America, offers readers three critical insights: first, Trump is not an aberration, but rather the logical extension of the modern Republican Party; second, how Democrats can defeat Trump in 2020; and third, preventing the likes of Trump from ever happening again with a plan to fix democracy.

Un-Trumping America dismantles toxic Trumpism and offers a way forward. Dan Pfeiffer worked for nearly twenty years at the center of Democratic politics, from the campaign trail to Capitol Hill to Barack Obama’s White House. Here, Pfeiffer urges Democrats to embrace bold solutions—from fixing the courts to abolishing the electoral college to eliminating the filibuster—in order to make America more democratic (and Democratic).

This event is in partnership with Literati Bookstore and includes a signing with books for sale.

Mar
13
Fri
David Plouffe: A Citizen’s Guide to Beating Donald Trump @ AADL Downtown (1st Floor Lobby)
Mar 13 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

In A Citizen’s Guide to Beating Donald Trump, David Plouffe, former Obama campaign manager, offers an action plan for how we can put our country back on track without having to leave our jobs, move to Iowa, or spend every waking moment on the election. According to Plouffe, there are at least 65 million Americans who are likely committed to voting for a different path than what the President has plotted, and it is our responsibility to grow that number and make sure the support materializes in actual votes. Plouffe believes we can beat Donald Trump in 2020, and he has a plan every one of us can use.

Plouffe’s message is simple: the only way change happens, especially on this scale, is one human being talking to another. It won’t happen magically; it won’t happen because of debates and conventions—it will happen because of you. And your neighbor. Your babysitter. Your best friend. It relies on all of us—progressives, anti-Trump conservatives, used-to-be Republicans, third-party voters—banding together and familiarizing ourselves with the Democratic candidate’s policies so we can explain to a voter who is on the fence, or considering voting third party, that four more years of Trump will do nothing but wreak more irreparable havoc on our already-thinning democracy. It relies on us correcting fiction with fact. It relies on us empowering each other to do the right thing.

David Plouffe served as the campaign manager for Barack Obama’s primary and general election victories in 2008 and later joined the White House as a Senior Advisor, with responsibility for his re-election victory in 2012. He was previously a senior executive at Uber and currently leads policy and advocacy efforts at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. He lives in San Francisco, CA.

This event is in partnership with Literati Bookstore and includes a signing with books for sale.

Mar
18
Wed
Poetry Salon: One Pause Poetry @ Argus Farm Stop
Mar 18 @ 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

ONE PAUSE POETRY SALON is (literally) a greenhouse for poetry and poets, nurturing an appreciation for written art in all languages and encouraging experiments in creative writing.

We meet every Weds in the greenhouse at Argus Farm Stop on Liberty St. The poems we read each time are unified by form (haiku, sonnet, spoken word), poet, time / place (Tang Dynasty, English Romanticism, New York in the 70s) or theme / mood (springtime, poems with cats, protest poems). We discuss the poems and play writing games together, with time for snacks and socializing in between.

Members are encouraged to share their own poems or poems they like – they may or may not relate to the theme of the evening. This is not primarily a workshop – we may hold special workshop nights, but mostly we listen to and talk about poems for the sake of inspiring new writing.

Whether you are a published poet or encountering poetry for the first time, we invite you to join us!

$5 suggested donation for food, drinks and printing costs.

8-10 p.m., Argus Farm Stop greenhouse, 325 W. Liberty. $5 suggested donation. onepausepoetry.org, 707-1284.

 

 

 

Mar
25
Wed
Poetry Salon: One Pause Poetry @ Argus Farm Stop
Mar 25 @ 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

ONE PAUSE POETRY SALON is (literally) a greenhouse for poetry and poets, nurturing an appreciation for written art in all languages and encouraging experiments in creative writing.

We meet every Weds in the greenhouse at Argus Farm Stop on Liberty St. The poems we read each time are unified by form (haiku, sonnet, spoken word), poet, time / place (Tang Dynasty, English Romanticism, New York in the 70s) or theme / mood (springtime, poems with cats, protest poems). We discuss the poems and play writing games together, with time for snacks and socializing in between.

Members are encouraged to share their own poems or poems they like – they may or may not relate to the theme of the evening. This is not primarily a workshop – we may hold special workshop nights, but mostly we listen to and talk about poems for the sake of inspiring new writing.

Whether you are a published poet or encountering poetry for the first time, we invite you to join us!

$5 suggested donation for food, drinks and printing costs.

8-10 p.m., Argus Farm Stop greenhouse, 325 W. Liberty. $5 suggested donation. onepausepoetry.org, 707-1284.

 

 

 

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