Mary Norris began her professional career as a foot checker—dutifully checking patrons’ toes for athlete’s foot as they entered a Cleveland city pool—before working at a costume company and driving a milk truck.

These were humble beginnings for a woman who would come to spend more than three decades as a copy editor (or “prose goddess”) at The New Yorker, where she’s worked with such celebrated writers as Philip Roth, Pauline Kael, and George Saunders.

Norris’s love of language, and her wish to help “all of you who want to feel better about your grammar,” led her to write Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen a hilarious, down-to-earth manual for untangling the most vexing spelling, punctuation, and usage quandaries in English.

Drawing on wide-ranging and hilariously rendered examples (from Henry James, Emily Dickinson, and James Salter to The Girl from Ipanema, Moby-Dick, and The Simpsons), Norris expertly guides readers through the most common and confusing grammatical issues. Although she is irreverent and blunt, Norris is never snarky or snooty in her grammatical advice. Throughout "Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen," Norris acknowledges the subjectivity of her work and advises readers to take a similar hands-on, case-by-case approach to language: “The dictionary is a wonderful thing, but you can’t let it push you around.”

Join us for a truly delightful afternoon event as Mary Norris discusses her critically-acclaimed book and her life as a ‘comma queen.’ Books will be for sale at this event, courtesy of Literati Bookstore, and the event will include a book signing.

Photo Credit: Josef Astor

Join us for a special National Library Week evening with Michigan Notable Book Author Mardi Jo Link.

Mardi will discuss her memoirs, Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm and The Drummond Girls, as well as some of her new projects and the craft of writing.

Mardi's memoir, "Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass On a Northern Michigan Farm" was an Indie Next pick, was given the 2013 Booksellers Choice Award from the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association, an Elle magazine's Reader's Prize, the Housatonic Book Award for Nonfiction, and was named a Michigan Notable Book. Film rights have been sold to Academy Award-winning actress, Rachel Weisz.

She has also written the true crime books, When Evil Came to Good Hart, Isadore's Secret: Sin, Murder, and Confession in a Northern Michigan Town, and Wicked Takes the Witness Stand: A Tale of Murder and Twisted Deceit in Northern Michigan, which were each Heartland bestsellers. Her essays have appeared in Bellingham Review, Bear River Review, Creative Nonfiction, the Detroit Free Press, Publishers Weekly, Terrain, and Traverse Magazine, among other places.

Mardi Jo Link was born in Detroit and grew up in Bay City and studied journalism and agriculture at Michigan State University. She was a founder of the magazine, ForeWord Reviews, in Traverse City, Michigan, and earned her master's degree in creative writing from Queens University of Charlotte, in North Carolina.

She is the mother of three grown sons and lives in Traverse City, Michigan, with her husband, Pete, and their dog, Gretchen.

Writing a book involves two distinct activities: drafting and editing. But when is the right time to do each one? Should you finish a complete draft before revising, or edit as you go? In this workshop, authors Alex Kourvo and Bethany Neal will show you the best way to get a rough draft done, the easy way to edit it, and how to get out of your own way to get that book finished.

This is part of the monthly Emerging Writer’s Workshops, which offer support, learning, and advice for local authors. Each month, two weeks after the workshop (this month on Thursday, November 17 at 7 p.m.), there is Meet-Up where the instructors will read samples of your work and offer advice and assistance in a casual, supportive atmosphere. Do you have a completed manuscript? Bring your work to one of the Meet-Ups to be considered for the library’s new imprint, Fifth Avenue Press.

We read stories to find out what happens next, but we also read for the deep meaning that only written fiction can provide. In this workshop, authors Alex Kourvo and Bethany Neal will show you why theme matters, what subtext and symbolism can do for your story, and why character change is a vital part of making novels work.

This is part of the monthly Emerging Writer’s Workshops, which offer support, learning, and advice for local authors. Each month, two weeks after the workshop, there is a Meet-up where the instructors will read samples of your work and offer advice and assistance in a casual, supportive atmosphere.

Do you have a completed manuscript? Bring your work to one of the Meet-ups to be in consideration for the library’s new imprint Fifth Avenue Press.

Can you describe your book in one sentence? Do you know what kind of book it is? How does it compare to others of its genre?

In this workshop, Bethany Neal and Alex Kourvo will show you how to figure out exactly where your novel or non-fiction book belongs on the shelf, and why knowing your book’s place is crucial to its success.

This is part of the monthly Emerging Writer’s Workshops, which offer support, learning, and advice for local authors. Each month, two weeks after the workshop, there is a Meet-Up where the instructors will read samples of your work and offer advice and assistance in a casual, supportive atmosphere.

Do you have a completed manuscript? Bring your work to one of the Meet-Ups to be in consideration for the library’s new imprint Fifth Avenue Press fifthavenue.press.

Come with questions, a work in progress, 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. This is an excellent opportunity to meet your fellow Ann Arbor writers as well as get feedback from published authors.

This is a monthly meet-up that welcomes all writers to ask questions, connect with other writers, or simply have a dedicated time and place to work on their projects.

Do you have a completed manuscript? Bring your work to a Meet-Up to be considered for the library’s new imprint, Fifth Avenue Press. fifthavenue.press

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. This is an excellent opportunity to meet your fellow Ann Arbor writers as well as get feedback from published authors.

This is a monthly meetup that welcomes all writers to ask questions, connect with other writers, or simply have a dedicated time and place to work on their projects.

Do you have a completed manuscript? Bring your work to a Meet-Up to be in consideration for the library’s new imprint Fifth Avenue Press fifthavenue.press.

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. This is an excellent opportunity to meet your fellow Ann Arbor writers as well as get feedback from published authors.

This is a monthly meetup that welcomes all writers to ask questions, connect with other writers, or simply have a dedicated time and place to work on their projects.

Do you have a completed manuscript? Bring your work to a Meet-Up to be in consideration for the library’s new imprint Fifth Avenue Press fifthavenue.press.

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. This is an excellent opportunity to meet your fellow Ann Arbor writers as well as get feedback from published authors.

This is a monthly meetup that welcomes all writers to ask questions, connect with other writers, or simply have a dedicated time and place to work on their projects.

Do you have a completed manuscript? Bring your work to a Meet-Up to be in consideration for the library’s new imprint Fifth Avenue Press fifthavenue.press.

Novels are made up of scenes, but how many should there be, and what should each one include? In this workshop, Bethany Neal and Alex Kourvo will show you why some scenes work and some don’t, which scenes your story must have, and how to write scenes that grip the reader while furthering the story.

This is part of the monthly Emerging Writer’s Workshops, which offer support, learning, and advice for local authors. Each month, two weeks after the workshop, there is a meet-up where the instructors will read samples of your work and offer advice and assistance in a casual, supportive atmosphere.

Do you have a completed manuscript? Bring your work to one of the Meet-Ups to be in consideration for the library’s new imprint, fifthavenue.press.