Oak Park’s Book Beat to celebrate 40 years this month

One of metro Detroit’s longstanding indie bookstores is celebrating 40 years with a day of author signings, music, and vendors.

Book Beat in Oak Park has been serving the community since 1982. Its 40th-anniversary celebration will take place in and around the shop on Sunday, Aug. 28.

The event features the book launch for Photographs from Detroit, 1975-2019, a retrospective collection of lauded photographer Bruce Harkness’s work. New York Times bestselling author Beverly Jenkins will be signing copies of her latest novel, To Catch a Raven: Women Who Dare, along with Flint author Kelsey Ronan signing her debut novel Chevy and the Hole. Detroit’s Jean Alicia Elster will also be on deck with her recent fiction effort How It Happens.

Anita Fitch Panzer will be rolling into the Book Beat parking lot with The Topsy Turvy Bus, a functioning upside-down school bus that runs on solar power and vegetable oil. Children can see inside the environmentally friendly project, learn about composting, and work on recycling projects. Panzer also authored a children’s book about the bus called The Topsy Turvy Bus.

Music performances include soul singer Darnell Kendricks, Ukrainian refuge artists Olga Yalovenko and Yaroslav Gnezdilov, and rock musicians Carolyn Striho and Scott Dailey.

Leni Sinclair’s classic rock and jazz photography will also be displayed. Oh, and there’s cake.

The anniversary celebration takes place from noon-5 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 28 at Book Beat; 26010 Greenfield Rd., Oak Park; thebookbeat.com.

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