ANN ARBOR – The first thing you realize when you meet Richard Retyi is just how cool of a guy he is, and that's before listing his many accomplishments. Funny, energetic, outgoing and most importantly, kind, Retyi is someone you want have a beer with almost instantly because he's such a fascinating person. Aside from those qualities, he is also the marketing and communications manager at the Ann Arbor District Library, the host of the "Ann Arbor Stories" and "Mostly Functional Humans" podcasts, and the author of "The Book of Ann Arbor: An Extremely Serious History Book."
What ultimately led Retyi to write the book is as interesting as he is. Growing up in a small town in Canada, Retyi went to college in Montreal and later left for Lake Forest, Illinois, near Chicago, to teach. After moving around a of times -- to Washington, D.C., and Jacksonville, Florida -- and going from being a teacher, to a sports writer and later getting into public relations work, Retyi settled down in Ann Arbor in 2004 when he got a PR job with Michigan Athletics. Over his many years here, he's done a variety of writing and has worked for several other publications, including MLive and AnnArbor.com. Two months ago, he got the job he currently holds at the library.
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I had the privilege of sitting down with Retyi before his event at Literati last week. It was an enlightening conversation to say the least.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
What does a typical day – if there is one – look like for you at the Ann Arbor District Library?
I try to learn as much as I can from everybody. I’m trying to support a lot of events to begin with, as there are more than 1,600 events that they have every year. So it’s like: What are some of the big events that are happening? Who can we make sure knows about these things? What are some of the other stories we can tell? It might be something as simple as a new book, or, for instance, something like the Halloween Puppet Show, where we can we tell that story through videos or photos, which will then show people in the city some of the cool things that are happening here.
Did "Ann Arbor Stories" inform how the book came together or were they two separate things?
A national book group – Arcadia – that does those “weird tales of blank” books contacted me because of the podcast and asked me if I wanted to write one for Ann Arbor. I did not know if I wanted to do it, but I thought I’d ask the library to see what they thought. The library then told me about Fifth Avenue Press and asked if I’d consider doing the book with them instead and I said yes, because I figured it’s part of the library, and they would be supporting me with editing, graphic design, layout, etc. It's great people doing great things, so it was cool to be part of that. I think every writer wants to write a book, but it’s just so daunting. Having all of this support [made it less so].
Tell me more about Fifth Avenue Press.
The library had seen that when they put on events to help people write, like creative writing workshops, there was a lot of interest. People kept showing up to these things to try and find out how to do this. At some point, the library decided that they were going to do Fifth Avenue Press, and that the imprint would accept manuscripts from people who live within Washtenaw County and try to help them get published. They offer copywriting, graphic design, layout, everything. They’re not keeping the rights to the books, which means the author maintains them. What the library does have is the ability to distribute it electronically through their website in perpetuity, which means that if you want to download it digitally, you can do that if you're a cardholder. Other than that, the author gets an e-file and it is up to them how they go about doing whatever they want to do with their book.
What would you want people to know about the book that they cannot already find online or elsewhere?
It’s not bad. It is different than the podcast; longer, and footnotes are included. I try to be a little funnier. It’s different. As history books go, I hope it is unique.
Who are some of your favorite authors?
Coulson Whitehead, David Foster Wallace and Hunter S. Thompson. Mary Roach is awesome for nonfiction and when it comes to history, locally we’ve got John U. Bacon.
Where do you come down on the debate between audiobooks vs reading? Can you still say you’re reading if you’re listening to a book being read to you?
When I used to run, music was too boring and podcasts were not really a thing, so I would listen to audiobooks on CD. So I’d carry a Discman and I’d have the next one in my pocket just in case. What ended up happening was, when I'd think back on those books, I would think of them as movies. Chuck Palahniuk’s “Haunted” is one I remember very clearly listening to and I thought it was a movie. I kept thinking, “What movie was that?’ It touched a different part of my brain, so [I would say] it’s not reading, but I’m still consuming stories.
I've been fond of asking this question during all of my interviews: What does your perfect day in Ann Arbor look like?
I’d start at 8 a.m., hopefully with some coffee, in Gallup Park. From there I’d go down to the Farmer’s Market and grab some bread or something – grab some more coffee – and then just walk around downtown. It's nice when there are different things happening, especially in the summer. If Top in the Park is happening, I'd go down there. The greatest Christmas gift I ever got was an all-you-can-see pass to the State and the Michigan Theater. It was expensive, but I could see any movie I wanted. So for the nighttime, just seeing movies down there and maybe grab a beer before, something like that.
What advice do you have for young writers?
Just put something down. It’s going to hurt sometimes, but just persevere, especially if there is some sort of goal, like writing a book. If you view it as 300 pages, it is very hard. But if you approach it as two pages a day, just incremental movement, and not worrying that it’s perfect right off the bat.
Follow Richard Retyi on Twitter at @RichRetyi. For more updates on the Ann Arbor District Library and its many events, visit aadl.org.