In Literary Terms, “National” Means Northern Michigan

View of Front Street from Opera House, Upstairs

Indoors and outdoors could not have been more different today in downtown Traverse City. On the streets, in trucks and cars, white knuckles gripped steering wheels, while windblown pedestrians on the sidewalks bent forward and made themselves into tight bundles, conserving as much body heat as possible. At the same time, inside the Traverse City Opera House, the mood was celebratory as the National Writers Series unveiled its fourth season, opening this year (for the first time) with a media launch luncheon. I was pleased to be invited, to say the least.

The Opera House is beautiful. Whenever I’m there, I can’t help looking up. The Traverse City Pie Company did a stellar job with the buffet lunch, too. The focus of the event, however—and justly so—was the announcement of this season’s guest authors. What a line-up! You can (and should) link to the NWS website for the full schedule, but I can’t help saying how thrilled I am that there is a philosopher coming this year: Michael Sandel, communitarian ethicist from Harvard. Among fiction writers, the one who stands out most sharply for me is Geraldine Brooks, author of four novels, because I have read three of the four.

Doug Stanton, a Traverse City native and a nationally best-selling author himself, was clearly very happy to share the history of the series, its mission statement, and plans for the future, particularly the 2012 schedule. Doug and Anne Stanton (she a dedicated journalist whose features we have missed ever since she left Northern Express to team up and work with her husband) are a powerhouse pair of writers. They write with passion, not with ego, and they work like bricklayers at their craft. Over the years, the more I have gotten to know the Stantons, the more I admire them. This is a bit of a digression from news of the NWS, but I can’t help it. Doug and Anne don’t blow their own horns, so this is my salute to them for all the wonderful work they do, their writing and everything else they do for the greater Traverse City community and all of northern Michigan. Bringing nationally recognized authors to our region—what a fabulous idea! And  then they went on and made it happen!

The mission of the NWS is twofold, focusing on students and community. After expenses for the series are paid, every penny earned goes into college scholarships. Another wrinkle on the community side is that book clubs of five or more members can get a 10% discount on tickets when ordering together.

It was good to see old friends and reconnect with people I’ve met only recently, and afterward I didn’t mind at all going out into the blizzard and making my way down Front Street to meet David at Horizon Books, taking in the wintry urban scene along the way. 
Even the marquee letters on the State Theatre held snow, and trees on the north side of the street looked as if they had been coated bottom to top, every last twig, with spray starch. It was quite a day.


P.S. Maybe my headline wasn't clear. What I meant is that the National Writers Series has put northern Michigan on the national literary map.