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 Rebecca J. Kinney and Stephen M. Ward for a discussion of their recent books about Detroit and the people who form its heart.
What is the “new Detroit” that everyone keeps talking about? In Beautiful Wasteland: The Rise of Detroit as America’s Postindustrial Frontier, Rebecca J. Kinney reveals that the contemporary story of Detroit’s rebirth is an upcycled version of the American Dream, which has long imagined access to work, home, and upward mobility as race-neutral projects. She tackles key questions about the future of postindustrial America, and shows how the narratives of Detroit’s history are deeply steeped in material and ideological investments in whiteness.
Rebecca J. Kinney, who grew up in metropolitan Detroit, is assistant professor in the School of Cultural and Critical Studies at Bowling Green State University.
In Love and Struggle: The Revolutionary Lives of James and Grace Lee Boggs details both the personal and the political dimensions of the Boggses’ lives, highlighting the vital contributions these two figures made to black activist thinking. At once a dual biography of two crucial figures and a vivid portrait of Detroit as a center of activism, Ward’s book restores the Boggses, and the intellectual strain of black radicalism they shaped, to their rightful place in postwar American history.
Stephen Ward is associate professor in the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies (DAAS) and the Residential College at the University of Michigan. He is also a board member of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership in Detroit.
Literati is excited to host a panel discussion of the new book #exstrange: A Curatorial Intervention on Ebay
About #Exstrange
#exstrange: a curatorial intervention on eBay presents the #exstrange exhibition project, which transformed one of the largest marketplaces on the web — eBay — into a site of artistic production. This book documents artworks, reveals the aftermath of auctions and correspondences between artists and bidders, and features essays by lead curators Marialaura Ghidini and Rebekah Modrak, cultural critic Mark Dery, journalist Rob Walker, media and material culture scholar Padma Chirumamilla, guest curator Gaia Tedone, and artist and writer Renee Carmichael.
Over 80 contemporary artists and designers created “artworks as auctions” for #exstrange between January 15 and April 15, 2017, each using the elements of the auction listing–descriptive text, images, pricing, and categories–as tools of production.
Works include artist Lucy Pawlak’s collaboration with the Beat Officer to sell a series of clay objects as missing evidence from unexplained events in Mexico; IOCOSE’s sale of instant protests in the category “Specialty Services” where buyers chose the protest mantras, and outsourced performers demonstrated; and Susanne Cockrell & Ted Purves’ offering of a stick-gun with the memory of their son’s play in “Entertainment Memorabilia.”
Panel Participants:
Rebekah Modrak, Co-curator of #exstrange, and Associate Professor, Stamps School of Art & Design, University of Michigan.
Sophia Brueckner, #exstrange artist, and Assistant Professor, Stamps School of Art & Design, University of Michigan.
Masimba Hwati, #exstrange artist, and MFA candidate, Stamps School of Art & Design, University of Michigan.
Fred Feinberg, #exstrange guest curator, and Professor of Marketing and Statistics, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.
Padma Chirumamilla, wrote the essay “Guarantees and Ghosts: Breakdowns in Everyday Life” for the #exstrange book, and PhD candidate, School of Information, University of Michigan.
Creative Writing Faculty read from their works:
Lolita Hernandez, Lecturer, RC Creative Writing and Literature
Laura Kasischke, RC ’84, Lecturer, RC Creative Writing and Literature Christopher Matthews, Lecturer, RC Creative Writing and Literature
Ken Mikolowski, Lecturer Emeritus, RC Creative Writing and Literature
Laura Thomas, RC ’88, Lecturer and Program Head, RC Creative Writing and Literature
Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, creators of the wildly popular podcast Welcome to Night Vale, discuss It Devours!, their new mystery novel that explores the intersections of faith and science and a growing relationship between two young people who want to trust each other. Signing.
7 p.m., Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, 911 North University. Tickets $23.31 in advance at brownpapertickets.com/event/3084372 (includes a copy of the book). 585-5567.
Nov. 17 & 18. RC students perform Theresa Rebeck’s 2011 Broadway drama about 4 young writers, their professor, and the tensions and romances that develop as they attend a 10-week intensive writing seminar.
8 p.m., Keene Theatre, East Quad, 701 East University. Free; donations welcome. 763-0176.
Nov. 17 & 18. RC students perform Theresa Rebeck’s 2011 Broadway drama about 4 young writers, their professor, and the tensions and romances that develop as they attend a 10-week intensive writing seminar.
8 p.m., Keene Theatre, East Quad, 701 East University. Free; donations welcome. 763-0176.
Come join us for our first ever Books We Love and Love to Share Panel!
Buying gifts for friends and family throughout the holiday season can be quite stressful. What do you get the brother-in-law who (thinks he) has everything? What about the niece whose interests alter as constantly as our peculiar Michigan weather? And of course, there are the rowdy kids and the beloved partner and the cordial neighbors and….Just thinking about it makes us unstoppably anxious.
So in order to help you buy books for the woods walking naturalist, or the news junkie, or the literary fiction enthusiast, or the esoteric indie book reading hipster, we will be hosting a panel to provide options, answers, and most importantly, soothing advice regarding a vast array of titles. With a stellar line up of booksellers, writers, editors, critics, and one of our favorite publisher reps, we hope this event might make the burden of holiday shopping somewhat lighter–maybe even entertaining? We hope to see you there!
Our list of panelists…
Keith Taylor teaches at the University of Michigan. He has published many books over the years: collections of poetry, a collection of very short stories, co-edited volumes of essays and fiction, and a volume of poetry translated from Modern Greek. His most recent collection, published by Wayne State University Press, is The Bird-while.
Claire Vaye-Watkins is the author of Gold Fame Citrus and Battleborn, which won the Story Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award, the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Silver Pen Award from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. A Guggenheim Fellow, she has been a professor at Bucknell University and Princeton, and is currently an assistant professor at the University of Michigan. She is also the co-director, with Derek Palacio, of the Mojave School, a free creative writing workshop for teenagers in rural Nevada. She earned her MFA from the Ohio State University, where she was a Presidential Fellow. Her stories and essays have appeared in Granta, Tin House, Freeman’s, The Paris Review, Story Quaterly, New American Stories, Best of the West, The New Republic, The New York Times, and many others. A recipient of fellowships from the Sewanee and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences, Claire was also one of the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35.”
Polly Rosenwaike’s story collection, Look How Happy I’m Making You, will be published by Doubleday in 2019. Her stories have appeared in Colorado Review, New England Review, Prairie Schooner, Copper Nickel, Indiana Review, and Glimmer Train. Her story “White Carnations” was selected for the O. Henry Prize Stories 2013. She has published book reviews and essays in the San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times Book Review, The Millions, and The Brooklyn Rail. She lives in Ann Arbor and teaches creative writing at Eastern Michigan University.
Kate McCune is a publisher representative for Harper Collins. She is a voracious reader who has been known to write outstanding reviews. It is often quite difficult for her to speak about a book without making you want to immediately read said title.
Jill Zimmerman is a bookseller, children’s book buyer, and manager at Literati Bookstore. When she isn’t ordering the latest children’s books, making sure the deposits make it to the bank in a timely manner, or helping customers find that perfect title for a close friend, she enjoys spending time with her lovely daughter and phenomenol husband.
Hilary Gustafson is a co-owner of Literati Bookstore. A serious reader, authentic cat lover, and dedicated coffee drinker, Hilary chooses the titles for Literati’s signed first edition book club, Literati Cultura, in addition to running the bookstore.
Literati is excited to welcome author Richard Retyi who will be discussing his debut book The Book of Ann Arbor: An Extremely Serious History Book. Rich will discuss his book—one of the inaugural releases from the Ann Arbor District Library’s Fifth Avenue Press—as well as reading one of the 41 stories from the book, with photos, music, and details that just wouldn’t fit on the page. He’s also open to answering questions from the audience, no matter how shockingly personal in nature.
About The Book of Ann Arbor:
A suicide submarine parade. Ann Arbor’s top 10 astronauts. Shakey Jake, the Embassy Hotel, and train/building collisions. The birth of Iggy Pop. Nazis getting punched. Visits from heads of state, from presidents to a dictator. The Music Mobile, the Naked Mile and a round-the-world flight. Plus, a few tales of murder, because it happens here too. These are a few of the stories that make up The Book of Ann Arbor.
Richard Retyi is the communications and marketing manager at the Ann Arbor District Library and part of the Ann Arbor Stories podcast.
Literati is excited to welcome sportswriter Angelique Chengelis who will be sharing and discussing her new book, Michigan Man: Jim Harbaugh and the Rebirth of Wolverine Football.
About Michigan Man:
All eyes and ears turned toward Ann Arbor in late 2014 when it was announced that Jim Harbaugh would be returning to the Big House as the new head coach of Michigan football. Now, Angelique Chengelis, longtime chronicler of the Wolverines for the Detroit News, gives the inside story on how exactly Harbaugh restored the Michigan program to national title contender status. Learn how he instilled a new culture and rankled rivals with outspokenness, creative tactics, and relentless recruiting. Get the behind-the-scenes story on how and why Harbaugh chose to come back to the university he led to glory as its starting quarterback in the early 1980s. Follow along as Jabrill Peppers, Jake Butt, and others develop into true stars. Michigan Man is a comeback tale, an examination of the rapid turnaround from a five-win team in 2014 to squads that earned 10 wins plus trips to the Citrus and Orange Bowls in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Featuring extensive interviews with Harbaugh himself, this is a book Wolverines faithful and football fans in general will not want to miss.
Angelique Chengelis is a sportswriter for the Detroit News. Michigan football has been her primary beat since 1992, but she has covered countless sporting events including Super Bowls, U.S. Opens, PGA Championships, Ryder Cups, Stanley Cup Finals, NBA Finals, Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500, and NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. She has also been a contributor to ESPN’s NASCAR coverage as part of the NASCAR Now show. She lives in Detroit, Michigan
