Performance by this award-winning local slam poet and community activist, who recently became the Neutral Zone literary arts director. Her poetry is known for its emotional honesty in exploring how past trauma affects present action. Preceded by a poetry open mike.
7 p.m. Espresso Royale, 324 S. State. $5 suggested donation. facebook.com/AnnArborPoetry.
Students, nominated by their instructors, have been invited to read their own poems and short stories to a peer audience. For many student writers, Café Shapiro is a first opportunity to read publicly from their creative work. For others, it provides a fresh audience, and the ability to experience the work of students they may not encounter in writing classes.
Local short story writer Alex Kourvo and young adult novelist Bethany Neal discuss how to develop an idea that sustains a novel-length plot. 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 Feb. 19.
7-8:45 p.m., AADL Westgate. Free. 327-8301.
Local short story writer Alex Kourvo and young adult novelist Bethany Neal discuss host an open house for writers to connect with one another and/or work on their projects at 7 p.m.
7-8:45 p.m., AADL Westgate. Free. 327-8301.
Literati is pleased to welcome Gregory Boyle to Ann Arbor! He will be speaking at the Rogel Ballrom in the Union on topics from his new book Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship.
About Barking to the Choir:
In his first book, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, Gregory Boyle introduced us to Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention program in the world . Critics hailed that book as an “astounding literary and spiritual feat” ( Publishers Weekly) that is “destined to become a classic of both urban reportage and contemporary spirituality” ( Los Angeles Times). Now, after the suc-cessful expansion of Homeboy Industries, Boyle returns with Barking to the Choir to reveal how com-passion is transforming the lives of gang members.
In a nation deeply divided and plagued by poverty and violence, Barking to the Choir offers a snapshot into the challenges and joys of life on the margins. Sergio, arrested at nine, in a gang by twelve, and serving time shortly thereafter, now works with the substance-abuse team at Homeboy to help others find sobriety. Jamal, abandoned by his family when he tried to attend school at age seven, gradually finds forgive-ness for his schizophrenic mother. New father Cuco, who never knew his own dad, thinks of a daily adventure on which to take his four-year-old son. These former gang members uplift the soul and reveal how bright life can be when filled with unconditional love and kindness.
This book is guaranteed to shake up our ideas about God and about people with a glimpse at a world defined by more compassion and fewer barriers. Gently and humorously, Barking to the Choir invites us to find kinship with one another and reconvinces us all of our own goodness.
Gregory Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, CA. Now in its 30th year, Homeboy traces its roots to when Boyle, a Jesuit priest with advanced degrees in English and theology, served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church, then the poorest Catholic parish in Los Angeles, which also had the highest concentration of gang activity in the city. Homeboy has become the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program in the world, and employs and trains gang members and felons in a range of social enterprises, as well as provides critical services to thousands of men and women each year who walk through its doors seeking a better life. Father Boyle has received the California Peace Prize, the James Beard Foundation Humanitarian of the Year Award, and the University of Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal. He was inducted into the California Hall of Fame and named a 2014 Champion of Change by the White House. He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion.
Students, nominated by their instructors, have been invited to read their own poems and short stories to a peer audience. For many student writers, Café Shapiro is a first opportunity to read publicly from their creative work. For others, it provides a fresh audience, and the ability to experience the work of students they may not encounter in writing classes.
Literati is thrilled to partner with the Stamps School of Art and Design to welcome author and musician Joseph Keckler to the Rackham Auditorium as part of the Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series.
Straddling the worlds of music, art, and performance, Joseph Keckler has garnered acclaim for his rich, versatile 3+ octave voice and sharp wit. Keckler’s live performances have been seen at SXSW Music, the New Museum, Issue Project Room, the BAM Fischer Center, Joe’s Pub, the Afterglow Festival, and many other venues. He has received residencies from MacDowell and Yaddo, as well as a Franklin Furnace Grant and a Fellowship in Interdisciplinary Work from the New York Foundation for the Arts. His most recent performance piece, I am an Opera, was commissioned by Dixon Place. The Village Voicenamed him Best Downtown Performance Artist, 2013. For this special speaker series event, Keckler will read from his latest book, Dragon at the Edge of a Flat World (Dragon Point Press, 2017). Drawn from the stories of his life, Keckler’s essays explore the corners of downtown New York, where he made his name performing his songs and plays, and back to the Midwest, where everything began. The texts included in Dragon at the Edge of a Flat Worldrepresent both the continuation and foundation of Keckler’s work on stage.
Students, nominated by their instructors, have been invited to read their own poems and short stories to a peer audience. For many student writers, Café Shapiro is a first opportunity to read publicly from their creative work. For others, it provides a fresh audience, and the ability to experience the work of students they may not encounter in writing classes.
An open mike for poets, who are welcome to read their own work or a favorite poem by another writer. Followed by a reading by a featured poet TBA.
7 p.m., Bookbound, Courtyard Shops. Free. 369-4345.
About A Village with My Name:
In A Village with My Name, acclaimed journalist Scott Tong merges memoir and history, offering an account of regular people living through defining moments in modern China from the start of the 20th century to the present, including the toppling of the monarchy, occupation and war crimes during WWII, mass death, famine, and witch hunts under Communism, the secret expansion of prison labor camps, market reforms, and the dawn of the One Child Policy. In this lively and accessible book, Tong brings the long backstory of China’s quest to go global to an American audience, painting a compelling portrait of the often traumatic ways that world historical events rippled through Chinese society. Each character Scott profiles is a Chinese window to the outside world: a pioneer exchange student, a rare American-educated girl born in the closing days of the Qing Dynasty, an abandoned toddler from World War II who later rides the wave of China’s global export boom, a young professional climbing the ladder at a multinational company, and an orphan (the author’s daughter) adopted in the middle of a baby-selling scandal fueled by foreign money. The style is light and at times irreverent, but Tong explores dramatic moments with the depth and sensitivity of a grandson of China seeking to understand the country and its people before memories of the tumultuous 20th century fade.
Scott Tong is a correspondent for the American Public Media program “Marketplace,” with a focus on energy, environment, resources, climate, supply chain, and the global economy. He is former China bureau chief. Tong has reported from more than a dozen countries.
