Book Signing with Rick Bailey & Donald Levin | Thursday, October 17

Color | Ink Studio & Gallery is pleased to host a book signing event featuring Donald Levin with his latest novel, The Ghosts of Detroit, and Rick Bailey with his new novel, Drop and Add, both just published. Join us on Thursday evening, October 17 at 6:30 pm to meet the authors, followed at 7:00 pm by readings and discussion in-person and on Zoom.

Mid-century Detroit is the backdrop for award-winning Ferndale author Donald Levin’s new work, The Ghosts of Detroit (Poison Toe Press, 2024). Set in Detroit in 1955, Levin’s latest historical novel follows four troubled characters in an unsettled time of factory closings, the Red scare, and racial violence.

The third volume in the author’s Detroit Trilogy Series brings this quartet of seekers together on an journey through the hidden history that shaped mid-century America. The Prairies Book Review called the book, “A moving, mesmerizing tale . . . masterfully captures Detroit’s urban landscape, imbuing it with both grit and lyrical beauty.” Levin is also the author of two historical novels, seven novels in the Detroit-based Martin Preuss Mystery Series, and three books of poetry.

Bloomfield Hills-based author Rick Bailey will debut his first novel, Drop and Add (Legacy Project, 2024). The novel tracks newly-minted English Ph.D. Eliot Becker through the struggles of his first year as adjunct instructor at a technical community college in tiny Freeland, Michigan, teaching “the worst class with the worst students at the worst time of day” and supplementing his income bagging groceries and singing in an all-falsetto band at a country bar. Critics have called Drop and Add an entertaining, inventive, and intelligent ode to the pleasures of small-town Michigan life.

Bailey taught writing for 38 years at Henry Ford College in the Detroit area. Besides Drop and Add, he is a prolific essayist, publishing four collections of essays: American English, Italian Chocolate; The Enjoy Agenda; Get Thee to a Bakery; And Now This; and a memoir, Tumbling Up.

The authors will read from their books and sign copies, which will be available for purchase. Light refreshments will be available. The event is free and open to the public, with registration required for both in-person and Zoom attendance. Just click on the “Register” button above for more information and to sign up.