ASL interpretation and live captioning will be provided for this event. This event will be recorded.

The Ann Arbor District Library is proud to welcome Judith Heumann and Kristen Joiner for an online author event to discussion of her memoir, Being Heumann: an Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist, the 2022 Washtenaw Reads selection.

To speaker, author and executive coach John Baldoni, grace is "the essence of life that enables us to see the world as not simply a place for some of us but rather a place for all of us. It facilitates our purpose by enabling us to find comity, civility and compassion. While purpose is our why, Grace become our how—treating others as with an open mind as well as an open heart." Join John for a presentation on the interconnection of grace and purpose and their role in finding comity, civility and compassion.

Join Lucy as she shines a spotlight on the works of a single author. This month she looks at the novels of Tayari Jones.

Tayari Jones is the New York Times bestselling author of four novels. Her most recent novel, An American Marriage (2018) was awarded the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Aspen Words Prize and an NAACP Image Award. It was a 2018 Oprah’s Book Club selection.

From the legendary Janet Keiller, popularly credited with "inventing" marmalade in Dundee, Scotland in the 1700s, to Cooper's, Chivers and Smucker's, the world's great marmalade manufacturers have fascinating stories. Touching on marmalade history from ancient times to the present, author Sarah B. Hood weaves a compelling tale that ties in Roman cookery, medieval Persian poetry, changing attitudes towards racism, scurvy in the British Navy, Victorian labour conditions and globalization, and perhaps explains why marmalade is such an enduringly beloved commodity.

Author/Artist extraordinaire Tim Fielder joins AADL Librarian Sara for an interview about his new book, Infinitum - an Afrofuturist graphic novel. The story follows an African king living with the curse of immortality as he traverses first the Earth, and then the stars. Lush illustrations, an Afro-centric perspective, a wise, broad view of the human condition, and roots deep in the Afrofuturist genre give us lots to discuss.

Across America, the pure love and popularity of barbecue cookery has gone through the roof. Prepared in one regional style or another, in the South and beyond, barbecue is one of the nation’s most distinctive culinary arts. And people aren’t just eating it; they’re also reading books and articles and watching TV shows about it. But why is it, asks Adrian Miller—food writer, attorney and longtime certified barbecue judge—that in today’s barbecue culture African Americans don’t get much love?

AADL staff member Lucy interviews Anan Ameri, Palestinian-born activist and founding director of the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn about her new memoir The Wandering Palestinian.

Join us for a look at the gendered history of Sunset Magazine‘s early years, from its first recipe columns featuring recipes submitted by women, to its various “outdoorsy” columns where men’s cooking found a place. Learn how Sunset’s cooking categories shape-shifted as the “cooking department” began to accommodate men who cooked.

Rochelle Riley, author and former award winning columnist at the Detroit Free Press, gives an inside peek at her latest book, That They Lived: Twenty African Americans Who Changed The World.  Later this week, join Rochelle for a live event with Q&A at 6pm on Friday, February 12th! 

Explore the customs, traditions, and stories surrounding Chinese food and festivals. 

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is a journalist, essayist, speaker, activist, and poet focused on issues of diversity, race, culture, and the arts. The child of immigrants, she was born in Los Angeles, raised in Silicon Valley, and now divides her time between Michigan and the Big Island of Hawai‘i. 

This event is in partnership with Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor.