Non-Fiction Authors Sign-In: Martha Bloomfield and Marney Keenan

Saturday, 01/22, 3:30-5pm, Main floor of the library: Come to our library to an event with non-fiction authors Martha Bloomfield and Marney Keenan. The authors will present their books and after their presentation you can purchase signed copies. Martha Bloomfield books description and bio: Romanies in Michigan: This groundbreaking book relates the oral histories of Romanies in the United States. It focuses on the Hungarian-Slovak Romani musical community originally from Delray, Michigan, as well as others from outlying areas in and near Michigan. Hmong Americans in Michigan: The Hmong people, originating from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos, are unique among American immigrants because of their extraordinary history of migration; loyalty to one another; prolonged abuse, trauma, and suffering at the hands of those who dominated them; profound loss; and independence, as well as their amazing capacity to adapt and remain resilient over centuries. The Sweetness of Freedom (with Stephen Garr Ostrander): The Sweetness of Freedom presents an eclectic grouping of late nineteenth- and twentieth-century immigrants' narratives and the personal artifacts, historical documents, and photographs these travelers brought on their journeys to Michigan. Most of the oral histories in this volume are based on interviews conducted with the immigrants themselves. My Eyes Feel They Need to Cry: As intimate as they are inspiring, these stories of transformation, drawn from the oral histories of formerly homeless adults, testify to the determination of the human spirit and the healing power of sharing one’s journey. This gripping collection gives voice to the traditionally voiceless, inviting men and women from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds to share their experiences of what it was like to live on the streets, in cars, under bridges, and of how they discovered the inner motivation to change the course of their lives in a positive direction. Bio: Award winning author, Martha Bloomfield, coauthored with Steve Ostrander The Sweetness of Freedom, Stories of Immigrants, (2010) which won a national IPPY Award, an Independent Publisher Book Award, Silver Medal for Multicultural Adult Non-Fiction and a Michigan Notable Book Award, 2011. Her other books include My Eyes Feel They Need to Cry, Stories from the Formerly Homeless (2013); Hmong Americans in Michigan (2014), a first book about Hmong people in Michigan, and Romanies in Michigan (2019), a groundbreaking book as it is the first book in the United States to include oral histories of Romanies. All are published by Michigan State University Press. Marney Keenan book description and bio: The Snow Killings: During 1976 and 1977, four children were abducted in affluent Detroit suburbs, each held captive for days before their still-warm bodies were tossed in the snow near public roadsides. The Oakland County Child Killer spawned panic across southeast Michigan, triggering the most extensive manhunt in U.S. history. Yet, after less than two years, the task force formed to find the killer shut down without naming one suspect. The case gathered dust for more than 30 years until a chance discovery by one victim’s family pointed to the son of a wealthy auto executive: a four-time convicted pedophile who was freed weeks before the fourth child disappeared. Veteran journalist Marney Rich Keenan takes the reader inside the investigation revealing how law enforcement concealed evidence connecting the suspect to the children’s murders, rather than risk letting a terrorized community know they had committed a grave error: they had the suspect in custody and they let him go. The narrative follows the trajectory of the case through two sets of eyes: a tenacious detective who uncovers evidence that hubris and political ambition sought to thwart and, in intervening chapters, the family of an eleven-year-old victim, as their grief is compounded by the discovery of a cover-up that was designed to keep them in the dark forever. Bio: Marney Rich Keenan is an award-winning reporter and columnist, who retired in  2017 after 26 years with The Detroit News. She lives in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Marney is available for book signings, book club presentations and discussions about the case, via Zoom or in any space that meets socially distant/safe guidelines. Contact and book website: marney@marneykeenan.com www.thesnowkillings.com