4:00pm | Michael Eric Dyson | Main Street Church

By |2019-03-14T15:53:45-04:00March 16th, 2018|

320 N Main St, Chelsea, MI 48118

Michael Eric Dyson is an acclaimed author of nearly 20 books, including his latest work, the New York Times bestseller, Tears We Cannot Stop, a non-fiction work that examines racial divide and calls for change. He is the recipient of two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Literary Work in Non-Fiction, and winner of the American Book Award for his work Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster. Dyson has also written for the New York Times and is a contributing editor for the New Republic and ESPN’s The Undefeated website. In addition to his work as an author, Dyson is a Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University and a former radio show host of the Michael Eric Dyson Show.

Dyson received his PhD from Princeton University and has taught at taught at Brown, Columbia, the University of North Carolina, DePaul University and the University of Pennsylvania. Dyson has been lauded for his hard-hitting books and other advocacy for African Americans. Essence declared him one of 40 most inspiring African Americans, and he was named among the 100 most influential black Americans by the website Ebony.

Praise for Tears We Cannot Stop

“Elegantly written and powerful in several areas: moving personal recollections; profound cultural analysis; and guidance for moral redemption. A work to relish.” Toni Morrison

“Here’s a sermon that’s as fierce as it is lucid…If you’re black, you’ll feel a spark of recognition in every paragraph. If you’re white, Dyson tells you what you need to know―what this white man needed to know, at least. This is a major achievement. I read it and said amen.” Stephen King

“This work is both lucid in its logic and profound in its probing and wide-ranging cultural and social analysis. Dyson’s homily resonates amid personal recollection and reflection as a call to action for Americans to reach a positive future by working to cultivate empathy, develop racial literacy, and live up to the demands of justice.” Library Journal

“One of the most frank and searing discussions of race I have ever read.” Patrick Phillips,  New York Times Book Review

2:30pm | Ada Limón | Chelsea Depot

By |2018-03-27T11:05:57-04:00March 16th, 2018|

125 Jackson St, Chelsea, MI 48118

Ada Limón is an acclaimed poet, author of four books of poetry, 2015 National Book Award finalist, and winner of the Chicago Literary Award for Poetry. Originally from Sonoma California, Limon holds an M.F.A from the Creative Writing Program at New York University, and serves on the faculty of the Queens University of Charlotte Low Residency M.F.A Program and the 24Pearl Street online program for the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center.

Limón’s most recent book of poetry, Bright Dead Things, was one of the New York Times Top Ten Poetry Books of the Year, as well as a finalist for the National Book Award in Poetry, a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, and a finalist for the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award. Limón’s other works include Lucky Wreck, winner of the 2005 Autumn House Poetry Prize; This Big Fake World, winner of the 2005 Pearl Poetry Prize, and Sharks in the Rivers.

Poet Richard Blanco praises Limón’s work as “both soft and tender, enormous and resounding, …[with] poetic gestures [that] entrance and transfix.” Author Matthew Zapruder writes “Limón does far more than merely reflect the world: she continually transforms it, thereby revealing herself as an everyday symbolist and high level duende enabler.”

Praise for Bright Dead Things

“Limón’s calling card is her relaxed, winningly unpretentious voice (“Every time I’m in an airport / I think I should drastically / change my life…”). Her strongest work (the poem that gives this book its title, for example) is a study in casual intensity” —The New York Times

“Generous of heart, intricate and accessible, the poems in this book are wondrous and deeply moving.” —Library Journal

“Limón…goes into deep introspection mode in a fourth collection in which her speakers struggle with loss and alienation. As her poems move across varied geographies (New York, Kentucky, California), Limón narrates experiences in bewildering landscapes that should otherwise feel familiar. Perhaps feelings of alienation result from intersections of identity; perhaps they are the cost of memory, a theme woven through each of the collection’s four sections…Recurring instances of anxiety about mortality in Limón’s poems complicate experiences so richly written and felt.” —Publisher’s Weekly

1:00pm | Will Schwalbe | Chelsea First Congregational Church

By |2018-04-17T11:10:12-04:00March 16th, 2018|

121 E. Middle Street, Chelsea, MI 48118

Writer and journalist Will Schwalbe is the author of The End of Your Life Book Club, which spent twelve weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, was an Entertainment Weekly Best Book of the Year, one of Amazon’s top four best books for the year, an Indie Choice Honor Award book, and winner of the Books for a Better Life Award for Best Inspirational Memoir. His latest work, Books for Living, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary and Publishing Triangle Awards, and illustrates the ways in which books affect us, honor our loved ones, and add meaning and fullness to our lives.

Schwalbe has an impressive career surrounded by the written word. He has worked in publishing (he’s now EVP, Editorial Development and Content Innovation for Macmillan); digital media, as the founder and CEO of Cookstr.com; and journalism, writing for various publications, including the New York Times and the South China Morning Post. Schwalbe is a self-proclaimed New Englander, and a life-long book lover, with early memories of the books his parents would read aloud. He currently lives in New York with his partner David Cheng.

Praise for Books for Living:

“Schwalbe’s tremendous experience with reading and his stellar taste make for a fine guide to the varied and idiosyncratic list of books for which he advocates. By the end of the book, all serious readers will have added some titles to their to-read lists.” —Publisher’s Weekly

“In this warmly engaging, enlightening, and stirring memoir-in-books and literary celebration, Schwalbe reminds us that reading “isn’t just a strike against narrowness, mind control, and domination; it’s one of the world’s greatest joys.” —Booklist

Praise for The End of Your Life Book Club:

“With a refreshing forthrightness, and an excellent list of books included, this is an astonishing, pertinent, and wonderfully welcome work.” —Publisher’s Weekly

“A wonderful book about wonderful books and mothers and sons and the enduring braid between them. Like the printed volumes it celebrates, this story will stay with you long after the last page.”
—Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie and The Time Keeper

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