A dancer, a pilot, a writer, and an Ann Arbor wrestler—these are among the girls you'll meet when author Patricia Majher leads this fascinating look at famous women, Michigan, and her new book, Great Girls in Michigan History.

The easy-to-read short biographies in her book, named a 2016 Michigan Notable Book, uncover the stories of 20 girls from Michigan’s past who did amazing things before they turned 20 years old. From lesser-known leaders and writers to more well-known figures, the girls in her book come from a variety of personal backgrounds and interests, locations across the state, and historical time periods.

Patricia Majher is the editor of Michigan History magazine (published by the Historical Society of Michigan) and the author of Ladies of the Lights: Michigan Women in the U.S. Lighthouse Service.

Do not miss this look at Michigan's past through the lens of its most famous women! A book signing will follow and books will be for sale.

PBS-featured author and life-long Michigan resident Doc Fletcher returns to the Library for a delightful evening discussion of Michigan canoeing and kayaking, this time focusing on his just-released book Canoeing and Kayaking College Campuses in Michigan.

Enjoy an hour-long photographic journey down rivers from Doc’s latest canoeing & kayaking book. With a Michigan map spread across the desk and a bit of time spent researching colleges across the Great Lakes State, it is evident that there are over 20 Michigan colleges that can tell you they have a great paddling river for a neighbor. 20 of those river-college unions are highlighted in this book.

Re-live the magic of those crazy college days via a 3-part curriculum… (1) paddle the river, (2) walk the nearby college campus & (3) enjoy the local tavern. College, for many the greatest experience of our lives… expanding minds, no parents, first taste of independence, learning responsibility, building life-long friendships, and – like the joy of paddling a river - creating a long list of happy, fantastic memories.

You don't have to be a paddling enthusiast to enjoy the program, but you may become one by the time the evening ends!

The event includes a book signing and copies of Doc’s published books on canoeing and kayaking in Michigan and Wisconsin will be on sale. One lucky attendee will also win a gift certificate good for a free canoe or kayak day trip.

Kristin Meekhof, a graduate of Kalamazoo College and the Master in Social Work program at the U-M, interviewed widows from all different backgrounds to blend their stories together along with practical advice in her book, A Widow's Guide to Healing: Gentle Support and Advice for the First 5 Years. Widowed at a young age, she can also speak from experience on the unique and unforeseen challenges of widowhood.

Her book offers a much-needed blueprint for grieving widows to face the often overwhelming challenges of their new reality. Written for those grappling with their first five years of widowhood; this book gently and clearly guides readers through the pain and problems to a happier, healthier, and more hopeful future.

Ms. Meekhof is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, MariaShriver.com, WomanThatSoar, among other sites, and is a member of the U-M Cancer Center Board.
Follow Kristin Meekhof on her journey at Facebook, Twitter, and her website.

Ron Gries began to write during the last years of his wife’s life and continued after she died. He later turned his writing into a book entitled Through Death to Life, which offers insight and support to those who grieve the loss of their spouse or family member.

For this event, Ron will provide hope and encouragement, sharing his difficult journey of recapturing his life from the ashes of grief and once again finding the wonder and joy in life.

This event is cosponsored by AADL and Arbor Hospice Grief Support Services. Books will be for sale at this event and Ron will be happy to sign copies.

Join us for an afternoon for individuals and loved ones grieving reproductive loss.

This event will include three components:
• Lindsay Brennan and Lesley Farrell, Clinical Social Workers from the UM Center for Reproductive Medicine will discuss coping strategies for grief and loss.

• Robin Silbergleid will share excerpts from her recent book of poetry, "The Baby Book," which documents her journey from infertility treatment through parenthood. She will also lead participants in a short exercise for expressing their own experiences through imaginative letter writing.

• Maria Novotny and Elizabeth Walker, founders and curators of ART of Infertility, an infertility artwork, oral history and portraiture project and traveling exhibit, will guide participants in the making of personalized keepsake boxes. Some pieces of visual art and writing from ART of Infertility’s permanent collection will also be on display throughout the event.

This event is co-sponsored by The University of Michigan Center for Reproductive Medicine and ART of Infertility.

AADL presents an evening with award-winning poet Clayton Eshleman, who will discuss his writing and read excerpts from his new collection of poetry: "The Essential Poetry, 1960-2015". This event includes a book signing and books will be for sale.

Clayton Eshleman has lived in Mexico, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Peru, France, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. He is presently Professor Emeritus, English Department, Eastern Michigan University. His first collection of poetry, Mexico & North, was published in Kyoto, Japan in 1962.

As a contemporary writer, Eshleman’s history is our own: his writing a record and reflection of our times. His story — the story revealed in his poetry — is the story of mid-America meeting the wider world; the story of social and political radicalism, of a counterculture raising a voice in poetry and in art; of the challenges, frustrations and anomie that befell that counterculture and of the continued and indeed ongoing drama of empire and overreaching power, from Vietnam and El Salvador to Afghanistan and Iraq. Eshleman’s life in let ters has exemplified a commitment to ceaseless, wide-ranging exploration and encounter: with other places, other people, other poetries — foreign and familiar —, other modes of thought and image.

As he has written of his work: “I dream of poems that could change something essential / about the way a few people view creation…”

Among his recognitions and awards are a Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry; The National Book Award in Translation; two Landon Translation Prizes from the Academy of American Poets and the The Alfonse X. Sabio Award for Excellence in Translation.

Between 1967 and the present, he founded and edited two of the most innovative poetry journals of the later part of the 20th century, Caterpillar and Sulfur. He is also the co-translator of "Aimé Césaire: The Collected Poetry" and the author of "Juniper Fuse: Upper Paleolithic Imagination & the Construction of the Underworld. "

John W. Barfield is a legendary entrepreneur who is known as a pioneer of corporate America's vital Minority Supplier Development programs. He is the founder of The Bartech Group Inc., a leading workforce management and staffing solutions provider to Global 500 firms. Bartech, based in Southfield, Michigan, employs more than 3,000 people, manages approximately 26,000 contract workers worldwide, and manages approximately $3 billion in contingent labor for its global clients. Bartech was named the Nation's Top Managed Service Provider firm for 2014 by HRO Today, a trade magazine for the contingent workforce Industry.

Join us as John discusses his life and his new autobiography, Starting From Scratch : The Humble Beginnings of a Two Billion-Dollar Enterprise. A book signing will follow and books will be for sale at the event.

The son of an Alabama sharecropper, John W. Barfield dropped out of high school to enlist in the United States Army, serving in Germany and France from 1945-1947. Upon his discharge, he worked as a custodian at the University of Michigan.

In 1954, he and his wife Betty, formed the first of many companies, J & B Cleaning Company (later renamed Barfield Cleaning Company) located in Ypsilanti. John and his wife Betty sold their first business to ITT Corporation in 1969. It was a breakthrough transaction that led to a relationship with General Motors Corporation and a second career as one of the most successful minority suppliers for GM and other companies.

In 1977, Barfield incorporated John Barfield and Associates and by 1984 he had expanded the company and renamed it Bartech Inc. Barfield formed and eventually sold additional businesses, including Barfield Building Maintenance Company and Barfield Manufacturing Company.

As a long time philanthropist and mentor to other entreprenuers, Mr. Barfield has received numerous honors and awards, including The Tree of Life Award, the highest honor of the Jewish National Fund of America; the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion's Humanitarian of the Year Award; and the A.G. Gaston Lifetime Achievement Award from Black Enterprise Magazine.

At a time when daily print newspapers across the country are failing, the Michigan Daily continues to thrive.

Completely operated by students of the University of Michigan, the paper was founded in 1890 and covers national and international news topics ranging from politics to sports to entertainment. The Daily has been a vital part of the college experience for countless UM students, none more so than those who staffed the paper as editors, writers, and photographers over the years. Many of these Daily alumni are now award-winning journalists who work for the premier news outlets in the world.

Join us for a fascinating look at this groundbreaking newspaper with Stephanie Steinberg, editor of the new book In the Name of Editorial Freedom: 125 Years at the Michigan Daily, a compilation of original essays by some of the best-known Daily alumni about their time on staff. This inside look at the U-M newspaper is, according the former U-M President Mary Sue Coleman, “a unique window into the lives of students at the University of Michigan. Their stories are powerful and remind us of the magic of this place where students both are challenged and challenge others daily to change the world for the better.”

Stephanie will be joined by Laura Berman, former Detroit News columnist; Chris Dzombak, senior software engineer for The New York Times; and Roger Rapoport, producer of the feature films "Pilot Error" and "Waterwalk" and author of the Michael Moore biography "Citizen Moore."

Local radio personality Martin Bandyke hosts this event, which includes a book signing. Books will be for sale.

From Ernest Hemingway’s rural adventures to the gritty fiction of Joyce Carol Oates, the landscape of the “Third Coast” has inspired generations of the nation’s greatest storytellers.

Join Michigan Notable Author Anna Clark to unveil Michigan’s extraordinary written culture as she discusses Michigan authors and her new book, Michigan Literary Luminaries: From Elmore Leonard to Robert Hayden. The event includes a book signing and books will be for sale.

This fascinating book is a shines a spotlight on this rich heritage of the Great Lakes State with a mixture of history, literary criticism, and original reporting. Discover how Saginaw greenhouses shaped the life of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Theodore Roethke. Compare the common traits of Detroit crime writers like Elmore Leonard and Donald Goines. Learn how Dudley Randall revolutionized American literature by doing for poets what Motown Records did for musicians.

Anna Clark is a freelance journalist in Detroit. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, The American Prospect, Grantland, Vanity Fair, the Columbia Journalism Review, Next City, and other publications. She is the director of applications for Write A House and founder of Literary Detroit. Anna also edited A Detroit Anthology, a 2015 Michigan Notable Book.

When it comes to cycling, Michigan is at or near the top of the list in America with 109 rail-trail conversions totaling 1,311 miles.

Learn more when veteran cyclist and traveler Bob Downes discusses cycling and his book Biking Northern Michigan: The Best & Safest Routes in the Lower Peninsula. Bob will share his fascinating travel experiences, tips, and stories.

Packed with funny stories, cycling tips, history and dining recommendations, Biking Northern Michigan will have you ready to ride one of the top cycling destinations in the world.

The book includes more than 35 bike routes and 56 maps and illustrations in and around Traverse City, Petoskey and the Mackinac Straits in northwestern lower Michigan.

The event includes a book signing and books will be for sale.