Visible Voice Books is excited to welcome New York Times featured author Wilbert L. Cooper to discuss his new book The Black Shield. Cooper will be accompanied by special guest DJ Red-I.

An intimate, bold work of literary nonfiction, The Black Shield is an urgent exploration of the complex duality of the Black cop. Cooper grapples with a knot of contradictions: Is the Black officer a sign of progressive change, or of a system that shifts its appearance without changing its outcomes? How to reconcile the fact that policing helped lift his family out of poverty while it has kept its knee on the necks of his people? Fearless and singularly powerful, The Black Shield gives us an American story about race and power that has never been told before.

Wilbert L. Cooper grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. He studied journalism at Ohio University and earned a master's degree in publishing at New York University. He has written for outlets such as The Guardian, The New York Times, the Marshall Project, and The Wall Street Journal. His Vice documentary The Cleveland Strangler was nominated for a National Magazine Award. In 2024, he was the recipient of the Richard J. Margolis Award. The Black Shield is his first book.

DJ Red-I, also known as Brittany Benton and Phamily Foto, is a Cleveland-based DJ, producer, curator, educator, and label builder whose work connects hip-hop, house, soul, funk, electronic music, and physical music culture. A longtime presence in Cleveland’s music community, she is known for creating spaces where artists, DJs, producers, and listeners can gather around sound, discovery, and local creative history. Through her work as a performer, producer, record shop owner, and founder of YES PLS Records, Benton uses music as both a cultural document and a community-building tool. As Phamily Foto, her production leans into groove-driven electronic textures, warm rhythms, and house-adjacent sounds, while her DJ practice reflects a deep commitment to movement, memory, and connection.

The Black Shield can be purchased here and in store.

Join local authors Deanna Adams and Adrian Zonneville as they talk about their latest novels. While Zonneville’s and Adams’s books are quite different, these two authors love to team up to talk about their books and tell entertaining stories about their process and experiences. They’ll be on hand to chat about their books and sign copies.

Deanna Adams is an award-winning writer and native Clevelander whose work explores her love of Northeast Ohio, with a particular focus on its music and history. She has written three books about Cleveland’s rock scene and five novels, including her latest, The Kryptonite Club, a young adult novel about five teenagers brought together in the aftermath of a school shooting. Her 2024 novel, A Place We Belong, is set in Cleveland during Eliot Ness’s tenure as the city’s safety director.

In addition to writing, Adams is a speaker and instructor who brings writers together through her annual writers’ conferences. She is also known as “The Book Whisperer” at the Cuyahoga County Library’s William N. Skirball Writers Center.

K. Adrain Zonneville performed for more than half a century as Charlie Wiener, a professional singer/Songwriter/musician/Comedian. Performing in 49 states, half of Canada, Ireland, and the Netherlands. He shared the stage with such notables as Gordon Lightfoot, Randy Newman, John Prine. Michael Stanley, Eddie Money, Todd Rundgren, Cheap Trick and a host of others. After 57 years as a performer, he hung up his guitar and jokes to stay at home and write books. His second great love. He has now produced twelve books including a memoir of David Spero, A Life in The Wings, a biography of his father, Z, a children's book about the family dog, Greta, Lost Dog Found, and nine novels which run the gamut from general fiction to light fantasy. Each book has received glowing reviews by those who are now faithful followers. His last two novels, Tales of the High Seas and Lowlands, and Die-alogue are considered by many to be his best thus far.

This is a free event and open to the public.

Matthew Ellis’ new book of poetry, his first, Little Heresies is a rebuke of fundamentalist religion. These poems reexamine the foundational texts that inform today’s major Abrahamic religions through a childhood rooted in the church and a grown, queer perspective—irreverently.

Matthew Ellis (he/him) is a queer poet living in Columbus, Ohio. With a background in chemistry, he spends his time teaching yoga and following creative pursuits in music and writing.

This even is free and open to the public.

A luminous, deeply felt collection of essays from Riverhorse Nakadate—angler, musician, conservationist, and lifelong nomad—whose devotion to wild places and the healing power of water pulses through every page. For readers of Edward Abbey, Barry Lopez, Mary Oliver, and Jim Harrison, this book is a soulful invitation to step off the grid and into the current.

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.