The following is a list of events from A Detroit Literary Calandar, a project of Elijah Sparkman.
https://tinyurl.com/bdeb29ee
One night only!
Catch a good show with three guys who know some words:
Russ Thorburn
Cal Freeman
Ken Meisel
Doors: 6pm
Start: 6.30
Run time: 45 mins
FREEE
Literati is excited to welcome Scott Beal to celebrate the release of his new book of poems, Stegosaurus Moon.
About the Book: Stegosaurus Moon explores heartbreak, divorce, parenthood and the discovery of new, often unexpected, ways forward. Poem by poem, the speakers puzzle through how one love comes apart and how a new life comes together in its wake.
Through encounters with everything from dinosaurs and scorpionflies, Britney Spears and the Rock, birthdays, deaths, pets, teenagers, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Rupaul's Drag Race, the sequence builds into an examination of how the language of queer identity can be weaponized or can open space for more expansive ways to live and love. A tender accounting of the poet peering into a mirror that morphs and warps with language that consistently astounds, these pieces walk in step with the work of Ross Gay, Jeffrey McDaniel, Denise Duhamel, and Jennifer L. Knox.
Scott Beal is the author of Wait 'Til You Have Real Problems (Dzanc Books, 2014) as well as the chapbook The Octopus (Gertrude Press, 2016). He directs the Lloyd Scholars for Writing and the Arts program at the University of Michigan and teaches in the Sweetland Center for Writing. He co-hosts the Skazat! monthly online poetry series and co-edits Public School Poetry.
Opening Poets: Dom Witten & Jocelyn
A triumphant, cross-generational exploration of Black joy and resilience.
Remember frolicking outside during the long, jubilant days of summer? This vibrant collection invites readers to breathe deeply and return to that "carefree" season. From riding bikes with friends through the neighborhood, to hopping the ferry to Boblo Island, catching catfish along the river, dancing on warm nights to Afrobeats and jazz music, and cooling off in the Swimmobile, those sun-drenched memories were often clouded by racism for the Detroiters in this evocative anthology. These emerging and award-winning creators of all ages recount the struggles and triumph of staking their claim to public spaces. Ranging from poetry to essay, creative nonfiction to comics, this collection blends nostalgia with struggle and resilience. Arising from the iconic city of the African American experience comes this exploration of Black joy in the urban outdoors.
Reading featuring 4 authors from the book:
shannon garth-rhodes is a Detroit writer, educator, and organizer. They have worked with the Service Employees International Union organizing and managing strategic communication with fast-food workers in the “Fight for $15 and a Union” movement since 2013. garth-rhodes holds a Master of Education Policy from Harvard and a Master of Teaching from the University of Louisville.
A 2021 Kresge Literary Arts Fellow, Zig Zag Claybourne was hailed by Book Riot in 2021 as one of the “6 Black indie SFF writers you should be reading.” He is the author of the Khumalo Trilogy, Breath, Warmth, and Dream (2024), Amnandi Sails (2025), and Khumalo Tales (forthcoming December 2026). His other works include The Brothers Jetstream: Leviathan (2016) and its sequel Afro Puff s Are the Antennae of the Universe (2020); By All Our Violent Guides (2013); Neon Lights (2011); and Conversations with Idras (2021). His stories and essays have appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Apex, Realm (formerly Serial Box), Galaxy’s Edge, GigaNotosaurus, Strange Horizons, The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2021), and numerous anthologies. Claybourne is a frequent speaker at libraries, conventions, and learning institutions. zzclaybourne .com
Esperanza Cintrón is the author of Shades, Detroit Love Stories (Wayne State University Press 2019), a 2020 Michigan Notable Book. A Pushcart Prize nominee, Cintrón has five books of poetry including the 2013 Naomi Long Madgett Award winner What Keeps Me Sane (Lotus Press), Boulders, Detroit Nature Poems (Chestnut Review Press 2023), and My Man (Seven Kitchens Press 2026). Her work appears in Manteca! An Anthology of Afro-Latin@ Poets, Obsidian and many other anthologies. She earned Callaloo Writing Fellowships at Brown and Oxford Universities, an individual Artist Grant from the Michigan Council for the Arts, and a doctorate in English literature at SUNY Albany. Once a full-time Instructor at WCCCD, she taught literature, writing and film for over two decades before retiring to devote more time to her own writing. esperanzacintron.com
Desiree Cooper is an attorney and former Pulitzer Prize–nominated, Detroit Free Press columnist. Her first published short story, “Night Coming,” appeared in Detroit Noir (2007) and was later included in Best African American Fiction 2010, selected by Nikki Giovanni (2010). Since then, she has published two books with Detroit’s Wayne State University Press: her acclaimed collection of flash fiction Know the Mother (2016) and the picture book Nothing Special (2022), one of the New York Public Library’s "10 Best Children’s Books of 2022." Her essays and stories have been widely published, including in The New York Times, Oprah Daily, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Norton’s Flash Fiction America 2023. She has received three nominations for the Pushcart Prize. A 2015 Kresge Literary Arts Fellow, Cooper now lives in coastal Virginia, but remains a Detroiter at heart. descooper.com
On the day with the most light, please come soak in the poetry with Field Trip Detroit's curated reading featuring local & non-local poets:
Joe Hall
Mia Kang
Léon Pradeau
Wafaa Mustafa
Doors 6:00
Start 6:30
Run Time 45-55 mins
FREE
Bring the longest day into the warmest night with poetry & music to give a new literary blossom life.
Longfellow Review Press is featuring poets from their inaugural issue & music from yr dreams. Come through & meet some poets, writers, musicians. Buy an issue of Longfellow Review (all proceeds go to the making of the next issue)
Poets:
Mitch Van Acker
Cat Batsios
Dustin Pearson
Rae Reed
Music:
Mckenna Fain [CHECKER]
The Srees "Unplugged"
sk1n
doors 7pm
start 7:30
run time [until midnight, a mix of poetry-then-music with some breaks]
FREE ENTRY
Hey Daddy, here's the lineup:
poets:
Marie Williamson
Mitch Van Acker
Léon Pradeau
musics:
Duck Duck Chicken
John Freeman
Doors 2:00
Start 2:30
Run time 45-55 mins
$10/door (suggested)
This is our JULY book club & we're talking about Yesteryear
Come see what makes this book so hot rn
come out for the reading & see what kind of day it is!
featured readers:
Sarah Carson
Rachel Stock
Katie Curnow
Cat Batsios
Doors 6:00
Start 6:30
Run Time 45-55 mins
FREE
Point of contact Dom Witten (director@tpoeticslab.com)
Description of event - Open Group
No experience necessary, just bring yourself!
Honolulu Blues
How Loving a Losing Team Created a Winning Man
A comedic play-by-play of historic gridiron failure marked by stunning almost wins and saw-it-coming losses that positions Detroit Lions lore as the backdrop for exploring themes of generational trauma, addiction, mental illness, and death
The city of Detroit and its football team have been a punchline since the 1960s—the Same Old Lions seem to have losing baked into their DNA.
Joel Walkowski is a poor kid from the Midwest, cut from the same cloth as his loveable, eccentric father, Banjo Bob, who pushes forward down the field amidst his autism, alcoholism, and severe childhood trauma. They see each other most clearly on Sundays, coming together as the twelfth man on the sidelines of a team whose history looks a lot like theirs—seasons full of promise upended by a penchant for falling short.
In Honolulu Blues Joel intertwines the fate of two losers—the Detroit Lions and himself—to explore the broader impact a city’s football team can have on its residents, proving that you can overcome anything if you can learn to love what disappoints you.
Born and raised to be an addict, Joel is hooked on Adderall by seven and hops on the fast track to a life of alcoholism, homelessness, and—worst of all—a career in stand-up comedy. He holds his head high because he, like his family and their beloved team, is supposed to lose.
Learning from the Lions what his father couldn’t teach him, Joel charts his journey to sobriety while caring for his dying father, coming to terms with the fact that there’s a difference between failing and never having been set up for success.
Honolulu Blues proves the Lions story is the story of being human—carving your own path out of the ruts of the past and accepting that you don’t have to win to be worth rooting for.