Photos left to right: Terry Blackhawk and Nalo Hopkinson;
thumbnail by Karin Dalziel.
Words and the music of words are never out of season. Mark your calendars for upcoming chances to hear writers share their works and to share your own.
NOVEMBER 8
Wellspring Reading Series at
Art Reach Center (111 East Broadway St., Mt. Pleasant, MI 48804), 7pm features award-winning poet Terry Blackhawk, whose work includes of
Body & Field, The Dropped Hand, and
Escape Artist. Blackhawk's poems have
appeared widely in journals, on-line at
Poetry Daily and
Verse Daily and
in many anthologies, most recently
When She Named Fire: Contemporary Poems by American Women. She is the founding director of Detroit's
InsideOut Literary Arts Project, which places writers in schools.
NOVEMBER 13
Hungry Rats Literary Evening at the
Red Eye Cafe (205 N. Hamilton St., Saginaw, MI 48602) 7-9pm will feature novelist Connor Coyne, author of
Hungry Rats, a tale set in Flint in which a high school girl pits her wits against a serial killer. Coyne grew up in Flint and has lived in Chicago and
New York City, where he earned his Bachelors degree from the University of Chicago
and his Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (Fiction) from the New
School. He has written plays, poetry, essays, short stories, and novels. You can read the first chapter of
Hungry Rats at the
website. The Improvements will be performing live music created especially for Coyne's book.
Also on the lineup are Gina Myers, Jeremy Benson, and JodiAnn Stevenson. A Saginaw native, Myers is the author of the poetry collection
A Model Year. She is also Book Review Editor at NewPages.com and the bookmaker at Lame House Press. Benson is Literary Magazine Review Editor at NewPages.com. Stevenson is the author
The Procedure, a collection of poetry and prose poems, and is the founder of Binge Press.
NOVEMBER 14
Sunday Mash-Up: Instant Art (Steamers Pub, 209 Hamilton St., Saginaw, MI 48602) will host the first of weekly Sunday Mash Ups, 7:30 pm to ? According to the creators:
Mission Statement: To develop a diverse
artistic community that meets weekly to create art inspired by other
local artists. The goal will not be to create perfect pieces of art, but
rather to create art in the moment that inspires and maintains an
ongoing dialogue between local artists. In other words, come and make
connections and art that may lead to bigger projects or collaborations
and enjoy some cocktails. The pieces will be small and brief and should
be able to be completed in roughly 3 hours—think ragged and
righteous.
The Nuts and Bolts: Each week local artist will bring
in a piece of original art and be randomly paired with an artist from a
different genre. The two artists will have a discussion about the art
they brought in and then create a piece of art during the night inspired
by the other artist’s work. They will then be paired with an artist, introduce themselves and their work, and go off and create. They'll meet back at Steamers at 11:00 to share their work.
For more information about this, visit
website
NOVEMBER 15
Voices in the Valley Series at
Saginaw Valley State University (Founders Hall) 7pm features sci-fi fantasy writer Nalo Hopkinson. This Jamaican-born Canadian author has penned four novels and a short story collection:
Brown Girl in the Ring, Midnight Robber, The Salt Roads, The New Moon's Arms, and
Skin Folk.
NOVEMBER 19
Spoken Word & Open Mic, at
Espresso Express Coffee House (916 N. Water St., Bay City, MI 48708) 7pm will feature poet Judith Kerman, to be followed by an open mic for words and music. Kerman is the author of nine books or chapbooks of poetry and translations, including
Praises & Offenses: Three Women Poets from the Dominican Republic, and
Galvanic Response. She is the founder of Bay City's
Mayapple Press.
NOVEMBER 29
Wellspring Reading Series at
Art Reach Center (111 East Broadway St., Mt. Pleasant, MI 48804), 7pm will feature Tommye Blount and Danny Rendleman. A native of Detroit, Tommye Blount now calls Novi, Michigan home. His work appears in various journals—most recently
The Collagist. Currently, he is working on his manuscript,
Chicken. Danny Rendleman is the author of seven poetry collections. The two most recent are
The Middle West and
Stepping Into the River Once. A native of Flint, he taught English composition and creative writing at UM-Flint for 30 years and now makes Mt. Pleasant his home.
DECEMBER 2
Court Street Gallery (417 Hancock St., Saginaw, MI 48602) 6-9pm will host Matt Bell for a special celebration of his latest novel
How They Were Found. A Hemlock native now living in Ann Arbor, Bell is the author of
How They Were Found, a collection of stories published in October. He has also penned three chapbooks,
Wolf Parts,
The Collectors, and
How the Broken Lead the Blind, and is the editor of
The Collagist and
Dzanc's Best of the Web anthology series.
DECEMBER 3
Noisemakers at the
Magic Bean Cafe ( 5789 State St. @ Weinecke, Saginaw, MI 48608) 7-10pm will feature rapper Danny Estrada, who won the open mic for music in November, a poet TBA, and open mic sessions for musicians and other performers. Art by Steven Magstadt.