AADL hosts a fun and wide-ranging conversation with several local alternative press leaders about their experiences running an alternative press.
Discover what motivated them to start and how their missions may have changed over the course of their runs; the technological and financial challenges; how the Internet and social media have altered the landscape; and their views on the role of the alternative press in our communities then versus now.

Panelists include:

Harvey Ovshinsky (Moderator): Harvey started The Fifth Estate when he was 17 years old. It has become the longest running alternative newspaper in the country, and is about to celebrate its 50th birthday.

Ted Sylvester and Laurie Wechter: Ted and Laurie founded Agenda in the 1980s and ran it through the 1990s. Agenda was an independent, non-aligned newspaper that served Ann Arbor and nearby towns as a forum for the area’s many liberal/leftist activist groups and nonprofit human service organizations.

Barbara Barefield: Barbara worked on alternative newspaper The Ann Arbor Sun in the 1970s. The newspaper was the mouthpiece for the White Panther Party and the succeeding Rainbow People’s Party before being an independent publication devoted to local issues, left-wing politics, music, and arts.

Dave Askins: Dave, with Mary Morgan, ran The Ann Arbor Chronicle from 2008-2014. The Ann Arbor Chronicle was an online newspaper focusing on civic affairs and local government coverage.

If you want more information about these publications, The Ann Arbor District Library hosts the online archives of Agenda, The Ann Arbor Sun, and The Ann Arbor Chronicle and you can view past issues of Agenda and The Ann Arbor Sun at Old News and past articles from the Ann Arbor Chronicle at the Ann Arbor Chronicle Archive.

Join Ruth McNally Barshaw, author of the popular Ellie McDoodle Diaries, for a hands-on workshop on how to make your own Ellie McDoodle or Diary of a Wimpy Kid-style illustrated book!

Copies of Ruth's books will be for sale courtesy of Literati Bookstore.

Learn the art of story creation, draw characters, and brainstorm settings, story problems, friends and enemies with Ruth McNally Barshaw, author of the popular Ellie McDoodle Diaries book series!

Books will be for sale courtesy of Literati Bookstore

Join us to hear Michigan Notable Books author Sally Howell speak about the history of Islam in Detroit, a city that is home to several of the nation’s oldest, most diverse Muslim communities.

In the early 1900s, there were thousands of Muslims in Detroit. Most came from Eastern Europe, the Ottoman Empire, and British India. In 1921, they built the nation’s first mosque in Highland Park. By the 1930s, new Islam-oriented social movements were taking root among African Americans in Detroit. By the 1950s, Albanians, Arabs, African Americans, and South Asians all had mosques and religious associations in the city, and they were confident that Islam could be, and had already become, an American religion. When immigration laws were liberalized in 1965, new immigrants and new African American converts rapidly became the majority of U.S. Muslims. For them, Detroit’s old Muslims and their mosques seemed oddly Americanized, even unorthodox.

Old Islam in Detroit: Rediscovering the Muslim American Past explores the rise of Detroit’s earliest Muslim communities. It documents the culture wars and doctrinal debates that ensued as these populations confronted Muslim newcomers who did not understand their manner of worship or the American identities they had created. Looking closely at this historical encounter, it provides a new interpretation of the possibilities and limits of Muslim incorporation in American life and shows how Islam has become American in the past and how the anxieties many new Muslim Americans and non-Muslims feel about the place of Islam in American society today are not inevitable, but are part of a dynamic process of political and religious change that is still unfolding.

Sally Howell is Assistant Professor of History and Arab American Studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

This event includes a booksigning and books will be for sale.

Wonder what secrets your house may hold? Who lived there 25, 50, or even 100 years ago?

Join Patrick McCauley, co-author of Historic Ann Arbor: an Architectural Guide as he walks you though his own experience as a researcher. Along with the considerable research required for his book, McCauley spent years doggedly uncovering his own home's history, and has plenty of guidance, tips and advice.

Whether you're just starting to dig into your work, or already an bit of researcher, McCauley will relate a few of his own research scenarios and share resources, extract lessons and highlight useful tips that you can use in your own historical hunt. Copies of Historic Ann Arbor will be available for sale and signing at the event.

Interest in Laura Ingalls Wilder is at a peak – especially with the recent publication of her autobiography Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography.

At this special AADL evening, explore the world of Laura Ingalls Wilder, whose experiences traveling and homesteading with her pioneer family spawned her series of popular children's books. Author and Wilder scholar William Anderson and University of Michigan History professor Michelle McClellan lead us on a journey through Laura's life and tell the story of how the places she lived have now taken on a life of their own.

Wilder's legacy extends far beyond her Little House series; millions know her from the 1970s television show based on her books, and the locations she wrote about, including Kansas, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Missouri, have become tourist destinations for her devoted fans.