The Ann Arbor District Library’s Fifth Avenue Press imprint is launching five new publications by local authors across several genres during a Sunday, November 9, book-release reception at the Downtown location as part of A2 Community Bookfest.

The Fifth Avenue Press reception, which is at 1 pm, will include author readings and meet-and-greets along with opportunities to purchase books and get them signed by the authors.

Started in 2017, Fifth Avenue Press assists local authors with creating print-ready books at no cost and ensures they retain all of their rights.

As part of that partnership, the library distributes ebooks of the authors’ works to patrons without paying royalties. The authors can also sell their books in various formats and keep all of the proceeds.

We recently sent a questionnaire to the authors to learn more about their books and creative processes ahead of the November 9 reception. You can click the book titles below to take you to the author interviews:

• Phoenix Girl: How a Fat Asian With Bipolar Found Love by Michelle Yang 
• Running Around Town by Stephen K. Postema 
• Music for Evenings by Gerald Siclovan 
• The Story of the First Pawpsicle by Ariel Ojibway and Stephanie Babij (illustrations) 
• RUGGED RAX: The Little Satellite That Could by Suzanne Jacobs Lipshaw and Mesa Schumaker (illustrations) 

Phoenix Girl: How a Fat Asian With Bipolar Found Love
by Michelle Yang
[AADL checkout]
[Fifth Avenue Press page]

Q: Give us a short synopsis of the book.
A: My memoir Phoenix Girl: How a Fat Asian With Bipolar Found Love is encapsulated well by the subtitle. It’s my story of how I immigrated to the U.S. as an ethnic Chinese kid from Chinatown in Incheon, South Korea, to the U.S. and how my family bounced around and struggled. Much of my book embodies the common struggles of most working-class immigrant families, especially as a restaurant kid, but it also highlights my journey as a fat female and my struggles with my body image, and of course, struggling with my mental health and being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. But, as the title suggests, my story has a happy ending. It is important to me that it does because I’m fighting to change the narrative on mental health.

Here’s the book jacket synopsis:

After Michelle emigrates to the U.S. from the tight-knit ethnic Chinese enclave in Incheon, South Korea, she must adapt quickly to survive. With a dominant, impulsive father in charge—who protects the family from everyone but himself—and a mother who never finds her power, Michelle craves safety and security.

Like tumbleweeds, Michelle and her family bump across the country in a Ford Dixie van before settling in Phoenix, Arizona. Working at their family-owned Chinese takeout restaurant by age 12, Michelle drowns in pressures beyond her age.

Ultimately, Michelle finds love, not only the romantic kind, but an enduring self-love, which allows her to heal, never give up, and thrive while successfully managing what later becomes a bipolar 1 diagnosis.

Q: What inspired the book?
A: I was working in a corporate job for several years, and I was pressuring myself to do more, so I applied for a promotion, and I got it. On my first day of my new job, it was announced that the department was sold to an even bigger corporation. The nine months that followed were some of the toughest in my career. By the end of the high-pressure period, I wasn’t sleeping for over a week because of the stress, and for me, living with bipolar, it was life or death.

I hadn’t disclosed at work about my condition, so I felt I couldn’t ask for help. I was being crushed under the secret of my mental illness.  It was a choice between my life and my family, or my job, so I picked my life. I quit my job.

I had been crying at my desk, asking myself, "How did I get here? What am I even doing here?" It was never my dream to work in a corporation. I asked myself and really reflected, and that’s when it occurred to me that I want to write this memoir because even though I was having this miserable time, I had a master’s degree, I had a good job—that I hated, but it’s a job that a lot of people wanted—and I was happily married, I had a thriving child. All these things that my 20-year-old self didn’t know were possible. My 20-year-old self was terrified that I would have no future ahead of me at all.

I grew up in my family’s takeout restaurant. There was a library across the street in the same parking lot, which became my sanctuary. After my diagnosis, I looked for a book, wanting to find an example of at least one person who lives with bipolar and lives a normal life and is doing OK.

There wasn’t much back then in 2001, especially something that was accessible and not clinical. Nothing written by somebody who’s BIPOC, and certainly nothing written by someone who’s an Asian American or an immigrant.

When I quit my corporate job in my late 30s, when I went searching again, I found there still wasn’t much out there. So, I heeded Toni Morrison’s advice, “If there’s a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”

That’s how I began writing my memoir. I wanted other people to not feel so alone and so terrified. I also read Lindy West’s memoir, Shrill, and she wrote, “You can’t advocate for yourself if you don’t admit what you are.”

By sharing my story, my memoir Phoenix Girl became my biggest mental health advocacy project to date.

Q: What was the most enjoyable part of writing your book, and what was the most difficult?
A: The most enjoyable part of writing my book was all the people I met along the way and reading so many memoirs. The mentors and writing partners I worked with have become invaluable lifelong friends. Also, I went through about a dozen drafts of this manuscript, so watching it become what it is today has been very rewarding as well.

The most difficult part was writing through trauma and reliving childhood trauma. I would get physically ill writing through some of the scenes. I wish I had been gentler with myself and given myself more time.

Q: Do you have any writing rituals?
A: I treat writing like a job, so I protect my writing time. I’m a big fan of accountability partners as well. If you find the right one, it is an invaluable experience. While I was writing Phoenix Girl, I worked with a writing partner named Tria Wen. We met regularly and traded pages for feedback. I respect her work tremendously and am so excited that her beautiful memoir, All of Us Wildflowers, will be coming out from Counterpoint [in spring 2027].

Also, because Phoenix Girl is a memoir, I found that taking a hot bath or a shower really helped me with processing thoughts and unearthing memories.

Q: People who like your book will also like ...
A: The Magical Language of Others by E.J. Koh.
The Body Papers by Grace Talusan.
Marbles by Ellen Forney.
I’m Telling the Truth but I’m Lying by Bassey Ikpi.
What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo

Q: What advice would you give other authors who would like to submit their works to Fifth Avenue Press?
A: Work on the manuscript until it is the best you can make it on your own. When you think it’s ready, then begin submitting. Putting it out in the world too early can be a mistake because you may not have a second chance with the press, but it’s a delicate balance because if you wait too long, your work may lose momentum. A manuscript is a living, breathing work that needs to be fed to be kept alive. Best of luck! The journey is difficult, but the ones who make it to publication are the ones who don’t give up.

Running Around Town
by Stephen K. Postema
[AADL checkout]
[Fifth Avenue Press page]

Q: Give us a short synopsis of the book.
A: Running Around Town: An Ann Arbor Memoir is a collection of 37 short essays about growing up in a fascinating place and time: Ann Arbor from 1963 to 1977. The book is about my small but teeming domain extending from a modest neighborhood near the city's edge to the center of the University of Michigan campus. The book chronicles the transformative everyday interactions with people who influenced me in small and large ways.

My lens gently focuses on a variety of people and settings. The clerks at Discount Records who provided musical advice. A Middle Earth cashier who helped me buy a peace sign necklace for a sixth-grade classmate. The folk musicians I got to hear at The Ark music venue. Teachers who provided extra credit for writing about current events. The street people who lived in the basement of the student chapel I cleaned in the 1970s. A policeman neighbor who bailed me out of situational predicaments.  And importantly, a classmate, a bibliophile, who taught me to sing in tune and wrote me a note in the back row of American history class at Pioneer High School.

The book is part coming-of-age impressions, part family and societal portraits in miniature, and part love story, woven together with the cultural influences and music of the times.

Q: What inspired the book?
A: I posted an early piece about wearing clothes obtained at Bargain Days to Fuller Pool on a website initially devoted to those who grew up in town. People seemed very interested in this memory, particularly of an older boy giving me advice to buy a Levi's jean jacket. Readers also liked the format of a short essay encompassing a very specific event, and they encouraged me to write more. So I did. Then, during COVID, a time of isolation, I began to contemplate the important social interactions that defined me as a person, often arising from some random kindness in the past. These stories were like a warm blanket. Some of the essays also developed from tales I told about growing up in Ann Arbor when I was the city attorney of Ann Arbor and spoke at public events.   

Q: What was the most enjoyable part of writing your book, and what was the most difficult?
A: The most enjoyable part of the writing was going through a large collection of memorabilia and letters that I had from this time period. This material provided confirmation of specific details and events. For example, I have a letter signed by two assistant principals, instructing me to pay $2.00 for a damaged math book. Well, there is a story there that encompasses the Freeing John Sinclair concert in 1972.

The most difficult part was writing about my wife in the 1970s after she passed away in January 2024. She was the bibliophile whom I met in 10th grade.  I wrote much of the book while she was battling cancer, and she had assisted me with over half of the essays, both by providing information and editing. She shows up in the book in the last several chapters.

After she was gone, it was hard, for example, to write about telling her, my then new girlfriend, about a speed-reading course that I had purchased that promised to teach anyone to read a thick novel in an hour or so. Her reaction then, in spite of my absurd suggestion about speed reading, was difficult to fully capture at first because it was difficult to focus because of my recent loss. But she was a powerful figure in my life from early on, and that gave me the strength to focus and finish that essay as well as the book.

Q: Do you have any writing rituals?
A: Since the music of the 1960s and 1970s is woven throughout the book, I listened to this music for inspiration while I researched and wrote. I also often wrote the last sentences of a chapter first. For example:  "We both knew I needed a lot of practice." "And, like my car, we could only move forward." "Running around town, Ann Arbor was ours."

Q: People who like your book will also like ...
A: A book that encouraged me to write a memoir was Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, which is a poignant, funny, and inspiring book for writers and readers alike.

Charles Baxter's The Feast of Love made me realize that Ann Arbor itself is a character in some ways as well as just a setting. As I wrote, Ann Arbor "was a crazy compression chamber of societal forces."

While my book is nonfiction, an excellent fiction book about a boy's life is Dandelion Wine by the great Ray Bradbury. This book also made me realize that things I saw in real life were as odd or interesting or absurd, or funny as things made up in fiction.

Q: What advice would you give other authors who would like to submit their works to Fifth Avenue Press?
A: I think having a strong connection to Ann Arbor or Southeast Michigan helps, as this is part of their focus. I would suggest an author have a test audience read the whole manuscript before submitting it, just as a reality check. The entire staff was very professional and helpful throughout the process, and was wonderful to work with. Nate Pocsi-Morrison has a keen eye and constructed a fitting cover from an Ann Arbor News photo of me 50 years ago. And to prove my point of the many interconnections in this town: Emily Murphy, my excellent editor, lives in the exact house on Covington Drive that I grew up in and write about in the book. How crazy is that?

Music for Evenings
by Gerald Siclovan  
[AADL checkout]
[Fifth Avenue Press page]

Gerald Siclovan's statement on his book:

Music for Evenings comprises such divergent qualities that a brief synopsis is not possible. Structurally, it consists of a longish story, “Borderline,” that is in three parts; parts one and two are interrupted by a novella, “Charlie,” and parts two and three by another novella, “Rose and Nicole.” The latter section was conceived ca. 2000 but not written until 2018, which may offer a slight window into my working methods, i.e., the extent to which I let things simmer on the back burner before setting out to produce them. (The lag times for “Borderline” and “Charlie” were shorter but still substantial; three and five years, respectively.) Writing “Borderline” was the most enjoyable part of writing, because the main character/narrator is very sardonic and irreverent, which are qualities that I share. As a musician, I enjoy working with others, so working with my editors was another enjoyable aspect of writing, due to the collaborative, back-and-forth nature of the process. The least enjoyable part was the agonizing process of rewriting every sentence, every paragraph, many hundreds of times. As for inspiration, I wholeheartedly agree with Flaubert’s statement that inspiration consists in sitting at the same desk at the same time every day. I am fond of saying that the main character in everything I write is the English language; plot and character development are not, for me, the main attraction; they are simply the delivery system for somersaulting linguistic manipulations.

The Story of the First Pawpsicle
by Ariel Ojibway and Stephanie Babij (illustrations)
[AADL checkout] 
[Fifth Avenue Press page]

Questions answered by Ariel Ojibway.

Q: Give us a short synopsis of the book.
A: An adventurous Anishinaabe boy named Wabooz is running amuck in the wintery woods when he's struck by the idea for a very special dessert. With the help of his mom, and by treating the gifts of the woods with respect, his creation turns out just as he imagined and he is able to share it with his loving family.

Some ideas that I hope stay with readers are:
- Kids have wonderful ideas that can uplift their entire communities.
- Animal friends are our great teachers; let's try to listen and give them space for their own lives and ways of being!
- Anishinaabe people have been here enjoying pawpaws and listening to what the squirrels and many other beings have to teach since before this was the United States. We are still here, and still enjoying pawpaws!

Q: What inspired the book?
A: Why thank you for asking. The answer is, so many things! All the little Ojibways for one. There are six little cousins right now, and who knows who else will come. I wanted to share some ideas about good ways to be in the world with them, and with all children now and later who will learn about the world from their first stories. I've also always loved the maple sugar story and how we, the Anishinaabe, learned about it from the squirrels! In 2020, I read Leanne Betasamosake Simpson's retelling of the story in her "Land as pedagogy." I was inspired by how her story was very focused on the pleasure of enjoying oneself in nature, and rest—which a little bit reminded me of The Nap Ministry. It was also important to me that it showcased being wrapped in family love, support, and belief. I'd also just learned, a couple years before, about pawpaws! I am still astounded that something that tastes like a mango and banana grows in Michigan. There are so many things that most of us don't eat here, like sumac and hackberries, that we could eat and that people here used to eat regularly, and that might open our eyes to the bounty and possibilities of nature, if we learned more about these generous plants by getting out to visit and taste them. Additionally, someone's words—I wish I could remember who—stuck with me about two things. One is that stories will come back to us if we listen for them, and the other was about Native stories all being set in the past. Yes, my story does reference a certain uncle from out of time or from beginning times, but the idea with the story and how the illustrations were made is that it really could be any time, past or present. And I hope that helps kids see themselves in it. At the confluence of all these things came The Story of the First Pawpsicle!

Q: What was the most enjoyable part of writing your book, and what was the most difficult?
A: One, nearly unbelievably awesome thing, is that the Fifth Avenue Press engaged an illustrator for The Story of the First Pawpsicle. Erin Helmrich and I shared artists that we hoped we might work with. The artist we both thought would be perfect was Shirley Brauker, an artist who attended Mid-Michigan Community College, CMU, and the Institute of American Indian Arts, who primarily worked in clay. She taught in Mount Pleasant and worked throughout Michigan. I loved that she was an art educator. Sadly, Shirley walked on before we connected. Then, I stumbled upon Steph Babij's work, specifically her loon print. My grandmother loved loons, so it was a sign. While Steph's work is a very different style from Shirley's sketches, the fun colors and strong shapes in her art were magical. It felt like she could really paint the words into an adventure. I didn't realize that a storyboard, like a mini graphic novel, would have to be created first to share with the artist. That was a fun challenge, and it was wild to see how Steph took those rough outlines and, with her brilliance and bright colors, brought everything to life!

The most enjoyable part of the whole thing is putting all the pieces together into a story. It's like a puzzle. You have all these things that you want to share or celebrate or you love for different reasons, and you search for ways to connect them, which brings delight and makes sense. I also really loved gathering feedback, especially from my mom. For one of the first drafts, she was pleasantly kind about it, but I knew she had what would be constructive criticism if only she would share. So I prodded her until she did, and what she said was so incredibly helpful.

I actually think the most difficult thing for me is selling/promoting the book. I haven't plumbed the emotional depths of why that might be, but to say I'm bashful about it would be a huge understatement.

Q: Do you have any writing rituals?
A: I'd be a lot better writer if I did! I actually usually have a story sneaking around in my head, and it's only when it gets too loud that I actually sit down and write something. Earlier in my life, I wrote all the time and carried a notebook everywhere. I wrote down anything that made me laugh or that was absurd or delightful, and it was much more convenient to have paper when I was caught by an idea for a story.

I think the thing that most makes stories be able to come to the written page, for me, is giving myself time to daydream. I need space to stare at trees and wander and have disparate thoughts collide. And then what's even better, but is very hard to get, is creating a space where only your mind can distract you. No phone, no internet, no other people. Putting yourself in a space where you don't have something else to do and you have to write. It sounds impossible, and it almost is, but if all the stars align, it can happen.

Q: People who like your book will also like ...
A: Mnoomin maan'gowing / The Gift of Mnoomin by Brittany Luby & Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley
The Mitten by Jan Brett
Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask by Mary Siisip Geniusz
It's a Mitig! by Bridget George
My Heart Fills With Happiness and When We Are Kind by Monique Gray Smith
A Man Called Raven by Richard Van Camp

Q: What advice would you give other authors who would like to submit their works to Fifth Avenue Press?
A: Why not try? That's what I told myself. Everyone who works at the AADL is talented, fun, and encouraging, and I know that whoever gets their eyes on your book will be kind. Even if it doesn't work out this time and your dream is to publish a book, then you've prepared your work to submit until your story finds its home. You can do it!

RUGGED RAX: The Little Satellite That Could
by Suzanne Jacobs Lipshaw and Mesa Schumaker (illustrations)
[AADL checkout]
[Fifth Avenue Press page]

Questions answered by Suzanne Jacobs Lipshaw.

Q: Give us a short synopsis of the book.
A: Imagine you are part of an engineering team tasked with designing and building a mini but mighty satellite—a CubeSat named RAX. Your CubeSat’s mission? Gather space weather data to help scientists prevent massive blackouts caused by solar storms. But this team failed during its first attempt; will it succeed this time? RUGGED RAX is the true story of CubeSat RAX and is packed with a payload of space science and engineering for STEM enthusiasts.

Q: What inspired the book?
A: My son, Josh, while a junior at the University of Michigan, introduced me to CubeSats, when he joined the Michigan Exploration Laboratory (MXL) in 2013. CubeSats are miniature satellites built from 10xm x 10cm x 10cm cubic units and are extendable to larger sizes. They are much cheaper to build and deploy than larger satellites and provide an immense amount of information about space in a tiny package.

During Josh’s two years at MXL his team designed, built and tested three CubeSats. I was enthralled with every step of the process. Once I began my writing journey, I contacted MXL’s founder and director, Dr. James Cutler, and through discussion, I decided to write a book about MXL’s first CubeSat—Radio Aurora Explorer (RAX).

Q: What was the most enjoyable part of writing your book, and what was the most difficult?
A: My favorite part was having the opportunity to interview Dr. Cutler and receive a tour of MXL. Before I even begin outlining, whether it be a fiction or nonfiction manuscript, I dive into research. With this book, I had a lot to learn about the science behind CubeSats and space weather.

On the flipside, making sure the science was accurate was particularly daunting due to the complexity and technical aspects of space, space weather, and spacecraft. I also wanted to assure the illustrations portrayed the science correctly. Rugged RAX’s illustrator, Mesa Schumacher, went beyond the massive amounts of photos, charts, diagrams, etc. I sent her, by doing her own research and willingly tweaking even minor details.

Q: Do you have any writing rituals?
A: I enjoy writing with other people and attend a “write-in” via Zoom every Monday and Friday. There’s only three of us, but we make a point to be there, keep each other accountable, and of course support and encourage each other’s writing journeys. When I am pushing to get something done, I find more intense “write in” groups such as National Novel Writing Month type programs and Just Do It, which meet daily and begin by setting short- and long-term goals for the duration of the event. There are groups everywhere, and it brings a social component to the often-solitary life of an author.

Q: People who like your book will also like ...
A: Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover by Markus Motum
Flying Deep: Climb Inside Deep-Sea Submersible Alvin by Michelle Cusolito
Rosie Rever, Engineer by Andrea Beaty.

Q: What advice would you give other authors who would like to submit their works to Fifth Avenue Press?
A: First, if you have any doubts about submitting your manuscript to Fifth Avenue Press, set them aside. My experience with them has been fabulous. Second, put in the time before submitting: revise your manuscript and get feedback, revise and revise, revise again, and get additional feedback—you get the picture. And then, once you believe your writing is the best it can be—it will NEVER be perfect—take a leap of faith and submit it! 

The A2 Community Bookfest runs from 10 am-5 pm on Sunday, November 9, at the Ann Arbor District Library’s Downtown location, 343 South Fifth Avenue. The Fifth Avenue Press reception starts at 1 pm in the lower-level program room. For details, visit the Fifth Avenue Press webpage.