Readings by teen poets from Washtenaw County battling for a spot at the Ann Arbor Youth Poetry Slam finals on Apr. 12. Other semifinals are held at Community High School (Mar. 2, 7 p.m.), Huron High School (Mar. 8, 6 p.m.), Washtenaw International High School (Mar. 15, 6 p.m.), and Pioneer High School (Mar. 16, 6 p.m.).
6:30 p.m., Skyline High School, 2552 N. Maple. Free. 214-9995
Readings by teen poets from Washtenaw County battling for a spot at the Ann Arbor Youth Poetry Slam finals on Apr. 12. Other semifinals are held at Community High School (Mar. 2, 7 p.m.), Huron High School (Mar. 8, 6 p.m.), Washtenaw International High School (Mar. 15, 6 p.m.), and Pioneer High School (Mar. 16, 6 p.m.).
Join us for a talk and signing with Tim Fielder, author and illustrator of the graphic novel collection, Matty’s Rocket: Book One! Matty’s Rocket was released to critical acclaim, with Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Díaz saying, “Fielder takes us on a fantastic, time-warping, genre-bending Afrofuturistic voyage to
the final frontier and beyond … Mattyʼs Rocket is just superb.”
About Matty’s Rocket: Book One
Matty’s Rocket is a galaxy spanning tale about the adventures of space pilot Matty Watty. This series is based in an alternative past where the pulp stylings of Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis collide with the real world events of World War 2, FDR, Nazis, the Harlem Renaissance and the oppressive Jim Crow era, Watch as Matty navigates her vessel through a dangerous world filled with evil villains, heroic feats, alien oddities and down home adventure. This 120 page graphic novel collects Matty’s Rocket issues 1-3 with a 12 page Epilogue, special guest appearances, and behind the scenes exposes. Creator Tim Fielder takes this ongoing graphic novel series into a beautifully painted style that fully delivers cinematic power.
About the Author/Illustrator
Tim Fielder is an Illustrator, concept designer, cartoonist, and animator born and raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He has a lifelong love of Visual Afrofutuism, Pulp entertainment, and action films. He holds other afrofuturists such as Samuel Delany, Steven Barnes, and Octavia Butler as major influences. He has worked over the years in the storyboarding, film visual development, gaming, comics, and animation industries for clients as varied as Marvel Comics, The Village Voice, Tri-Star Pictures, to Ubisoft Entertainment. He also works as an educator for institutions such as New York University and the New York Film Academy. Tim hopes to push forward with his art in the emerging digital content delivery systems of the day. To that end, Matty’s Rocket is Tim’s first foray in the genre coined as “Dieselfunk”. He makes his home with his wife and children in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Harlem.
Performance by this slam poet, a U-M student. Preceded by a poetry open mike.
7 p.m. Espresso Royale, 324 S. State. $5 suggested donation. facebook.com/AnnArborPoetry.
Local short story writer Alex Kourvo and young adult novelist Bethany Neal discuss how to writers make choices about character and plot development. 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 Mar. 19.
7-8:45 p.m., AADL Westgate. Free. 327-8301.
Mar. 6 & 20. 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. Mar. themes: “Manners” (Mar. 6) & “Aftermath” (Mar. 20). The 3 teams of judges are recruited from the audience. Monthly winners compete in a semiannual Grand Slam. Space limited, so it’s smart to arrive early.
7:30-9 p.m. (doors open and sign-up begins at 6 p.m.), Greyline, 100 N. Ashley. $8. 764-5118.
Jane Austen Book Club Discussion at Nicola’s Books – Associated event of the University of Michigan Graduate Library ‘The Life and Times of Lizzy Bennet’ Exhibit.
With the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death, the Grad Library is showcasing not only significant early editions of Austen’s works held in the Special Collections Library, but a much broader swath of materials revealing the historical milieu in which she and her characters lived. This lead to a discussion about books about or written by Austen that reflected these times; out of that the Jane Austen Book Club Discussion was created. There will be three discussion events, February 7th, 28th and March 7th.
Kathleen A. Flynn is an editor at the New York Times, where she works at “The Upshot.” She holds a B.A. from Barnard College and an M.A. from the University of North Carolina. She has taught English in Hong Kong, washed dishes on Nantucket, and is a life member of the Jane Austen Society of North America. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their shy fox terrier, Olive.
The Jane Austen Project: Perfect for fans of Jane Austen, this engrossing debut novel offers an unusual twist on the legacy of one of the world’s most celebrated and beloved authors: two researchers from the future are sent back in time to meet Jane and recover a suspected unpublished novel.
London, 1815: Two travelers–Rachel Katzman and Liam Finucane–arrive in a field in rural England, disheveled and weighed down with hidden money. Turned away at a nearby inn, they are forced to travel by coach all night to London. They are not what they seem, but rather colleagues who have come back in time from a technologically advanced future, posing as wealthy West Indies planters–a doctor and his spinster sister. While Rachel and Liam aren’t the first team from the future to “go back,” their mission is by far the most audacious: meet, befriend, and steal from Jane Austen herself.
Carefully selected and rigorously trained by The Royal Institute for Special Topics in Physics, disaster-relief doctor Rachel and actor-turned-scholar Liam have little in common besides the extraordinary circumstances they find themselves in. Circumstances that call for Rachel to stifle her independent nature and let Liam take the lead as they infiltrate Austen’s circle via her favorite brother, Henry.
But diagnosing Jane’s fatal illness and obtaining an unpublished novel hinted at in her letters pose enough of a challenge without the continuous convolutions of living a lie. While her friendship with Jane deepens and her relationship with Liam grows complicated, Rachel fights to reconcile the woman she is with the proper lady nineteenth-century society expects her to be. As their portal to the future prepares to close, Rachel and Liam struggle with their directive to leave history intact and exactly as they found it…however heartbreaking that may prove.
Laura Hulthen Thomas’s short fiction and essays have appeared in a number of journals and anthologies, including The Cimarron Review, Nimrod International Journal, Epiphany, and Witness. She received her MFA in fiction writing from Warren Wilson College. She currently heads the undergraduate creative writing program at the University of Michigan’s Residential College, where she teaches fiction and creative nonfiction.
Books will be available through Nicola’s Books – contact the store directly 734-662-0600 or come in to the store (2513 Jackson Avenue – Westgate Shopping Center.) Nicola’s Books will offer a 15% discount for the purchase of this title when you tell them that the book is for the Jane Austen Book Club. You may also check with the AADL for availability of the title.
Readings by teen poets from Washtenaw County battling for a spot at the Ann Arbor Youth Poetry Slam finals on Apr. 12. Other semifinals are held at Community High School (Mar. 2, 7 p.m.), Huron High School (Mar. 8, 6 p.m.), Washtenaw International High School (Mar. 15, 6 p.m.), and Pioneer High School (Mar. 16, 6 p.m.).
Ypsilanti poet Stephanie Heit reads from The Color She Gave Gravity, her 2017 collection that explores connections between women. The program begins with an open mike for poets, who are welcome to read their own work or a favorite poem by another writer.
7 p.m., Bookbound, Courtyard Shops. Free. 369-4345.
Ann Arbor Storytellers Guild members host a storytelling program. Audience members are encouraged to bring a 5-minute story to tell.
7-9 p.m., Crazy Wisdom Tea Room, 114 S. Main. Free. 665-2757
