New Winter 2026 course schedule at Washtenaw Community College is out! Come write with me!
Register today. Washtenaw county residents over 65yo are free.
https://washtenaw.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassListing.ClassListingDisplay&int_category_id=3&int_sub_category_id=49&int_catalog_id=1
Friday November 14, 2025: 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Ann Arbor District Library Downtown Library: Lower Level Program Room
How do we use our writing to create real world change? How do we find our voices and get our message out? How do we use writing to touch, inspire, persuade, and provoke readers to action? Learn simple but powerful methods to get the ideas out of our heads and onto the page. Part writing, part activism, a lot of heart, this class aspires to use the written word to create the change you want to see in the world. Bring a notebook and a pen.
Big thanks to CultureSource and Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation (AAACF) for the Washtenaw Artist Grant to help develop this writing workshop.
And Thanks to AADL the best library there is!
Join us for a day celebrating books at the A2 Community Bookfest! Formerly the Kerrytown Bookfest, the A2 Community Bookfest is thrilled to return to downtown Ann Arbor for 2025!
Booksellers, publishers, authors, and more will be on the vendor floor from 10am-5pm and various activities for all ages, such as keynote author talks, hands-on crafts for kids and adults, storytimes, and discussion groups, will take place throughout the day. Additionally, the Fifth Avenue Press annual author reception will celebrate books published by the Library in the prior year.
The 2025 A2 Community Bookfest Headliner:
K-Ming Chang is the author of the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction finalist Bestiary, an inventive novel that pays homage to earlier Asian American brilliance while pushing up against—and innovating past—its boundaries. With a poetic voice full of energy, Chang speaks on paying homage to history, mythology, and family to reinvent the genre. Chang is also the author of Gods of Wants, Organ Meats, and Cecilia.
Wayne State Univ Press will be there and I'll be there for a little bit to sign books too!
https://aadl.org/bookfest
Writing to Save the World, with Frances Kai-Hwa Wang
Friday November 14, 2025: 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Ann Arbor District Library Downtown Library: Lower Level Program Room
How do we use our writing to create real world change? How do we find our voices and get our message out? How do we use writing to touch, inspire, persuade, and provoke readers to action? Learn simple but powerful methods to get the ideas out of our heads and onto the page. Part writing, part activism, a lot of heart, this class aspires to use the written word to create the change you want to see in the world. Bring a notebook and a pen.
Big thanks to CultureSource and Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation (AAACF) for the Washtenaw Artist Grant to help develop this writing workshop.
And Thanks to AADL the best library there is!
1990 Institute newsletter
October 10, 2025, Volume 5, Issue 10
How can historical mooncakes inspire us in America today?
Thursday, October 9, 2025, 7:00 PM 8:30 PM
CLUSTER
307 North Main StreetAnn Arbor, MI, 48104United States (map)
How to Live the Time of Your Life is from a Zadie Smith quote who questions, within our fragile, short existences, how do we spend our time, what is our truth, what guides meaning in our lives?
This inaugural literary event features 9 writers whose pieces are inspired by the 20 Lessons from Timothy Snyder’s book, On Tyranny: 20 Lessons from the 20th Century.
Authors include Mouna Ammar, Ashwini Bhasi, A.E., Zilka Joseph, Ryan McCarty, Ruth Mella, Molly Raynor, Ciatta Tucker, and Frances Kai-Hwa Wang. This event is guest-curated by writer Kyunghee Kim and Cam Finch, writer & founder of PoetTreeTown.
“The question is: How to live the time of your life - the intimate time of your life- alongside the time of history. Which do you devote yourself to? Which deserves your attention? Which is real?” - Zadie Smith
*Author Events are best for ages 14 year and up unless noted. Learn more about our gallery on our Contact page.
Taiwan Travelogue: Unearthing Stories of Identity, Cuisine, & Friendship
Sunday September 28, 2025: 2:00pm to 3:30pm
Ann Arbor District Library, Downtown Library: 1st Floor Lobby
Join author Shuang-Zi Yang and translator Lin King—2024 National Book Award winners for Translated Literature—for a conversation on Taiwan Travelogue, set in 1938 colonial Taiwan. Moderated by Frances Kai-Hua Wang, Kaori Ohara, and Wan-Thai Hsu, the discussion explores histories, power dynamics, friendship, and Taiwanese cuisine. A small food tasting from the book will follow, along with a book signing. Don’t miss this immersive exploration of Taiwan’s past and present.
Taiwan Literature Exhibition: Reading Taiwan is on display on the 2nd Floor of the Downtown Library from September 22nd, 2025-January 9th, 2026.
This event is in partnership with the Michigan Taiwanese American Organization and the Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York. It includes a signing with books for sale.
Monday September 22, 2025: 6:30pm to 7:30pm EDT
Ann Arbor District Library, Downtown Library: 4th Floor Program Room
Join us for a live poetry reading event showcasing four poets from the Coolidge-Wagner Anthology of Recorded Poetry. Featuring Kowólabi Aboyade, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, Bryan Thao Worra, and Rebecca Biber.
The Library intends to provide a live stream of this event pending the presenter's permission. Please check back closer to the event for additional updates.
