“Big Gretch” is on the promotion trail for the young-adult version of her memoir, “True Gretch,” which was recently selected as a Michigan Notable Book for 2025. Just last week, the governor appeared on “The View,” “Morning Joe” and “The ReidOut,” among others, to discuss the book, which provides advice for a younger audience of women.
Another 2025 Michigan Notable Book award winner, Amos Paul Kennedy Jr., spent the last week in January on Michigan State University’s campus showcasing his poster and handbill art, which he creates using letterpress printing, a nearly extinct form of putting ink on paper.
At a recent pop-up exhibit of his work at MSU’s Main Library, Kennedy, in his trademark denim overalls, interacted with a regular parade of students, staff and faculty.
When I asked where his gallery is located in Detroit, he responded, “Shop printers have shops.” But don’t let that fool you — Kennedy is an accomplished artist, and his posters are often printed in a rainbow of colors, promoting everything from civil rights leaders to bars. Most have social activism themes.
One student, who clearly hadn’t seen anything like Kennedy’s prints before, asked the astute question, “What period of history does this work represent?” Kennedy patiently explained his work while telling the student, “Every era of history.”
As is typical of the Michigan Notable Book list, this year’s selections — the full list of which can be found on the Library of Michigan’s website — represent an eclectic mix of topics, with the one caveat that they all have some relationship to Michigan culture, geography and/or people. The winners range from the sports book “The Lions Finally Roar,” by Detroit native Bill Morris, which details the Detroit Lions’ ascension to one of the top teams in the NFL, to a biography of MC5, a band best known for “kicking out the jams” with an added expletive.
The list also counts a very funny and fun semi-romance novel, “Funny Story,” by New York Times best-seller Emily Henry, which is set in a Lake Michigan shore town. The book had an added push for winning since Henry graduated from Hope College in Holland, Michigan.
Lansing author Erin Bartels earned her third award for “The Lady with the Dark Hair,” which is an exceptional art fraud mystery revolving around a lost piece of art and its mysterious artist.
Donald Lystra also struck again with his coming-of-age novel “Searching for Van Gogh,” which is set in Grand Rapids in the gritty 1960s. The selection panel (which I serve on) loved this book.
Great Lakes nerds will be clamoring for a copy of “Sail, Steam and Diesel: Moving Cargo on the Great Lakes,” published by MSU Press. The book, by Cleveland-area author Eric Hirsimaki, details the history of shipping on the Great Lakes and is surprisingly approachable.
Alice Randall, a former Detroiter and previous award winner for her book “Black Bottom Saints,” is on 2025’s list for her non-fiction book on an important niche in historic and emerging country music. The book, “My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music’s Black Past, Present and Future,” is a delightful read by an author who was also the first Black woman to co-write a No. 1 country hit, Trisha Yearwood’s “XXX’s and OOO’s.”
Interestingly, Felicia George, a research assistant for a previous Michigan Notable Book, Bridgett Davis’ “The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life in the Detroit Numbers,” is an award winner this year for her book, “When Detroit Played the Numbers: Gambling’s History and Cultural Impact on the Motor City,” which details the illicit numbers racket in the city that funded everything from cultural institutions to the career of boxer Joe Louis.
It’s no surprise that Bonnie Jo Campbell’s book “The Waters” was also named to the list. The book picks the scabs off modern-day disagreements in a rural Michigan village, which leads to some terrifying moments. The massasauga rattlesnake has a starring role in the book, which features three generations of strong women who live in a natural environment that’s at risk from outsiders.
Detroit’s auto workers are given a voice in Oakland University Professor Daniel J. Clark’s award winner, “Listening to Workers: Oral Histories of Metro Detroit Autoworkers in the 1950s.” Many books have been written about the travails of working on the line, but this is one of the first to look at the workers’ home lives and beyond.
Not unexpectedly, a poetry book and a cookbook also made the list this year. “Old Time Hawkey’s Recipes from the Cedar Swamp: A Cookbook” is a yummy look at 100 recipes from deer camps, campfires and family gatherings in the Upper Peninsula. The poetry collection “What Can the Matter Be?” by Ann Arbor resident Keith Taylor, explores aging, death and a sense of place with humor and joy.
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