It's All Write! AADL Short Story Contest Winners Announced!

Mon, 05/15/2006 - 12:30pm by kcrj49

Congratulations to all those who entered the 2006 Short Story Contest.
Here are the winners of the AADL Short Story Writing Contest: 'It's All Write'

Middle School Category 6th/7th/8th Grades:
1st Place: Alien Girl by Lindsey Fischer Mill Creek Middle School, Dexter
2nd Place: Escape to Denmark by Timothy G. Rhein Home School, Ypsilanti
3rd Place: A Slanted Roof by Isabel McKay Tappan Middle School

High School Category 9th/10th Grades:
1st Place: Morning Again by Eva Colas Huron High School
2nd Place: Saved by Maya Lamm Community High School
3rd Place: Daisies in the Garden by Sabrina Na Huron High School

High School Category 11th/12th Grades:
1st Place: How to Make Empenadas by Emmaleigh Mia Paul Rudolf Steiner High School
2nd Place: The Gift by Jenneva Scholz Rudolf Steiner High School
3rd Place: A Romance by Eva Miller Community High School

Cecil Castellucci - Short Story Awards Speaker

Thu, 05/11/2006 - 9:36am by Bertha

Cecil Castellucci's in town to be the guest speaker for the Awards Ceremony of the short story writing contest, It's All Write! #140 stories were submitted to the contest, and all Finalists have been notified. Congratulations to ALL writers who turned in a story.
Cecil is the author of Boy Proof and her upcoming novel Queen of Cool. She will be discussing the craft of writing and presenting awards to the winners. 1:00 - 1:45 pm Modern Language Building on Thayer Street, Lecture Room 1. All Welcome.

ANIME EVENTS WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY

Tue, 05/09/2006 - 11:41pm by Edith Wharton

UPDATE: Mission accomplished! Thank you to everyone who came!
Oh, and someone asked me to post the Zuko AMV, from Avatar: the Last Airbender. I love the series, and youtube happily has an endless supply of AMVs.

InuYasha video gaming and video viewing on Wednesday, Downtown Library 1-5pm!
NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED (sorry for the mixup!)

Animanga Club Thursday 7-8:30pm Malletts Creek!
Naruto Vs. Full Metal Alchemist
SPECIAL PLEA: I have a Naruto DVD, but I don't have any FMA right now. If you have some, bring it!

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #20

Mon, 05/08/2006 - 6:22pm by muffy

Poet Elizabeth Rosner gives us in The Speed of Light a powerful debut about three unforgettable souls who overcome tragedies of the past to reconnect with one another and the world around them.

“With a sumptuous voice resonating with wisdom, Rosner's lyrical debut novel is a spellbinding tribute to the revelations that redeem us and the emotions that ennoble us.” (Booklist)

Elizabeth Rosner will join Jacquelyn Mitchard (Cage of Stars); Rebecca Johns(Icebergs); and Lisa Tucker (Once Upon a Day) at this year’s Ann Arbor Book Festival’s panel discussion entitled “The Female Perspective”, (May 13th, 12:00 noon). Rosner will be reading from her new novel Blue Nude, .

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #19

Mon, 05/08/2006 - 1:46pm by muffy

Dean Bakopoulos whose Please Don't Come Back from the Moon is one of only three first novels selected as one of 100 Notable Books of 2005 by The New York Times.

A Michigan native, Dean set the novel in fictitious Maple Rock, based on a stretch of Michigan Avenue between Lonyo and Livernois (in Detroit), where his family went to church, and the Warrendale neighborhood, where his grandparents lived.

This debut novel is ”A beautifully smart, comic, and moving narrative about the fathers who disappear and the sons who take their place”. (Charles Baxter).

Meet Dean on May 13th at the Ann Arbor Book Festival, Young Writers’ panel. In the meantime, here is Dean’s personal list of recommendations.

Hip Knits

Wed, 05/03/2006 - 7:06pm by muffy

Knitgrrl: Learn to Knit With 15 Fun and Funky Patterns, (starred review in School Library Journal), and the new Knitgrrl 2 are decidedly not your grandmother's knitting books. They are designed for teens and tweens, but is appropriate for beginning knitters of all ages.

The author, Shannon Okey's blog and website are chatty and loads of fun. Check them out.

She will join fellow knitter Jillian Moreno at the Ann Arbor Book Festival, May 13, at 11:00 a.m. for a program, followed by signing.

Stick around the Festival and come cheer for Shannon at 4 p.m. at the Library Pavilion for the 3rd Annual Celebrity Spelling Bee. We expect great things from this past district champ.

Knitting for Real Women with Real Curves

Wed, 05/03/2006 - 7:02pm by muffy

O.k. Don't trust me. However, listen to what Sally Melville has to say about Big Girl Knits by Ann Arbor author Jillian Moreno.

"I love this book! It brought tears to my eyes—both with its delicious humor and its loving attention to the subject. The technical stuff is handled wonderfully—with intelligence and clarity and a big heart. The variety in the patterns that follow is a delight."

Debbie Stoller, author of the Stitch ’n Bitch series "...guarantee(s) that (with Big Girl Knit) you’ll never again knit a sweater that makes your big top look like The Big Top."

Jillian will join another hip knitter, Shannon Okey at the Lifestyle Pavilion on May 13th, 11:00 a.m. at the Ann Arbor Book Festival. You can check out Jillian's blog in the meantime.

'Let's Talk Mosaics!!' Lecture and Exhibit

Wed, 05/03/2006 - 4:03pm by kcrj49

Thursday, May 4 7:00-8:30pm Downtown Library Multi-Purpose Room

Have you seen the incredible mosiac show Mosaics: Moments Captured In Glass By The Mosaic Sphere Studio on the 3rd Floor of the Downtown Library? If you're into mosaics on any level, be sure to attend this exhibit AND the accompanying lecture 'Let's Talk Mosaics' by instructor Yulia Hanansen. Her talk will discuss different periods in mosaic making, including modern American mosaics.

And You Know You Should be Glad...

Fri, 04/28/2006 - 4:21pm by muffy

Award-winning columnist for the Chicago Tribune, broadcast journalist on ABC's Nightline, and bestselling author Bob Green (Duty), (All Summer Long) will be a featured speaker at the 2006 Ann Arbor Book Festival on May 13th.

He will be reading from his latest And You Know You Should be Glad. This true story of a lifelong friendship of five pals from Bexley, Ohio – the “ABCDJ” gang (Allen, Bob, Chuck, Dan and Jack) and their emotional reunion due to Jack’s terminal illness, is both nostalgic and heartwarming.

"Readers who enjoyed Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking will find Greenes writing to be more wistful and plainspoken but similarly rewarding." (Library Journal).

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #18

Fri, 04/28/2006 - 3:46pm by muffy

So it is not new, but decidedly it is ”first rate” (Booklist)!

Ken Kalfus’ debut novel is a “sweeping, quasihistorical fiction spanning two tumultuous decades in Russia” (PW). It traces the rise of a young cinematographer at Tolstoy's deathbed, to a high post in The Commissariat of Enlightenment (2003), Stalin’s powerful agency in charge of propaganda. The intricate plot brings to life many minor-and major-characters with double identities and secret agenda.

Ken Kalfus will be at this year’s Ann Arbor Book Festival on May 13. Besides reading from his new novel A Disorder Peculiar to the Country, he will be joined by his agent on a panel discussion on how to get published, a primer for aspiring writers.