Membership event for the new Michigan chapter of Sisters in Crime, Saturday, July 29, 2:30 PM. Refreshments, membership sign up, and a panel discussion on “Bad Guys” with author Sarah Zettel, Judge Terrence P. Bronson, Retired U.S. Marshall Louis Stock and Pinkerton Vice President Jason Porter. The panel will be moderated by Judy Lee Burke and the event introduced by Michigan Sisters in Crime President Jan Rydzon. The panel discussion will take place at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase (across the street from Aunt Agatha’s), 212 S. 4th Ave.
Shalom Hartman Institute (Jerusalem) Muslim Leadership Initiative facilitator Haroon Moghul discusses his coming-of-age memoir about growing up as a 2nd-generation American Muslim in a post-9/11 world. Signing.
7-8:30 p.m., AADL multipurpose room (lower level), 343 S. Fifth Ave. Free. 327-4555.
The Hummingbird Global Writers’ Circle is an international reading series started by Dr. Debotri Dhar, CEW Visiting Scholar (2015-17) and Lecturer in Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan. The aim of this literary initiative is to bring writers and communities together in different parts of the world to foster a love of books, to discuss the craft of writing, and to promote creative dialogue and global understanding in small ways. The name was inspired by the tiny hummingbird which builds its home with just a few drops of nectar, a root here, a leaf there, and a little bit of sky.
The Circle’s themed readings by established and emerging writers are free and open to the community. The theme for the first event of the Circle is feminism/ gender, to be held on Monday August 21 (3-5 pm) at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
The writer-speakers for this session are Linda Gregerson, Laura Hulthen Thomas, Mike Ferro and Debotri Dhar (writer bios below), who will read from their poetry and fiction, followed by conversation /Q&A.
Light refreshments will be served. All members of the community are welcome to attend, however, RSVP is required. If you wish to hear our speakers read from their work, share tips, and engage in conversation, please RSVP to debotri@umich.edu.
Barbara Cohn’s new book, The Detroit Public Library, is a photographic tour of the Detroit Public Library’s rich art and architectural history.
The University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business is pleased to welcome Daniel Pink, author of New York Times best-sellers A Whole New Mind, Drive, and To Sell is Human, to speak at Hill Auditorium. During his presentation, “The Mind of the Future: How to Survive an Outsourced, Automated Age,” Pink will discuss the shift from the information age to the conceptual age and how to prepare for the future world of work. Pink was named one of the top 10 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, and his TED Talk on the science of motivation is one of the most-watched of all time with more than 19 million views.
Doors open at 6:00pm. This event is free and open to the public.
Hill Auditorium, 825 N. University Ave. Free. michiganrosspr@umich.edu
Ann Arborite Paul Dimond discusses his experiences doing research for his historical novel set in Ann Arbor and northern Michigan in the 1st half of the 20th century. He is joined by his wife, Marty, who wrote the poems by the titular character that appear in the novel. Signing.
7-8:30 p.m., AADL multipurpose room (lower level), 343 S. Fifth Ave. Free. 327-4555.[
Native Detroiter Jessica Care Moore discusses her visual art installation and collection of poems that honors the life of Sandra Bland, a black woman who was found hanged in a jail cell in Texas in 2015, 3 days after being arrested during a traffic stop.
5:10 p.m., Michigan Theater. Free. 668-8463.
Traverse City writer Robert Downes, an entertaining veteran speaker who has written 3 adventure-travel books, presents a video-illustrated talk on the historical research behind his new novel Windigo Moon: A Novel of Native America. Signing.
7-8:30 p.m., AADL Westgate Branch West Side Room, Westgate shopping center, 2503 Jackson. Free. 327-8301.
Heather Ann Thompson (U-M Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies, and History) reads from her Pulitzer Prize-winning book Blood in the Water, followed by a conversation with Angela Dillard (U-M Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies) and then audience Q & A and book sale & signing.
About the book:
On September 9, 1971, nearly 1,300 prisoners took over the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York to protest years of mistreatment. Holding guards and civilian employees hostage, the prisoners negotiated with officials for improved conditions during the four long days and nights that followed.
On September 13, the state abruptly sent hundreds of heavily armed troopers and correction officers to retake the prison by force. Their gunfire killed thirty-nine men—hostages as well as prisoners—and severely wounded more than one hundred others. In the ensuing hours, weeks, and months, troopers and officers brutally retaliated against the prisoners. And, ultimately, New York State authorities prosecuted only the prisoners, never once bringing charges against the officials involved in the retaking and its aftermath and neglecting to provide support to the survivors and the families of the men who had been killed.
Drawing from more than a decade of extensive research, historian Heather Ann Thompson sheds new light on every aspect of the uprising and its legacy, giving voice to all those who took part in this forty-five-year fight for justice: prisoners, former hostages, families of the victims, lawyers and judges, and state officials and members of law enforcement. Blood in the Water is the searing and indelible account of one of the most important civil rights stories of the last century.
