Blog Post
The Essential Samuel Beckett With Theater Historian And Beckett Specialist Enoch Brater
by hillary dorwart
Tuesday October 25, 2011: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
Theater historian and Samuel Beckett specialist Enoch Brater presents an overview of the life and works of playwright Samuel Beckett, his influence upon modern theater, and the landmark productions of Beckett's works staged by the Gate Theatre of Dublin. This event is co-sponsored by the University Musical Society and the U-M Department of English Language and Literature.
Ireland's acclaimed Gate Theatre is largely considered the leading interpreter of the great Irish modernist writer, playwright, and humorist Samuel Beckett in the world and this event is held in conjunction with University Musical Society's double-bill of two one-act Beckett plays ("Endgame" and "Watt") performed by the Gate Theatre Of Dublin and at the Power Center Oct. 27 - 29.
Never exactly mainstream, Beckett is nonetheless considered one of the most important European writers of the 20th century for his influence on modern literature and for his ability to impress shock and confound.
Blog Post
Interview With Barry McGovern, Actor And Renowned Beckett Performer With The Gate Theatre Of Dublin
by hillary dorwart
Sunday October 23, 2011: 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
Do not miss this special event as actor Barry McGovern, one of the world's leading interpreters of Samuel Beckett's works, is interviewed by U-M Professor Enoch Brater. McGovern will discuss his work with the Dublin's Gate Theatre and his new solo performance adaptation of Beckett's novel "Watt." Ireland's acclaimed Gate Theatre is largely considered the leading interpreter of the great Irish modernist writer, playwright, and humorist Samuel Beckett in the world.
This event is held in conjunction with University Musical Society's double-bill of two one-act Beckett plays (Endgame and Watt) performed by the Gate Theatre and featuring Barry McGovern at the Power Center Oct. 27 - 29.
Blog Post
Performance Network: "Marie Antoinette: The Color of Flesh"
by annevm
Put this on your calendar: Performance Network is staging "Marie Antoinette:The Color of Flesh" -- historical fiction -- beginning with previews July 28 and running through Aug. 28. The play by Joel Gross is about an imagined love triangle between Marie Antoinette, her portrait painter, and an aristocrat lover to both. A preview is here.
Blog Post
Author Birthdays: Benét, Robbins, Hinton
by marshd
July 22nd marks the birthday of authors Stephen Vincent Benét, Tom Robbins, and S. E. Hinton.
Stephen Vincent Benét was an American writer probably best known for his short story "The Devil and Daniel Webster." He also won the Pulitzer for his book-length poems John Brown's Body and Western Star.
Benét also wrote an adaptation of the Roman legend of the Rape of the Sabine Women, which he called "The Sobbin' Women." This short story went on to inspire the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
Tom Robbins is an American author who has been called a "psychedelic son of Mark Twain" by Booklist. He is known for his novels Even Cowgirls Get The Blues and Villa Incognito.
Robbins also has a collection of short stories and essays called Wild Ducks Flying Backward. Many critics have praised his non-fiction essays in the work for their humor.
S. E. Hinton is an American writer of children's, young adult, and adult fiction. She is best known for her teen novel The Outsiders, about friendship, gangs, and families (featuring a character whose name is worth Summer Game points), which was published when she was only 16 years old.
Hinton's adult fiction includes the novel Hawkes Harbor, which is about an orphan raised by nuns, who later goes out into the world to seek adventure, eventually finding an evil monster in a place called Hawkes Harbor.
Blog Post
The Winter's Tale at the Arb
by Stewart
Enjoy Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" in June at Nichols Arboretum. Starring Leontes, Polixenes, Hermione, Camillo, and Perdita! Directed by Kate Mendeloff, all shows begin at 6:30 pm and the box office opens at 5:30 pm. The performances will be held June 9 - 12, 16 - 19, and 23 - 26. For more information, see the website: mbgna.umich.edu or call 734.647.7600. General Admission: $18. Members: $15. Seniors: $16. Students: $10. If you go soon, you may be able to enjoy the Peonies!
Blog Post
Author Birthdays: Lorca, Scarry, Drabble
by marshd
June 5th marks the birthday of authors Federico García Lorca, Richard Scarry, and Margaret Drabble.
Federico García Lorca was a Spanish poet and playwright who is believed to have been killed during the Spanish Civil War. Some of his unpublished poems and essays were collected in a volume in 1998, A Season in Granada; the overall theme of the collection is Granada, where Lorca was supposedly killed.
Lorca's works also include: In Search of Duende, which describes theories on dance, music, and bullfights; the play Yerma, which was made into a Spanish language film; and a collection of his letters, which gives a sort of autobiography of his life.
Richard Scarry was an American author and illustrator of children's stories. His most well-known works include those about Busytown, a place inhabited by animals.
Scarry wrote for many ages; we have board books, picture books, and readers. We even have some of his works in Chinese.
Margaret Drabble is an English writer of novels and biographies, as well as some other assorted non-fiction subjects. Of these non-fiction works, AADL has a biography of Angus Wilson (a fellow novelist), and a book on jigsaw puzzles, The Pattern in the Carpet.
Drabble's novels include: The Red Queen, which details the story of a London woman who receives an unpublished memoir of a Korean princess; The Seven Sisters, which Library Journal noted as having "a character who describes herself accurately as having 'much to be ashamed about'"; and The Millstone, set in 1960s London.
Blog Post
Performance Network: "Next Fall" running through July 3
by annevm
The drama Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts -- a 2010 Tony nominee for best play -- is running at Performance Network Theater in Ann Arbor through July 3. The play was produced on Broadway by Elton John and his partner David Furnish. You can read a preview of the PNT production here and buy tickets here.
Blog Post
Author Birthdays: Chesterton, White, Ehrlich
by marshd
May 29th marks the birthday of authors G. K. Chesterton, T. H. White, and Paul R. Ehrlich.
G. K. Chesterton was an English author. He wrote mysteries, essays, biographies, and general fiction. His works on Father Brown, a Catholic priest and detective, were even adapted for television in the 70s.
Chesterton also wrote a biography of his friend and "rival" George Bernard Shaw, and the novel The Man Who Was Thursday, which involves seven anarchists in London who give themselves the names of the days of the week.
T. H. White was an English author best known for his Arthurian works The Once and Future King and The Sword in the Stone. The musical Camelot and the Disney film The Sword in the Stone were based on his works.
White also wrote the children's story Mistress Masham's Repose, about an English orphan and her interactions with Lilliputians, a race of people described by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's Travels.
Paul R. Ehrlich is an American writer and biologist, as well as a professor at Stanford University. His works focus on the environment and population growth. His latest book, The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution And The Environment, published in 2008, examines the relationship between the two.
Ehrlich's first big work was The Population Bomb, which discussed overpopulation and its effects on society. His later book, The Population Explosion, considers the topic further, more than 20 years afterward.
Blog Post
Author Birthdays: Baum, Porter, Bulgakov
by marshd
May 15th marks the birthday of authors L. Frank Baum, Katherine Anne Porter, and Mikhail Bulgakov.
L. Frank Baum was an American children's author most well known for his story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; there were at least 17 total Oz books that Baum wrote.
Baum also wrote short stories about the magical land of Mo. You may be interested in looking up other books by Baum which were actually published under the pseudonyms Edith Van Dyne, Floyd Akers, Schuyler Staunton, John Estes Cooke, Suzanne Metcalf, and Laura Bancroft.
Katherine Anne Porter was an American writer and Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner (for The Collected Stories). She was also nominated numerous times for the Nobel Prize.
Porter's novel Ship of Fools was a best-seller and was made into a film starring Gone with the Wind's Vivien Leigh.
Mikhail Bulgakov was a Russian playwright and novelist. His most well known work was The Master and Margarita, a novel about the Devil visiting Soviet Russia. The book is something of a cult favorite now.
In addition, we have a collection of six of Bulgakov's plays. There is also another of Bulgakov's novels at AADL, Heart of a Dog, which is a strange story about a dog-turned-kind-of-man.
Blog Post
Author Birthdays: Leroux, Jarrell, White
by marshd
May 6th marks the birthday of authors Gaston Leroux, Randall Jarrell, and Theodore White.
Gaston Leroux was a French author most known for his novel The Phantom of the Opera, which has been made into both a musical and a few films.
Leroux also wrote detective novels, two of which have been translated into English: The Mystery of the Yellow Room and The Perfume of the Lady in Black, which are both part of the series on the character Joseph Rouletabille.
Randall Jarrell was an American writer of poetry, children's books, and essays. We have his Complete Poems here at AADL; his collection The Woman at the Washington Zoo won the National Book Award for poetry is within it.
Among Jarrell's works for children, we have The Animal Family, a Newbery Honor Book, and The Bat-Poet, which was illustrated by Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are).
Theodore H. White was an American historian. His book The Making of the President, 1960 won the Pulitzer for General Nonfiction in 1962. It details the election of JFK, and is the first in a "series" of books about elections.
White's other works include Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon, about the Watergate scandal, and his autobiography, In Search of History: A Personal Adventure.