Midwest: Region Three

Aardema, Verna

June 6, 1911—May 11, 2000

Place of Birth: New Era, MI

Place of Principal Residence: Muskegon, MI and Fort Myers, FL

Biography
Verna Aardema was born to Dora and Alfred Norberg on June 6, 1911.  Aardema grew up as one of nine children in New Era, MI, a small West Michigan town.  In 1934 she graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in journalism.  After earning her degree, Aardema pursued teaching and worked as a staff correspondent for the Muskegon Chronicle.  Aardema began writing at a young age, encouraged by her mother.  In her senior year at Michigan State, she won three writing contests, which encouraged her to pursue her childhood dream of writing.  Aardema first considered writing for children when her daughter refused to eat until told a story by her mother, whose stories revolved around African folktales.  Aardema died on May 11, 2000 and was survived by her husband, Joel, and her two children, Austin and Paula.

Selected Works

• Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears (1975)


• Who’s in Rabbit’s House? (1977)


• Oh Kojo, How Could You! (1984)

Awards

• 1976 Caldecott Medal for Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears


• 1977 Brooklyn Art Books for Children Award for Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears


• 1977 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year for Who’s in the Rabbit’s House?


• 1978 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award for Who’s in the Rabbit’s House?


• 1984 Parents’ Choice Award for Literature for Oh Kojo, How Could You!


• 1981 Children’s Reading Round Table Award

Critical Reception
Verna Aardema is widely known as the premier re-teller of African folk tales, and these heroic tales provide moral lessons on human relationships and the mysteries of the natural world.  Her book, Traveling to Tondo, was described by the School Library Journal as “the kind of story children love…perfect for reading aloud.”

Relevance of Place to Author’s Work
Aardema began her career as a writer at age 11, when her mother would allow her to skip chores and go for walks to a nearby wetland swamp to think and write. Aardema said, “I got to be a writer by default-the fault being that I was a born bookworm in a household that desperately needed mothers little helpers.”

Bowman, Crystal J.

1951—

Place of Birth: Holland, MI

Place of Principal Residence: Grand Rapids, MI

Biography
Crystal was born in Holland, Michigan to Harold and Gerene Langejans in 1951. Crystal loved writing poems as a child, and wrote her first poem when she was 10 years old.  Her teacher praised her work, and predicted that one day she would be a published author.  Crystal went to Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, graduating with a BA in Elementary Education with a specialization in Math. She did not anticipate becoming a children’s author, poet and lyricist.  After graduation from Calvin in 1973 and took Graduate classes at the University of Michigan for Early Childhood Education while teaching preschool.  In her Children’s Lit class, Bowman discovered her love for Children’s Literature.  She began her writing career in 1990 as a lyricist for children’s piano music, and now has written over fifty books.  Her children, Rob, Scott, and Teri, have been credited by Bowman has being her principle source of inspiration.  Bowman has even kept a journal of her children’s funny quips that greatly add to the quality of her books.  In addition to writing, Bowman speaks at a variety of functions, including conferences and school writing workshops.  Currently Bowman lives in Grand Rapids, MI and Palm Beach, Florida Gardens, Florida with her husband, Bob, of whom she has been married to for over thirty-five years.

Selected Works

• Children’s Piano Lyrics (1991-2001)


• Ivan and Dynamos (1997)


• If Peas Could Taste Like Candy (1998)


• Windmills and Wooden Shoes (1999)


• A Star for Jesus (2006)


• My Christmas Stocking (2006)

Relevance of Place to Author’s Work
For her writing Bowman relies heavily on her childhood memories and experience raising three children in Michigan. 

Brown, Jeffrey

1975—

Place of Birth: Grand Rapids, MI

Principal Place of Residence: Chicago, IL

Biography
Jeffrey Brown grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he spent his time reading a great deal of comic books, specifically the X-Men.  Brown attended college in Holland before pursuing the “finer arts” at the Art Institute of Chicago where he focused in painting and graduated with an MFA. He abandoned this when he rediscovered comics to work solely on his graphic novels.  Early on in his life Brown painted small wooden shoes and salad bowls to make money.  This changed when he self-published his first graphic novel Clumsy. After this met with surprising success, he abandoned painting altogether to focus solely on his comics. He self-published a second well-received graphic novel Unlikely or How I Lost My Virginity, before joining with an established company to release his first book Bighead. Published by Top Shelf Comics, this book marked Brown’s first departure from autobiography, focusing instead on his own superhero whose only power appears to be an enormous head. 
Since then he has been steadily producing comics and graphic novels, most recently Cat Getting Out of a Bag and Other Observations, which is exactly what it sounds like, and The Amazing Change-Bots, a satire of Transformers. He has also drawn and directed a music video for “Death Cab for Cutie” and collaborated with fellow graphic novelist James Kochalka. He regularly posts drawings, previews, and one-off comics on The Holy Consumption, a website he runs with fellow Chicago artists John Hankiewicz, Paul Hornschemeier, and Anders Nilsen. He has appeared on This American Life, contributed to McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, and appeared in the Drawn and Quarterly Showcase.

Selected Works

• Clumsy (2002)


• Unlikely or How I Lost My Virginity (2003)


• I Am Going to Be Small (2003)


• Bighead (2004)

Awards

• Ignatz Award for Outstanding Mini-Comic for I Am Going to Be Small

Critical Reception
Critics initially responded well to his raw, autobiographical comics and praised his use of simple drawings to accent his characters’ insecurity. As his books have continued to focus on similar subjects, namely girls and relationships, some critics—while continuing to praise his talents—have expressed the opinion that he needs to expand his scope a bit. In his defense, Brown has said that he has closed the final chapter of his “Girlfriend Trilogy” with AEIOU or Any Easy Intimacy.
Perhaps his most glowing review came from fellow Chicagoan Chris Ware (Jimmy Corrigan, The Acme Novelty Library) who said, “...I think Jeff Brown’s cartoons are really great. He gets closer to the feeling of real experience better than most cartoonists, yet he works in a very unaffected, diary-like style… In fact, his work is at its best when it’s not drawn at all, when you can actually feel him trying to just find the figures on the page; he’s not trying to be fancy or anything.”
Time.com also praised him for Unlikely, calling his book “Funny, sad, and a little embarrassing, Jeff Brown’s “Unlikely,” delivers the look at real life that other forms of ‘reality’ entertainment falsely promise.”

Relevance of Place to Author’s Work
Place plays a fairly large role in the author’s first two autobiographical books, Clumsy and Unlikely, which set the story firmly in Grand Rapids, Michigan, naming places such as the Intersection and Kava House, which are important to the author’s story and his art, respectively.

Foster, Linda Nemec

1950—

Place of Birth: Near Cleveland, OH

Place of Principal Residence: Grand Rapids, MI

Biography
Linda Nemec Foster was born near Cleveland, Ohio to John and Helen Nemec, who were first generation Americans. All of Foster’s grandparents were immigrants from Poland, which has influenced her poetry, such as her book Amber Necklace from Gdansk: Poems.  Foster attended Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, earning a degree in Social Science in 1972. She then went on to acquire a Master Degree in Creative Writing from Goddard College.  Foster married Anthony Foster in 1974 and moved to Detroit, beginning her pursuit of a Creative Writing career.  She began teaching poetry workshops as well as college level classes in 1980.  In 1987 her first book, A History of the Body, was published.  Foster is now the author of six books of poetry as well as many poems having been included in reviews, journals, and magazines.  She and Anthony have two children, John and Ellen, and live in Grand Rapids, MI. 

Selected Works

• A History of the Body (1987)


• A Modern Fairy Tale: The Baba Yaga Poems (1992)


• Trying to Balance the Heart (1993)


• Living in the Fire Nest (1996)


• Contemplating the Heavens (2001)


• Amber Necklace from Gdansk (2001)

Awards

• 2007 Chapbook, Ten Songs from Bulgaria, Cervena Barva Press Honorable Mention


• 2007 Second place for the Detroit Working Writers Annual Spring Writing Awards


• 2007 Finalist in the 22nd Annual ArtServe Michigan Governor’s Awards for Arts & Culture for the category of Michigan Artist


• 2006 Honorable mention and finalist status in National Poetry Competition


• 2006 1st runner-up in The Laureate Prize for Poetry


• n/a Finalist, Ohio Book Award in Poetry


• 2003 1st Poet Laureate of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan


• 2001 ArtServe Michigan Creative Artist Grant in Literature


• n/a Nominee , Academy of American Poets Laughlin Award


• 2000 Nomination for a Book of Poems for Amber Necklace from Gdansk


• 2001 Outstanding Alumni Award, Aquinas College


• 1999 Fellowship National Writers’ Voice Project Poetry


• 1997 Finalist, Poet’s Prize for the book Living in the Fire Nest sponsored by the Nicholas Roerich Museum.


• 1997 Outstanding Alumni Award in the Arts, Trinity High School


• 1997 First place, National Women’s Poetry Competition, Oakland Community College


• 1996 Honorable Mention, The Atlanta Review, International Poetry Competition


• 1996 Creative Artist Award in Poetry, Arts Foundation of Michigan


• 1995 Second place, National Poetry Competition sponsored by Northwoods Journal


• 1995 First place, National Women’s Poetry Competition, Oakland Community College


• 1990 Creative Artist Grant in Literature, Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs


• 1984 Creative Artist Grant in Literature, Michigan Council for the Arts


• 1984 Pushcart Prize Anthology VIII Nominee


• 1982-2003 Over 20 poems nominated for the Pushcart Prize

Critical Reception
“Thousands of books set out to demonstrate the abundant wonders of the natural world. Listen to the Landscape is something special in that it weds the exquisite hand-colored photographs of Dianne Carroll Burdick with the elegant haiku of Linda Nemec Foster. The result is a meditative paperback that takes us gently by the hand and leads us into a fresh appreciation of landscapes.”
- Spirituality Practice

Relevance of Place to Author’s Work
Linda grew up in Michigan, where her parents were first generation Americans, and grandparents coming from Poland. She involves the immigration aspect in her poems.

Henry, Gordon Jr.

Oct. 19, 1955 –

Place of birth: Philadelphia, PA

Place of Principle Residence: Big Rapids, MI

Biography:
Gordon Henry, an Anishinabe poet and novelist, grew up traveling to different military bases with his father Gordon, a member of the U.S. Navy, and his mother MaryAnne.  Henry got his Bachelor’s Degree at University of Wisconsin – Parkside in 1980.  His first break into fame came during his Master’s work in the English/Creative Writing program at Michigan State University where his poetry was included in Songs From This Earth on Turtle’s Back: An Anthology of Contemporary American Indian Poetry.  Before getting his doctorate at University of North Dakota in 1992 Henry worked as an assistant professor at Ferris State University.  He accepted a position as assistant professor of English at Michigan State University in 1993, where he remains today.  Henry is a member of the Chippewa Tribe on the White Earth Reservation and has three children, Kelhi Ardis, Mira Ann, and Emily Rose.

Selected works:

• Pine Point Her Breath (1985)


• How Soon (1985)


• The Failure of Certain Charms (1991)


• Sleeping in Rain (1983)


• The Dream of The Golden Arrow, Leaving Skin, and Ahwosso—Past (1999)

Awards:

• 1997 Nominated for an Excellence in Teaching Award, The College of Arts and Letters, Michigan State University


• 1995 The American Book Award, for The Light People; presented by the Before Columbus Foundation, Oakland, California


• 1995 The Maxwell Anderson Alumni Award for outstanding achievements in arts and letters; presented by the English Department, the
  University of North Dakota


• 1994 Nominated for a National Book Award, for The Light People, by the University of Oklahoma Press


• 1994-95 Fulbright Lectureship, Fulbright Scholarship Board, Washington, D.C.


• 1992 Nominated for a Distinguished Teaching Award, College of Arts and Sciences, Ferris State University


• 1986 D’Arcy McNickle Memorial Fellowship, McNickle Center for the History of the American Indian, The Newberry Library, Chicago,
  Illinois


• 1985 Katherine B. Tiffany Award for outstanding graduate student in the English Department, The University of North Dakota


• 1985 North Country Poetry Award, The University of North Dakota


• 1985 Thomas McGrath Poetry Award, University of North Dakota


• 1984 The American Academy of Poets Thomas McGrath Award, University of North Dakota


• 1983 Minority Merit Fellowship, through the American Culture Program, The University of Michigan

Critical Reception:
Gordon Henry is noted for the strong ties in his writing to Native American culture and imagery.  His work has been widely published and he has received several awards for both his books and poetry. 

Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
Henry focuses on his family history and the oral traditions of the Anishinabe (Ojibwa).  He spreads his stories both locally and regionally as a storyteller and lecturer.

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