Literati Bookstore is pleased to welcome acclaimed filmmaker Whit Stillman, in conversation with Literati bookseller Sam Krowchenko, in support of Love & Friendship: In Which Jane Austen’s Lady Susan Vernon Is Entirely Vindicated.
A sharp comedy of manners, and a fiendishly funny treat for Jane Austen and Whit Stillman fans alike Impossibly beautiful, disarmingly witty, and completely self-absorbed: Meet Lady Susan Vernon, both the heart and the thorn of Love & Friendship. Recently widowed with a daughter who’s coming of age as quickly as their funds are dwindling, Lady Susan makes it her mission to find them wealthy husbands–and fast. But when her attempts to secure their futures result only in the wrath of a prominent conquest’s wife and the title of ‘most accomplished coquette in England’, Lady Susan must rethink her strategy. Unannounced, she arrives at her brother-in-law’s country estate. Here she intends to take refuge – in no less than luxury, of course – from the colorful rumors trailing her, while finding another avenue to ‘I do’. Before the scandalizing gossip can run its course, though, romantic triangles ensue.
“A postmodern confection [that’s] very, very funny.”–Penelope Green, New York Times
“In the ever-booming Austen spinoff industry, where paeans to Mr. Darcy are the norm, rewriting a work of the master’s in the guise of one of her detractors makes for an eccentrically cheeky tribute.”–Alexandra Schwartz, New Yorker
“A merry comedy of pride, prejudice, and duplicity…. Silly, sly, eccentric characters and brisk chatter make for a diverting romp.”–Kirkus Reviews
“Lady Susan is finally getting some long overdue respect.”–Alexandra Alter, New York Times
Whit Stillman–winner of France’s Prix Fitzgerald for his prior novel–is the writer-director of five films, including Metropolitan, Barcelona, The Last Days of Disco, Damsels in Distress, and Love & Friendship, a mendacious representation of this story. At university, he was an editor of the Harvard Crimson, and he later worked in book publishing and journalism. His first novel, The Last Days of Disco, With Cocktails at Petrossian Afterwards, was also derived from a film story.
Sam Krowchenko is the host of Literati Bookstore’s podcast Shelf Talking. His work has appeared in Salon, Full Stop, and The Michigan Quartely Review. He is an MFA candidate at the Helen Zell Writers’ Program.
Literati is pleased to welcome Courtney Maum back to Ann Arbor in support of her second novel, Touch. Courtney will be joined in conversation by Callie Collins, a member of the Helen Zell Writers’ Program and co-director of independent press A Strange Object.
About Touch: Sloane Jacobsen was the foreseer of “the swipe,” among many other successful premonitions, and global fashion, lifestyle, and tech companies pay to hear her opinions on the future of everything from clothes to gadgets, food and families. Sloane’s recent forecasts on the family are definitive and unwavering: the world is over-populated, and with unemployment, college costs, and food prices all on the rise, having children is an indulgence. These predictions are also what brings her from Paris to New York City to work for the tech-giant, Mammoth, as their in-house trend forecaster for six months.
But not far into her contract, she begins to sense the undeniable signs of a movement against electronics that will see people embracing compassion, empathy, and “in-personism” again. She’s struggling with the fact that her predictions are hopelessly out of sync with her employers’ mission when her partner, the French “neo-sensualist” Roman Bellard, reveals that he is about to publish an op-ed on the death of penetrative sex. Still, Sloane becomes convinced that her instincts are the right ones, and goes on a quest to bring compassion and humanism to others, while finally allowing the love and connectedness she’s long been denying herself.
With the same mixture of wit and sincerity that won her debut novel so many fans, Touch is a poignant reminder to keep our heads up and our hearts open in our modern lives. It is a thoughtful, of-the-moment exploration of real-life concerns—that is truly another “book for everyone” (as the Washington Post said of her first) —and also explores prescient issues of technology, family, and artificial intelligence in a sophisticated and entertaining way.
“Touch is so smart that even its comic absurdities quiver with wisdom, as an anti-mom and a neo-sensualist confirm our suspicion that the lives of trendsetters aren’t quite what they appear to be. Courtney Maum’s writing is sharp and complex—prepare to be touched by this novel is ways you might not expect.”—Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Portable Veblen
“Our modern world is at once hyper-connected and hyper-alienating, and in this magical/terrible time, Courtney Maum’s latest novel offers us a balm, a solution, a call to action, or, at the very least, time away from our smartphones to read a compelling, perceptive, and moving story about the state of human intimacy and love in our contemporary era. Touch is at once wry and sincere, funny and serious, and you won’t be able to put it down.”—Edan Lepucki, author of California
“What begins as a satirical romp through the fields of trend forecasting and technology in Courtney Maum’s Touch deepens into a trenchant and wise portrait of what it means to be fully human at a time when the culture is trying its hardest to make us only partially so.”—Teddy Wayne, author of Loner and The Love Song of Johnny Valentine
Courtney Maum is the author of the celebrated novel I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You and her short fiction, book reviews, and essays on the writing life have been widely published in outlets such as The New York Times, Tin House, Electric Literature, and Buzzfeed. She has also co-written films that have debuted at Sundance and won awards at Cannes. At various points in her life, she has been a trend forecaster herself, a fashion publicist, and a party promoter for Corona Extra. She currently works as a product namer for M·A·C cosmetics from her home in Litchfield County, CT, where she lives with her husband and daughter.
Literati is pleased to welcome John Cheney-Lippold in support of his book We Are Data: Algorithms and the Making of Our Digital Selves.
Algorithms are everywhere, organizing the near limitless data that exists in our world. Derived from our every search, like, click, and purchase, algorithms determine the news we get, the ads we see, the information accessible to us and even who our friends are. These complex configurations not only form knowledge and social relationships in the digital and physical world, but also determine who we are and who we can be, both on and offline.
Algorithms create and recreate us, using our data to assign and reassign our gender, race, sexuality, and citizenship status. They can recognize us as celebrities or mark us as terrorists. In this era of ubiquitous surveillance, contemporary data collection entails more than gathering information about us. Entities like Google, Facebook, and the NSA also decide what that information means, constructing our worlds and the identities we inhabit in the process. We have little control over who we algorithmically are. Our identities are made useful not for us—but for someone else.
Through a series of entertaining and engaging examples, John Cheney-Lippold draws on the social constructions of identity to advance a new understanding of our algorithmic identities. We Are Data will educate and inspire readers who want to wrest back some freedom in our increasingly surveilled and algorithmically-constructed world.
John Cheney-Lippold is Assistant Professor of American Culture and Digital Studies at the University of Michigan.
Storytellers Guild members present a program of old tales and personal stories for grownups.
Free; donations accepted. annarborstorytelling.org, facebook.com/annarborstorytellers. 665-2757.
Literati is delighted to welcome award-winning author Maile Meloy in support of her new novel, Do Not Become Alarmed. Maile will be joined in conversation by Michael Byers, author of, most recently, Percival’s Planet, and a professor in the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan.
A new novel about what happens when two families go on a tropical vacation—and the children go missing. When Liv and Nora decide to take their husbands and children on a holiday cruise, everyone is thrilled. The adults are lulled by the ship’s comfort and ease. The four children—ages six to eleven—love the nonstop buffet and their newfound independence. But when they all go ashore for an adventure in Central America, a series of minor misfortunes and miscalculations leads the families farther and farther from the safety of the ship. One minute the children are there, and the next they’re gone. The parents, accustomed to security and control, turn on each other and blame themselves, while the seemingly helpless children discover resources they never knew they possessed. Do Not Become Alarmed is a story about the protective force of innocence and the limits of parental power, and the way a crisis shifts our perceptions of what matters most.
“This is the book that every reader longs for: smart and thrilling and impossible to put down. Read it once at breakneck speed to find out what happens next, and then read it slowly to marvel at the perfect prose and the masterwork of a plot. It is an alarmingly good novel.”—Ann Patchett, author of Commonwealth and Bel Canto
“Here is that perfect combination of a luminous writer and a big, page-turning story. This hugely suspenseful novel will speak to anyone who has ever felt responsible for keeping a loved one safe, whether it was a child, a partner, a parent, or a friend. Meloy’s characters – the adults and the children – feel like real, living people I’ll never forget.”—Helen Fielding, author of Bridget Jones’s Diary
“The plot unfolds with terrifying realism… This writer can apparently do it all—New Yorker stories, children’s books, award-winning literary novels, and now, a tautly plotted and culturally savvy emotional thriller. Do not start this book after dinner or you will almost certainly be up all night.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Maile Meloy is the author of the novels Liars and Saints and A Family Daughter and the story collections Half in Love and Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It, which was named one of the Ten Best Books of the Year by the New York Times Book Review and one of the best books of the year by the Los Angeles Times. She has also written a trilogy for young readers, beginning with The Apothecary, which was a New York Times bestseller and won the 2012 E.B. White Award. Meloy’s short stories have been published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Granta, and Best American Short Stories 2015, and she has received The Paris Review’s Aga Khan Prize for Fiction, the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story, the Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, two California Book Awards, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2007, she was chosen as one of Granta’s 21 Best Young American Novelists. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Slate, Sunset, and O.
Literati is pleased to welcome Kevin Smokler in support of his book Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to ’80s Teen Movies.
From the fictional towns of Hill Valley, CA, and Shermer, IL, to the beautiful landscapes of the “Goondocks” in Astoria and the “time of your life” dirty dancing resort still alive and well in Lake Lure, NC, ’80s teen movies left their mark not just on movie screen and in the hearts of fans, but on the landscape of America itself. Like few other eras in movie history, the ’80s teen movies has endured and gotten better with time. In Brat Pack America, Kevin Smokler gives virtual tours of your favorite movies while also picking apart why these locations are so important to these movies.
Including interviews with actors, writers, and directors of the era, and chock full of interesting facts about your favorite ’80s movies, Brat Pack America is a must for any fan. Smokler went to Goonies Day in Astoria, OR, took a Lost Boys tour of Santa Cruz, CA, and deeply explored every nook and cranny of the movies we all know and love, and it shows.
Kevin Smokler (@weegee) is the author of the essay collection “Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books you Haven’t Touched Since High School” (Prometheus Books, Feb. 2013) which The Atlantic Wire called “truly enjoyable” and the editor of “Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times,” a San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book of 2005. His work has appeared in the LA Times, Fast Company, BuzzFeed, Vulture, The San Francisco Chronicle, Publishers Weekly and on National Public Radio. In 2013, he was BookRiot’s first ever Writer in Residence.
Literati is pleased to welcome Scaachi Koul, author of One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, and Samantha Irby, author of We Are Never Meeting in Real Life.
In One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, Scaachi Koul deploys her razor-sharp humor to share all the fears, outrages, and mortifying moments of her life. She learned from an early age what made her miserable, and for Scaachi anything can be cause for despair. Whether it’s a shopping trip gone awry; enduring awkward conversations with her bikini waxer; overcoming her fear of flying while vacationing halfway around the world; dealing with Internet trolls, or navigating the fears and anxieties of her parents. Alongside these personal stories are pointed observations about life as a woman of color: where every aspect of her appearance is open for critique, derision, or outright scorn; where strict gender rules bind in both Western and Indian cultures, leaving little room for a woman not solely focused on marriage and children to have a career (and a life) for herself. With a sharp eye and biting wit, incomparable rising star and cultural observer Scaachi Koul offers a hilarious, scathing, and honest look at modern life.
“One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter is an absolutely wonderful, impossible-not-to-love book. Whether writing about race or girlhood, the internet or family, Scaachi Koul’s writing makes each issue feel fresh and newfound. Hilarious but thoughtful, Koul draws you in to her life and makes you never want to leave.”—Jessica Valenti, New York Times bestselling author of Sex Object
Scaachi Koul was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, and is a culture writer for BuzzFeed. Her writing has also appeared in The New Yorker, The Hairpin, The Globe and Mail, and Jezebel. One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter is her first book. She lives in Toronto.
Sometimes you just have to laugh, even when life is a dumpster fire. With We Are Never Meeting in Real Life., “bitches gotta eat” blogger and comedian Samantha Irby turns the serio-comic essay into an art form. Whether talking about how her difficult childhood has led to a problem in making “adult” budgets, explaining why she should be the new Bachelorette—she’s “35-ish, but could easily pass for 60-something”—detailing a disastrous pilgrimage-slash-romantic-vacation to Nashville to scatter her estranged father’s ashes, sharing awkward sexual encounters, or dispensing advice on how to navigate friendships with former drinking buddies who are now suburban moms—hang in there for the Costco loot—she’s as deft at poking fun at the ghosts of her past self as she is at capturing powerful emotional truths.
“Reading Samantha Irby’s We Are Never Meeting In Real Life cracked my heart all the way open. The essays in this outstanding collection are full of her signature humor, wit, and charming self-deprecation but there is so much more to her writing. For every laugh, there is a bittersweet moment that could make you cry. From black women and mental health to the legacies created by poverty to dating while living in an all too human body, Irby lays bare the beautiful, uncompromising truths of her life. I cannot remember the last time I was so moved by a book. We Are Never Meeting in Real Life is as close to perfect as an essay collection can get.” —Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Difficult Women and Bad Feminist
Samantha Irby writes a blog called “bitches gotta eat.”
Literati is pleased to welcome Amy Thielen in support of her debut memoir, Give a Girl a Knife.
Before Amy Thielen frantically plated rings of truffled potatoes in some of New York City’s finest kitchens—for chefs David Bouley, Daniel Boulud, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten—she grew up in a northern Minnesota town, home to the nation’s largest French fry factory, with a mother whose generous cooking pulsed with joy, family drama, and an overabundance of butter.
Give a Girl a Knife, Amy Thielen’s coming-of-age account, pulses with energy, a cook’s eye for intimate detail, and a dose of dry Midwestern humor. Inspired by her grandmother’s tales of cooking on the family farm, Thielen moves with her artist husband to the rustic off-the-grid cabin he built in the woods in northern Minnesota. There, standing at the stove three times a day, she finds the seed of a growing food obsession that sends her on a wild ride through diverse kitchens and eras—from her mother’s 1970s suburban electric range to a turn-of-the-century farmhouse to a hot plate in an illegal warehouse squat—and finally to the sensory madhouse of New York’s top haute cuisine brigades. When she returns to her rural cabin, she comes face-to-face with her past and its veritable cellar of taste memories, discovering that good food can be made anywhere—and that beneath every foie gras sauce lies a rural foundation of potatoes and onions.
Give a Girl a Knife offers a fresh, vivid view into New York’s high-end restaurant scene before returning Thielen to her roots, where she realizes that the marrow running through her bones is not demi-glace at all, but gravy—honest, irresistible, and thick with the complications of home.
Amy Thielen is a chef, TV cook, and two-time James Beard Award–winning writer. She is the author of The New Midwestern Table (2013), hosted Heartland Table on Food Network, and worked for celebrated New York City chefs David Bouley, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Daniel Boulud before moving back home to the Midwest. Amy speaks widely about home cooking and contributes to radio programs and magazines, including Saveur, where she’s a contributing editor. She lives with her husband, visual artist Aaron Spangler, their son, his dog, and a bunch of chickens, in Park Rapids, Minnesota. She can be found athttp://www.amythielen.com/ and @amyrosethielen on Instagram and Twitter.
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
Literati is pleased to welcome Keith Lesmeister in support of his debut short story collection, We Could’ve Been Happy Here. Keith will be joined in reading by Markin Jenkins, a graduate of the Helen Zell Writers’ Program, and Alexander Weinstein, author of Children of the New World.
In his first collection of short fiction, Keith Lesmeister plows out a distinctive vision of the contemporary Midwest. These stories peer into the lives of those at the margins-the broken, the resigned, the misunderstood. Hopeful and humorous, tender and tragic, these stories illuminate how we are shaped and buoyed by our intimate connections.
Keith Lesmeister was born in North Carolina, raised in Iowa, and received his M.F.A. from the Bennington Writing Seminars. His fiction has appeared in American Short Fiction, Slice, Meridian, Redivider, Gettysburg Review, and many other print and online publications. His nonfiction has appeared in Tin House Open Bar, River Teeth, The Good Men Project, and elsewhere. He currently lives in northeast Iowa where he teaches at Northeast Iowa Community College. We Could’ve Been Happy Here is his first book.
Alexander Weinstein is the Director of The Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing and the author of the short story collection Children of the New World (Picador 2016). His fiction and translations have appeared in Cream City Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Notre-Dame Review, Pleiades, PRISM International, World Literature Today, and other journals. He is the recipient of a Sustainable Arts Foundation Award, and his fiction has been awarded the Lamar York, Gail Crump, Hamlin Garland, and New Millennium Prize. His stories have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, and appear in the anthologies 2013 New Stories from the Midwest, and the 2014 & 2015 Lascaux Prize Stories. He is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing and a freelance editor, and leads fiction workshops in the United States and Europe.
Marlin M. Jenkins was born and raised in Detroit. A poetry graduate from University of Michigan’s MFA program, his work has been given homes by The Collagist, The Offing, The Journal, and Bennington Review, among others. He has worked with students in Detroit Public Schools through the Inside Out Literary Arts program and received a fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center. He is also a runner and a dancer.
