Dear Readers,
We hope your summer has been full of good books, porch reading, garden discoveries, and a few slow afternoons. July is one of our favorite months at Book Beat — a little like having an “up north” vacation spot close to home — and we’re grateful to share it with readers, writers, gardeners, artists, and neighbors.
Thursday, July 9: We’re delighted to welcome back Desiree Cooper on Zoom, joined by Sci-Fi and Afrofuturist author Zig Zag Claybourne and Detroit Stories editor Keith A. Owens for a Southfield Library event, featuring the wonderful anthology Black Summers.
We’re also pleased to see local favorite Curtis Chin appearing at two area libraries as part of the Great Michigan Read program on July 28 and 29.
Wednesday, July 16: We’ve invited local poet Cindy Frenkel to present her newly released collection, Bad Neighborhood. These poems move through dark subjects, personal grief, and tragedy with honesty and care, opening a space for reflection, connection, and resilience. We’re looking forward to an intimate evening of poetry, conversation, and community.
Saturday, July 26: The Oak Park Gardening Tour will make a stop at Book Beat, and we’re excited to welcome gardeners, plant lovers, and the curious. Volunteers from The Wild Ones will be outside the store giving away native plants and seeds and answering gardening questions. We’ll also have a good variety of gardening and plant books for sale.
Later that same day, from 5–7 PM, poet Ken Mikolowski, founder of the Alternative Press, returns to Book Beat and joins author Rebecca Kosick for a discussion of her new book, Dispatches from the Avant-Garage. Together they’ll explore the history of Detroit’s underground presses and the continuing vitality of today’s DIY publishing — from letterpress and zines to poetry, artists’ books, and independent presses. We’re also inviting one or two local presses now working in the DIY publishing tradition to join us. Learn more about the Alternative Press in this recent https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/2026/06/29/q-a-with-rebecca-kosick-and-ken-mikolowski-on-the-alternative-press/interview with Ken and Rebecca.
July 28 & 29: Curtis Chin will be speaking at the Caroline Kennedy Library and the Southfield Library on behalf of the Great Michigan Read program. We hope many of you will have a chance to hear him.
Our reading groups are taking us in two wonderfully different directions this month. Sub Rosa is reading Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor, while the other reading group heads off into space with Philip K. Dick’s The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. Reading group books are discounted 15% and are in stock.
The Summer Sale tables are back, and they’re always a little bit of a treasure hunt. Stop by soon for the best selection — once these books are gone, that’s it.
The Detroit Book Festival is back on Sunday, July 19. It’s often one of the hottest days of the year, so dress cool, bring cash and water, and come down to Eastern Market early to browse one of the best book festivals in the state.
Our resident bibliophile Tom Bowden returns with Small Press Reviews in https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/2026/06/30/i-arrogantly-recommend-75-by-tom-bowden/i arrogantly recommend… column #75 — congratulations on this milestone, Tom!
Thanks, as always, for reading with us, visiting the store, showing up for local authors, and supporting independent bookstores. We hope to see you in July — at an event, around the sale tables, or just browsing for your next summer read. See the event links and details below for more information. Happy Summer!
Cary, Colleen and the Book Beat staff
Read, Think, Create.
July 29: The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch discussion group
BOOK BEAT HOURS, CONTACT AND ORDERING INFO
• Book Beat store hours are: Mon – Sat 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM, Sun 12:00 – 5:00 PM.
• Subscribe to our newsletter here.
• Order Direct: for books or questions, call us at (248) 968-1190 or email us anytime at bookbeatorders@gmail.com.
• Book Beat Backroom is our store central with News Events and all things Book Beat.
• Order almost any book in print from our affiliate page at Bookshop.org.
• Shop our selection of rare and out-of-print books at biblio.com.
• Shop a selection of signed books, art, out-of-print rarities, and local authors at Book Beat Gallery.
• Audiobooks purchased at Libro.fm will help support Book Beat, thank you!
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” -George Orwell, 1984