Friends Present: Anne Crans, Local Author & Photographer

Program presented by Friends of the Library 

Local author, Anne Crans, will tell us about her new book, which is filled with photographs of northern Michigan, poems, and stories of life in the Northwoods. You’ll learn more about the immigrants that made the U.P. their home, and beautiful images taken at her 1945 cedar log cabin at Eel Lake in the Upper Peninsula.

Her book will be available for purchase after her presentation.

Anne is a 1964 Unity Christian High School graduate and a retired GVSU professor and flautist. Anne’s photography has been a part of ArtPrize & Festival of the Arts.
 

Book description from Amazon:

"In a new world the day before she turns five, Anneke finds herself walking down a pathway leading to her new school in the United States of America. That’s when she sees a lock and a large brass door handle.
Anneke opens the door, and her life unfolds in this tale highlighting the immigrant experience. Her story takes you through her family’s struggles and toils, and shines a spotlight on the schools, barns, houses, magnificent architecture, and the astonishing sights of nature in Northern and Upper Michigan."

"She recalls her adventures singing in the auditorium of North Bessemer School, where four teachers lived on the second floor of the school, and how students memorized verses from the Bible. She also recalls the class bully and the unforgettable blizzard of 1938.
Forward and backward, this story is filled with pictures and reveals a community that finds beauty in nature and strength in each other."

Reader Recommendation from Amazon:
“Part immigrant memoir, part colorful visuals of natural beauty, this book will speak to and draw forth your own experiences and dreams. The author generously shares through astonishing award-winning pictures and imagery the immigration journey as a young child through adolescence into adulthood. Family life in all its successes and tragedies, its promises and realities, anchors this book into a strong sense of nature’s grandiose strength and endurance. Your own heart and mind will be moved by memories past into reminisces of more recent events and on to inspirations for future road trips and vacations.”