Summer Author Series ft. Sonali Dev and A.H. Kim

The Detroit Writing Room Summer Author Series is excited to feature Sonali Dev and A.H. Kim for our June event highlighting Jane Austen retellings!

Sonali Dev is the award-winning author of "The Emma Project" (William Morrow, 2022). In part 4 of the heartwarming Jane Austen-inspired rom-com series, "Emma" gets a fresh Indian-American twist.

A.H. Kim is the acclaimed author of “Relative Strangers" (Graydon House, 2024). A timely spin on “Sense and Sensibility,” the 21st century family drama features two half-Korean sisters, their ex-hippie mother, multiple messy love affairs and one explosive secret that could ruin everything.

Join us Wednesday, June 26, 2024 from 7 - 8:30 p.m. for an intimate book talk and signing at the historic Whitney mansion in Detroit.

Guests will enjoy drinks and hors d'oeuvres during a meet-and-greet with the authors in the Whitney’s garden (weather permitting). The event includes two author talks, an opportunity to ask questions during Q&A and book signings. There will also be signed book giveaways and other raffle prizes!

All 2024 Author Series proceeds benefit the DWR's nonprofit arm Coaching Detroit Forward, which offers free writing and photography programs for Detroit high school students.

7 - 7:20 p.m. - Meet-and-Greet, Drinks & Appetizers

7:20 - 7:50 p.m. - Book Talks

7:50 - 8:10 p.m. - Q&A

8:10 - 8:30 p.m. - Book Signing

The Detroit-based independent bookstore 27th Letter Books is our bookstore partner for this series. Guests can order the books online and have them shipped before the event, or you can purchase them onsite at the Author Series.

Single admission is $60. Includes passed appetizers and one glass of wine, Champagne or beer. There will also be a cash bar.

Tickets may be purchased as gifts. Please provide the recipient’s name and email so we can include them on our guest list.

Purchase a Detroit Writing Room Summer Author Series Pass to receive admission to each monthly event May through August 2024. Pass holders receive a 15% discount on books. Buy a pass here.

Tickets are nonrefundable, but may be transferred to another Summer Author Series event. Due to limited space, tickets cannot be purchased at the door and must be bought online in advance. Registration closes at 6 p.m. EST the day of the event.

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.

USA Today bestselling author Sonali Dev writes books Mindy Kaling calls "hilarious and heartwarming." Her novels have been named Best Books of the Year by Library Journal, NPR, the Washington Post and Kirkus. She has won numerous accolades, including the American Library Association’s award for best in genre, the RT Reviewer Choice Award, has been a RITA® finalist and has been listed for the Dublin Literary Award. Shelf Awareness calls her “Not only one of the best but one of the bravest romance novelists working today.” She lives in Chicagoland with her husband, two visiting adult children and the world’s most perfect dog.

Michigan was her first home when she moved to America from India, where she grew up, as a grad student and young bride. Sonali and her husband both have graduate degrees from Eastern Michigan University, which is the setting for her first novel “A Bollywood Affair.” Her first job out of college was with Parke-Davis (now Pfiezer) in Ann Arbor. Both her children were born there and think of it as their hometown. 

A.H. Kim (Ann) was born in Seoul, South Korea and immigrated to the U.S. as a young child. Ann was educated at Harvard College and Berkeley Law School, where she was an editor of the California Law Review. Ann practiced corporate law for many years and served as chief of staff to the CEO and as head of investor relations at a Fortune 200 company. She is the proud mother of two sons, a longtime cancer survivor and community volunteer. After raising her family in the Bay Area, Ann and her husband now call Ann Arbor home. Ann's debut novel, “A Good Family,” was inspired by her personal experience supporting her brother and nieces while her sister-in-law served time in Alderson Women’s Pr*son Camp. Ann’s second novel, “Relative Strangers,” is a contemporary retelling of “Sense and Sensibility” and explores themes of love, loss, grief and forgiveness. 

Ann's first Michigan experience was as a teenager, when she studied classical piano one summer at the Bay View Music Conservatory near Petoskey. As a law student at Berkeley, Ann met husband John, a born and raised Ann Arbor boy. After raising their two sons in San Francisco, Ann and John retired early and moved to Ann Arbor in 2022. Since then, Ann has become an active part of the local community, serving on the board of the A2 Community Bookfest, volunteering at 826 Michigan and Back Door Food Pantry, forming a community of local writers, and interviewing high school students for admission to Harvard. In 2023, Ann's younger son Theo graduated from Michigan, making him a third-generation U of M graduate. Connect with Ann online at ahkim.net.

No one can call Vansh Raje’s life anything but charmed. Handsome—Vogue has declared him California’s hottest single—and rich enough to spend all his time on missions to make the world a better place. Add to that a doting family and a contagiously sunny disposition and Vansh has made it halfway through his twenties without ever facing anything to throw him off his admittedly spectacular game.

A couple years from turning forty, Knightlina (Naina) Kohli has just gotten out of a ten-year-long fake relationship with Vansh’s brother and wants only one thing from her life…fine, two things. One, to have nothing to do with the unfairly blessed Raje family ever again. Two, to bring economic independence to millions of women in South Asia through her microfinance foundation and prove her father wrong about, well, everything.

Just when Naina’s dream is about to come to fruition, Vansh Raje shows up with his misguided Emma Project... And suddenly she’s fighting him for funding and wondering if a friends-with-benefits arrangement that’s as toe-curlingly hot as it is fun is worth risking her life’s work for.

Amelia Bae-Wood’s life is falling apart. Unemployed, newly single and completely broke — for reasons she hasn’t told anyone yet — she finds herself hitchhiking across California to deal with the fallout of her mother’s eviction from the family estate. Amelia needs somewhere to live and time to figure out what to do with the rest of her life, so moving with her mother and sister to Arcadia, the cancer retreat center where her sister volunteers, seems like as good an idea as any. Amelia’s sister, Eleanor, has too much on her plate, including being caught up in a court battle with a man who claims to be their half-brother from Seoul and their late father’s only son — a secret love child from his Korean youth — who’s fighting for a piece of everything that belongs to the Bae-Wood women. And when Amelia adds herself to Eleanor’s list of problems, Eleanor must figure out what to hold on to — and when to let go — before things start to unravel. A witty, wry and enormously entertaining retelling, the sisters’ journey of self-discovery as they reshape their lives gives this classic tale a modern, feminist twist, as it touches on themes of blended families, race, class and wealth. Order here.

The Detroit Writing Room offers an inspirational community for writers, creatives and professionals. Whether you’re working on the next Great American novel or a resume, the DWR has 30 professional writing coaches to help with all your writing needs. We also host book talks, writing workshops, and literary events. Visit detroitwritingroom.com to sign up for coaching, memberships, events and more. Check out newyorkwritingroom.com to see our New York-based coaching team.

Coaching Detroit Forward is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that coaches Detroit high school students in writing, photography, graphic design and other creative fields. Award-winning local journalists, authors, communications professionals, photographers and designers teach students and share their expertise through summer camps, workshops and after-school programs. Through Coaching Detroit Forward, students gain mentors who guide them through internships, jobs and careers. Visit coachingdetroitforward.org to learn more.

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