Café Shapiro is an annual event where undergraduate student writers, nominated by their instructors to participate, read from their creative works.

Café Shapiro began in February 1998 as part of the University’s “Year of the Humanities and Arts” (YoHA). and was originally conceived as a student coffee break. Café Shapiro takes place in the Shapiro Undergraduate Library during winter evenings in March. For many student writers, Café Shapiro is a first opportunity to read publicly from their work.

Welcome to the 26th annual Café Shapiro anthology, featuring poems and short stories authored by University of Michigan students. We invite you to engage with these inspiring and thoughtful works. They will draw you into the creative process and connect you with students through their individual
expressions. You will find a unique window into the Michigan learning experience.

When Café Shapiro first launched over twenty years ago, it was a bold experiment, a student coffee break designed as part of the University’s Year of the Humanities and Arts (YoHA). Café Shapiro is an example of how past innovations become a part of current campus traditions. YoHA set out to explore the role of the arts and humanities in civic and community life through a variety of programs. Café Shapiro continues to celebrate the arts and humanities, with this tradition of featuring undergraduate student writers nominated by their professors to perform their works.

On the evenings of March 13 & 14, 2023, the contributing writers shared their short stories / poems during the virtual Cafe Shapiro event. The act of reading one’s work out loud was a new experience for many of our students. With the support of friends, faculty, coaches, and family, the student writers demonstrated the power of speaking and performing. They participated in an authentic act of creation, speaking possibility, expressing beliefs, and imagining the future.

Café Shapiro has become an annual celebration of undergraduate student writers as they think creatively and critically, reason, ask questions, and develop the skills that help them understand and participate in our world.We also publish this anthology of their work, making it available in print and through U-M Deep Blue Repository, the University’s institutional repository. Through this process, students have the opportunity to learn about copy- right and related steps to publishing their scholarship.

Events such as Café Shapiro make visible the Library’s commitment to learning. We provide an engaged space for students to practice, learn and grow their scholarship and advance their learning journey. We hope you enjoy reading the work of these talented writers.

Laurie Alexander
Associate University Librarian for Learning and Teaching
U-M Library