| Author | Biography | Book Cover(s) |
|---|---|---|
Jennifer Vivekanand | When she’s not being defeated in board games by her family, Michigan-based author Jennifer Vivekanand likes to read, travel and make weird sandwiches. Jennifer has a B.F.A. from Kendall College of Art & Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan, including certificates of summer studies at the Royal College of Art in London, England, and the Academy of Fine Arts Pietro Vannucci, in Perugia, Italy. Most recently, she spent a productive month working on her second novel while eating girl dinners and old-school sauna-ing as a Writer- in-Residence at The Arteles Creative Center in Haukijärvi, Finland. For a fun Michigan facts FAQ and to watch the book trailer of her Debut YA Thriller, Welcome To Nightjar, visit her author website www.stuffbyjenn.com | |
Patricia Majher | Patricia Majher is a museum professional and an author of three books on Michigan history as well as a tour guide focused on her adopted hometown, Ann Arbor. One of her history books -- Great Girls in Michigan History -- won a Michigan Notable Book Award in 2016. Majher is also a past editor of Michigan History magazine, and a graduate of Central Michigan University (BA journalism) and Eastern Michigan University (MS historic preservation, emphasis on museum studies). She operates a museum consulting business called Majher Museum Marketing. | |
Andrei Markovits | Andrei Markovits is the Karl W. Deutsch Collegiate Professor of Comparative Politics and German Studies and teaches in the Department of Political Science, the Department of Sociology, and the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Michigan. He was born in the West Romanian city of Timisoara where he grew up as the only son in a tri-lingual (Hungarian, Romanian, German) middle class Jewish family ravaged by the Holocaust. He completed his secondary education in Vienna, Austria before embarking on his post-secondary studies at Columbia University where he spent nine years receiving five degrees in the process. He then became an associate of the Center for European Studies at Harvard University of which he was a member for nearly 25 years while holding professorships at Wesleyan University, Boston University, and the University of California at Santa Cruz before joining the faculty of the University of Michigan in 1999 where he has been ever since. His more than 20 edited and authored books have been translated into many languages (German, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Korean among others). The topics of his books range from European anti-Americanism to women's soccer; from sports to dog rescue. They have been published by the finest university presses from Princeton University Press to Cornell University Press; from the University of Michigan Press to Cambridge University Press. His memoir entitled THE PASSPORT AS HOME: COMFORT IN ROOTLESSNESS published by the Central European University Press in Budapest and Vienna in 2021. The book has also appeared in a German translation and will be published in Romanian. | |
Patti Smith | Ann Arbor townie Patti Smith is a former legal aid lawyer and current special education teacher. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Adrian College with highest honors in 1994, a Doctor of Law from University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Law in 1996, and a Master's Degree with Highest Honors from Eastern Michigan University in 2012. She is the author of four history books: Images of America--Downtown Ann Arbor, A History of the People's Food Co-op Ann Arbor, Vanishing Ann Arbor, and Michigan Beer: A Heady History. She has written for Concentrate, Mittenbrew, The Ann, AADL's Pulp blog, and the Ann Arbor Observer. Patti serves as a commissioner for the Recreation Advisory Commission, as a storyteller in the Ann Arbor Storytellers' Guild, and as a volunteer DJ for WCBN. Patti is a frequent public speaker around town, curating HERsay (an all-woman variety show), GROWN FOLKS READING (storytime for grownups), MAY IT PLEASE THE COURT? (all-lawyer show) and telling stories at Ignite, Nerd Nite, Tellabration and Telling Tales Out of School. She lives with her husband, Ken Anderson, and dog Pugsley Anderson-Smith, in the Village--truly vintage living in her favorite city on earth. | |
Bruce Tharp | Believed to be the first industrial designer to receive a PhD in anthropology (University of Chicago), in 1998 Bruce began researching the material culture of Indiana's Old Order Amish, focusing on the production & consumption of value. He first earned a BS in mechanical engineering from Bucknell University and a master’s degree in industrial design from Pratt Institute. In between his schooling, he served as a US Army nuclear weapons officer (Captain) in Germany. After researching the future of work and the workplace for Haworth Inc.'s design research think-tank, the Ideation Group, he began his teaching career. Over the last fifteen years he has been a tenured professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and currently at the University of Michigan’s Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design. His and Stephanie's award-winning design studio has exhibited internationally, licensed designs for local and global companies, and self-produced commercial, experimental, and discursive products. |  |
Stacie Sheldon | Aanii / Boozhoo / Hello! My name is Stacie Sheldon. Chitwaadewegekwe nindizhinikaaz Anishinaabemong. Honor Beat Woman is my name in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe). Ajiijaak n'doodem. I am Crane Clan. I combine my rich work life as a UX practitioner with the passion I have for life as an Ojibwe person and language advocate. I am an author, and co-founder of http://www.ojibwe.net, where I lead technical development. I have served on the Board of Directors for American Indian Services in Lincoln Park, Michigan. Now a resident of Ann Arbor, MI, I grew up in the lakes and hills of Northern Michigan where I spent my summers swimming in our “great lakes” and winters exploring the woods. A lifelong runner, I can also be found on hikes with my dog, Nimkii, or playing guitar, piano, or singing. I’m a bookworm at heart, and I occasionally stay up way too late reading mystery novels--most recently, I’ve been unable to put down the Virgil Flowers series by John Sanford. |  |
Pamela Gossiaux | Pamela Gossiaux is the international bestselling author of romance books and women's fiction, as well as several inspirational nonfiction books. Pamela is also a humorist and inspirational speaker who has been writing and working with writers for several decades. She has a dual BA degree from the University of Michigan in Creative Writing and English Language and Literature, and over 20 years of journalism writing experience. She has self-published a book on writing called Six Steps to Successful Publication. The release of The Things We Know in Part, hit the Barnes & Noble Top 100 bestseller list, as well as a #1 bestseller on Amazon in several different countries. An avid horse enthusiast, she enjoys being outdoors and working in her garden. She also loves chocolate, and prefers to curl up with a good book in her downtime. She lives and writes at her horse farm in Michigan, near the town that inspired the Russo Romantic Mystery series, with her family and a variety of pets. | |
Marianne K. Martin | Marianne K. Martin is one of the best-selling lesbian romance authors in the history of the genre, and her books have gained a wide international readership. She is the author of eleven novels. Her highly successful novels include the Lambda Literary Award finalists Tangled Roots, Under the Witness Tree, Mirrors, and For Now, For Always. In 2012, she was honored with the Trailblazer Award from the Golden Crown Literary Society and in 2013 she was inducted into the Saints & Sinners Hall of Fame. Marianne is also one of the founding partners of Bywater Books. Her responsibilities include managing general operations, as well as the Bywater Prize for Fiction, and working with Bywater’s new writers. | |
Gregory A. Fournier | Literary Classics gold medal award-winning author Gregory A. Fournier received his bachelor and master’s degrees in Language Arts from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. A writer of creative nonfiction, his books include The Elusive Purple Gang, Zug Island, Terror In Ypsilanti, The Richard Streicher Jr. Murder and Detroit Time Capsule. Fournier writes short history posts for his Fornology.com blog, and he has appeared on the Investigation Discovery Channel as a guest expert on serial killer John Norman Collins for the series A Crime to Remember in an episode entitled “A New Kind of Monster.” Terror In Ypsilanti is currently in development for a movie or miniseries. | |
Allen Kurta | Dr. Allen Kurta received a B.S. and M.S. in Zoology from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in Biology from Boston University. His research for the past 45 years has focused on the ecology and behavior of bats, with an emphasis on two endangered species-the Indiana bat and the northern long- eared bat. He has published over 100 papers in scientific journals, and he has authored or edited several books, including Mammals of the Great Lakes Region, The Bats of Puerto Rico, and Bats of Michigan, with Bats of the West Indies scheduled to be released late in 2023. Dr. Kurta is Chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee on Mammals for the Endangered Species Program of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Vice President of the Midwest Bat Working Group, and former Chairman of the Board of Directors for the North American Society for Bat Research. He currently is a professor of biology at Eastern Michigan University. | |
| Author | Biography | Book Cover(s) |
