(Chelsea Update would like to thank Doug Smith for the information in this story.)
On Friday, June 12 at 7p.m, Serendipity Books, 113 W. Middle St., will host a reception and celebration of the 2nd edition and 10th anniversary of the publication of “In Drought Time,” an anthology of art and poetry by local artists and poets.
“In Drought Time” has sold nearly 1,000 copies and is one of the best selling books of Mayapple Press, a small independent press that has been publishing books since 1978. Several artists from the Chelsea Painters contributed to the anthology, which includes over 50 color plates.
In addition to many other writers from western Washtenaw County, the book features nationally acclaimed writers, Laura Kasischke, Thomas Lynch, Keith Taylor, and Richard Tillinghast, all of whom are now or have been professors at the University of Michigan.
The reception will begin with wine and snacks at 7 p.m., followed by a poetry reading at 7:30 p.m. Books will be on sale.
“In Drought Time” presents the story of small town and rural life through art and poetry. With the swift change in land use and the growth of villages into cities across the Midwest and beyond, the work attempts to capture a way of life that is in flux and perhaps soon to be lost forever.
Nationally known painters and writers contribute to a unique portrait of people and place not often addressed in literary anthologies. This is a book not just for poetry and art lovers, but for anyone who has dreamed about life beyond the urban sprawl and for the many who have already fled the city for life in the country or in a small town.
The book is not just a celebration of the beauty and peace of a pastoral life but also addresses the darker side of this exodus: the loss of family farms, isolation, small town prejudice, and the homogenization of middle class life.
For more information, please contact editors Doug Smith at [email protected] or Karen Woollams at [email protected]. Also feel encouraged to communicate with the publisher, Mayapple Press, and the editor-in-chief, Judith Kerman, [email protected].
For a calendar of all the events taking place in Chelsea, please click here.
