What does having an amazing university, a plethora of fantastic local independent bookstores, and a pretty slam-bang public library system (if we do say so ourselves) bring to a town?

Authors. Lots and lots of authors.

In fact, so many authors pass through the area that sometimes it can be hard to keep track of who is speaking and when and where. To help guide you, Pulp curated a highlights list of January 2018 author events.

Jason Fagone
➥ Mon. Jan. 8, 7 pm • Literati
Journalist Fagone tells the true story of brilliant codebreaker Elizabeth Smith in his new book, The Woman Who Smashed Codes. She and her husband essentially invented the modern science of cryptology and their puzzle-solving skills helped reveal Nazi spies and ultimately aided in winning World War II.

William Rapai
➥ Tue. Jan. 9, 7 pm • Arbor Brewing Company
Literati partners with Arbor Brewing Company to host Rapai, who will share his new book, Brewed in Michigan: The Golden Age of Brewing in the Great Beer State. Rapai discusses what makes Michigan such a rich state for beer brewing and explores the history behind brewing here.

Casey Barrett
➥ Wed. Jan. 10, 7 pm • Literati
Canadian Olympic swimmer Barrett will read from his new novel, Under Water, a thriller featuring an unlicensed private investigator who is tasked with finding the missing teenage sister of a former Olympic champion.

Jessica Shattuck
➥ Fri. Jan. 12, 7 pm • Nicola’s Books
Shattuck is the award-winning author of the NY Times notable book The Hazards of Good Breeding and, most recently, The Women in the Castle. She'll be in conversation with U-M RC Creative Writing Director Laura Thomas, author of the story collection States of Motion. 

Shawn Martinbrough
➥ Mon. Jan. 15, 2:30 pm • Stamps Auditorium
Martinbrough will give a special talk titled “Continuing the Legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Through the Art of Storytelling.” Martinbrough is the author of How to Draw Noir Comics: The Art and Technique of Visual Storytelling and has worked on projects for Dark Horse, Marvel, and DC Comics.

James Forman
➥ Mon. Jan. 15, 4 pm • University of Michigan Law School
Forman is the author of Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, a unique and important view of the American criminal justice system, the people caught up in it, and its role in escalating the war on crime in the US.

Chloe Benjamin
➥ Mon. Jan. 15, 7 pm • Literati
Benjamin’s latest novel is The Immortalists, a story of four siblings grappling with how to live their lives after visiting a psychic and finding out the date that each of them will die.

Claudia Rankine
➥ Thu. Jan. 18, 5 pm • Michigan Theater
The University Musical Society, the Penny Stamps Speaker Series, and Literati have partnered to host Rankine in conversation with editor P. Carl. The topic of their discussion will be “Theatre Matters: Activism, Imagination, and Citizenship.” Rankine is the author of the collection Citizen: An American Lyric, a provocative meditation on race. She teaches at Pomona College.

Amy Emberling & Frank Carollo
➥ Sun. Jan. 21, 3 pm • AADL Malletts Creek Branch
Emberling and Carollo, managing partners of Zingerman’s Bakehouse, introduce the Zingerman’s Bakehouse cookbook, their first-ever cookbook, which features all the recipes of the Bakehouse’s most popular items.

Joel Kahn
➥ Tue. Jan. 23, 7 pm • Literati
Kahn, a clinical professor of medicine at Wayne State University, explores how a vegan-based diet can reverse some of the most common health challenges people experience today in his new book, The Plant-Based Solution.

Adrienne Maree Brown
➥ Wed. Jan. 24,12 pm • The School of Social Work
Brown will give an MLK Symposium lecture titled “From Theory to Practice: Engaging Intersectional Organizing for Structural Transformation.” Brown is the author of Emergent Strategy, a book that attempts to help readers understand the constant change around us and better adapt to and influence it.

Judge Raymond Kethledge
➥ Thu. Jan. 25, 11:30 am • University of Michigan Law School
Kethledge’s new book Lead Yourself First is a powerful guide to the importance of productive time spent alone. Kethledge believes that in order to be an inspiring and thoughtful leader to others, solitude and time spent inside one’s own head is crucial. He is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Jane Hirshfield and Brit Bennett
➥ Thu. Jan. 25, 5:30 pm • University of Michigan Helmut Stern Auditorium
Hirshfield has written eight books of poetry, most recently The Beauty. Bennett, author of the novel The Mothers, earned her MFA in fiction at U-M and was one of the National Book Foundation’s 2016 5 Under 35 honorees. This event is part of U-M's Zell Visiting Writers Series.

Washtenaw Reads Book Discussion
➥ Tue. Jan. 30, 7 pm • AADL Downtown Library Multipurpose Room
Library staff will lead a discussion of this year’s Washtenaw Reads selection, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.

Elizabeth Pearce is a Library Technician at the Ann Arbor District Library.