LoganberryNews@logan.com Mailing List Archive

Salutations!

It’s time to eat some books and find frivolity with the Marx Brothers this month! We’re excited about our book signing with Sara Holbrook, an Annex Gallery show with a rising CIA student, and a sample look at the personal comics collection of Derf Backderf. And we’ve got Independent Bookstore Day at the end of the month! We generated a lot of publicity last month our Illustrating the Gender Gap in Fiction project and Stump the Bookseller. As always, thanks for your support, and let us know what books you’re excited about reading.

Books 2 Eat
Edible Books Festival
Saturday, April 1, 2017, 1:00PM
~ annual events ~
What are you cooking this year? The International Edible Books Festival started in 2000 and has been rolling annually ever since. Loganberry Books and Strong Bindery have sponsored the Cleveland event since 2004, with awards, forks, and merriment. Booklovers, bookbinders, cooks, and craftspeople of all ages are invited to participate. The only rule is to make edible art that has something to do with books. Why? Because it's a lot of fun.

Local Voices
Bill Ayars & Susan Valerian: My Journey Down the Big Muddy
Sunday, April 2, 2017, 1:00PM
~ Sunday Signings ~
Join local authors Bill Ayars and Susan Valerian for a reading and signing of their book, My Journey Down the Big Muddy. The idea for the trip down the Mississippi River came while poison dripped slowly into Bill's arm. He was 50 years old and recently diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. “It’s very aggressive, but it’s very treatable,” his doctor said. “If you’re gonna get cancer, this is what you should get.” It’s hard to crack a smile when you’ve got a 3-1/2 inch tumor growing inside your chest. So begins Bill Ayars’ journey, which chronicles his harrowing 1,700-mile Jet-skiing trip down the Mississippi River with his daughters, Jennifer and Jackie, while simultaneously following the family’s journey through cancer, divorce, drug addiction and Bill’s reconnection with his high school sweetheart. Several years after completing the trip, Jennifer tragically died from a drug overdose in February 2016. In her memory, The Emerald Jenny Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization, was created to provide treatment options to help those in Northeast Ohio affected by drug and alcohol addiction and their families. Ten dollars from the sale of each book goes towards the Foundation.

Annex Gallery
Abigail Jo Clark
Wednesday, April 5, 2017, 6:00PM
~ first Wednesdays ~
Abigail Jo Clark is a recent graduate of Cleveland Institute of Art with a Bachelor's degree in fine art, with a declaration in print making. She is currently pursuing a master's degree in art education at Case Western Reserve University. Abigail's work includes an extensive variety of printmaking and fiber art. Abigail reflects that she is "trying to align mind, body, and soul through making and expressing what it means to be in the world through her art."

Book Signing
Sara Holbrook: The Enemy
Thursday, April 6, 2017, 7:00PM
~ special event ~
We are so very excited that Sara Holbrook will be coming to Loganberry Books on the evening of April 6th to talk about her new book, The Enemy. Set in 1954, this compelling historical novel tells the story of a young girl’s struggles and triumphs in the aftermath of World War II. The war is over, but the threat of communism and the Cold War loom over the United States. In Detroit, Michigan, twelve-year-old Marjorie Campbell struggles with the ups and downs of family life, dealing with her veteran father’s unpredictable outbursts, keeping her mother’s stash of banned library books a secret, and getting along with her new older “brother,” the teenager her family took in after his veteran father’s death. When a new girl from Germany transfers to Marjorie’s class, Marjorie finds herself torn between befriending Inga and pleasing her best friend, Bernadette, by writing in a slam book that spreads rumors about Inga. Marjorie seems to be confronting enemies everywhere—at school, at the library, in her neighborhood, and even in the news. In all this turmoil, Marjorie tries to find her own voice and figure out what is right and who the real enemies actually are. Includes an author’s note and bibliography.

Lit Cleveland

But What If They See This? Perils and Possibilities of Writing About Family
Thursday, April 6, 2017, 7:00PM
~ workshop ~
When you write about family, do you keep the composition process--or the very existence of the work—to yourself? Or has dialogue with family ever become part of the narrative? Beginning with David Sedaris’ essay “Repeat After Me,” we’ll explore how other writers have navigated the dilemmas of writing about family, then share our personal essays and individual questions in a supportive workshop format. Topics include portraying yourself and your family with complexity and compassion, discovering the larger questions that connect your story to the world, and figuring out where to spend next Thanksgiving. Workshop led by Amy Breau. Register with Lit Cleveland.

Open Mic

Broadsides & Ephemera
Thursday, April 13, 2017, 7:00PM
~ second Thursdays ~
Broadsides & Ephemera is a spoken word showcase by and for local writers. A perfect environment for shaping, sharing, and improving your poetry, prose, song, playwriting and performance art. This month’s session features readers from a previous Lit Cleveland workshop held here that focused on Persona Poems.

NOBS Forums
Derf Backderf: Comic Art Show & Tell
Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 7:00PM
~ third Wednesdays ~
Derf Backderf is an award-winning Cleveland artist known for his political cartoons and graphic novels, but he is also a collector of comic art. He knows the field well, and blogs about the history of Jack Kirby, Dr Seuss, Moebius, George Herriman, Bernie Wrightson, and Bill Maudlin, to name a few. In this informal session, Derf will bring a few of his favorites from his collection and tell us about them: why they are important in the field, how he obtained them, and why he loves them. Derf’s most recent book is Trashed, but his earlier work My Friend Dahmer is the one getting the recent buzz, because a film based on the book will premier at the Tribeca Film Festival later this month.

Vintage Entertainment

Old Time Radio: The Marx Brothers
Thursday, April 20, 2017, 7:00PM
~ third Thursdays ~
The Marx Brothers had several radio shows, including “Beagle, Shyster and Beagle,” and “Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel.” Groucho, the “affront” man for the team, played Waldorf T. Beagle, attorney at law, unless he took lunch, at which point he was attorney at lunch. Chico played Emmanuel Ravelli, Beagle's assistant. Many of the routines from the lawyer show were later used in “Duck Soup,” which we’ll watch on April 27. Bring your knitting, coloring books, and ears, and enjoy this amusing vintage entertainment.

Local Voices

Deborah Hill: The Power of Encouragement
Sunday, April 23, 2017, 1:30PM
~ Sunday Signings ~
Join local author Deborah A. Hill as she signs her new book The Power of Encouragement: Determinations That Define Your Destiny. In this inspirational memoir, Hill presents the ten keys to achieving your dreams: activating, defining, prioritizing, optimizing, embracing, releasing, launching, believing, owning, and empowering. This wonderful title offers encouragement to those who feel life has placed limitations—such as self-doubt, fear, adversity, obstacles, and hurdles—on their future.

Open Mic
Lit Cleveland Live
Tuesday, April 25, 2017, 6:30PM
~ special event ~
Join Literary Cleveland for an open mic night. From 6:30-7:30 pm, mix and mingle while enjoying food and drink. At 7:30 pm, perform your piece or simply sit back and enjoy an evening of entertainment as open mic participants take the stage. Hosted by poet, performer and teacher Damien Ware. Open mic sign-up begins at 6:30 pm. More Info.

Bucket List Book Club
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead & Hamlet
Wednesday, April 26, 2017, 7:00PM
~ fourth Wednesdays ~

Acclaimed as a modern dramatic masterpiece, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Tom Stoppard is the fabulously inventive tale of Hamlet as told from the worm’s-eye view of the bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters in Shakespeare’s play. The book club will also read Hamlet, the Shakespeare play that needs no introduction, the inspiration for Stoppard's work.

Vintage Entertainment

Marx Brothers: Duck Soup (1933)
Thursday, April 27, 2017, 7:00PM
~ fourth Thursdays ~
While contemporaneous critics of “Duck Soup” felt it did not quite meet the standards of its predecessors, critical opinion has evolved and the film has since achieved the status of a classic. “Duck Soup” is now widely considered among critics to be a masterpiece of comedy, and the Marx Brothers' finest film. We dare you not to laugh at this political satire that dared to poke fun at the erratic European dictators of the time with its portrayal of Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho), a wisecracking charlatan with no apparent executive experience.

National Event
Independent Bookstore Day
Saturday, April 29, 2017, 10:00AM
~ annual event ~
Independent bookstores are not just stores, they’re community centers and local anchors run by passionate readers. They are entire universes of ideas that contain the possibility of real serendipity. They are lively performance spaces and quiet places where aimless perusal is a day well spent. Indie bookstores, whether dusty and labyrinthine or clean and well-lighted, are not just stores, they are solutions. They hold the key to your love life, your career, and your passions. Walking the aisles of a good bookstore means stumbling upon a novel from India that expands your heart. It’s encountering an art book that changes the direction of your life. It’s the joy of having a perfect stranger steer you toward the perfect book. In a world of tweets and algorithms and pageless digital downloads, bookstores are not a dying anachronism. They are living, breathing organisms that continue to grow and expand. In fact, there are more of them this year than there were last year. And they are at your service. Join us at Loganberry Books as we celebrate Independent Bookstore Day, along with about 400 other indie bookstore across the country. We'll have books, gifts, tchotchkes developed exclusively for this events, as well as freebies and hospitalities to say thank you for shopping indie.

Local Voices

Irene Shaland: The Dao of Being Jewish
Sunday, April 30, 2017, 1:00PM
~ book signing ~
Join local author Irene Shaland as she signs her book, The Dao of Being Jewish: Seeking Jewish Narrative All Over the World. This fascinating book explores the history of Jewish peoples, from over two millennia ago, when a small party of Jews exploring trade routes for King Solomon settled in the south of India, to the ancient Roman period, when Jewish merchants traveled to China over the Silk Route and made it their permanent home, and even to today. How did the Diaspora bring these wandering Jews to so many places around the globe? Why did Jews live in India and China for centuries and not experience antisemitism, while the Jews in Europe went from persecutions and massacres to the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust? Why do we see the rise of antisemitism and violence again in the 21st century? You will find answers to these questions and more in the current edition of Shaland's artfully illustrated book of stories, which she collected from ten countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa, interviewing locals in their homes, synagogues, and even cemeteries. Replete with her husband's photos, The Dao of Being Jewish takes you on your own journey of discovery from Austria and the Czech Republic to Scandinavia, from India and China to Sicily and Sardinia, and from East Africa to Stalinist Russia.