Friends Of Leelanau Township Library Shares Summer Writers' Series Slate

Friends of Leelanau Township Library has announced its Summer Writers’ Series for 2024. All events are scheduled for Tuesday evenings at 7pm and will take place at Willowbrook Mill. Admission is free and open to the public.

The event slate is as follows:

July 9: Donald Lykstra, author of Searching for Van Gogh

A resident of Omena, Lykstra has won gold medals at the Midwest Book Awards for both of his last two novels. Searching for Van Gogh, his latest, is described as “a coming-of-age story set in 1963.” The book tells the story of “a relationship that borders on love but doesn’t quite get there” between Audrey, a young woman “inspired by a cinematic heroine to find meaning in a world that has cast her aside”; and Nate, “a teenage math and science prodigy” who has turned to art as a means of coping with the death of his brother. Lykstra will be interviewed by Pamela Grath, own of Northport’s Dog Ears Books.

July 16: Joan Strassman, author of Slow Birding: The Art and Science of Enjoying the Birds in Your Own Backyard

Strassman, who spends summers in Leland, published this guide to backyard birding in 2022. The book is described as “a one-of-a-kind guide to birding locally that encourages readers to slow down and notice the spectacular birds all around them.”

July 23: Abra Berens, author of Pulp: A Practical Guide to Cooking with Fruit

Last spring, Berens – a nationally acclaimed chef and author with roots right here in Leelanau County – finished out her trilogy of innovative cookbooks with Pulp. (The first two installments, Ruffage and Grist, covered cooking with vegetables and cooking with grains, beans, seeds, and legumes, respectively.) Berens chatted with the Leelanau Ticker about Pulp and her other books last April.

July 30: Stephen Lewis, author of From Infamy to Hope

Lewis, who resides on Old Mission Peninsula, wrote this historical fiction novel based on his studies at New York University, where he earned a doctorate “in the literature of 17th century New England Puritanism.” From Infamy to Hope is set against that puritanical 17th century backdrop, telling the story of Rachel Moore, a housemaid in Boston, who “is convicted of fornication and sentenced to wear a black W on her gown. Rachel then masquerades as a boy soldier during the war in hopes of recovering her baby that was sold to satisfy a debt.”