Calendar

Mar
2
Mon
Emerging Writers Workshop: Writing Books for Children and Teens @ AADL Westgate, West Side Room
Mar 2 @ 7:00 pm – 8:45 pm

What does it take to successfully write and publish a children’s book? How are books for kids different from books for adults? Join us for a panel discussion moderated by Alex Kourvo, where we will trace the development of a book from idea to publication. Panelists include picture book author Rhonda Gowler Greene, Middle Grade author Merrie Haskell and YA author Patrick Flores-Scott along with editor Sarah Rockett from Sleeping Bear Press.

This is part of the monthly Emerging Writers Workshops, which offer support, learning, and advice for local authors. Each month, two weeks after the workshop, there is a meet-up where the instructors will read samples of your work and offer advice and assistance in a casual, supportive atmosphere.

Do you have a completed manuscript? Consider submitting it to the library’s imprint Fifth Avenue Press.

Respect: The Poetry of Detroit Music @ Literati
Mar 2 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

We welcome contributors to Michigan State University Press’s anthology Respect: The Poetry of Detroit Music. featuring Dawn McDuffie, Sonya Pouncy, Keith Taylor, Ken Mikowloski, Dennis Hinrichsen, Brian Gilmore, Charlie Brice, Cal Freeman, Zilka Joseph and M.L. Liebler. Free and open to the public. A signing will follow. The event is free and open to the public. 

About the book: While there have been countless books written about Detroit, none have captured its incredible musical history like this one. Detroit artists have forged the paths in many music genres, producing waves of creative energy that continue to reverberate across the country and around the world. This anthology both documents and celebrates this part of Detroit’s history, capturing the emotions that the music inspired in its creators and in its listeners. The range of contributors speaks to the global impact of Detroit’s music scene–Grammy winners, Pulitzer Prize winners, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, and poet laureates all come together in this rich and varied anthology.

Mar
3
Tue
Epic Reads Tour: Elana K. Arnold, Mindy McGinnis, Evelyn Skye @ AADL Downtown (Multipurpose Room)
Mar 3 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

AADL partners with Literati Bookstore to host an Epic Reads Meet Up featuring Elana K Arnold (Red Hood),  Mindy McGinnis (Be Not Far From Me), and Evelyn Skye (Cloak of Night)! Attendees will participate in casual 10-12 minute group discussions with each author.

Elana K. Arnold is the author of many books for kids and teens, including Damsel, a 2019 Michael L. Printz Honor book; What Girls Are Made Of, a 2017 National Book Award finalist, and A Boy Called Bat, the first book in her young middle grade series that was selected for the Global Read Aloud.

Mindy McGinnis is the author of several young adult novels, including The Female of the Species and A Madness So Discreet, winner of the Edgar Award. She writes across multiple genres, including postapocalyptic, historical, thriller, contemporary, mystery, and fantasy.

Evelyn Skye is also the author of the New York Times bestselling Crown’s Game series.

This event is in partnership with Literati Bookstore and includes a signing  with books for sale.

The Moth Storyslam: Celebration @ Blind Pig
Mar 3 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Open-mic storytelling competitions. Open to anyone with a five-minute story to share on the night’s theme. Come tell a story, or just enjoy the show!

6:30pm Doors Open | 7:30pm Stories Begin

*Tickets for this event are available one week before the show, at 3pm ET.

*Seating is not guaranteed and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please be sure to arrive at least 10 minutes before the show. Admission is not guaranteed for late arrivals. All sales final.

CELEBRATION: Prepare a five-minute story about celebration.

 

Mar
4
Wed
Poetry Salon: One Pause Poetry @ Argus Farm Stop
Mar 4 @ 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

ONE PAUSE POETRY SALON is (literally) a greenhouse for poetry and poets, nurturing an appreciation for written art in all languages and encouraging experiments in creative writing.

We meet every Weds in the greenhouse at Argus Farm Stop on Liberty St. The poems we read each time are unified by form (haiku, sonnet, spoken word), poet, time / place (Tang Dynasty, English Romanticism, New York in the 70s) or theme / mood (springtime, poems with cats, protest poems). We discuss the poems and play writing games together, with time for snacks and socializing in between.

Members are encouraged to share their own poems or poems they like – they may or may not relate to the theme of the evening. This is not primarily a workshop – we may hold special workshop nights, but mostly we listen to and talk about poems for the sake of inspiring new writing.

Whether you are a published poet or encountering poetry for the first time, we invite you to join us!

$5 suggested donation for food, drinks and printing costs.

8-10 p.m., Argus Farm Stop greenhouse, 325 W. Liberty. $5 suggested donation. onepausepoetry.org, 707-1284.

 

 

 

Mar
5
Thu
Poetry at Literati: Ellen Stone: What Is In The Blood @ Literati
Mar 5 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

We’re pleased to welcome Ellen Stone in support her collection What is in the Blood. The event is free and open to the public and a book signing will follow the event.

Ellen Stone was raised in the Appalachian Mountains above the north branch of the Susquehanna River in rural Pennsylvania. She taught public school in Kansas and Michigan for over thirty years. Ellen advises Poetry Club at Community High School and co-hosts a monthly poetry series in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her poems have appeared most recently in Halfway Down the Stairs, The Citron Review, Dunes Review, Pretty Owl Poetry, cahoodaloodaling, Switchback, Mantis, and are forthcoming in Choice Words: Writers on Abortion. Ellen is the author of What Is in the Blood (Mayapple Press, 2020) and The Solid Living World (Michigan Writers’Cooperative Press, 2013). Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart prize and Best of the Net.

Mar
9
Mon
Elizabeth Goodenough: Growing Up Near the Great Lakes @ Hatcher Graduate Library, Special Collections, 6th floor
Mar 9 @ 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Dr. Elizabeth Goodenough explores the landscapes of the Great Lakes as they shape the lives of children, writers, and illustrators. She offers images and tales of lighthouses and shipwrecks from the inland seas, a biosphere with the power to influence artists forever. Stories of displaced children, indigenous youth, and runaways portray stormy passages. What geography constitutes “home” in picture books, Y/A and graphic novels, legends, and film?  How do we retain and preserve the settings we first encountered? Goodenough investigates how a sense of belonging and becoming abides within, sustaining or haunting a lifetime. In this session we recall regional memories, ideas about nature, and narratives of outdoor exploration. Registration is encouraged but not required.

Goodenough has taught literature at Harvard, Claremont McKenna, and Sarah Lawrence colleges, and the University of Michigan. She has published several volumes in Childhood Studies, and her award-winning PBS documentary, Where Do the Children Play?, helped initiate a national dialogue on outdoor play.

Immediately following the presentation, we invite you to this month’s Special Collections After Hours Event, The Great Lakes in Children’s Literature.

Special Collections After Hours: The Great Lakes in Children’s Literature @ Hatcher Graduate Library, Special Collections, 6th floor
Mar 9 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Look at the Great Lakes region through the eyes of Michigan children’s authors, including Tom Pohrt, Nancy Willard, and Joan Blos. In addition to published works, we will also have selected archival materials and artwork on display.

The Great Lakes represent the largest body of freshwater in the world and are surrounded by diverse ecosystems and communities, from the rust belt steel mills that sit on Indiana’s sand dunes to the protected forests of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Nonetheless, from Western New York to Eastern Minnesota, to grow up in the Great Lakes region means to grow up anchored to a landscape shaped by water, and to a social and economic environment built on a history of using (and often abusing) this abundant water source.

This event follows a lecture by Elizabeth Goodenough at 3:00pm, Growing Up Near the Great Lakes. Please join us for both events!

This event is part of Special Collections After Hours, a monthly open house series sharing highlights from the many books, documents, and artifacts in the Special Collections Research Center. Each event is open to everyone and will offer a new group of themed materials for visitors to explore. Open houses are held on the second Tuesday of each month during the academic year. Light refreshments are provided.

Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: The Financial Anxiety Solution @ AADL Westgate, West Side Room
Mar 9 @ 7:00 pm – 8:45 pm

Most adults today experience some degree of anxiety. In the United States alone, 51% of adults report feeling anxious. And what is one of the top causes of this chronic anxiety? Money.

Join us as Lindsay Bryan-Podvin discusses financial anxiety and her new book The Financial Anxiety Solution: A Step-by-Step Workbook to Stop Worrying about Money, Take Control of Your Finances, and Live a Happier Life.

Financial anxiety is ranked #2 in terms of what is stressing Americans out. And the more anxious a person is about money, the less likely they are to take action toward improving their financial health. Here’s the good news—anxiety is treatable and financial literacy is easier than you think. This presentation will address how to conquer money-related stress and take control of your financial life.

Lindsay Bryan-Podvin (pronouns she/her/hers) is a biracial female social worker-turned-financial therapist and author. The first financial therapist in Michigan, she holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Michigan State University, and practices in Washtenaw County.

This event is in partnership with Literati Bookstore and includes a signing with books for sale.

Mar
10
Tue
Donna Rifkind: The Sun and Her Stars @ Literati
Mar 10 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

We welcome critic Donna Rifkin in support of her book, The Sun and Her Stars: Salka Viertel and Hitler’s Exiles in the Golden Age of Hollywood. 

About the book: The little-known story of screenwriter Salka Viertel, whose salons in 1930s and 40s Hollywood created a refuge for a multitude of famous figures who had escaped the horrors of World War ll.

Hollywood was created by its “others”; that is, by women, Jews, and immigrants. Salka Viertel was all three and so much more. She was the screenwriter for five of Greta Garbo’s movies and also her most intimate friend. At one point during the Irving Thalberg years, Viertel was the highest-paid writer on the MGM lot. Meanwhile, at her house in Santa Monica she opened her door on Sunday afternoons to scores of European émigrés who had fled from Hitler–such as Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht, and Arnold Schoenberg–along with every kind of Hollywood star, from Charlie Chaplin to Shelley Winters. In Viertel’s living room (the only one in town with comfortable armchairs, said one Hollywood insider), countless cinematic, theatrical, and musical partnerships were born.

Viertel combined a modern-before-her-time sensibility with the Old-World advantages of a classical European education and fluency in eight languages. She combined great worldliness with great warmth. She was a true bohemian with a complicated erotic life, and at the same time a universal mother figure. A vital presence in the golden age of Hollywood, Salka Viertel is long overdue for her own moment in the spotlight.

Donna Rifkind‘s reviews appear frequently in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times Book Review. She has also been a contributor to the Los Angeles TimesWashington PostTimes Literary SupplementAmerican Scholar, and other publications. In 2006 she was a finalist for the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing from the National Book Critics Circle.

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