Literati is pleased to be the bookseller for David J. Silverman’s discussion of Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of North America.
The adoption of firearms by American Indians between the 17th and 19th centuries marked a turning point in the history of North America’s indigenous peoples. Author David Silverman will discuss this profound “cultural earthquake” and its impact with special focus on Pontiac’s War.
David J. Silverman (Ph.D. Princeton, 2000) specializes in Native American, Colonial American, and American racial history. His most recent book is Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America (Cambridge, MA., 2016). He is also the author of Red Brethren: The Brothertown and Stockbridge Indians and the Problem of Race in Early America (Ithaca, 2010), and Faith and Boundaries: Colonists, Christianity, and Community among the Wampanoag Indians of Martha’s Vineyard, 1600-1871 (New York, 2005), and co-author of Ninigret, the Niantic and Narragansett Sachem: Diplomacy, War, and the Balance of Power in Seventeenth-Century New England and Indian Country (Ithaca, 2014). His essays have won major awards from the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the New York Association of History. He is currently writing a Wampanoag-centered history of Plymouth Colony and the Thanksgiving holiday for Bloomsbury Press.
Lowell (MI) writer Bob Tarte, author of the acclaimed Enslaved by Ducks, discusses his new memoir.
7-8:30 p.m., AADL secret lab (lower level), 343 S. Fifth Ave. Free. 327-8301.
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 thrilled to once again partner with the Midwest Literary Walk for an afternoon of incredible readings and conversations in downtown Chelsea. This year, the featured authors are all Literati staff favorites: Peter Ho Davies, Derek Palacio, Heather Ann Thompson, Kwame Alexander, and Airea D. Matthews. For more information about these fantastic authors, as well as the times and locations of each event, please visit the Midwest Literary Walk homepage.
April is Reading Without Walls month and this program asks young people to explore the world through books by breaking down barriers and celebrating diversity in children’s books. Specifically, it challenges readers to do one of the following: Read a book about a character who doesn’t look like them or live like them; read a book about a topic they don’t know much about; and read a book in a format that they don’t normally read for fun, such as a chapter book, an audio book, a graphic novel, or a book in verse. This is a partnership between the Children’s Book Council, Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, Every Child a Reader and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.
To learn more about the program visit www.ReadingWithoutWalls.com
Nicola’s Books is lucky enough to have Michigan children’s book author Deborah Diesen to join us for a celebration of Reading without Walls. Deborah Diesen is the bestselling author of The Pout-Pout Fish. She grew up in Midland, Michigan, and started writing poems at a young age. She has worked as a bookseller and a librarian, and now works for a small nonprofit organization, but her greatest joy comes from writing for children. She lives with her family in Grand Ledge, Michigan.
Jean Alicia Elster, Ruth Behar and Jack Cheng with Shutta Crum as moderator
Children’s Book Week is the annual celebration of children’s books and reading. Established in 1919, it is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. The program is administered by Every Child a Reader and the Children’s Book Council (CBC) is the anchor sponsor. In 2014, Official Events — which give kids the opportunity to connect with their favorite authors and illustrators in person — were hosted in all 50 states for the first time in the initiative’s history. Learn more about Children’s Book Week at everychildareader.net/cbw/intro.
Authors:
Formerly an attorney, Jean Alicia Elster is the author of the novel The Colored Car—for ages 8 and older—published by Wayne State University Press and released in September 2013. The Colored Car was selected as a 2014 Michigan Notable Book by the Library of Michigan. Elster was awarded the 2014 Midwest Book Award in Children’s Fiction for The Colored Car by the Midwest Independent Publishers Association. The Colored Car was chosen as an Honor Book for the 2014 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People. Elster is, also, the author of the novel Who’s Jim Hines?—for ages 8 and older—published by Wayne State University Press and released in August 2008. Among other honors, Who’s Jim Hines? was selected as one of the Library of Michigan’s 2009 Michigan Notable Books. In addition, Elster is the author of the children’s book series “Joe Joe in the City,” published by Judson Press. The first volume in that series, Just Call Me Joe Joe, was released in October 2001. The remaining volumes are: I Have A Dream, Too! (May, 2002), I’ll Fly My Own Plane (September, 2002), and I’ll Do the Right Thing (January, 2003). She was awarded the 2002 Governors’ Emerging Artist Award by ArtServe Michigan in recognition of the series.
Ruth Behar is an author of adult fiction and nonfiction, and Lucky Broken Girl is her first book for young readers. 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.
Jack Cheng was born in Shanghai, raised in Michigan, and lived in Brooklyn for a decade before settling in Detroit. See You in the Cosmos is his first novel for kids.
Shutta Crum is a former teacher and librarian who is now a well-established author of children’s book picture book and middle grade and teen novels. A number of her books have won awards, been nominated for state awards, or have appeared on other prestigious lists. She also writes articles about writing and teaching for professional journals.
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
Reading and discussion of several poems. Followed by collaborative writing games and exercises. Snacks & socializing.
8-10 p.m., Argus Farm Stop, 325 W. Liberty. Free. onepausepoetry.org, 707-1284.
Brooklyn historian Andrew Scott Cooper, a commentator on U.S.-Iran relations, discusses his new book about the rise and fall of Iran’s glamorous Pahlavi dynasty, which he wrote with the cooperation of the late shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s widow, Empress Farah, as well as Iranian revolutionaries and U.S. officials from the Carter administration. Book sale, signing, and reception follow.
7 p.m., Ford Library, 1000 Beal. Free. 205-0555
Nicola’s Books proudly presents author Paula Hawkins In Conversation with Author Nick Petrie on Wednesday, May 17 at 7:30 PM. Included in the evening Ms. Hawkins will read excerpts from her new novel, Into the Water (which is being released May 2), take part in an audience Q&A, and sign copies of the book in her only Michigan stop on the book tour.
With over 8.5 million copies sold in the United States since its publication two years ago, and 20 million sold worldwide, Paula Hawkins’ debut The Girl on the Trainhas broken nearly every publishing record in the books. It has spent over 100 weeks and counting on the New York Times Bestseller list, including 40 weeks at #1, making it the top selling book in America for two straight years in a row, and was made into a major motion picture starring Emily Blunt. The Girl on the Train introduced Paula Hawkins as a bold, unforgettable voice in psychological literary suspense.
Now, with Into the Water, Hawkins proves that her work reaches far beyond definitions of category, delivering an urgent story that is as much about relationships and human instincts as it is about a crime. When a single mother and a teenage girl each turn up dead at the bottom of the river, just weeks apart, the ensuing investigation dredges up a complicated history, threatening to undo everyone in the close-knit community. Suspicions shift from character to character, escalating the tension until the very last page.
Nick Petrie received his MFA in fiction from the University of Washington, won a Hopwood Award for short fiction while an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, and his story “At the Laundromat” won the 2006 Short Story Contest in the The Seattle Review, a national literary journal. A husband and father, he runs a home-inspection business in Milwaukee. Burning Bright is the follow-up to his debut The Drifter.
**If you purchased a ticket through Ticketmaster or Nicola’s Books for the original venue site (The Michigan Theater) please contact the store at 734-662-0600 for more information.
