2023 Detroit Writing Room Author Series
At The Whitney Detroit
Join us for intimate book talks and signings, and meet the high-profile authors behind new releases!
The Whitney mansion is world famous for upscale dining in Detroit. Completed in 1894, the Motor City landmark retains the exquisite charm of Detroit’s early upper echelon as a venue for all to enjoy.
Guests will enjoy drinks and hors d'oeuvres during a meet-and-greet with the author. The event will also include an author talk, opportunity to ask questions during Q&A and book signing. The intimate experiences will be held in the Whitney’s Music Room (January-April) and outdoor garden (May-June), weather permitting. Space is limited to 50 guests. We have partnered with 27th Letter Books in Detroit to purchase the books in advance and onsite. Author Series Pass holders will receive 15% off books!
Author of “The Plum Tree Blossoms Even in Winter” (Wayne State University Press, 2022)
From a childhood marked by loneliness and want, M. Roy Wilson forged an extraordinary life of accomplishment and acclaim. His accomplishments include the presidencies of four universities, dean of two medical schools and deputy director of one of the National Institutes of Health’s 27 Centers and Institutes. Through this inspiring and deeply personal story of struggle and success, Wilson shares insights gleaned through his life experiences, many of which helped others reach their highest potential as students, faculty, physicians and people.
Born to a Japanese mother and Black father, much of M. Roy Wilson’s childhood in Japan was marked by parental absence, sexual abuse, extended periods as a runaway, physical confrontations and frequent moves. He was often forced to play the role of caregiver to his younger sister, and together they grew to depend on each other for support until their teenage years.
Under the guidance of his high school English teacher, Wilson turned his life around and obtained an MD from Harvard Medical School. His adult life as a physician was ironically beset with significant health challenges, including diagnoses of cardiomyopathy that rendered him uninsurable, a potentially blinding eye disease and cancer that at first was thought to be terminal. Having developed a veneer of invulnerability as a child, he kept these medical diagnoses a secret until now.
Like the plum tree that blooms even during dark and dreary times, Wilson overcame his childhood challenges and later, his health issues, to achieve distinction in medicine, higher education and global health research. The journey to this unlikely outcome is an engrossing tale of outside forces that shape racial and cultural identity, the importance of mentorship and friendship, and the lasting impact of an unstable and often heartbreaking family dynamic. Order here.
Author of "That They Lived: African Americans Who Changed the World" (Wayne State University Press, 2021)
In February 2017, Rochelle Riley was reading Twitter posts and came across a series of black-and-white photos of four-year-old Lola dressed up as different African American women who had made history. Rochelle was immediately smitten. She was so proud to see this little girl so powerfully honor the struggle and achievement of women several decades her senior. Rochelle reached out to Lola’s mom, Cristi Smith-Jones, and asked to pair her writing with Smith-Jones’s incredible photographs for a book. The goal? To teach children on the cusp of puberty that they could be anything they aspired to be, that every famous person was once a child who, in some cases, overcame great obstacles to achieve.
“That They Lived: African Americans Who Changed the World” features Riley’s grandson, Caleb, and Lola photographed in timeless black and white, dressed as important individuals such as business owners, educators, civil rights leaders, and artists, alongside detailed biographies that begin with the figures as young children who had the same ambitions, fears, strengths, and obstacles facing them that readers today may still experience. Muhmmad Ali’s bike was stolen when he was twelve years old and the police officer he reported the crime to suggested he learn how to fight before he caught up with the thief. Bessie Coleman, the first African American female aviator, collected and washed her neighbors’ dirty laundry so she could raise enough money for college. When Duke Ellington was seven years old, he preferred playing baseball to attending the piano lessons his mom had arranged.
“That They Lived” fills in gaps in the history that American children have been taught for generations. For African American children, it will prove that they are more than descendants of the enslaved. For all children, it will show that every child can achieve great things and work together to make the world a better place for all. Order here.
Author of “Parent Like a Pediatrician” (Kensington Publishing Corp., 2022)
Pediatrician, working mom, and parent advocate Rebekah Diamond, M.D. expertly guides you through the noise to share her fresh, inclusive, sensible, no-nonsense take on making the right choices when it comes the first 12 months of your child’s life.
Becoming a new parent in the age of online advice can be a minefield of confusion, worries and fears amplified by myths, misinformation and too much information.
As an experienced pediatrician, Rebekah Diamond is deeply grounded in a fact-based understanding of child health care. As a mother, she also understands that the accepted rules aren’t always the solution to the challenges of nurturing a healthy new baby. But neither is the overload of relatable but often dangerously misleading information bombarding parents. So how do you trust yourself to make the best decisions for your child?
With authoritative up-to-date research and real-world advice on the myriad obstacles facing moms, dads and caregivers, Dr. Diamond unpacks the whys behind the facts to empower your best parental instincts. From safe-sleep guidelines, breast feeding, and binky addiction to sensory developmental activities, baby products, and the final — and 100% evidence-based — word on the vaccination debate, Dr. Diamond helps parents cultivate the clarity and sound decisions you need to lessen the anxiety (for parent and baby) around what should be the joyful, connecting early months of life. Order here.
Author of “A Death on W Street” (PublicAffairs, 2022)
In the early hours of July 10, 2016, gunshots rang out and a young man lay fatally wounded on a quiet Washington, DC street. But who killed Seth Rich? When he was buried in his hometown, his rabbi declared: “There are no answers for a young man gunned down in the prime of his life.” The rabbi was wrong. There were in fact many answers, way too many.
In the absence of an arrest, a howling mob filled the void. Wild speculation and fantastical theories surfaced on social media and gained traction thanks to a high-level cast of provocateurs. But it wasn’t until Fox News took the rumors from the fringes to the mainstream that Seth Rich’s life and death grew into something altogether unexpected — one of the foundational conspiracy theories of modern times.
“A Death on W Street” unravels this gripping saga of murder, madness and political chicanery, one that would ensnare Hillary Clinton and Steve Bannon, a popular pizzeria in northwest DC and the most powerful voices in American media. It's the story of an idealistic 27-year-old political staffer who became a tragic victim of the culture wars, until his family decided that they had no choice but to defend his name and put an end to the cruel deceptions that surrounded his death.
This is the definitive story of Seth Rich, of those who tried to weaponize his memory in a war of words unlike any other, and of one family’s crusade to protect the truth against all odds. Order here.
Author of “Just Watch Me” (Sabieha Press, 2022)
Judge Rosemarie Aquilina made headlines with her unprecedented judicial decisions during the Nassar sentencing hearing, but in a life filled with unconventional choices and bold decisions, this was only one of her many extraordinary moments. In this empowering memoir, Judge Aquilina finally shares her own deeply personal story.
Every time Rosemarie was told she couldn’t do something, her response was a resounding “Just watch me.” She lived these words, first, as a young woman when told she couldn’t pursue a career in the male-dominated legal field. Next, as a government staffer when told she couldn’t be a Judge Advocate General Officer in the Michigan National Guard and a mother. And finally, as a judge when told she should not allow every Sister Survivor to speak in the Nassar case.
Through it all, Judge Aquilina’s grit and perseverance resulted in a uniquely courageous life story. Now she’ll inspire you to make your own bold choices and stand strong in the face of life’s greatest challenges. Order here.
Author of “Nothing Special” (Wayne State University Press, 2022)
Six-year-old Jax can’t wait to leave Detroit and spend a week with his grandparents in coastal Virginia, where he’s sure he’ll be spoiled with the kinds of special things he enjoys at home: toys, movies and hamburgers. As he dreams of the adventures he’ll have, his PopPop has other ideas. He fills their days with timeless summer fun — crabbing, shucking corn and counting fireflies.
Illustrated entirely of repurposed textiles, “Nothing Special” celebrates the enduring connection between the generations who stayed in the South and the millions of emigrants for whom it will always be home. Between 1910 and 1970, more than 6 million African Americans left the Jim Crow South, but they never forgot the culture, the land and the family they left behind. In the decades since, it has become a summer ritual for many black families to reverse the journey and return South for a visit to their homeplaces. Order here.
Purchase an Author Series Pass for $300 (a $60 savings!). Pass holders will also receive a 15% discount on books! A promo code will be sent after purchase. Single event tickets are $60.
Passes and event tickets may be purchased as gifts for the holidays, birthdays or other celebratory occasions! Please provide the recipient’s name and email so we can include them on our guest list.
Dr. M. Roy Wilson is chancellor emeritus of the University of Colorado Denver and Health Sciences Center and the 12th president of Wayne State University. Previously, he was dean of the School of Medicine at Creighton University, where he was the youngest medical dean in the country and the second African American dean of a non-HBCU medical school; president of the four campus Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center; dean of the medical school, president and chair of the board of directors of Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science; and deputy director of strategic scientific planning and program coordination at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the NIH.
Author of “The Plum Tree Blossoms Even in Winter”
Book Talk: Rescheduled to April 19, 2023 due to weather.
Rochelle Riley is Director of Arts and Culture for the city of Detroit. The author, essayist, blogger and arts advocate ended a nearly 20-year stint in 2019 as a columnist for the Detroit Free Press, where she was a leading voice for children, education, competent government and race. She is author of “The Burden: African Americans and the Enduring Impact of Slavery” (Wayne State University Press, 2018), which garnered rave reviews and remains one of the Top Ten sellers in Michigan’s independent bookstores. She travels the country hosting conversations about the burden that America still bears because it refuses to deal with the aftermath of American enslavement. She also is co-author of “That They Lived,” a collection of essays and photographs about famous African Americans that all children should know (Wayne State University Press, 2021).
Rochelle received the 2017 Eugene C. Pulliam Editorial Fellowship from the Society of Professional Journalists to study how trauma impedes how children learn and the 2017 Ida B. Wells Award from the National Association of Black Journalists “for her outstanding efforts to make newsrooms and news coverage more accurately reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.” She received the Will Rogers Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists for community service, the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Professional Journalists and the 2020 Daily Tar Heel Distinguished Alumnus award at UNC.
Rochelle was a 2007-2008 Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan, where she studied online communities and film. She was a 2016 inductee into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame and a 2019 inductee into the N.C. Media and Journalism Hall of Fame. Rochelle is a co-founder of Letters to Black Girls, an initiative to give letters of advice and encouragement from women across the country to girls across the country.
Author of “That They Lived: African Americans Who Changed the World”
Book Talk: Rescheduled to June 14, 2023 due to weather.
Rebekah Diamond, M.D. is a pediatrician, mother and founder of the website ParentLikeAPediatrician.com. She received her undergraduate degree from Yale University, and then her M.D. from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She completed her pediatrics residency training at the University of Michigan. She is currently a pediatric hospitalist in New York City and assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia University. For more information, visit ParentLikeAPediatrician.com.
Author of “Parent Like a Pediatrician”
Book Talk: March 29, 2023
Meet the Moderator
Albiona Rakipi
Albiona Rakipi has over 20 years of experience working with children and families, first as an early childhood educator and currently as a pediatric speech and language pathologist. She offers 1:1 parent coaching programs where she’s best known for helping parents reframe how they interpret their child’s behavior, while tackling their daily challenges and reflecting on their parenting journey. Her work has been published in, The Everymom, Detroit Mom, Hour Detroit, Metro Parent, The Motherload and Modern Parent. She was named a top writer on the topic of parenting in Medium.
She is the founder ofThe Parenting Reframe website and hostsThe Parenting Reframe podcast. Additionally, she authors a popular weekly newsletter, Parenting Skimmed, where she provides insights and solutions to help you parent and live a better life. Her intention from the beginning has remained the same, to create a space where parents feel seen, heard and supported.
Andy Kroll is an investigative reporter for ProPublica, a news organization that exposes abuses of power and publishes hard-hitting journalism in the public interest. Previously, Kroll was the Washington bureau chief for Rolling Stone magazine. He has also worked for Mother Jones, National Journal and The California Sunday Magazine. Kroll lives in Washington, DC with his wife and two spoiled cats. He grew up in Portage, Michigan and is an insufferably proud graduate of the University of Michigan. “A Death on W Street” is his first book.
Author of “A Death on W Street”
Book Talk: April 26, 2023
Judge Rosemarie Aquilina earned her Juris Doctorate degree from Western Michigan Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 1984 after earning her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Michigan State University in 1979. She began her legal career working in the Michigan Senate as an Administrative Assistant after which, she opened Aquilina Law Firm, PLC. Judge Aquilina became part of Michigan’s history as the first female JAG Officer in the Michigan Army National Guard where she served honorably for twenty years. Judge Aquilina also made history when she allowed 156 Sister-Survivors and other victims for a total of 169 victims to speak over seven days in the People v Nassar case. She again made history as the first female professor to speak at the MSU College of Law Commencement in the Spring of 2018.
Judge Aquilina has served as a civilian judge for sixteen years. During her first four, she served as Chief Judge and Sobriety Court Judge in the 55th District Court, during which time she founded the Ingham County Sobriety Court Foundation to assist those in recovery. Judge Aquilina was then elected to the 30th Circuit Court for Ingham County, where she has served for twelve years. Judge Aquilina also serves as an Adjunct Professor and has received exceptional teaching awards at both Western Michigan Thomas M. Cooley Law School and at Michigan State University College of Law. Additionally, Judge Aquilina is a published fiction author.
Her novel, “Feel No Evil,” made its debut in 2003. “Triple Cross Killer” debuted in December 2017 and is now in its second edition. It is the first in a detective series, and was named in Michigan’s top ten fiction bestsellers in 2018. “All Rise,” a cozy mystery, was released May 2020. Her life story, “Just Watch Me,” was first released with Audible, as part of the First Originals from Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine. The memoir was released in 2022 paperback. She has five children and three grandchildren and resides in East Lansing, Michigan.
Author of “Just Watch Me”
Book Talk: May 31, 2023
A 2015 Kresge Artist Fellow, Desiree Cooper is a former attorney, Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and community activist. She is an evocative speaker on the themes of racial and gender equality, reproductive freedom, family-positive public policy and the welfare of women and girls. As a full-time caregiver for her aging parents, she writes widely about women, self-care and reinvention. A sought-after creative writing instructor, she conducts readings from her flash fiction collection, “Know the Mother,” like an “instant book club.”
Cooper’s fiction, poetry and essays have appeared in The Best Small Fictions 2018, Callaloo, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Rumpus, River Teeth, and Best African American Fiction 2010, among other publications. Her essay, “We Have Lost Too Many Wigs,” was listed as a notable essay in The Best American Essays 2019.
Having forged a 30-year career in Detroit, she now lives in the Virginia Beach area where she cares for her aging mother and raises her three grandchildren.
Author of “Nothing Special”
Book Talk: June 28, 2023
Parking: The Whitney offers valet parking in their main lot for $10 per car. Guests may self-park in the lot located across the street at Woodward and Canfield. There is also street parking along Canfield Street.
Tickets: Tickets include passed appetizers and one glass of wine, Champagne or beer. There will also be a cash bar. Books must be purchased separately. You can order online (see each event page) to receive the book in advance or purchase books onsite.
Tickets may be purchased as a gift. Please include the name of the recipient when ordering an Author Series pass or single ticket so we can place the recipient on our guest list.
Dining: The Whitney offers dinner service from 5 - 8 p.m. on Wednesdays. Reservations are recommended. Guests can make a reservation via OpenTable. Visit thewhitney.com/about to learn more about the mansion’s history.
Covid-19 Policy: We will follow all CDC guidelines at the time of each event.
