Literati is pleased to present a roundtable discussion, in conjunction with the Jean & Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, to mark the publication of Women’s Hebrew Poetry on American Shores: Poems by Anne Kleiman and Annabelle Farmelant.
Although Anne (Chana) Kleiman—who died in 2011 at the age of 101—was the first American-born Jewish woman to publish poems in Hebrew, and Annabelle (Chana) Farmelant—who is still living and occasionally publishing—wrote a substantial body of Hebrew verse from the 1940s to the 1960s, their work is virtually unknown today, even to those familiar with Hebrew literature in America. The roundtable will discuss the singular voices of these women, introduce their captivating and wide–ranging poetry and place it in its historical, literary, and cultural contexts. The rountable will feature editor Shachar Pinsker, the translator Adriana Jacobs, Adina Kleiman (the daughter of the poet Anne Kleiman), and faculty from the Frankel Center who are experts on American Jewish Literature.
Ray Robertson is the author of Lives of the Poets (with Guitars): Thirteen Outsiders Who Changed Modern Music, and the novels Home Movies, Heroes, Moody Food, Gently Down the Stream, What Happened Later, and David, as well as a collection of non-fiction, Mental Hygiene: Essays on Writers and Writing. He is a contributing book reviewer to the Globe and Mail.
A twenty-year editor for Guitar Player and the founding editor of Pure Guitar magazine, Jas Obrecht has been writing about music since the mid 1970s. His current book is Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar. He wrote the first nationally published cover stories on Eddie Van Halen, Eric Johnson, Steve Lukather, Steve Morse, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani. His other Guitar Player cover stories include Mick Ralphs, Pat Travers, Jeff Beck, Jeff Baxter, Billy Gibbons, Duane Allman, Craig Chaquico, Charlie Christian, Steve Morse, Andy Summers, Randy Rhoads, Brian May, Muddy Waters, Brian Setzer, Jimi Hendrix, Angus Young, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Neil Young, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Ry Cooder, Keith Richards, Albert Collins, and John Lennon. He written for all of the major blues magazines, as well as for scholarly journals, fanzines, and websites. His books include Masters of Heavy Metal, Blues Guitar: The Men Who Made the Music, Rollin’ & Tumblin’: The Postwar Blues Guitarists, and My Son Jimi, co-authored with James A. Hendrix. He wrote the liners for Robert Johnson’s King of Delta Blues, Blind Willie Johnson’s Dark Was the Night, and John Lee Hooker’s 50 Years: John Lee Hooker Anthology, and produced DVDs and CDs for Buckethead. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and can be reached at jasobr@earthlink.net .
Local young-adult novelist Patrick Flores-Scott, author of the award-winning debut novel Jumped In, discusses his writing and announces the 2016 winners of the annual AADL teen short story writing contest, which features $1,500 in prizes. Refreshments.
2-3 p.m., AADL multipurpose room
Jonathan Rudinger, RN LMT has been instrumental in developing the field of canine massage for people at home and PetMassageTM at the professional level since the mid-1990’s. PetMassage workshops draw students from all over the worlds. Jonathan has authored several books and DVD’s and taught over 300 professional level canine massage workshops.
Jonathan is often called upon for interviews in national media, invited to lecture about canine massage, and is recognized as a lobbyist supporting the rights for animal massage practitioners to practice legally. Recognized as an authority on massage for dogs, he has been featured in Whole Dog Journal, Dog Fancy Magazine, Natural Dog, Cosmopolitan, AARP, Glamour, Massage Magazine, Animal Wellness Magazine, Massage Today, Massage Therapy Journal, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Jonathan has given live demonstrations at human massage, dog training, and veterinary conferences, at the Westminster Dog Show in New York and Crufts in the United Kingdom.
This Chicago crime writer and documentary filmmaker discusses Brighton, his new thriller about 2 lifelong friends in a rapidly changing Boston who must face the sins of their youth in the midst of a series of brutal murders. In conjunction with the Ann Arbor Book Festival.
Aunt Agatha’s co-owner (and BookFest president) Robin Agnew discusses the 13th annual BookFest and introduces a new AADL exhibit organized in conjunction with the BookFest that showcases entries in its 9th annual Book Cover design contest for high school students, who were asked this year to design a cover for Andrea Hannah’s debut novel, the crime thriller Of Scars and Stardust. Agnew also announces the contest winners. The exhibit also features a brief history of the contest. Also, live music by harpist Deborah Gabrion and refreshments.
We are thrilled to welcome acclaimed journalist and author Peter Kornbluh, who accompanied President Obama on his historic visit to Cuba, to Literati Bookstore. Peter will be joined in conversation by the University of Michigan’s Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof. Refreshments will be provided thanks to UM’s Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies and Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, generous co-sponsors of this event.
About Back Channel to Cuba:
History is being made in U.S.-Cuban relations. Updated to tell the real story behind the stunning December 17, 2014 announcement by President Obama and President Castro of their move to restore full diplomatic relations, this powerful book is essential to understanding ongoing efforts toward normalization in a new era of engagement. Challenging the conventional wisdom of perpetual conflict and aggression between the United States and Cuba since 1959, Back Channel to Cuba chronicles a surprising, untold history of bilateral efforts toward rapprochement and reconciliation. William M. LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh here present a remarkably new and relevant account, describing how, despite the intense political clamor surrounding efforts to improve relations with Havana, negotiations have been conducted by every presidential administration since Eisenhower’s through secret, back-channel diplomacy. From John F. Kennedy’s offering of an olive branch to Fidel Castro after the missile crisis, to Henry Kissinger’s top secret quest for normalization, to Barack Obama’s promise of a new approach, LeoGrande and Kornbluh uncovered hundreds of formerly secret U.S. documents and conducted interviews with dozens of negotiators, intermediaries, and policy makers, including Fidel Castro and Jimmy Carter. They reveal a fifty-year record of dialogue and negotiations, both open and furtive, that provides the historical foundation for the dramatic breakthrough in U.S.-Cuba ties.
Peter Kornbluh directs the Cuba Documentation Project and the Chile Documentation Project at the National Security Archive in Washington, DC, and is co-author, with William M. LeoGrande, of Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana. Kornbluh is also the author of The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountabilityand Bay of Pigs Declassified: The Secret CIA Report on the Invasion of Cuba. He writes regularly for The Nation.
Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof is Associate Professor of History, American Culture, and Latina/o Studies at the University of Michigan. He is the author of A Tale of Two Cities: Santo Domingo and New York After 1950.
Sept. 14: 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.
This 2-time Olympic gold medalist soccer player discusses her new memoir, Forward. Signing.
7 p.m., Rackham. $10 ($30 includes the book) in advance at literatibookstore.com. 585-5567.
Sept. 28:Readings by Leah Zazulyer, author of a recent collection of translations of Yiddish poems by Soviet refugee Israel Emiot, and Mitzi Alvin, a veteran Detroit poet whose poems have been described as “jewels of loss and renewal.” Followed by a poetry and short fiction open mike.
