Blog Post
The More We Get Together!
by kidlit
If you have or know any very young children, come to the Downtown Library on Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. for a family concert and a book signing with Gari Stein.
Ms. Stein is an educator who brings music and movement together for the very young. Her classes for babies and and their grownups are well known around Ann Arbor. Her new book, The More We Get Together: Nurturing Relationships Through Music, Play, Books and Art, was just released in November.
Come and dance and celebrate!
Blog Post
Poet and Novelist Laura Kasischke Named 2008 United States Artist Fellow
by muffy
United States Artists (USA) is a grant-making, artist-advocacy organization dedicated to supporting America’s finest artists working across diverse disciplines.
Since its launch in September 2005 with $20 million in seed funding provided by a coalition of leading foundations, the USA Fellows program has been awarding unrestricted $50,000 grants to 50 artists each year.
Kasischke, an assistant professor in the University of Michigan MFA creative writing program, winner of 4 Pushcart Prizes and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts has published books of poetry and novels.
Here is a complete list of the 2008 USA fellows.
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #124
by muffy
A Map of Home* by Ann Arbor author Randa Jarrar hits the bookstores today.
Critics are calling this fiction debut “sparkling”, “intimate, perceptive and very, very funny”. It’s the story of Nidali, an audacious Muslim girl (with a Greek-Egyptian mother and a Palestinian father) who grows up in Kuwait, Egypt and Texas.
As citizens of the world, this family weathered some harrowing experiences that were even funny and wacky at times, but it is Jarrar’s handling of adolescent angst - "stifling parental expectations, precarious friendships, sensuality and first love; and her exhilarating voice and flawless timing that make this a standout”.
You can find Randa Jarrar's profile in myspace. She will be at Shaman Drum on September 15th, at 7:30 p.m., one of only two Michigan stops on her fall book tour.
* = Starred reviews