The Detroit Festival of Books (Bookfest) is Michigan’s largest book festival with used and rare dealers, bookmakers, and publishers from all over the USA, Canada, and other countries. Come and peruse dozens of used and rare book dealers at the 7th Detroit Bookfest on Sunday, July 21, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at Eastern Market Shed #5 (2934 Russell St. Detroit, MI 48207). Food trucks and beer too! This event is free and open to the public! For more information and maps visit: Detroit Bookfest.
Book Beat will be displaying sale books, first editions, book ephemera, illustrated children’s books, and rare books in the fields of art and photography. We are located at table #5. We’re also hosting a table featuring local authors and artists. Stop by, chat, and pick up an inscribed book. Attending authors and artists at the Book Beat booth include:
Bea Jackson 12-1 p.m.
Bea (Brittany) Jackson, the New York Times bestselling and award-winning illustrator of Parker Looks Up and Parker Shines On, attended the College for Creative Studies, and was a grand prize winner of the L. Ron Hubbard’s Illustrator of the Future Award.
In addition to her work as a children’s book artist and a character and concept artist, Bea’s art has been featured on books and comic covers as well as in various magazines. In 2021, Target launched Wondershop, a Christmas-themed collection, which included Bea’s art on gift bags, gift boxes, and wrapping paper. She lives in Detroit, Michigan. Her latest book is Summer Is Here.
DeAnn Wiley 12-1 p.m.
DeAnn Wiley is a self-taught illustrator with a master’s degree in counseling psychology, born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. She advocates for social justice from the intersection of multiple identities—Black, Woman, Queer, and Disabled—and she stands in solidarity with other marginalized communities outside of her own.
When she’s not painting, she’s learning, growing, and healing, with each phase of her journey depicted in her art. She is the illustrator of Sarah Rising and the Sunday Adventures series. Homegrown is her author-illustrator debut.
Rebecca Mix 12-1 p.m.
Rebecca Mix is the New York Times and Indie bestselling author of weird magical books like The Ones We Burn, The Mossheart’s Promise duology, Neopets: The Omelette Faerie, and the upcoming I Killed The King duology.
A reluctant reader at first, she fell in love with books after joining a reading contest to spite her fourth grade nemesis.
Rebecca is based in southeast Michigan; if you can’t find her, she’s probably on a walk, puzzling out her latest story problem.
Josh Malerman 1-2 p.m.
Josh Malerman is a New York Times bestselling author and one of two singer-songwriters for the rock band The High Strung. His debut novel, Bird Box, is the inspiration for the hit Netflix film of the same name.
His other novels include Daphne, Pearl, Spin a Black Yarn, and Malorie, the sequel to Bird Box. Incidents Around the House is his latest novel. Malerman lives in Michigan with his fiancée, the artist-musician Allison Laakko.
V. Efua Prince 1-2 p.m.
V Efua Prince‘s work often takes an interdisciplinary form as history, poetry, drama, and performance, in order to transform the history of black women into political art. Prince is a professor of African American Studies. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan in English Language and Literature and has served as a director of Black Studies at Allegheny College, the Avalon Professor of Humanities at Hampton University, a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia’s Carter G. Woodson Institute, and a fellow at Harvard University’s W. E. B. Du Bois Center.
Her current work represents a refinement of themes she has been considering for more than 20 years, evident in both Burnin’ Down the House: Home in African American Literature and Daughter’s Exchange, and Kin: Practically True Stories. She co-authored with Hoke S. Glover III, Crazy As Hell: The Best Little Guide to Black History.
Due to a family emergency V Efua Prince will be unable to attend Book Fest tomorrow.
We look forward to her new book Kin that releases at the end of August and hope to do a signing with her sometime in the fall. Stay tuned for updates.
Rick Lieder 1-2 p.m.
Rick Leider’s art has appeared on award-winning novels ranging from mysteries and science ficton, to books based on the X-Files TV series and Newberry Award-winning books for children. His fine art has been exhibited in galleries in the Midwest and Canada, and include painting, photography, and digital art.
His nature picture books are collaborations with award-winning novelist and poet Helen Frost, published by Candlewick Press. Their latest collaboration is The Mighty Pollinators.
Meriam Metoui 2-3 p.m.
Meriam Metoui is the author of Portrait of a Shadow (out July 16th) and A Guide to the Dark, which School Library Journal described in its starred review as “Compelling…readers will have trouble putting this one down even for a minute.”
Born in Tunisia, she now lives in Detroit, Michigan, with her partner and her puppy. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Hunter College, where she received a master’s degree in English literature.
Craig Maki 2-3 p.m.
Craig Maki is the author of Tomorrow Brings Memories: Detroit’s First Underground Record Company and co-author of the ground-breaking Detroit Country Music: Mountaineers, Cowboys, and Rockabillies. He also contributed to Heaven Was Detroit: From Jazz to Hip-Hop and Beyond. He wrote liner notes for Ricky Riddle’s I’m A Whip-Cracking’ Daddy (BACM CD 644, British Archive of Country Music, U.K., 2019) Jack Earls & The Jimbos’ Slow Down, The Sun Years, Plus (BCD 16935, Bear Family, Germany, 2010) Jimmy Kirkland’s Jimmy Cool Daddy (RCCD 3054, Rollercoaster, U.K., 2007), and furnished pieces to music magazines American Music (Sweden) and Blue Suede News (U.S.A.).
Maki enjoys playing music and collecting old records. For ten years, he hosted radio shows on public stations in southeast Michigan, featuring rockabilly and country music. Find his blog at www.carcitycountry.com.
Bruce Allen Kopytek 2-3 p.m.
Bruce Allen Kopytek has spent a career creating works of architecture that combine thought and creativity to produce buildings that are a credit to their locations and environment. During his forty plus years of experience in the field, he also developed his passion for books and began his commercial writing career in 2011.
His first book, Jacobson’s: I Miss it So!, won a Michigan Notable Book Award in 2012. He’s also published Crowley’s: Detroit’s Friendly Store, Eaton’s: The Trans-Canada Store, Toledo’s Three Ls: Lamson’s, the Lion Store & Lasalle’s, and Hudson’s: Detroit’s World-Famous Department Store. His new book, The D&C and the Fabulous Luxury Liners of the Great Lakes, will be released this summer.