The Ann Arbor District Library is pleased to announce the release of nine new literary works from our Fifth Avenue Press imprint! Our local authors have something to offer for a variety of readers. Listen to a brief reading of each title, meet the authors, buy their books, and get them signed!
These books will be on sale all all day at the Fifth Avenue Press table during A2 Community Bookfest.
One picture book for all ages:
A to Z: An Ann Arbor Alphabet by Bettina Senga
Share the sights and special events of Ann Arbor and pore over the charming linocut block print illustrations in this hyper-local alphabet book set in Ann Arbor!
Two poetry collections for adults:
Zaftig by Molly Pershin Raynor
In her exceptional debut collection of poems, Molly Raynor welcomes you to sit at the table with her ancestors, mothers, sisters, friends, and wild women as she glues together moving memories of waxy-lipped kisses and potato peel dresses. Ghosts of the old country, lost loves, and the unborn haunt Zaftig. Raynor’s poems are imbued with deep Judaic traditions and a sprinkle of Yiddish. They burst forth with sensuality, survival, and the push-pull of women’s bodies as coveted flesh. Braiding together words like bread to lay on the table in honor of the beauty & the terror of living, these poems breathe new life. Inspired by the past, but firmly planted in the present, Zaftig joyfully takes up space like the powerful women who fill Raynor’s heart and words.
Zmagria by Mouna Ammar
Zmagria, Mouna's debut collection of poems celebrates a familiar and fresh mosaic of a woman paying homage to her roots and contemporary realities as she imagines in print. Mouna invites you to contemplate the tiles she carries in a box owned by a daughter of North African immigrants who found themselves in Los Angeles, a town very reminiscent of their "home"... a town where the swaying mezcla of languages, landscapes, flavors, and cultural traditions all draw immigrants to understand, in their deepest, and beyond the reach of clichè, that they are of the other and the other is in themselves.
These poems offer a gallery walk through Mouna's sojourns, their timbre at times soft, and stark at others. Mouna's writing borrows imagery and aesthetics of North Africa and Southern California both - a Mediterranean-connected aesthetic that is perfectly at ease playing in the spaces of hybridity, even, and maybe especially, when that play involves movement.
One fantasy novel for adults:
The Twin Panthers by Héctor Fox
In the tropical kingdom of Yaxchilan, ringed by vibrant jungles and powerful rivers, two royal daughters are born, destined to change the course of the war that threatens to destroy their home. Chanil, the older, and Itza', the younger, grow up under the guidance of Queen Xok and the warrior Lady Night Star. Despite Xok's insistence that Chanil learn to be a proper queen as Yaxchilan's heir-apparent, Chanil defies her mother and rushes into battle in hopes of becoming a great warrior that guides their people to victory. Itza', however, is desperate to learn about the incapacitating power that lies behind her obsidian-black eyes and uncover deeply-buried family secrets regarding the king's mysterious illness. As adults, Chanil defends their lands from the army that seeks to destroy it, but she is soon forced to rethink her role as a warrior in the face of the unexpected. Meanwhile, Itza' uses her cunning to form covert political alliances and networks of spies to gain favor in the war, but she must endure the trials of a scorned ex-ally who may hold the key to unlocking family secrets.
One romance novel for adults:
Ripple Effects: a Northern Woods Romance by Amy Hepp
Recent college graduate and Broadway-star wannabe Penny O’Brien returns to the Boundary Waters for a funeral one year after her canoe-camping adventure with Northern Woods. She stumbles into a job in Misty Lake to supplement her meager gig income and finance auditions.
Beckett Young lives and works in Cincinnati, far away from his elitist family, but he maintains the perks of his trust fund. The tragic death of his beloved aunt plunges him into depression until he’s summoned to Misty Lake for the reading of her will. A stunning redhead in the tiny town captures his attention, and while casual dating is Beckett’s usual MO to avoid hassles with his family, he’s enchanted with the practical and fiercely independent woman.
Penny is all in for a short-term fling with a classy guy. But after a few dates with Beckett Young, it’s clear they’re barreling toward something more serious. How will they juggle a long-distance relationship in the midst of his meddling parents and her struggling career?
One art book for adults:
Field Guide to Ambiguity by Hannah Burr
Field Guide to Ambiguity is a book for learning to feel situated when you don’t know where you are. It’s a way to pause and orient when you are in life’s washing machine, without claiming to have your answers for you. It’s part journaling tool, part oracle and part artists' book, full of open-ended questions to help you relate freshly to what’s immediately around you.
One cozy sci-fi novel for adults:
Peri Peri Paprika by Leanne Su
Moss is a pilot aboard the Rusty Raccoon, a trash collection ship traveling through interstellar space. Moss is sleepwalking through existence, but when she stumbles across her supervisor Turnip attempting to flee the ship, she's forced to wake up. By happenstance and Moss's own hesitant cooperation, Turnip technically kidnaps Moss—legally speaking.
Using Turnip's engineering know-how and Moss's piloting expertise, they travel through the stars, stealing ships from the rich, dodging the Galactic United Peace Patrol Implementers, and enjoying all the absurdity that the universe has to offer. Moss doesn't know where Turnip is taking them, but discovering herself along the way is a worthy exchange.
One autofiction memoir for adults:
The Northeast Corner by Colby Halloran
Questioning a stable world is one thing. Watching it crumble is another.
In the late 1950s, our young narrator finds comfort in the rules and consistencies of her family life, but never hesitates to question her attentive parents about why things are the way they are. From wondering how to keep her beloved dog safe should a tornado hit to questioning why her father is speaking to a strange woman on the phone, the narrator is not content to leave worries un-addressed. As she grows up, health problems, relocation, and loss force her to continually reassess her world.
Equal parts humorous and heartbreaking, The Northeast Corner is a coming-of-age look into the Ann Arbor of the late 1950s and early 1960s, experienced through a precocious and tenacious young woman.
One local history book:
Four African American Families by the African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County
In conjunction with an exhibit of the same name, Family Foundations charts the history of four Black Washtenaw County families: Asher Aray, Bass, Jewett, and Kersey. Including family-written histories, photographs, family trees, and interview transcripts, this book is an indelible record of Black community building in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti from the 19th century to today.
This event is part of the A2 Community Bookfest. For all Bookfest events, go to aadl.org/bookfest.