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Lifelike Living: Blair Austin's inventive new book, "Dioramas," defies easy categorization

by christopherporter

Blair Austin by Mark Ostow

Blair Austin by Mark Ostow

Blair Austin's Dioramas, which won the Dzanc Books Prize for Fiction, is described by the publisher as “part essay, part prose poem, part travel narrative.” 

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EMU professor Christine Hume faces “Everything I Never Wanted to Know” in her new book

by christopherporter

Christine Hume and her book Everything I Never Wanted to Know

“Do I even know one woman who hasn’t been subjected to male violence? Do you? Why doesn’t that admission stop us in our tracks?” asks EMU professor Christine Hume in her new essay collection, Everything I Never Wanted to Know

Hume in turn does just that—she stops in her tracks to examine the violence and the imperfect structures meant to address it. She takes a critical lens to the ways that women’s bodies have been controlled through expressing productive outrage and through creating a mapping of this issue in our community. Her persistent questioning illuminates the injustices by compelling the reader to consider a response. 

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Follow the Reindeer: Hanna Pylväinen's novel tracks missionaries and herders living on the Scandinavian tundra in 1851

by christopherporter

Hanna Pylväinen and her book The End of Drum-Time

How do you know when an action is a mistake or a choice?

This distinction is the question and crux of many turning points in The End of Drum-Time by U-M alum Hanna Pylväinen

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Ice Capades & Identity: Caroline Huntoon’s “Skating on Mars” follows a nonbinary middle schooler trying to find their place in the world

by christopherporter

Skating on Mars book on the left; author Caroline Huntoon on the right.

Author photo by Hannah Holland.

In the new middle-grade novel Skating on Mars by Ypsilanti writer and educator Caroline Huntoon, Mars is a nonbinary figure skater who is not only navigating how to be who they are but also grieving their father and experiencing the tumult of middle school friendships.

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Dr. Janet Gilsdorf's novel "Fever" charts a mysterious illness and a researcher's race to discover the bacteria causing it

by christopherporter

Janet Gilsdorf and her book Fever

On a getaway with a colleague to visit family in Brazil, Dr. Sidonie Royal instead finds herself in a race to save children falling ill with a mysterious disease—and she experiences grief when they do not make it. Janet Gilsdorf's novel Fever tracks Sid’s subsequent research attempts back in Michigan to find out what is causing the deaths.

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Shannon McLeod’s Short Story Collection “Nature Trail Stories” Provides Natural Spaces for People to Reflect and Integrate Their Past and Present Selves

by strattonl

Author Shannon McLeod and the cover of "Nature Trail Stories"

Via sharp observations and attempts at connection, the characters in Shannon McLeod’s Nature Trail Stories offer insights on their surroundings and the people around them. As one woman reflects, “Any place can be scenic, depending upon the scenes in your head.” This mindset could be expanded to all the short stories in the collection, as they reveal the world through the characters’ varied outlooks, from an art gallery employee awaiting the next person to walk in to a woman coping with heartbreak.

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“Crying in H Mart”: Michelle Zauner’s Memoir Helps Me Process the Loss of My Mother

by strattonl

Lori Stratton and Carolyn Barnard at Lori's high school graduation in June 1994.

Lori Stratton with her mother Carolyn Barnard at her high school graduation in June 1994.

Each year, I look forward to the summer solstice. There’s something magical about the longest day of the year and the maximum amount of daylight that it brings.

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BACKYARD BRAINS' GREG GAGE AND TIM MARZULLO HELP PEOPLE EXPLORE NEUROSCIENCE IN THEIR NEW BOOK, "How Your Brain Works"

by strattonl

The "How Your Brain Works" book cover on the left with authors Tim Marzullo on the top right and Greg Gage on the bottom right.

How Your Brain Works makes neuroscience available to everyone. Authors Tim Marzullo (top) and Greg Gage offer humor alongside science via illustrative drawings. Artwork by Cristina Mezuk.

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Stephanie Heit's New Hybrid Memoir Poem "Psych Murders" Examines Shock Treatment, The Aftermath, and How Time and Memory Move in Unexpected Ways

by strattonl

The title, Psych Murders, appears vertically in large charcoal caps running up and down the page. In the center is a charcoal bipolar neuron with synapses. The nucleus is a black circle with an open mouth and chasm throat in red, perhaps screaming, with pointed white teeth like a shark. On top is the silhouette of a man with a fedora wielding a scythe at the neuron. Stephanie Heit is written in red ballpoint cursive on the lower left. Headshot of  Stephanie Heit, a white queer disabled cis woman smiling, wearing a purple wrap, with brown wavy hair in a bob. She is on (perhaps in, feet dangling) the Huron River with background muted green of tree leaves, and dappled light before dusk.

Book cover design by Lindsey Cleworth, "What have I learned (Bipolar Neuron)" artwork by Chanika Svetvilas, and photo by Tamara Wade.

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Award-winning poet and writer Naomi Shihab Nye set her latest middle-grade-fiction novel, "The Turtle of Michigan," in Ann Arbor

by christopherporter

Author Naomi Shihab Nye and her book The Turtle of Michigan

Naomi Shihab Nye is best known for her poetry—she was chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 2010-15, and the Poetry Foundation’s Young People’s Poet Laureate from 2019-21.