Tagged: writing

Seven years ago, political science professor Ron Stockton was mentoring a student from Poland who was struggling with a writing assignment. So Stockton told her to imagine she was writing a letter to her great-grandchildren describing her life here as an immigrant. The student loved the idea, got super excited, and spread the word about Stockton’s technique.  

Now forty students are involved in what’s called the Immigrant Memoir Project, which is based at the University of Michigan Dearborn. They come from places like Iran, Lebanon, Poland, India, and Korea. The program is invitation-only and not-for-school-credit.  

Every week on What’s Working, we take a look at people and organizations that are changing lives in Michigan for the better.

The Luella Hannan Memorial Foundation in Detroit has been around for 75 years. People who work at the foundation describe it as a center for creative aging, an opportunity for seniors to learn new ways to creatively express themselves as they grow older.

Christina Shockely, host of Michigan Radio's Morning Edition, spoke with Rachel Jacobsen, the community development coordinator at the foundation.

Jacobsen said that proactive aging allows seniors "to exercise the more creative parts of their minds and bodies in ways that help them age well and also, hopefully, continue to develop into old age."

Well, summer's over.

Over the course of the last six months, Michigan on the Page has talked with a number of Michigan writers about who, what, why, and most importantly where they write about.

• We spoke to Steve Amick (The Lake, the River & the Other Lake, Nothing But a Smile) about what defines the Michigan personality.
• We spoke to Bonnie Jo Campbell (Once Upon a River, American Salvage) about the difference between her Michigan and Hemingway's Michigan.
• We spoke to Jeremiah Chamberlin about the qualities and contours of the literary Midwest.
• We spoke to Lara Zielin (Donut Days, The Implosion of Aggie Winchester) about the world of YA characters.

And we heard from writers who work in Southeast Michigan (Christopher T. Leland) and writers who live in Western Michigan (Patricia Clark, Marc Sheehan).

Today, we hear from novelist and short story writer Phillip Sterling about a novel about Michigan which is important to him, one that takes place in Northern Michigan, in Leelanau County.

Michigan author Lara Zielin is taking over the world.

She and three other women writers (and some special guests) are kicking off their Girls Taking Over the World Tour tonight at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor.

But Zielin is doing some conquering on her own as well. Her most recent book, The Implosion of Aggie Winchester, has already received excellent reviews from outlets like Publishers Weekly and has been featured on the Seventeen website as a great summer read for young adults.

Bonnie Jo Campbell not only writes great Michigan books, she knows a lot about great Michigan books, too.

Campbell's most recent book, the novel Once Upon a River, earned a profile in Poets and Writers Magazine and was listed on Newsweek's  10 Must-Read Summer Books.

It has received critical acclaim from the New York Times Book Review, the Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly, Parade, NPR, and Booklist.

Her previous book, American Salvage, was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Before coming into the studio, we had spoken about Michigan books, and to my surprise Campbell came into the studio with a big box full of books  - books either about the state or by Michigan writers.

We couldn't talk about all of them in the interview, so here's the list of books that Bonnie Jo Campbell brought:

• How to Fly by Rachael Perry
• Wolf Lake, White Gown Blown Open by Diane Seuss
• Autopsy of an Engine by Lolita Hernandez
• The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway
• Within the Lighted City by Lisa Lenzo
• The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
• Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon
• Road to Wellville by T.C. Boyle
• Freshwater Boys by Adam Schuitema
• The Legend of Sleeping Bear by Kathy-Jo Wargin
• Eden Springs by Laura Kasischke
• Laughing Whitefish by Robert Traver
• Stitches by David Small
• Of Woods and Other Things by Emma Pticher
• Michigan's Eastern Massasauga--An Historic Distribution by Tom Beauvais
• "Brown Dog" by Jim Harrison
• "Wanting Only to be Heard" by Jack Driscoll
• "The Lost Tiki Palaces of Detroit" by Michael Zadoorian

Campbell had a couple of other recommendations, though she didn't bring the books with her: 

• The Lake, the River, and the Other Lake by Steve Amick
• The Women Were Leaving the Men by Andy Mozina

We spoke in Michigan Radio's studios about why people are drawn to dark books and what the difference is between why Hemingway's characters hunt and why Campbell's characters hunt. And despite her protest, we think she sounded awfully sophisticated throughout the entire discussion.