Bøker i Made in Michigan Writers Series-serien

As the 1960s dawned in small-town Michigan, Anne-Marie Oomen was a naive farm girl whose mother was determined to keep her out of trouble-by keeping her in 4-H. In Love, Sex, and 4-H, Oomen sets the wholesomeness of her domestic lessons in 4-H club from 1959 to 1969 against the political and sexual revolution of the time. Between sewing her first dish towel and finishing the yellow dress she wears to senior prom, Oomen brings readers along as she falls in and out of love, wins her first prize, learns to kiss, survives her first heartbreak, and makes almost all of her clothes. Love, Sex, and 4-H begins as Oomen struggles to sew a straight seam and works hard to embody the 4-H pledge of loyalty, service, and better living. But even as she wins her first modeling competition and masters more difficult stitches and patterns, Oomen finds that she is not immune to the chaos of the outside world. After the Kennedy assassination, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and her own short stay in a convent, Oomen encounters the biggest change of all-public school. In this new world of school dances, short skirts, and raging hormones, Oomen's orderly life will be complicated by her first kiss, first boyfriend, first store-bought dress, and finally, first love. All the while, she must negotiate her mother's expectations, her identity as a good 4-H girl, and her awareness of growing social and political unrest. Oomen brings an insightful and humorous eye to her evolving sexuality, religious beliefs, and sense of self. Fans of memoir will appreciate the honest portrayal of growing up between rebellion and tradition in Love, Sex, and 4-H.

Poet Ken Mikolowski ran a letterpress printing house for over thirty years, setting poems by hand, one letter at a time-an experience that influenced his love of short verse. In That That, Mikolowski presents his trademark quirky, humorous, and insighful poems, none longer than three brief lines and some made up of only two or three carefully chosen words. Together, these poems create a narrative of life and love broken down to the most minimal of forms. Mikolowski's deceptively simple collection takes readers on a whirlwind tour through weighty topics and humorous vignettes. He reflects on the nature of art, identity, and legacy in poems that muse in their entirety, "e;I've never met a deadline / I've ever met yet"e; and "e;Why I am not a New York poet / Detroit."e; Mikolowski also gives unparalleled assessments of serious subjects like love, aging, and death, declaring, "e;Sometimes / I don't think of you / for hours"e; and "e;Getting old / gets old / real quick."e; Some poems are more lighthearted and delight only in the wordplay of rhyme or unexpected imagery, adding an unmistakably playful element to this spare but polished volume. Mikolowski's collection demonstrates the singular power of language in the hands of a master craftsman. That That will be read and re-read by anyone interested in short poetry.

Depending on dialect, the Anishinaabemowin word "e;weweni"e; expresses thanks, exactitude, ease, and sincerity. In addition, the word for "e;relatives"e; is "e;nindenwemaaganag"e;: those whose "e;enewewe,"e; or voices, sound familiar. In Weweni, poet Margaret Noodin brings all of these meanings to bear in a unique bilingual collection. Noodin's warm and perceptive poems were written first in the Modern Anishinaabemowin double-vowel orthography and appear translated on facing pages in English. From planetary tracking to political contrasts, stories of ghosts, and messages of trees, the poems in Weweni use many images to speak to the interconnectedness of relationships, moments of difficulty and joy, and dreams and cautions for the future. As poems move from Anishinaabemowin to English, the challenge of translation offers multiple levels of meaning-English meanings found in Anishinaabe words long as rivers and knotted like nets, English approximations that bend the dominant language in new directions, and sets of signs and ideas unable to move from one language to another. In addition to the individual dialogues played out beween Noodin's poems, the collection as a whole demonstrates a fruitful and respectful dialogue between languages and cultures. Noodin's poems will be proof to students and speakers of Anishinaabemowin that the language can be a vital space for modern expression and, for those new to the language, a lyric invitation to further exploration. Anyone interested in poetry or linguistics will enjoy this one-of-a-kind volume.

New from award-winning Michigan writer Bonnie Jo Campbell, American Salvage is rich with local color and peopled with rural characters who love and hate extravagantly. They know how to fix cars and washing machines, how to shoot and clean game, and how to cook up methamphetamine, but they have not figured out how to prosper in the twenty-first century. Through the complex inner lives of working-class characters, Campbell illustrates the desperation of post-industrial America, where wildlife, jobs, and whole ways of life go extinct and the people have no choice but to live off what is left behind. The harsh Michigan winter is the backdrop for many of the tales, which are at turns sad, brutal, and oddly funny. One man prepares for the end of the world-scheduled for midnight December 31, 1999-in a pole barn with chickens and survival manuals. An excruciating burn causes a man to transcend his racist and sexist worldview. Another must decide what to do about his meth-addicted wife, who is shooting up on the other side of the bathroom door. A teenaged sharpshooter must devise a revenge that will make her feel whole again. Though her characters are vulnerable, confused, and sometimes angry, they are also resolute. Campbell follows them as they rebuild their lives, continue to hope and dream, and love in the face of loneliness. Fellow Michiganders, fans of short fiction, and general readers will enjoy this poignant and affecting collection of tales.

Presents new creative nonfiction by some of Michigan's most well-known and highly acclaimed authors. A celebration of the elements, this collection is both the storm and the shelter. The essays approach Michigan at the atomic level. This is a place where weather patterns and ecology matter.

A modern-day fairy tale told in conversation between a young girl and the mermaid of Lake Michigan. This is a new tale that feels familiar. The breeze off the lake, the sand underfoot, the supreme sadness of being young and not in control - these sensations come rushing back page by page, bringing to life an ancient myth of coming of age in a troubled world.

Brief encounters with the suffering and triumphs of characters living in northern Michigan by Phillip Sterling.