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One rainy October day, about a decade ago while visiting Horizon Books in downtown Traverse City, Tim Mulherin surrendered to his nagging curiosity about Harrison’s work and purchased “The Woman Lit by Fireflies,” one of his novella collections. That evening, he began reading the first novella, “Brown Dog.” It only took a few pages for him to become a fan of BD, the protagonist who would appear repeatedly in novellas to come as one of Harrison’s central characters. The middle-aged half Finn/half Michigan Chippewa Indian lives by impulse, finds utter joy in trout fishing and six packs of cheap beer, is easily entranced by the opposite sex, and has a nonnegotiable moral compass. For this former warhorse of the white-collar workplace, who would occasionally daydream from his desk of casting for trout in a crystalline northern Michigan river, Brown Dog’s exploits gave him vital comic relief.

Now is the time to cozy up by the fire and read a good book. Here’s our roundup of local books, or books written by local authors, that were published in late 2021 and 2022. Please find them at Leelanau County’s locally-owned, independent bookstores

Social distancing practices have changed the way Michiganders do everything, including bird watching. On Saturday, May 9, at 10 am, Michigan Legacy Art Park at Crystal Mountain Resort and Here:Say Storytelling will team up with artists, musicians, and writers for an online celebration of winged wonders. The event features special guest Joyce Bahle reading poetry by her late friend, colleague, fellow bird lover, writer Jim Harrison.

Joyce Harrington began working as the late Jim Harrison’s aide-de-camp in 1979 following a handshake in the granary and writing studio behind the author’s house in Lake Leelanau. She was his literary assistant, business manager, and guardian, freeing Harrison to lead a prolific, international writer’s life that would produce hundreds of poems, novels, essays and screenplays. Efforts are underway to keep Harrison’s work alive and to share it with a new generation of readers, poets and writers—across the United States and the world.

What follows is part two of our short survey of adult books by, or including, area authors, poets and essayists, as well as books with a connection to the area. From first-time to familiar authors, their ability to harness words will impress you and leave you impatient for more. Grab the woolen blanket and come along for the ride.

The Glen Lake Film Festival, a new addition to Glen Arbor this summer, will celebrate four “book-to-movie” screen classics on Monday nights at 8 p.m. at the Glen Arbor Township Hall.

When word spread in late March that Jim Harrison, the poet, novelist, master of the novella, memoirist, gourmand, and long-time Leelanau County resident had died at 78 in his casita in Patagonia, Ariz., while writing a new poem, friends and fellow writers responded with instant shock and grief. Jimmy Buffet, Tom McGuane, Phil Caputo, and local luminaries Mario Batali, Doug Stanton, Michael Delp, Jerry Dennis, Pamela Grath, and others soon posted their recollections of the conversational brilliance, the Rabelaisian lust for life, and the prodigious literary output and talent of one of the most unique and gifted humans any of them had ever known. The Glen Arbor Sun published several of these testimonials at that time (see our Memorial Day edition), but one notable great friend to Harrison whom we missed was the writer, rancher and local Glen Arbor character Peter Phinny.

By Jacob Wheeler Sun editor The Glen Arbor Sun reached out to several local writers who knew famed author Jim Harrison, who passed away on Saturday at age 78. Harrison lived for 35 years near Lake Leelanau before he moved to Livingston, Montana, and wintered in Arizona. Harrison’s best-selling novellas, novels and poetry about the […]

Recently, the Glen Arbor Sun was fortunate enough to speak to renowned local author and poet Jim Harrison, who lives with his family on a farm in Northern Michigan. Harrison has published a collection of novellas, Legends of the Fall; novels: Wolf, A good Day to Die, Farmer, Warlock, Sundog and Dalva; and collections of […]

Here are some reasons you may not want to come to Leelanau County: It’s out of your way. No matter where you are going, Leelanau County is not on the way unless you are in Leelanau County already, in which case you must either go back the way you came or get seriously wet. This has to do with the nature of peninsulas and there is nothing to be done about it.