Local short story writer Alex Kourvo and young adult novelist Bethany Neal host an open house for writers to connect with one another and/or work on their projects.
Readings by U-M creative writing grad students, including Rwandan fiction writer Clarisse Baleja Saidi, who writes about homes and faithfulness, and Academy of American Poets Prize winner Courtney Faye Taylor.
The Mark Webster Reading Series presents emerging writers in a warm and relaxed setting. We encourage you to bring your friends – a Webster reading makes for an enjoyable and enlightening Friday evening.
Nov. 1 & 15. All adults and teens in grade 9 & up invited to work on their novel for this nonprofit promotion (also known as NaNoWriMo) challenging teens and adults to write a 50,000-word novel by the end of November.
Monthly open mike storytelling competition sponsored by The Moth, the NYC-based nonprofit storytelling organization that also produces a weekly public radio show. Each month 10 storytellers are selected at random from among those who sign up to tell a 3-5 minute story on the monthly theme. The 3 judges are recruited from the audience. Monthly winners compete in a semiannual Grand Slam. Space limited, so it’s smart to arrive early.
Note: Beginning in August, the Storyslam is held twice a month, on the 1st & 3rd Tuesdays.
7:30-9 p.m. (doors open and sign-up begins at 6 p.m.), The Circus, 210 S. First. $10. 764-5118.
FAILURE:LAB is an event where storytellers and entertainers recounting their most memorable brush with failure. The audience is encouraged to share their thoughts on Twitter using the hashtag #failurelab during the performances between stories. Ticketed.
November 3 from 5:30 – 7:30 pm at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (reception will follow)
– Amy Emberling, Partner at Zingerman’s Bakehouse
– Jason De Leon, Assistant Professor of Anthropology
– Arianna Carley, Entrepreneur and Engineering Student
– Tim McKay, Professor of Physics, Astronomy, and Education
– Nadine Jawad, Public Policy Major
Literati is thrilled to be the bookseller for the Zell Visiting Writers Series at the University of Michigan. More information about the Helen Zell Writers’ Program, including a full calendar of visiting writers, can be found here. The November 3rd installment of ZVWS will feature alumni Donovan Hohn and Rachel Richardson.
Donovan Hohn is the recipient of the Whiting Writers’ Award, A National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship, and a Knight-Wallace Fellowship. His work has appeared in Harper’s Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, and Outside, among other publications. His book, Moby-Duck, was a finalist for the Helen Bernstein Prize for Excellence in Journalism, and runner-up for both the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction. A former features editor of GQ and contributing editor of Harper’s, Hohn now teaches creative writing at Wayne State University and lives with his family in Ann Arbor, where he is working on his second book.
Rachel Richardson is the author of two books of poetry, Copperhead (2011) andHundred-Year Wave (2016), both selections in the Carnegie Mellon Poetry Series. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the Wallace Stegner Program at Stanford University. Her poetry and prose have appeared in The New York Times, Guernica, New England Review, Kenyon Review Online, the Poetry Foundation website, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Richardson is a contributing editor at Memorious and directs poetry programming for the Bay Area Book Festival. She lives with the writer David Roderick and their two children in Berkeley, California.
Local short story writer Alex Kourvo and young adult novelist Bethany Neal discuss the best way to get a rough draft done, the easy way to edit it, and how to get out of your own way to get that book finished. For adult and teen (grade 6 & up) fiction and nonfiction writers. Also, Kourvo and Neal host an open house for writers to connect with one another and/or work on their projects at 7 p.m. on Nov. 17
Every 1st & 3rd Sun. All poets invited to compete in a poetry slam judged by a randomly chosen panel from the audience. The program begins with a poetry open mike and (occasionally) a short set by a featured poet.
7-9 p.m. (sign-up begins at 6:30 p.m.), Espresso Royale, 324 S. State. $5 suggested donation. facebook.com/AnnArborPoetrySlam.
Brutally Honest Storytelling Open Mic is a live storytelling event where the audience is free to be real as they want to be. No experience necessary. New storytellers or experienced storytellers – everyone has stories. OR just come to listen, that’s okay too!
Stories have a 5 minute time limits. Notes are okay!
Hosted by Shannon Cason (The Moth, Snap Judgment, RISK!, WBEZ’s Homemade Stories). Shannon is a host, MainStage storyteller and GrandSlam champion with The Moth. He is a regular on RISK! and NPR’s Snap Judgment. Shannon also hosts his own storytelling podcast with WBEZ Chicago called Shannon Cason’s Homemade Stories. He is a husband, father, and from Detroit.
The Blind Pig, 208 N. First St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104. $7 (age 20 & under, $10).patriciarwheeler@gmail.com http://www.shannoncason.com/
Nov. 1 & 15. All adults and teens in grade 9 & up invited to work on their novel for this nonprofit promotion (also known as NaNoWriMo) challenging teens and adults to write a 50,000-word novel by the end of November.
