Anne-Marie Oomen takes this year’s Michigan Author Award crown

It’s a safe bet that in the last 20 years, few Michigan authors have been more prolific or involved in more writing gigs than Anne-Marie Oomen. She has likely won more writing awards than any other living Michigan author, including four Michigan Notable Book awards, and she recently added the 2023-2024 Michigan Author Award to her credentials.

The Michigan Author Award was established in 1992 to recognize significant Michigan authors for their lifetime achievements. Developed by the Michigan Library Association, the award is now facilitated by the Library of Michigan and the Michigan Center for the Book.

This year’s Michigan Author Award selection committee, which I served on, included representatives from the Library of Michigan, Bath Township Public Library, Clinton-Macomb District Library, Capital Area District Libraries, University of Michigan Library, Michigan Department of Education, Michigan Center for the Book, Michigan Humanities and Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.

“I was floored when I learned about the award,” Oomen said. “It feels like I’m too young for a lifetime award.”

There’s no question Oomen stays busy. She’s the founding editor of Dunes Review, an online literary magazine; former president of Michigan Writers Inc.; and an instructor at Lasell University in Massachusetts as well as Interlochen College of Creative Arts. She also appears at conferences throughout the country.

After nearly 20 years of teaching all levels of students, from junior high to graduate school, Oomen landed the prestigious position of writer in residence at Interlochen Arts Academy from 1997 to 1999, then chaired the creative writing department from 1999 to 2008.

While serving as chair of the department, Oomen oversaw the program development of the Writing House, a dedicated building for the creative writing program. After her tenure as chair, she continued as an instructor of creative writing and supervising editor of the Interlochen Review, the school’s online literary journal, until 2014.

Oomen’s 2022 memoir, “As Long as I Know You: The Mom Book,” won the Association of Writers & Writing Programs’ Sue William Silverman Prize in Creative Nonfiction as well as a Michigan Notable Book award and a silver Independent Publisher Book Award, or IPPY.

Other Michigan Notable Book selections Oomen has authored include “Pulling Down the Barn: Memories of a Rural Childhood,” “House of Fields: Memories of a Rural Education” and “The Lake Michigan Mermaid: A Tale in Poems,“ co-authored by Linda Nemec Foster. Her edited work “Elemental: A Collection of Michigan Creative Nonfiction” was also selected for the award.

Oomen has written seven plays, including “Northern Belles,” which was inspired by oral histories of women farmers, and “Secrets of Luuce Talk Tavern,” winner of the Community Theatre Association of Michigan’s annual playwriting contest in 2012. She developed scripts for two recent video projects, “When Water Moves,” funded by a Michigan Arts and Culture Council grant, and “Plague Phase,” a collaboration with the northwest Michigan multimedia magazine Nature Change, both of which reflect her interest in water justice and environmental issues.

Oomen said she’s working on several projects, and “more and more have to do with water activism,” including a book titled “The Lake Huron Mermaid,” a sister book to “The Lake Michigan Mermaid.”

Set the date for A Rally of Writers 2024

Michigan Poet Laureate Nandi Comer will give the keynote speech at this year’s A Rally of Writers on April 13.

Make your plans now — before it sells out — to attend this year’s A Rally of Writers, which is set for April 13 at Lansing Community College’s West Campus.

This year’s keynote speaker is Michigan Poet Laureate Nandi Comer, the first poet laureate the state has had in more than 60 years, who will be making one of her first public appearances in mid-Michigan.

Comer, who hails from Detroit, incorporates race, gender, sexuality and class in her writings about her hometown. Her books include “American Family: A Syndrome” and “Tapping Out,” which was a winner of the 2020 Midland Authors Award for poetry.

Other featured speakers include Steven Harper Piziks and Jay Whistler. Piziks is a science-fiction and steampunk writer, and Whistler writes creative ghost stories primarily for middle school readers.

The rally continues to be the best deal going for new and emerging writers, and several graduates have gone on to successful writing careers. The daylong program includes a variety of workshops about specialty writing and improving writing skills.