Upcoming Events


Land Marks: Stories of Environmental ActivisM

Sunday, August 25, 2:00pm
Pleasant Peninsula Art & Activism Fair
Intersection of Front Street and 6th Street
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Event info and schedule here!


PasT Events


Land Marks with Maryann LEsert

Tuesday, June 18, 6:30pm
Schuler Books
2660 28th Street SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49512

RSVP and/or read more here!


Buttermilk Jamboree

Sunday, June 16, 2:00pm
Circle Pines Center (Apple Chapel)
8650 Mullen Road
Delton, MI 49046

Read more here!


Bay Books Summer Author Series

Friday, May 3, 5:30pm
Bay Books
220 N. Saint Joseph Street
Suttons Bay, MI 49682


Great Lakes Environmental Festival

Saturday, April 20, 10:00am-4:00pm (Presentation time TBA)
Manistee High School
525 12th Street
Manistee, MI 49660


Pub Day Book Launch Party!

Tuesday, April 16, 6:00-8:00pm
Books & Mortar Bookstore
966 Cherry St SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49506

Click here for more details!


GRCC English Department Spring Reading

Tuesday, March 19, 6:15-8:00pm (Readings begin at 6:30pm)
Grand Rapids Community College — ATC Piazza
151 Fountain Street NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Click here for more details!
*Parking passes will be given out at the event


FLOW book talk with environmental novelist Maryann Lesert


Watch the recorded talk here.


Storyknife at AWP 23 in Seattle!

If you’re at AWP 23 or anywhere near Seattle, come and listen to the amazing voices of Storyknife! I’ll be reading from the novel-in-progress I began at Storyknife in May 22.

Thursday, March 9, 5-7pm
Vermillion Gallery and Bar
1508 11 th Avenue, Seattle.


Kent District Library Grandville Branch presents Write Michigan Day of Learning: Ready to Seek Publication? with Maryann Lesert

This session will briefly tour publishing options for book-length works — agents and traditional publishing, medium and small “indie” presses, hybrid publishers and self-publishing. Participants will leave with a list of sites and tools to help them prepare to submit book-length works.


Click here to watch the video!

PCCI Creative Arts & Research Open House

On August 4, 2022, Pierce Cedar Creek Institute (PCCI) near Hastings, Michigan, held its annual Open House featuring the work of student Research and Creative Arts fellows.

Maryann was PCCI's Writing Mentor for students from Calvin University, Central Michigan University, Grand Rapids Community College, and Western Michigan University, who created place-based poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction while in residence at PCCI from July-August.

If you are a creative writer from any of PCCI's 12 regional member colleges and universities, see PCCI's "Apply" video at left for details. Applications are accepted on or about March 1 each year.


Live from StoryKnife: May Reading Series

Live from Storyknife by 49 Writers presents readings by writers in residence at Storyknife Writers Retreat in Homer, Alaska.

Listen, here, to Maryann reading from her brand new novel in progress, with five other phenomenal women writers in the May 2022 cohort.


Click here to see Book Riot’s feature

Base Ten: featured on Book Riot’s List of “8 Books About Women in Space!”

Base Ten (published in 2009) continues to be noticed and valued for its depiction of intelligent, capable, fully-dimensional women — even over a decade after making its way to bookstores!

In 2019, Base Ten was also featured on Book Riot’s list of "To the Stars: 5 Books Where Women in Space Take Center Stage"


Pen v Pumpjack: Writing Our Way Out of Ecological Crisis with Maryann Lesert, Stephanie Mills, and Stefanie Brook Trout

Stateside with Lester Graham: Fracture on Michigan Radio

GRCC Diversity Series: Interview with Green Boat Author Mary Pipher on Writing & Activism