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 Detroit Public Library is pleased to welcome celebrated children’s author Devin Scillian to the Detroit Main Li brary (5201 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202) on Tuesday, Oct. 4th at 10am as part of the “Michigan Reads!” One State, One Children’s Book Program. He will be speaking and autographing books. This event is free and open to the public. Book Beat will provide books for purchase at the event. To reserve copies of any titles please call the Book Beat (248) 968-1190.
If your class is interested in attending this event, please contact Janet Batchedler at (313) 481-1409 for more information.
Devin Scillain may best be known as a nightly news anchor on WDIV Detroit, but he is also an accomplished musician and children’s author with over a dozen titles to his credit, including the bestsellers A Is For America and Fibblestax. His latest title is Memoirs of a Goldfish, which tells the charming story of a simple goldfish and his solitary life that is upended when assorted intruders invade his fishbowl.
Memoirs of a Goldfish is the featured title for 2011’s Michigan Reads! Children Program, which highlights the importance of reading and sharing books with children, especially toddlers through early elementary, and to recognize the vital role libraries play in providing access to the quality books, programs and services that lay the foundation for reading and school success.
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Posted in: Author signings, Author/artist interviews and lectures, Book Signings, Children's Books, Detroit & Michigan | No Comments » |
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 Book Beat and Berkley Schools are pleased to welcome author Moira Young to the Berkley High School Collaborative Center on Sunday, Oct. 16th, from 2:30 to 4 pm in conjunction with the release of her debut young adult novel Blood Red Road . The first in a planned trilogy, Blood Red Road is a stellar debut novel that will appeal to fans of The Hunger Games series as well as fans of dystopian fiction. She will speak and autograph books. This event is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase at the event. For more information or to reserve copies of this title, please call Book Beat (248) 968-1190.
Blood Red Road is the epic journey of Saba, a girl from the wastelands known as Silverlake. After her twin brother, Lugh, is abducted by four cloaked horsemen, Saba is forced to leave Silverlake to rescue him. What she finds is a lawless, ugly reality where the Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed. But she also realizes what a fighter, survivor, and crafty opponent she is.
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Posted in: Author signings, Author/artist interviews and lectures, Children's Books | No Comments » |
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 We are pleased to have 2010 National Book Award winner Jaimy Gordon at the Baldwin Public Library (300 w. Merrill st, Downtown Birmingham) on Sun., October 2 at 2pm. Author of The Lord of Misrule, Jaimy Gordon will be speaking and signing copies of her books. This event is free and open to the public, and presented by the Jane Cameron Endowment Fund. Books will be available for sale at the event. Please call Book Beat (248) 968-1190 for more information or to reserve copies of this title.
Lord of Misrule is a brilliant novel that captures the dusty, dark, and beautiful world of small-time horse tracing, where trainers, jockeys, grooms, and grifters vie for what little luck is offered at a run-down West Virgina race track.
“With marvelous poetic authority, Jaimy Gordon takes us deep into the underbelly of the racetrack. There are no roses or mint juleps here. This is the down-and-dirty world of claiming races, and everything is hazed with the gritty patina of desperation. Through her considerable gifts, Gordon fully inhabits this seldom-seen world of trainers, dreamers, gamblers, and grifters. At turns comic, heartbreaking, and lyrical, Lord of Misrule is a brilliant achievement.”–Don Lee, author of Wrack and Ruin
Link to NY Times review of Lord of Misrule here.
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Posted in: Author signings, Author/artist interviews and lectures, Award winning books, Book Signings | No Comments » |
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Destroy All Monsters Magazine Detroit area book launch
Facsimile Edition Released by Primary Information
A Detroit launch for the Destroy All Monsters Magazine (book) is scheduled for Saturday June 11th 8-10 PM at Public Pool, 3309 Caniff in Hamtramck. A talk between local art critic Vincent Carducci and DAM member Cary Loren will begin at 8:30 PM, a Q & A will follow.
Primary Information:
http://primaryinformation.org/index.php?/upcoming/destroy-all-monsters/
New York book launch at MoMA/PS1: http://www.artbook.com/blog-at-first-sight-d-a-m.html
 Primary Information is pleased to announce the release of Destroy All Monsters Magazine — making all issues of the Magazine available to a wide audience for the first time. This publication is a compilation of the seven issues of Destroy All Monsters Magazine that were originally published between 1976-1979. The book is 278 pages and retails for $30.
Destroy All Monsters was an Detroit-area band and collective that was formed in 1973. Its initial members were Mike Kelley, Cary Loren, Niagara and Jim Shaw. Destroy All Monsters were art students and musicians who used performance art tactics to create noise music that evolved out of influences like Sun Ra, Nico, horror movie soundtracks and local bands like MC5 and The Stooges. The band later took on new members and briefly reunited in the 90s.
Destroy All Monsters Magazine was edited by Cary Loren and contained artwork, photographs, and flyers from Mike Kelley, Cary Loren, Niagara and Jim Shaw. Printed using any papers and techniques available to the band, the issues combine the cut and paste tactics of punk zines with a psychedelic affinity for color. Destroy All Monsters Magazine functions as a kind of manifesto, providing insight into the band through densely layered pages with movie imagery, kitsch, cartoons, delicate drawings, and counter-culture collages. While Destroy All Monsters has been the subject of recent exhibitions and partial reprints, this is the first time that all issues have been reprinted.
Destroy All Monsters Magazine is available directly through Primary Information’s website www.primaryinformation.org and is distributed through Distributed Art Publishers worldwide. For further information or to order Destroy All Monsters Magazine, please contact Primary Information at info@primaryinformation.org
Primary Information is a 501(c)3 organization. The organization receives generous support through grants from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Stichting Egress Foundation, the Buddy Taub Foundation, and individuals worldwide.
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Posted in: Art, Author signings, Author/artist interviews and lectures, Music, New Arrivals, Psychedelia, pop culture | No Comments » |
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 Grace Lee Boggs on the Next American Revolution
On Thursday May 26th at 7:00 pm the Book Beat is pleased to present Grace Lee Boggs together with Oran Hesterman in discussion at the Oak Park Library, located at 14200 Oak Park, Blvd., in Oak Park. Books will be available at the event for purchase. Please call 248-968-1190 for more information. We sincerely thank the Oak Park Library for providing their space and support for this important community event.
Grace Lee Boggs is a legendary Detroit based activist and force for social change. She is a visionary thinker and author who has devoted over seven decades of her life not only in sharing her ideas on civil rights, education, environmental justice and peace but putting them into everyday use and practice. She is an internationally renowned author and inspirational force for change. Her new book is The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century.
Grace Lee Boggs was born in New York City in 1915 and is the daughter of Chinese born immigrants. In 1953 she moved to Detroit and married African-American labor and Black Power activist Jimmy Boggs (1919-1993) whose selected writings have recently been released as Pages from a Black Radical’s Notebooks: A James Boggs Reader.
“Reading Grace Lee Boggs helps you glimpse a United States that is better and more beautiful than you thought it was. As she analyzes some of the inspiring theories and practices that have emerged from the struggles for equality and freedom in Detroit and beyond, she also shows us that in this country, a future revolution is not only necessary but possible.” –Michael Hardt, co-author of Commonwealth
“One of the most accomplished radicals of our time, the Detroit-based visionary Grace Lee Boggs has become one of our most influential and inspiring public intellectuals. The Next American Revolution is her powerful reflection on a lifetime of urban revolutionary work, an ode to the courage and brilliance of her late partner James Boggs, and a plain-spoken call for us to address the troubled times we face with a sense of history, a strong set of values, and an unwavering faith in our own creative, restorative powers.” –Jeff Chang, author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop
“Grace has continued to make history as she has nurtured new ideas in Detroit and raised new possibilities of reuniting the efforts of all of us into a new movement…. As we move forth in the twenty-first century, I want to thank you, Grace. I want to thank you so much for being a part of my life. And certainly I am going to soak up whatever I can from you as long as you are here and as long as you are able and willing to give it.” –Danny Glover, actor/humanitarian (from the Foreword, The Next American Revolution)
Hear a recent interview with Grace Lee Boggs on the NPR Michael Eric Dyson Show. a recent program dedicated Mothers Day to mother’s everywhere.
“Over a long life, Grace Lee Boggs has tried out one radical idea after another to make America work for everyone. She embraced some, discarded others, fashioned new ones of her own and has remained passionate about trying to humanize our democracy. And through it all, this activist and philosopher has been a witness to tumultuous change even as she kept herself rooted to the place she still calls home.” -Bill Moyers ,veteran journalist, PBS commentator, author and White House Press Secretary under President Lyndon B. Johnson (1965-1967)
“I see a movement beginning to emerge, ’cause I see hope beginning to trump despair.” – Grace Lee Boggs, interviewed in 2007 on PBS by Bill Moyers, read or see the entire interview at: The Bill Moyer’s Journal
A short fascinating article in the Monthly Review by Grace Lee Boggs on education, Freedom Schools and the Detroit Summer Project.
Grace Lee Boggs, an “elder stateswoman on the Black Power movement” reflects on the Beloved Community of Martin Luther King Other archived articles by Grace Lee Boggs are available on the site of Yes! Magazine.
The Boggs Center was established in Detroit in 1995 by friends of Jimmy Boggs (1919-1993) and Grace Lee Boggs to continue their legacy as movement activists and theoreticians.
Dr. Oran Hesterman is the founder of the Fair Food Network “a national nonprofit that works at the intersection of food systems, sustainability and social equity to guarantee access to healthy, fresh and sustainably grown food, especially in underserved communities.” He is also author of the new book Fair Food, a book that takes a look at how food gets to our dinner table and how it can be done better. We are pleased to bring him into this discussion on new ways to think about living and creating a sustainable future. Oran Hesterman lives in Ann Arbor.
“The author’s deft explanation of our current cultivation and consumption of food should have families moving away from their supermarket aisles and into farmers’ markets and community-supported agriculture programs…A thorough, inspiring guide on how to restructure the food system for a long and healthy future, for consumers and legislators alike.” - Kirkus Review
“Fair Food not only chronicles the challenges our food system faces and the achievements already made but also illuminates a clear path toward a more sustainable, fair, and delicious future.” —Alice Waters | Chef, Restaurateur
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Posted in: Author signings, Author/artist interviews and lectures, Book Signings, Detroit & Michigan, Economics, Food, Peace & Gaia, Politics | No Comments » |
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 James Semark Memorial Reading at Book Beat May 5th
James Semark was a Detroit area musician, poet, activist and founding member of the Detroit Artist’s Workshop. He died in early December of 2010. The Book Beat is holding a memorial reading for friends and poets open to the public on Thursday, May 5th from 7:00-8:30 PM. The Book Beat is located at 26010 Greenfield in Oak Park, for more information call (248) 968-1190
Readers will include poets, artists and friends; ML Liebler, John Sinclair, Robert Thibodeau, Leni Sinclair, Scott Dedenbach, Laura Grimshaw, Howard Weingarden and others. Some of the last copies of Work 6 (which James had edited) will be available for sale and films of James reading his poetry and his departed wife Judith dancing will be shown in the backroom gallery. As friends we would like to honor James Seamark at this unique event and bring to those who didn’t know him a chance to learn about this generous and courageous soul. We hope you can attend.
James Semark: Galactic Mind Forever: R.I.P.
ML Liebler is a poet, professor of English at Wayne State University and editor of the new anthology, Working Words published by Coffee House Press.
Robert Thibodeau is a well known area astrologer, musician and owner of the Mayflower bookstore, a shop located in Berkley, MI, specialized in metaphysical books.
John Sinclair is a traveling bard, X-manager of the MC5, pro-pot activist, blues scholar and founding father of the Detroit Artists Workshop, White Panther Party, Rainbow Peoples Party, etc.,
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Posted in: Author/artist interviews and lectures, Detroit & Michigan, Poetry | No Comments » |
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