Double bill. Currently getting his teacher education PhD at MSU, Harris was the 2005 Rustbelt Poetry Slam individual champion, and frequently publishes, performs, and teaches poetry. Ann Arbor native Zick recently received his MFA in poetry from Bowling Green State University and was one of the featured writers in HBO’s Brave New Voicesdocumentary series. “He cultivated a style that was at once simple and unadorned in its language, but also layered and transcendental in meaning,” says his former writing teacher Jeff Kass.
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 host an open house for writers to connect with one another and/or work on their projects.
Highland-based psychic medium and writer Kristy Robinett discusses her book.
7 p.m., SDL, 555 N. Maple, Saline. Free; preregistration required. 429-5450.
Apr. 3 & 17. 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. Apr. themes: “Awards” (Apr. 3) & “Mail” (Apr. 17). The 3-person judging teams 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.
Yale University law professor James Forman discusses his new book about the current U.S. mass incarceration crisis. Signing.
4:30 p.m., 100 U-M Hatcher Grad Library Gallery, enter from the Diag. Free. 763-8994.
All adults invited to sign up for a 5-minute slot to showcase their poetry, prose, music, or comedy. All invited to listen.
7-8:30 p.m., Serendipity, 113 W. Middle, Chelsea. Free. Sign up by calling 475-8732, ext. 503.
This Ann Arbor native reads from his recent poetry collection, Silencer, which focuses on the politics of middle-class black respectability. “There is not a moment in this book when you are allowed to forget the complexities of a black man’s life in America,” notes writer Roxane Gay. “There is the quiet, ironic pleasure of life on a cul-de-sac juxtaposed with the tensions of always wondering when a police officer’s gun or fists might get in the way of the black body.”
7-8:30 p.m., AADL Downtown multipurpose rm. Free. 327-4200.
Literati is thrilled to be celebrating the work and formal career of the poet and close friend of the store, Keith Taylor. Keith will be retiring from the University of Michigan at the end of the Winter 2018 Semester. Keith will be joined by fellow poet Cody Walker for a discussion of his work.
Poet and writer Keith Taylor teaches in the undergraduate and graduate programs in creative writing at the University of Michigan, directs the Bear River Writer’s Conference, and is the former poetry editor for Michigan Quarterly Review. His sixteenth collection, The Bird-while, was published by Wayne State University Press February 2017. Fidelities was published in 2015 by Alice Greene & Co. Keith’s work has appeared in such publications as Story, The Los Angeles Times, Alternative Press, The Southern Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Notre Dame Review, The Iowa Review, Witness, Chicago Tribune, and Hanging Loose. Other books are Marginalia for a Natural History published by Black Lawrence Press, and Ghost Writers, a collection of ghost stories co-edited with Laura Kasischke, published by Wayne State University Press.
Cody Walker is the author of The Self-Styled No-Child (Waywiser, 2016) and Shuffle and Breakdown (Waywiser, 2008). His poems have appeared in The New York Times, The Yale Review, Slate, Salon, and The Best American Poetry (2015 and 2007); his essays have appeared online in The New Yorker and the Kenyon Review. The former Poet Populist of Seattle, he now lives with his family in Ann Arbor, where he directs the creative writing minor at the University of Michigan. His new collection, The Trumpiad (Waywiser, 2017), was released last April.
Literati Bookstore is thrilled to partner with the Ann Arbor Distric Library to welcome Gene Luen Yang! This event includes a book signing and books will be on sale. The event will take place in the Downtown Library’s multipurpose room.
Cartoonist Gene Luen Yang gives a talk about Reading Without Walls: exploring books about characters who look or live differently than you, topics you haven’t discovered, or formats that you haven’t tried. Drawing on his own experiences as a reader and author, Yang promotes diversity and opens readers’ eyes to new ideas and experiences.
Learn more about the Reading Without Walls Initiative here.
Gene Luen Yang is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. He began drawing comic books in the fifth grade, and in 1997 he received a Xeric Grant for his first comic, Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks. He has since written and drawn a number of titles, including Duncan’s Kingdom, The Rosary Comic Book, Prime Baby and Animal Crackers. American Born Chinese, his first graphic novel from First Second, was a National Book Award finalist, as well as the winner of the Printz Award and an Eisner Award. He also won an Eisner for The Eternal Smile, a collaboration with Derek Kirk Kim. He is the author of the Secret Coders series (with artist Mike Holmes) and has written for the hit comics Avatar: The Last Airbender and Superman. Yang lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
All invited to listen to guild members swap stories or bring their own to tell.
2-4 p.m., AADL Downtown 3rd floor freespace rm. Free. annarborstorytelling.org, 997-5388.
