Misha and Traverse City's National Writers Series

Morsel's Velvet and Satin creation.

The February issue of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine has a story about the National Writers Series. Here's a vignette I found while doing research that didn't make it into print but really wanted to share because of what it says about the series and our community.—J.S.

Each time the National Writers Series brings in an author to Traverse City, Misha Neidorfler starts baking. Misha owns a downtown coffee shop called Morsels Bite-Sized Bakery + Gourmet Coffee—Morsels, for short. And it’s the tiniest of coffee shops. Two tables, a bright but skinny little space, and it serves, among other things, bite-sized pastries that have word-play sorts of names. So when a writer comes to town, she thinks up a pastry name inspired by the writer’s name—so, say, for Roy Blount, Jr., she thought up Almond Roy—and then makes a bite-sized pastry to fit. Then Misha bakes a batch of pastries, dresses the morsels pretty in a box and has them waiting in the writer’s room when the writer arrives.

Misha loves reading, loves word play, loves dry sarcasm, and so naturally she loves David Sedaris—LOVES HIM! (Me Talk Pretty One Day is her favorite book by him.) So she could hardly believe her luck when she saw his name appear on the fall 2011 lineup. She baked him the morsels, an apple cider cake, and named them David Cideris.

She scored tickets for the show and went with her mom. They had to stand in the balcony through the entire performance. She didn’t care. SHE LOVED THE SHOW!!! (“The crowd was so ready for him. The moment he walked out on stage people just started laughing,” Misha says.) Sedaris was SO FUNNY!!! Just the kind of person Misha was hoping he’d be. Misha and her mom go to all the National Writers Series events and take turns buying the author’s book. When Sedaris came, it was her turn to buy, and she bought Sedaris’s Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, and then stood in line an hour and a half to have him sign it. The line was moving so slowly because Sedaris kept talking to everybody who reached the table. “You almost got the impression he was getting material from everybody,” she says.

As Misha neared the table she felt things lots of everyday people feel when about to speak with one of the most famous writers on the planet. “It was pretty intimidating. It was so much pressure naming a morsel about him. I didn’t want to say something stupid,” she says.

So she reached the table and explained who she was, the whole Morsels thing, the naming thing. He really liked the Cideras idea. “He said kids used to call him Ceeder-ass when he was young, and it was kind of reminiscent of being made fun of.” On the fly, Sedaris asked Writers Series founder Doug Stanton, standing next to him, for the names of upcoming authors and gave the naming a shot. Chuck Klosterman … something with Nut Clusters. Jodi Picoult? Something with pecans. “He was staring so intently at me as he thought of the names,” Misha says, recalling her one-on-one moment with one of her all-time favorite authors.

The National Writers Series has brought many good moments to Traverse City since its 2009 inception, and Misha Neidorfler’s experience is not the grandest of those moments. But what I like about her story, her experience, is how it conveys the more intimate ways the National Writers Series has woven the notion of writing and writers into the community. One of our small entrepreneurs making little pastries for America’s most famous authors, some lively word play at the book table, an autograph. It’s not just about a standing O after a talk. Stanton has always said the National Writers Series is about a conversation, and yes the highest profile conversation happens on stage, but equally important small conversations happen randomly throughout the town.

The National Writers Series is kicking off it's winter-spring series now. Get a ticket—you'll love it. Promise.

Other Writer-Based Morsel Names

Morsels, by the way, is moving shop eastward to 321 E. Front Street (formerly space of Belstone Gallery and later Gallery 50) and will be sharing a Front Street block with Yen Yoga and Nolan’s Tobacco Shop. Target date for the move is May 1.—Jeff Smith is editor of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine.