Literat is pleased to welcome some soon-to-be graduates of the University of Michigan’s Creative Writing undergraduate program to read from their theses. More information to come!
Literati is pleased to welcome Margot Singer in support of her new novel, Underground Fugue. Margot will be joined in conversation by UM professor and author Eileen Pollack.
Set against the backdrop of the London tube bombings in 2005, Underground Fugue interweaves the stories of four characters who are dislocated by shock waves of personal loss, political violence, and, ultimately, betrayal. It’s April and Esther has left New York for London, partly to escape her buckling marriage, and partly to care for her dying mother; Lonia, Esther’s mother, is haunted by memories of fleeing Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II; Javad, their next-door neighbor and an Iranian neuroscientist, struggles to connect with his college-aged son; and Amir, Javad’s son, is seeking both identity and escape in his illicit exploration of the city’s forbidden spaces. As Esther settles into life in London, a friendship develops among them. But when terrorists attack the London transit system in July, someone goes missing, and the chaos that follows both fractures the possibilities for the future, and reveals the deep fault lines of the past. With nuanced clarity and breathtaking grandeur, Margot Singer’s Underground Fugue is an elegant, suspenseful, and deeply powerful debut.
Literati is delighted to welcome poets Kathy Fagan, Matthew Thorburn, and Katie Willingham in support of their recent and forthcoming collections.
Kathy Fagan’s latest collection is Lip (Carnegie Mellon UP, 2009); her new book, Sycamore, is scheduled to appear with Milkweed Editions in March 2017. She is also the author of the National Poetry Series selection The Raft (Dutton, 1985), the Vassar Miller Prize winner MOVING & ST RAGE (Univ of North Texas, 1999), and The Charm (Zoo, 2002). Her work has appeared in The Paris Review, The Kenyon Review, Slate, FIELD, Narrative, The New Republic, and Poetry, among other literary magazines, and is widely anthologized. Fagan is the recipient of awards and fellowships from the Ingram Merrill Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Frost Place, Ohioana, and the Ohio Arts Council. The Director of Creative Writing and the MFA Program at The Ohio State University, she is currently Professor of English, Poetry Editor of OSU Press, and Advisor to The Journal.
Matthew Thorburn is the author of six collections of poetry, including the book-length poem Dear Almost (Louisiana State University Press, 2016) and the chapbook A Green River in Spring (Autumn House Press, 2015), winner of the Coal Hill Review chapbook competition. His previous collections include This Time Tomorrow (Waywiser Press, 2013), a finalist for the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize; Every Possible Blue (CW Books, 2012); Subject to Change (New Issues Poetry & Prose, 2004), winner of the New Issues Poetry Prize; and an earlier chapbook, the long poem Disappears in the Rain (Parlor City Press, 2009). His work has been recognized with a Witter Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress, as well as fellowships from the Bronx Council on the Arts and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. His interviews with writers, first published as the What Are You Reading? series, now appear on the Ploughshares blog as a monthly feature. He lives in New York City, where he works in corporate communications.
Katie Willingham is the author of Unlikely Designs, forthcoming in September 2017 from the University of Chicago Press. She teaches at the University of Michigan and lives in Ann Arbor.
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
We’re celebrating with a full hour of Open Mic when area poets can read their own work or share a favorite poem by another author in a friendly atmosphere. Everyone is welcome, from first-timers to pros. This event is part of a poetry series held on the second Thursday of most months at 7pm in partnership with Les Go Social Media & Marketing. Light refreshments.
Storytellers Guild members present a program of old tales and personal stories for grownups.
Free; donations accepted. annarborstorytelling.org, facebook.com/annarborstorytellers. 665-2757.
Join us in celebration of National Poetry Month with award-winning Michigan poets Zilka Joseph and M.L Liebler!
Ann Arbor author Zilka Joseph has an MFA in Poetry from University of Michigan, and she currently teaches workshops, works as a manuscript coach and editor, and mentors writers in the Ann Arbor community. She has written several books of poetry including her most recent, Sharp Blue Search of Flame (Wayne State University Press, 2016).
M. L. Liebler is an internationally-known Detroit poet, Wayne State University professor and literary arts activist who founded The National Writer’s Voice Project in Detroit and the Springfed Arts: Metro Detroit Writers Literary Arts Organization. He has authored and edited numerous books including I Want to Be Once (Wayne State University Press, 2016).
Signing to follow.
Reading by Oakland University English professor John Hazard, a widely published poet whose most recent work is the Naming a Stranger, a collection of poems about ordinary people that, according to poet Faith Shearin, offers a world in which both the familiar and the unknown are delicately examined and named. Followed by a poetry and short fiction open mike. .
7-9 p.m., Crazy Wisdom, 114 S. Main. Free. 665-2757
Literati is delighted to welcome Ruth Behar in support of her first book for young readers, Lucky Broken Girl.
In this unforgettable multicultural coming-of-age narrative—based on the author’s childhood in the 1960s—a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed. Ruthie’s plight will intrigue readers, and her powerful story of strength and resilience, full of color, light, and poignancy, will stay with them for a long time.
Ruthie Mizrahi and her family recently emigrated from Castro’s Cuba to New York City. Just when she’s finally beginning to gain confidence in her mastery of English—and enjoying her reign as her neighborhood’s hopscotch queen—a horrific car accident leaves her in a body cast and confined her to her bed for a long recovery. As Ruthie’s world shrinks because of her inability to move, her powers of observation and her heart grow larger and she comes to understand how fragile life is, how vulnerable we all are as human beings, and how friends, neighbors, and the power of the arts can sweeten even the worst of times.
“A book for anyone mending from childhood wounds.”—Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street
Ruth Behar (www.ruthbehar.com) is an acclaimed author of adult fiction and nonfiction, and Lucky Broken Girl is her first book for young readers (ages 10 and up). She was born in Havana, Cuba, grew up in New York City, and has also lived and worked in Spain and Mexico. An anthropology professor at the University of Michigan, she is also co-editor of Women Writing Culture, editor of Bridges to Cuba/Puentes a Cuba, and co-editor of The Portable Island: Cubans at Home in the World. Her honors include a MacArthur “Genius” Award, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Senior Fellowship, and a Distinguished Alumna Award from Wesleyan University. Much in demand as a public speaker, Ruth’s speaking engagements have taken her to the United States, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, Spain, Finland, Israel, Italy, Ireland, Poland, England, the Netherlands, Japan, and New Zealand. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
