Due to circumstances beyond our control this event has been canceled. 

Join Jen Wang, author and creator of The Prince and the Dressmaker and Stargazing, to learn the nuts and bolts of making comics!

This event is part of A2CAF, an annual all-ages Comic Arts Festival!

Join Lucy as she speaks with Alice Henderson, author of the thrilling Alex Carter Suspense series, about her new book in this series, "A Ghost of Caribou"

Alice is a wildlife researcher whose love of wild places inspired her Alex Carter thriller series, which includes A Solitude of Wolverines, A Blizzard of Polar Bears, and now, A Ghost of Caribou. This series blends Alice's scientific work with her creative work to provide readers with an experience full of suspense, survival, and the animal world.

Love occurs mainly between people, yet we also love all sorts of other things, such as sports teams, phones, photos, cars, clothing, hobbies, and nature. Is that love the same as loving a person? Is it really love at all? Does it compete with other people for our affection? Does it make our lives richer? Can it go too far?

Shannon Gibney, author and class of 1993 graduate of Community High School, will read from and discuss her new genre-bending book The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption.

In the midst of a rising awareness of social inequalities, the acronym "DEI" has become an ever-present buzzword in workplaces across the world. But underneath our talk and commitment is the real challenge: how do we actually create better communities for everyone in practice? What can we learn from advocates and practitioners who have come before us? 

Michael W. Nagle discusses his new book about Eber Brock Ward (1811–1875).

Ward began his career as a cabin boy on his uncle’s sailing vessels, but when he died in 1875, he was the wealthiest man in Michigan. His business activities were vast and innovative. Ward was engaged in the steamboat, railroad, lumber, mining, and iron and steel industries. In 1864, his facility near Detroit became the first in the nation to produce steel using the more efficient Bessemer method.

Kidada Williams discusses her new book, a heart-wrenching reexamination of the struggle for survival in the Reconstruction-era South, and what it cost. In I Saw Death Coming, Kidada E. Williams offers a breakthrough account of the much-debated Reconstruction period, transporting readers into the daily existence of formerly enslaved people building hope-filled new lives.

Michigan author Maria Dong joins us to read from and discuss her new novel Liar, Dreamer, Thief.

Katrina Kim may be broke, the black sheep of her family, and slightly unhinged, but she isn’t a stalker. Her obsession with her co-worker, Kurt, is just one of many coping mechanisms—like her constant shape and number rituals, or the way scenes from her favorite children’s book bleed into her vision whenever she feels anxious or stressed.

Greta Uehling will be discussing her new book, Everyday War: the Conflict Over Donbas, Ukraine. Dr. Uehling will speak about civilians' capacity to deliver comfort and care in spite of military conflict. Drawing upon her research in Ukraine, and utilizing stories from her interviews, she will explore the only seemingly mundane practices that emerge from moral thinking about human vulnerability and relatedness in landscapes filled with military conflict. Dr Uehling will be joined in conversation by John Vsetecka.

Come with questions, a work in progress, or an empty notebook. All writers are welcome in this casual, supportive environment.

Authors Bethany Neal and Alex Kourvo will be on hand to answer questions and give encouragement. Bethany and Alex will also provide private, one-on-one critiques if you choose to have them read your work. Sharing your writing with other attendees is not required and is completely voluntary.