Young novelists return to Glen Arbor Art Association

By Corin Blust
Sun contributor
Even though they were lucky enough to be artists in residence at the Glen Arbor Art Association last summer, Jeremiah Chamberlin and Natalie Bakopoulos have decided to return this August for another residency in Glen Arbor. They will occupy the apartment in the relatively new Art Association building from August 12 -25 and use the time here to make progress on their first novels. The pair will read from their work at a presentation, free and open to the public, on August 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the Art Center between the Leelanau Coffee Roasters and Lake Street Studios.

Jeremiah, who knew from childhood that he wanted to be a writer, grew up near Interlochen, about half an hour southeast of Glen Arbor. He studied creative writing in high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy, where his parents have worked for 30 years.
After high school Jeremiah continued his craft at the University of Michigan, a decision influenced by a visit from Charles Baxter, a professor in the English department there. When Jeremiah heard Baxter read at Interlochen he knew he wanted to study with the professor. “The language transported me right out of my body,” he recalls. “When it was over, I came back to my body and I knew I had to study with him.” After receiving his Bachelor of Arts in 1997 and his MFA in 2004, between which he lived in Madison, Wisconsin and was writer-in-residence at Interlochen in ’02, Jeremiah became a writing lecturer in the English Department at U-M.
Natalie, whose father is Greek and mother is Ukrainian, spent her childhood in a “close-knit immigrant community in a suburb of Detroit.” She received a degree in Zoology from Michigan State University then continued to receive her Masters in Fine Arts from U-M. She began graduate school studying physiology but realized that “the urge to become a writer was something I couldn’t ignore. As a child I read so much, it would be a beautiful day and I would be inside reading — I have always loved language and literature.” Natalie also teaches in the English department in Ann Arbor.
One of the remarkable things about a residency at the Glen Arbor Art Association is that the only obligation an artist has during their time here is to make progress on their work — a rare opportunity that can produce stunningly productive results. “We did two months of work in two weeks” during the couple’s stay last summer, Jeremiah attests.
Both he and Natalie blame this amazing productivity on the freedom from everyday chores the new setting provides them. “It’s almost like a Monastic retreat,” says Jeremiah. “The Art Association really gives the valuable gift of time and space to writers and artists,” adds Natalie.
The opportunity to be in Glen Arbor is especially fitting for Jeremiah, whose first historical novel is set right here in Leelanau County. His book will “follow the struggles of one cherry farming family as history marches past them,” with a special focus on the lives of the two brothers in the family from 1957 until the early 1990s.
Writing a piece of historical fiction based on the Leelanau Peninsula while in Ann Arbor may provide “objectivity and perspective” on the area, but Jeremiah loves the opportunity to “touch base with the place,” something that can prove to stimulate a rich landmine of ideas.
One evening while driving back to Glen Arbor from dinner with friends in nearby Frankfort, Jeremiah and Natalie crossed the Narrows Bridge separating Big from Little Glen Lake and suddenly “a whole scene was set off by the environment; I could see my characters driving across the piece of land, too, and interacting with it,” he remembers.
For Jeremiah, being in Leelanau County “recharges your imagination. It’s about the small details you notice when you are actually in a place,” such as the way the islands in Lake Michigan seem to change their appearance from the shore every day depending on the weather, or “the way a walk on the beach actually smells,” he explains.
Even though his novel is “still evolving,” Jeremiah has already planned to examine how migrant labor, Vietnam, and other political, environmental and economic events change the family in his novel. He will read an excerpt from the finished parts of the book during the couple’s presentation at the Art Center.
Natalie’s work, which is also historical fiction, is set in Athens from 1967 to 1974. In her book Natalie examines the way a family deals with the right-wing military dictatorship that seized power in Greece during those years. “It’s all about the way politics can shape the life of a family and their reactions to the regime,” explains Natalie, whose own father came to the United States from Athens in 1966.
Although Natalie’s novel is not set in northern Michigan, she finds being in Glen Arbor a welcome change of scenery from Ann Arbor. She explains, “in Ann Arbor it’s really easy to get immersed in research — I could spend all day in the library looking up little details.” She likes to be surrounded by the beauty of this area, and also to get away from the temptation of looking up things like “what kind of refrigerator the family would have used in their house during the time period of the novel.”
Aside from the opportunity to work and spend time in the peace and beauty of our area, the couple also looks forward to being in our midst again. “For me, the most important thing is the sense of community, where everyone’s so casual and you can stop by people’s houses and have a bonfire in the backyard,” says Natalie. Last summer, “everyone I met was so genuine, and wanted to ask us questions and find out what we were doing. We felt welcome right away, and that’s why we’re coming back.”
Jeremiah Chamberlin and Natalie Bakopoulos will read excerpts from their novels in progress at the Art Center in Glen Arbor on Tuesday, August 21. The presentation, which is free, starts at 7:30 p.m.