Join us for an evening with author Riverhorse Nakadate to celebrate the release of his new book, Water Lines.

Across thirty-two essays, Nakadate paddles, hikes, casts, surfs, and canoes through landscapes as varied as the alpine lakes of Colorado, the salt marshes of his native Texas, the trout streams of Minnesota, and the mangrove swamps of the Yucatán. Whether he’s chasing redfish in a hurricane, rescuing baby squirrels or migrating monarch butterflies, or honoring his mother’s legacy with a canoe ride and a slice of sweet-potato pie, Nakadate writes with poetic precision and a fierce, tender reverence for the natural world and his fellow human travelers.

At the heart of the book is a love for water in all its forms—river, rain, surf, snowmelt—and a belief that wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity. Nakadate’s prose is rich with sensory detail and emotional depth, blending humor, heartbreak, and philosophical insight. He reflects on solitude, friendship, loss, and the quiet heroism of those who, like him, strive to protect our wild spaces. His encounters with wildlife, fellow anglers, and strangers on the road become meditations on connection, resilience, and the redemptive gifts of wanderlust.

Environmental themes run deep: from the threatened Boundary Waters to the shark-finning crisis in the Gulf, Nakadate bears witness to the fragility of ecosystems and the urgency of conservation. Yet his tone remains hopeful, grounded in the belief that small victories—one fish released, one river defended—can ripple outward.

Water Lines is not just about fishing or travel; it’s a celebration of living deliberately, loving fiercely, and listening deeply to the rhythms of the earth. For anyone who’s ever felt the tug of a river, the pull of a distant horizon, or the quiet joy of a campfire under the stars, this book will feel like coming home.

This event is free and open to the public.

Celebrate the paperback release of M.L. Rio’s Hot Wax, a fast-moving rock-and-roll mystery about family, secrets, and the cost of running from your past.

In 1989, ten-year-old Suzanne is swept into her father’s world of electric guitars, fast cars, and a rising rock band. But when the band’s success ends in violence, Suzanne becomes the only witness to what happened. Nearly three decades later, her father’s death brings the past back to the surface, sending her on a cross-country search for answers and the life she left behind.

Part music history, part mystery, and part road trip, Hot Wax is a story about what happens when the past refuses to stay buried and getting lost becomes the only way forward.

M.L. Rio will be in person on our stage for an afternoon discussion followed by a book signing.

This event is free and open to the public.

M.L. Rio has been an actor, a bookseller, an academic, and a music writer. She holds an MA in Shakespeare studies and a PhD in English literature. She is the author of the internationally bestselling novel If We Were Villains, the USA TODAY bestselling novella Graveyard Shift, and Hot Wax. She never stays in one place for long, but keeps her books, records, and four-legged sidekick in south Philadelphia.

New York Times Bestselling Author Mercury Stardust will be at No Class on October 12th at 6pm to discuss her new book Lost and Found: A Compassionate Guide to Homeownership.

The trans handy ma’am is back … and this time she’s buying a house and taking her loyal audience along on the journey
Buying your first home can be an intimidating process filled with questions and uncertainties—how do you know you’re working with a trustworthy lender? What are closing costs and how much should you budget for them? Can you actually afford to fix a fixer-upper?

In this successor to the #1 New York Times bestseller Safe and Sound, Mercury Stardust demystifies the path to homeownership and sets you up for homeowning success. Learn about the ups and downs of the house hunting process—from putting in an offer to going through inspections and closing—and then join Mercury as she tackles her first year with a fixer-upper that needs to be renovated and updated.

With DIY projects and guides for renovating and maintaining every part of your new house, as well as with tips for weather-proofing and maintaining outdoor spaces like a deck or garden, Lost and Found will empower you to create your dream home. Mercury reveals the good, the bad, and the ugly, including all the emotional highs and lows when things break, emergencies arise, and the unexpected inevitably happens.

Admission $10 - Tickets available in advance and at the door

We are excited to welcome back Sunshine Daydream to the Visible Voice Stage. Sunshine Daydream are an Ohio-based Grateful Dead tribute band known for their authentic and high-energy performances that transport audiences back to the golden age of rock and roll. With a lineup that includes some of the most talented musicians in the region, the band has gained a reputation for their faithful interpretations of the Dead's classic songs and their ability to channel their own signature improvisational style.

Join us for the Cleveland launch of writer Lindsay Turner’s new book of poetry, Middle Slope. Turner will be joined by fellow professor and writer Walt Hunter for a conversation before reading from her new selection.

Middle Slope is Lindsay Turner’s third collection of poetry. Set primarily in the suburban West below the Rocky Mountains, the collection explores nature, climate change, infertility, and uncertainty through the landscape of everyday life.

The poems move between the natural world and the human experiences that shape how we understand it. Turner considers our changing relationship with nature, including the ways we are connected to it while also becoming increasingly separated from it. Through simple language and vivid imagery, Middle Slope looks at change, relationships, and the passage of time.

Lindsay Turner is the author of three books of poems: Middle Slope, forthcoming from Farrar, Straus and Giroux, The Upstate, and Songs & Ballads. Her translations from the French include books of poetry and philosophy by Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Anne Dufourmantelle, Stéphane Bouquet, and others, as well as several children's books. She is Associate Professor of English and directs the graduate program at Case Western Reserve University.

Walt Hunter is the Samuel B. and Virginia C. Knight Professor of Humanities and Senior Associate Dean for faculty at Case Western Reserve University. He is a contributing editor at The Atlantic, focusing on poetry. He is the author of Forms of a World: Contemporary Poetry and the Making of Globalization, The American House Poem 1945-2021, and Some Flowers, a collection of poems.

This event is done with support from the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women at Case Western Reserve University.

Visible Voice books is excited to host writer Alice Miranda Ollstein on November 4th. Ollstein will be joined by Oberlin professor Steven Volk to discuss her new book Side Effects: How Abortion Bans Impact Everyone’s Health, a groundbreaking and powerful investigation into how the fall of Roe v. Wade changed American health care far beyond reproductive rights.

Ollstein spent years traveling around the country exploring the unexpected ways in which the Dobbs decision is disrupting the already fraught experience of pregnancy and birth, as physicians withhold or delay medically necessary procedures for fear of being prosecuted. A work of deep reporting and profound humanity, Side Effects chronicles the experiences of real people who have lost access to other forms of reproductive health care, including contraception and IVF, as well as those of all ages, genders, and geographic locations hit by the spillover effects to medical research, hospital staffing, wait times, management of chronic illnesses, and more.

Her explosive reporting offers an urgent, on-the-ground look at a medical system under pressure, at the patients and providers caught up in the dragnet of the new abortion restrictions, and at the impacts on both reproductive care and completely unrelated services.

This event is free and open to the public.

Alice Miranda Ollstein is a senior health care reporter for POLITICO, with a focus on health care in the states. Alice graduated from Oberlin College in 2010 and has been reporting in D.C. ever since, covering the Supreme Court, Congress and national elections for TV, radio, print, and online outlets. Her work has aired on Free Speech Radio News, All Things Considered, WAMU and WTOP, and her writing has been published by Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic, and La Opinión. She was elected in 2016 as an at-large board member of the DC Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. In 2017, she was named one of the New Media Alliance's "Rising Stars" under 30. She is the author of a forthcoming book on the broader health care impacts of post-Roe abortion restrictions, set to be published by The New Press.

Steven Volk is a Professor of History Emeritus at Oberlin College, where he taught Latin American history and museum studies for 30 years. Volk was named US Professor of the Year in 2011 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and was recognized by the Government of Chile in 2001 for his efforts in helping to restore democracy in that country.