The Michigan City Public Library is excited to collaborate with the Nest for the 2019 Writing Out Loud series.  The library is in the second phase of a remodeling project which will affect the library meeting room space.  The Nest at 803 Franklin Street will host all of the authors during the season.  Each program begins at 7:30pm and is followed by a reception hosted by the Friends of the Library. Writing Out Loud was created in 1984 with a grant from the Indiana Humanities to bring important  writers of varying genres to the community.to host authors to discuss their work.  For more information about the events, call 219-873-3049.  The 2019 lineup is:

Viola Shipman, September 14:  Pen Name of Wade Rouse—Wade Rouse is the international best-selling  author of nine books, which have been translated into nearly 20 languages. Wade chose his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, as a pen name to honor the woman whose heirlooms and family stories inspire his fiction. His novels include The Charm Bracelet, a 2017 Michigan Notable Book of the Year; The Hope Chest; and The Recipe Box. His latest novel is The Summer Cottage.  He recently signed a three-book deal with Harper Collins.  The Heirloom Garden will be published in April 2020.

Mary Ruth Clarke, September 28:  Mary Ruth Clarke is a playwright and screenwriter. She co-wrote and starred in the original Meet the Parents and co-adapted it into the blockbuster film version, starring Robert De Niro. Her play, Bonhoeffer’s Cost, has had runs in Austin, Texas, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Her farce, Suffer The Long Night, has been produced in Los Angeles and Austin.  Her play, Address Unknown, was produced in Chicago.  Her solo performance, I Could Kill Him for Dying, also ran in Chicago. She is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists.  She is also a screenplay consultant for clients in LA and Chicago. She’s a regular guest lecturer at the Chicago Screenwriter’s Network monthly meet up and recently ran workshops for the Off Campus Writer’s Group, the Chicago Independent Film Project, and Renaissance Theaterworks Milwaukee. She is a member of the Writer’s Guide of America East and the Dramatists Guild.

Michael Poore, Saturday, October 12:  Michael Poore’s short fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train, Southern Review, Agni, Fiction, and Asimov’s. His story, The Street of the House of the Sun, was selected for The Year’s Best Nonrequired Reading 2012. His first novel, Up Jumps the Devil, was hailed by The New York Review of Books as “an elegiac masterpiece.” His second novel is Reincarnation Blues.  He also has written a middle-grade level book due out in September titled Two Girls, A Clock, and a Crooked House.  

Adrian Matejka, Saturday, November 2: Adrian Matejka is currently the Poet Laureate of Indiana (2017- 2019).   He was born in Nuremberg, Germany and grew up in Indianapolis. He graduated from Indiana University and the MFA program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He is the author of The Devil’s Garden, which won the New York/New England Award and Mixology, a winner of the 2008 National Poetry Series. Mixology was also a finalist for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature. His third collection, The Big Smoke, focuses on Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight champion of the world. The Big Smoke was awarded the 2014 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was also a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award, 2014 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and 2014 Pulitzer Prize in poetry. His most recent book, Map to the Stars, was published in 2017. Among Matejka’s other honors are the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award, the Julia Peterkin Award, a Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from the Bellagio Center, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, and a Simon Fellowship from United States Artists. He teaches at Indiana University in Bloomington.