826michigan - Store

Meet real-life writers, pick up a few of their trade secrets, and spend some time practicing your own writing with other local writers.

$60 per person per session
$50 per person per session if you register for two or more

Coffee and Zingerman’s treats included!

If you have any questions, please email us at rsvp@826michigan.org.

Steve Amick presents:
Connecting with a Character, Connecting with your Readers
Saturday, July 11, 2009, 1-4pm

Using empathy in your writing to develop deep characters that resonate and are remembered.

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Steve Amick’s new novel, Nothing But a Smile, was called “pitch perfect” by the Associated Press and his first, The Lake, the River & the Other Lake, was a Washington Post Book of the Year. His short stories have appeared in McSweeney’s, Playboy, The Southern Review, The New England Review, Story, in anthologies and on National Public Radio. In support of 826michigan, he contributed to Unsquared and the monster protest song CD. The New York Times said, “Amick’s greatest strength is his generosity toward his characters.” Born in Ann Arbor in 1964, he received a BA from St. Lawrence University and an MFA in creative writing from George Mason University.

Susan Hutton presents:
Make Your Poem Pop!
Thursday, July 23, 2009, 6-9pm

Examine the way poets use literary devices to make a poem work, and learn to use them in your own work.

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Susan Hutton’s first book of poems On the Vanishing of Large Creatures was published in 2007 by Carnegie Mellon University Press, and won Ploughshares‘ Zacharis Award for best debut book.

Jacqui Robbins presents:
Writing and Publishing Your Children’s Picture Book
Thursday, July 30, 2009, 6-9pm

Bring that picture book you’ve always wanted to write out of your head and onto the bookstore shelf.

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Jacqui Robbins graduated from Yale University with a degree in Theater and Anthropology, and from Erikson Institute with a Master’s in Child Development. She has taught writing to students ages six to sixty-five. Jacqui is the author of the picture books The New Girl…And Me (Simon & Schuster, 2006), which won a Parents Choice Silver Honor Award, and the forthcoming Two of a Kind (Simon & Schuster, 2009).

Julia Smilie and Jennifer Traig present:
Write Yourself Into Existence: A Memoir Bootcamp
Thursday, August 13, 2009, 6-9pm

Find the part of your life that makes the most compelling story, and then get started toward your first draft.

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Julia Smillie is a national award-winning freelance writer and editor. Her work has appeared in publications nationwide, including Kiki Magazine, Self, St. Louis Magazine, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Commonspace, Lifestyles, The Knot, 52nd City, and others. Her essay “Mother Anger” is anthologized in Spike Gillespie’s book, Pissed Off: On Women & Anger.

Jennifer Traig, a longtime 826 tutor and workshop teacher, is the author of two memoirs—Well Enough Alone and Devil in the Details. She holds a Ph.D. in literature, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, JANE, The Observer, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Jeff Meyers and Corey Hall Present:
Critiquing Contemporary Cinema
Thursday, August 20, 2009, 6-9pm

Learn first hand from the MetroTimes’ critics the elements of a great review.

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Jeff Meyers is the managing editor of Concentrate Media and Metromode Media. In addition, he is a film critic for Detroit’s MetroTimes. Jeff was the Creative Director for StageDirect (an Internet start-up in Portland, OR), a freelance writer, an adjunct instructor at Clark College and a theatrical director. Before that he spent eleven years working as a microbiologist. Jeff has written screenplays, stage plays, and in 2000 was a finalist for the Oregon Book Awards for his collection of poetry Hereafter. In 2009, he received a Detroit Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Media Award for his film reviews in the MetroTimes.

Corey Hall is also a film critic for Detroit’s MetroTimes, as well as a stand up comedian.

Join us for drinks and snacks, live bossa nova music, dancing, and a celebration of our newest student publication, How To Rise, Or I Put My Heart Into the Close. 826michigan’s festivities are the culmination of our one-year residency at Ypsilanti High School in 08-09. The Summer Garden Party will also help us raise much needed funds to continue this program for schools in need of our free, one-on-one literacy and writing programs in the coming academic year.

Advance admission is $10. Admission is $15 at the door. Both prices include one drink ticket.

Click “buy now” to purchase your admission in advance. There are no tickets for this event, but advance buyers will be on the guest list and will receive a confirmation email after ordering.

The culmination of a year's worth of writing workshops in two of Trudy Adams's English 12 classes at Ypsilanti High School, How to Rise features memoirs, poems, and fiction by forty-six seniors. From the death of a mother to a near-fatal car accident to a year in a juvenile detention center, these stories will astound and surprise you with their honesty and insight. This beautiful volume also features flipbook animation by Olga Scholten. Introduction by Sherman Alexie.

Including the work of seventy 826michigan students between the ages of six and eighteen, this volume contains work from all facets of 826michigan. Student writing created in all of our programs — tutoring, workshops, field trips, and in-school projects — is included, as is a lengthy appendix which highlights our many volunteers, past workshops and in-schools, the top ten acronyms of OMNIBUS, and a word from our leader, Dr. Blotch. It should be mentioned, furthermore, that Julie Orringer wrote the introduction (under a pseudonym). A great read as well as a great gift for any occasion.

At long last! Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair shirts! Because we have a hard time keeping these on the shelves, to order, please email amy@826michigan.org or call 734-761-3463 to check color and size availability. We carry toddler, Youth S, Youth M, Youth L, S, M, L, XL, 2XL, and 3XL. We carry a variety of colors, so please contact us with the size you need, and we will let you know what color combinations are available. Shirts are $15 ($20 for 2XL and 3XL), plus $4 shipping and handling.

We also now carry VERY sharp looking hoodies. The hoodies are gray with a black logo. We have S, M, L, and XL. A hoodie can be yours today for $25, plus $5 shipping and handling.

To order t-shirts and/or hoodies, please call 734 761 3463. We'll ship them to you right away!

Coming out of a year's worth of work at Childs Elementary School in Ypsilanti, this flip book (half of it is upsidedown!) chronicles the personal histories and incredible fantasies of almost thirty young writers. Featuring a beautiful cover illustration by Ian Huebert, Tall Tales & True Stories is as beautiful to look at as it is to read.

The monsters have gone on strike! Why? Buy the CD and find out. There are plenty of reasons for a monster to feel under-appreciated. Currently in "negotiations" with Mr. Thaddeus Blotch, our infamous and crotchety editor, all members of the Monster Union, Local 826, are on strike until further notice.

This CD features original monster protest songs by Steve Amick, Ramshackle, Tall Friends, Scott Beal, Dave Lawson, No Exit, Actual Birds & Mariah, and more! Tracks include: Green Monster; Concerning Safe Workplace Conditions for all Working Monsters & the Right to Proper Upkeep of Said Workplace: The Elbow Room Song; Nightlight; Monster Town; The Correct Term is Bogeyman; It's a Creep Thing; No Nitelites!; Support Your Local Hard-Working Monster (by kindly refraining from squandering your fear and anxiety on trivial, non-monster related distractions); My Song; No Official Affiliation.

Last spring, we released the highly successful and critically lauded Vacansopapurosophobia, or V. We had so much fun doing it and were so proud of the final product, we decided to do it again. The title, which means “fear of a blank page,” was chosen by the same group of people who chose the content: a group of teens from the Neutral Zone. This volume features sixty-six stories, poems, essays, and a play, all of which will most certainly astound and amaze you.

A collection of cross-genre and cross-generational pieces, Unsquared: Ann Arbor Writers Unleash Their Edgiest Stories and Poems accomplishes exactly what the title says, creating a stunning and, of course, disturbing mix of short fiction, poems, memoirs (and even a play) that will engage even the most reluctant readers. By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, Unsquared proves that communities outside of NYC, San Francisco, and Chicago can sustain flourishing and impressive literary scenes.

Suddenly My Heart Stopped for Just a Small Portion of Time: Defining Moments is a stunning collection of personal narratives. Greenhills seniors mentored Haisley Elementary fifth graders in the art of memoir for a semester, and this gorgeous anthology is the result. Stories about distant grandfathers and sibling rivalry are put alongside stories about zombie hunting and sleepovers. At turns sweet, sad, heartbreaking, and hilarious, this book’s content is matched in beauty by the book itself. Designed by Chicagoian graphic designer Mollie Edgar.

Vacansopapurosophobia, or V, is the first of 826’s yearly literary journals. The title, which means “fear of a blank page,” was chosen by the same group of people who chose the content: a group of teens from the Neutral Zone. After much deliberation, this student editorial board pared hundreds of submissions from area youth down to the eighty poems, stories, and essays published in the volume.