Events

Ohio poet Andrew Grace joins us for a conversation and signing to celebrate his latest collection, A Brief History of the Midwest.

About the Author:

Andrew Grace was born in 1978 in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, where his family has farmed for several generations.

​He studied English literature at Kenyon College in Ohio, and earned his MFA at Washington University in St. Louis. He attended Stanford as a Stegner Fellow, and earned his Doctoral degree from the University of Cincinnati.

​He is the the author of three books of poems, A Belonging Field (Salt Publishing), Shadeland (Ohio State University Press) and SANCTA (Ahsahta/Foundlings). His work has appeared in the New Yorker, Poetry, Boston Review, New Criterion and Adroit Journal amongst others. He is also a Senior Editor at the Kenyon Review.

​He now teaches poetry at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio where he lives with his wife Tory and their two daughters.

About the book:

A Brief History of the Midwest is a lyric encapsulation of the hardship and hope of the American Midwest.

These poems trace the trajectory of the middle of America from its colonization to the present day. Hardships that range from loneliness to the opioid crisis to the largest earthquake in US history reverberate through the collection’ s fields, Northern waters, and derelict barns. The losses here are both historical and personal, as is the resilience of those who survived them. All the while there are moments of light that transcend a history “ written in thorn,” a moment of rest after bathing sheep, the flick of a trout in the Boyne River, a fistful of rose hips.

‍

Join us for a discussion of Where When It Rains by John F Duffy.

About the book: 

Riley could have been a professional skateboarder if he hadn’t hit his head and woken from a coma with crippling vertigo. Trapped in Phoenix and hoping to pursue his passion from behind the lens, he accidentally lands in the orbit of a narcissistic model where he is captured by the glitz of parties, drugs, and sex. His new friends are equally without direction, and together they drift from night to night in an alcohol fueled hunt for meaning. When chance offers him a shot at real love - and a real life - Riley must find a way to escape not only the force of his routines, but the pull of world events that seem intent on destroying him.

Enjoy an evening of yoga among the book stacks with Happy Babe Yoga! Spaces are limited. This is a ticketed event. Cost is $20 per person and includes a private hour in the shop with a guided yoga session.

Join us for a discussion of And They Were Roommates by Page Powars.

About the book: 

Romance is the last thing on Charlie’s mind. On his first day at Valentine Academy for Boys, Charlie’s carefully crafted plan to hide his identity as the school’s only trans student is set in motion. Only to be immediately destroyed. Charlie has been assigned the worst roommate in the world (possibly the universe): Jasper Grimes, the boy who broke Charlie’s heart the year before he transitioned. Except, Jasper doesn’t recognize Charlie. Who knows how long until Jasper realizes the truth? Charlie has one shot at freedom and a dorm room all to himself, but only if he helps Jasper write love letters on behalf of their fellow students first. No problem. Charlie can help Jasper with some silly letters. Long nights spent discussing deep romantic feelings with Jasper? Surely, no unintended consequences will arise…

Join us for a discussion of The Feast by Margaret Kennedy.

‍

About the book: 

‍

Summer, 1947. A bizarre catastrophe rocks a seaside village in Cornwall when a cliff tumbles down on the Pendizack Manor Hotel. The hotel is obliterated, and seven guests are killed in the disaster. Everyone else makes a narrow escape. As the survivors tell their stories, the events of the previous week are revealed, and a parade of sins exposed. Gluttony, Lecherousness, Sloth, Pride, Covetousness, Envy and Wrath: all are in residence at Pendizack Manor, and as the day of the disaster creeps closer, it becomes clear that who’s spared and who’s lost might not be as arbitrary as first assumed.

‍

Come dressed in your coolest pajamas and enjoy a Bluey: Sleepytime–themed event with crafts, for real life!

Tickets required. Spaces limited.

‍

Join us for a discussion of When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy.

‍

About the book: 

‍

One night, Jess, a struggling actress, finds a five-year-old runaway hiding in the bushes outside her apartment. After a violent, bloody encounter with the boy's father, she and the boy find themselves running for their lives. As they attempt to evade the boy's increasingly desperate father, Jess slowly comes to a horrifying understanding of the butchery that follows them—the boy can turn his every fear into reality. And when the wolf finally comes home, no one will be spared.

Join us for a discussion of Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie.

About the book:

On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest. Once, she was the Justice of Toren—a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy. Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a burning desire for vengeance.

‍

Join us for a discussion of The Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison.

‍

About the book:

‍

Milkman Dead was born shortly after a neighborhood eccentric hurled himself off a rooftop in a vain attempt at flight. For the rest of his life he, too, will be trying to fly. As Morrison follows Milkman from his rustbelt city to the place of his family’s origins, she introduces an entire cast of strivers and seeresses, liars and assassins, the inhabitants of a fully realized Black world.

‍

‍

Back by popular demand! Bring a book you’d love to add a little sparkle to. We’ll provide all the crafting supplies and everything you need to make your books shine. Tickets required. Spaces limited.

Stop by Storyline to meet debut author Katie Yee and pick up a copy of her novel, Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk into a Bar.

About the author:

Katie Yee is a writer from Brooklyn. She has received fellowships from the Center for Fiction, the Asian American Writers' Workshop, and Kundiman. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, No Tokens, The Believer, the Washington Square Review, Triangle House, Epiphany, and Literary Hub. By day, she works at the Brooklyn Museum. By night, she writes, usually under the watch of her judgmental rescue dog, Ollie.

About the book:

A man and a woman walk into a restaurant. The woman expects a lovely night filled with endless plates of samosas. Instead, she finds out her husband is having an affair with a woman named Maggie.

A short while after, her chest starts to ache. She walks into an examination room, where she finds out the pain in her breast isn’t just heartbreak—it’s cancer. She decides to call the tumor Maggie.

Unfolding in fragments over the course of the ensuing months, Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar follows the narrator as she embarks on a journey of grief, healing, and reclamation. She starts talking to Maggie (the tumor), getting acquainted with her body’s new inhabitant. She overgenerously creates a “Guide to My Husband: A User’s Manual” for Maggie (the other woman), hoping to ease the process of discovering her ex-husband’s whims and quirks. She turns her children’s bedtime stories into retellings of Chinese folklore passed down by her own mother, in an attempt to make them fall in love with their shared culture—and to maybe save herself in the process.

In the style of Jenny Offill and the tradition of Nora Ephron’s hilarious and devastating writing on heartbreak and womanhood, Maggie is a master class in transforming personal tragedy into a form of defiant comedy.

‍