Join us for a special mystery-lovers evening as historical mystery writers Maureen Jennings and Nancy Herriman discuss their work and the history/mystery genre. This event, cosponsored by Aunt Agatha’s Mystery Bookstore, includes a book signing and books will be for sale. Note: mystery writer Tasha Alexander, also scheduled to present, is unfortunately unable to attend this event.

Born in England, Maureen Jennings emigrated to Canada as a teenager. The first acclaimed Detective Murdoch mystery was published in 1997. Six more followed, all to enthusiastic reviews.

In 2003, Shaftesbury Films adapted three of the novels into movies of the week, and four years later the Murdoch Mysteries TV series was created. It is now shown around the world.

The Detective Inspector Tom Tyler series, set in World War II-era England, got off to a spectacular start with 2011’s Season of Darkness, followed by Beware This Boyin 2012.

Her newest book, "Dead Ground in Between," is the haunting fourth novel in the DI Tom Tyler series. Set in Britain during the darkest days of World War II, this is a must-read especially for those interested in wartime dramas.

Nancy Herriman abandoned a career in Engineering to chase around two small children and take up the pen. She hasn't looked back. A multi-published author, she is also a former winner of the Romance Writers of America's Daphne du Maurier award for Best Unpublished Mystery/Romantic Suspense.

In his new book, Lost Car Companies of Detroit, author Alan Naldrett explores the many tales of automakers who ultimately failed - but helped to shape the auto industry and automobile designs of today.

Among more than two hundred auto companies that tried their luck in the Motor City, just three remain: Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler.

But, many of those lost to history have colorful stories worth telling:
• J.J. Cole forgot to put brakes in his new auto, so on the first test run, he had to drive it in circles until it ran out of gas.
• Brothers John and Horace Dodge often trashed saloons during wild evenings but used their great personal wealth to pay for the damage the next day (if they could remember where they had been).
• David D. Buick went from being the founder of his own leading auto company to working the information desk at the Detroit Board of Trade.

Join us as author Alan Naldrett highlights many colorful tales of automakers gone wrong. This event, held on the evening before the Main Street Area Association’s Rolling Sculpture Car Show, will include a book signing and books will be for sale.

Alan Naldrett divides his time between being a librarian, lecturer, and author, having written and co-written three local history books and a Michigan history book as well as a number of history columns. He is a life member of the Chesterfield Historical Society and the New Baltimore Historical Society, and a past vice-chairman of the Macomb County Historical Commission.

The statistics are staggering. One in five women in college are sexually assaulted, yet only a fraction of these crimes are reported, and even fewer result in punishment for the perpetrators. From the intrepid team behind the Oscar nominated film The Invisible War comes The Hunting Ground, a piercing 2015 documentary and a monumental exposé of rape culture on campuses, poised to light a fire under a national debate.

In a tour de force of verité footage, expert insights, and first-person testimonies, the film follows undergraduate rape survivors pursuing both their education and justice, despite ongoing harassment and the devastating toll on them and their families.

Scrutinizing the gamut of elite Ivies, state universities, and small colleges, filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering reveal an endemic system of institutional cover-ups, rationalizations, victim-blaming, and denial that creates perfect storm conditions for predators to prey with impunity.

Meanwhile, the film captures mavericks Andrea Pino and Annie Clark, survivors who are taking matters into their own hands—ingeniously employing Title IX legal strategy to fight back and sharing their knowledge among a growing, unstoppable network of young women who will no longer be silent.

A screening of the 45-minute version of the film will be followed by a community discussion led by the U-M Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center and U-M Community Scholars Program, cosponsors of this event. The Hunting Ground is rated PG-13.

Monica Higman, a teacher with First Steps Washtenaw, leads a program of music and motion!

Willy and Maynard flew all the way from San Francisco to tell us stories!

Willy Claflin has been a full-time professional storyteller since 1983. Check out his CDs and books in our collection!

Maynard Moose is an award-winning children’s author and recording artist. The only quadruped on the national storytelling circuit, Maynard has appeared eight times at the National Storytelling Festival, dozens of regional festivals, and hundreds of schools over the past 33 years.

Paul Saginaw, Co-founder of Zingerman's, will screen "Deli Man", the much-praised 2015 documentary about the history of delicatessens in the United States, and discuss the film, his experiences at Zingerman's and, of course, pastrami.

Produced and directed by Erik Greenberg Anjou, "Deli Man" is the third work in his trilogy about Jewish culture. The 92-minute film is rated PG-13.

For some, delicatessen food is close to a religious experience. Recipes and culinary garnishes from Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Romania flowed into late 19th and early 20th century America and soon became part of modern American culinary and cultural vernacular: deli.

The principal guide of "Deli Man" is the effusive and charming Ziggy Gruber, a third-generation delicatessen man, owner, and maven (as well as a Yiddish-speaking French trained chef) who currently operates one of the country’s top delis, Kenny and Ziggy’s in Houston.

Of course the story of deli isn’t Ziggy’s alone. It’s the history, anecdotes, and humor that once made one’s local delicatessen the virtual epicenter not only of food, but of family, laughter, and community. "Deli Man" visited meccas like the Carnegie, Katz’s, 2nd Avenue Deli, Nate ‘n Al, and Langer’s, and interviewed some of the great mavens, comedians, and connoisseurs of deli, including Jerry Stiller, Alan Dershowitz, Freddie Klein, Dennis Howard, Jay Parker (Ben’s Best), Fyvush Finkel, and Larry King.

The documentary has also toured some of the new shining lights in the deli biz, including Wise Sons in San Francisco and Caplansky’s in Toronto.

The event is cosponsored by The Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor (CHAA), which was founded in 1983 by Jan Longone and friends and is an organization of scholars, cooks, food writers, nutritionists, collectors, students, and others interested in the study of culinary history and gastronomy.

AADL is extremely pleased to host Michael Schulman, theater editor of New Yorker’s Goings On About Town as he discusses his new New York Times Bestselling Book; Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep. Books will be for sale at this event, which will include a book signing.

"Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep" is the first thoroughly researched biography of the actress—and a portrait of a woman, an era, and a profession. With the narrative thrust of a novel, "Her Again" peels back the curtain behind the greatest actress of her generation, granting us an intimate look into the formative years that shaped her into the icon she is today.
From her days as homecoming queen at her suburban New Jersey high school, through her early days at Vassar College and Yale School of Drama during its golden years, to her star-making roles in "The Deer Hunter," "Manhattan," and "Kramer vs. Kramer," Schulman paints an indelible portrait of the artist as a young actress.

He brings into focus Streep’s heady rise to stardom on the New York stage; her passionate, tragically short-lived love affair with fellow actor John Cazale; her marriage to Don Gummer; and her evolution as a young woman in the 1970s wrestling with changing ideas of feminism, marriage, love, and sacrifice.

"Her Again" is the story of a gifted young woman coming into her extraordinary talents at a time of immense transformation, a rare glimpse into the life of the actress long before she became an icon.

Michael Schulman is a contributor and arts editor at the New Yorker. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Believer, and other publications. He works at The New Yorker, where he is the theater editor of Goings On About Town and a frequent contributor to The Talk of the Town. His work has also appeared in the New York Times Styles section, Vanity Fair, The Believer, and other publications. He is the co-creator of the annual live series You Like Me: An Evening of Classic Acceptance Speeches.

Join us for a special screening of the 2016 documentary "Land Grab," the story of an eccentric finance mogul's dream to create the world's largest urban farm in his hometown of Detroit.

"Land Grab" documents the fascinating story of John Hantz’s dream and the political firestorm he unintentionally ignited by announcing that he would spend $30 million of his own fortune to build this farm in one of the most economically devastated neighborhoods of the bankrupt Motor City.

The screening will be followed by a discussion led by Mike Score, project manager of Hantz Farms, the subject of this 76-minute film.

Find out more about this fascinating man and his ambitious project for the improvement and beautification of Detroit

It's the long-awaited return of the AADL Equipment Disposal Sale!

Furniture, Computers, Monitors, Shelving, and much, much more! Both cash and credit cards are accepted.

All items are sold as-is and all sales are final. Purchases must be picked up by 5 PM on Sunday.

Get a great deal on some quality stuff!

The sale will also be held on Sunday May 29 from 1:00 - 4:00 pm.

No art skills? No problem. We'll show you how to turn your own writing into something special.