Blog Post
Incarceration: Helping Prisoners Survive
by annevm
Are we incarcerating too many people? How are we actually treating them? These are a few of the many tough questions surrounding American prisons. U-M faculty member Buzz Alexander has a new book, "Is William Martinez Not Our Brother?: Twenty Years of the Prison Creative Arts Project," in which he describes U-M's Prison Creative Arts Project. The project provides university courses, a nonprofit organization, and a national network for incarcerated youth and adults in Michigan juvenile facilities and prisons. Alexander will speak about his book Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. in U-M Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, followed by a book sale and signing.
Blog Post
A Very Special AXIS Coffeehouse
by MariaK
This week's AXIS Coffeehouse will very special indeed. Not only is it two days before Halloween, but special guest poet Maggie Hanks of Ann Arbor Wordworks will be returning to lead in the creation of some seriously awesome poems!
Join us on Friday Oct. 29th from 6:30-8pm at Malletts Creek. AXIS Coffeehouse -- it's so good, it's scary.
Blog Post
The Art of Couture in Ann Arbor
by cecile
Enter the sophisticated world of couture when Rebecca Lambers, “Couturiére,” Fashion Designer and Exclusive Dressmaker visits the Downtown Library at 7:00 p.m. on September 29th.
One of Ann Arbor’s unique treasures, Ms. Lambers’ is an exclusive dressmaker and fashion designer, who specializes in creating unique custom clothing for women. She was showcased at the Detroit Institute of Arts in conjunction with fashion photographer Richard Avedon and was profiled in the May 2010 edition of Hour Detroit Magazine. Current Magazine calls her 'the fanciest stitcher between Chicago and New York.'
Rebecca will talk about her life in art – showing images, garments and presenting a few live models to illustrate her process of connecting with the ideas of each client and highlight the value of useful, tangible, beautifully made objects.
Blog Post
Hooray for Scrabble!
by darla
Are you one of those people that can quickly list words that start with Q but don't require a U? Or perhaps you delight in the use of the word "loxodrome"? We look forward to seeing you at our Traverwood branch this evening for Michael Betzold's discussion of his book Bingo! The Secret to Scrabble Success. If you can't make this event, we have plenty of other Scrabble offerings here at the library. Check out Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in The World of Competitive Scrabble Players for a journalist's look into this quirky subculture. In a similar vein, we offer Word Wars: Tiles and Tribulations on The Scrabble Game Circuit on DVD. We also have copies of The Official Scrabble Word-Finder, The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, and The Official Scrabble Players Handbook for all of your gaming needs.
Blog Post
This Sunday is the Kerrytown Book Festival
by manz
Attention book lovers: The seventh annual Kerrytown Bookfest is happening all day on Sunday at the Kerrytown market area.
You can… draw with author and illustrator Ruth McNally Barshaw (of the Ellie McDoodle books), Deb Diesen will read some of her children’s books, join a Michigan lit discussion with local authors such as Bonnie Jo Campbell and Michael Zadoorian, visit the Paranormal Fiction & Poetry discussion, catch a live interview with Caldecott winner David Small, do a kids craft project or two, get in on some bookmaking worshops, and peruse the aisles of book related vendors. Really, there is way too much great stuff going on to list it all, so be sure check the full schedule. Get your book lovin’ on!
Blog Post
Visit the Underground Railroad in Michigan
by amy
A new book, The Underground Railroad in Michigan, by Ann Arbor's Carol Mull, is a comprehensive exploration of abolitionism and the network of escape from slavery in our state. The book includes both an overview of national events and vivid first-person accounts taken from The Signal of Liberty, an 1840s-era abolitionist newspaper published in Ann Arbor, to explore Michigan's role in the antislavery movement. The Signal of Liberty is available for full-text searching and browsing at: http://signalofliberty.aadl.org/.
For an overview of Ann Arbor's role in the Underground Railroad, you can listen to our podcast with Carol from last year or read Grace Shackman's article from the Ann Arbor Observer. You can also take your own walking tour: Start with this plaque on the Broadway Bridge, then make your way to lower Broadway to the former site where the Signal of Liberty was published (across the street from the Anson Brown Building, which today houses the St. Vincent de Paul store), followed by a brief stroll to 1425 Pontiac Trail for a glimpse of Reverend Guy Beckley's home.
Blog Post
Short Short Fiction
by MariaK
As Shakespeare famously said, "brevity is the soul of wit." Join local writer Keith Hood this Wednesday, July 21st at Mallett's Creek Branch from 6:30-8:30 PM for a workshop on short short fiction, and learn to tell a compelling story in as few words as possible.
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #211
by muffy
Perhaps this is one of the hardest blogs for me to write. I finished the book some weeks ago and have been thinking about it. I worried that whatever I write here is not going to do the book justice. My expectations were naturally high for Julie Orringer's debut novel The Invisible Bridge, coming 7 years after her prizewinning collection of short stories How to Breathe Underwater, and it did not disappoint.
This stunning and richly detailed WWII saga is not (as a lot of early readers feared) just another Holocaust novel. It opens with 22 year-old Andras Levi, a Hungarian Jew, a highly prized scholarship to study architecture in Paris and an unlikely love affair with the much older Klara, amidst the growing tide of anti-Semitism which eventually forces their return to Hungary. Throughout the hardships and injustices, Andras's love for Klara acts as a beacon. "Orringer's triumphant novel is as much a lucid reminder of a time not so far away as it is a luminous story about the redemptive power of love."
Cinematic in its settings, moving without being sentimental, "Orringer writes without anachronism, and convincingly." Don't just take my word for it, read the New York Times review.
Julie Orringer grew up in New Orleans and Ann Arbor. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Cornell University, and was a Stegner Fellow and Marsh McCall Lecturer in the Creative Writing Program at Stanford University and the Helen Herzog Zell Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Michigan. Visit Julie's website.
**= Starred reviews
Blog Post
The Countdown Continues!
by MariaK
With only two weeks to go, we at AXIS Coffeehouse are doing our best to send you to summer with a bang. Last Friday we got a visit from Detroit rap artist The Chozn Bravesoul, and this Friday we will host another special guest -- Maggie Hanks of Ann Arbor Word Works! Don't miss this chance to get some writing advice from a poet described as "bold and insightful".
Also, our last day at AXIS Coffeehouse, March 26th, will be recorded for for the AADL podcast, so bring that poem you've been working on for a chance at library fame!
As always, AXIS Coffeehouse will offer food, drink, good writing and good company -- as well as $5 fine forgiveness coupons and free books for those who present at the mic. Join us at Mallett's Creek this Friday, from 6:30-8 for a great time!
Blog Post
AXIS Coffeehouse Enters the Countdown
by MariaK
AXIS Coffeehouse only has three weeks to go before we break for the summer, so we are going to make the most of it!
This Friday, March 12, local rap artist The Chozn Bravesoul will be visiting to talk a little about rap and poetry. And next Friday, March 19, we will host special guest Maggie Hanks of Ann Arbor Word Works, who will surely have some interesting writing ideas herself.
This free event offers snacks and great conversation as well as $5 library fine forgiveness coupons for those who present at the mic. Don't miss out on these awesome opportunities! Mallett's Creek, 6:30-8:00 pm. Be there!