ESCAPE TO IDLEWILD — TO CELEBRATE AND CREATE WITH ME!

We're celebrating the 100-year birthday of our beloved Up North escape — the lakeside community of Idlewild.

And, as a member of the Governor's Commission to celebrate the Centennial in 2012, I'm inviting you to join in the fun!

My role?

To plan and host a Writer's Retreat that celebrates the rich literary history of Idlewild, where W.E.B. DuBois, Zora Neale Hurston, Charles Chestnutt and Langston Hughes — among many others — indulged their craft to create both brilliant commentary on the world and entertaining fiction.

Idlewild is where I wrote Dark Secret — which stayed on the bestseller list for 5 weeks and is now being shopped for film rights in Hollywood.

The creative energy in Idlewild is magic!

That's why I'm inviting you to join me for the Writer's Retreat in 2012.

The festivities kick off far before then. Next summer, join me for a Writing Workshop that previews the first Writer's Retreat in 2010, then 2011, all building up to 2012!

So what is Idlewild? It's the northern sanctuary where I retreat to write — novels, screenplays, poetry, journal entries, speeches and The Bliss Report.

The historic getaway is also where I relax with friends and family to swim in the lake, lounge on the deck, and savor steaks off the grill.

In the turquoise cottage that my grandfather built in the 1950s — which was featured in The Detroit Free Press’s Twist section last summer — I cherish the serenity of the place where Motown greats, Joe Louis, W.E.B. DuBois, Madam C.J. Walker, and Harlem Renaissance writers once retreated to relax and celebrate life and love.

The magic history of Idlewild is something that Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm wants to preserve and commemorate as a state gem and tourist attraction. That’s why Governor Granholm appointed me to a dynamic commission that will host the spectacular celebration of Idlewild’s centennial in 2012. The Centennial Celebration will include a kick-off with Governor Granholm, followed by events starting in 2010 that may include a Festival of the Arts, a Taste Fest, re-creations of Arthur Braggs Revue with music and dancers, a parade, live music, golf outings, historic tours of the cottages and much more.

The town was founded in 1912 as a place where African Americans could purchase inexpensive woodland and build cottages around a beautiful lake. During segregation, Idlewild was an oasis of fun and freedom by thousands of folks who — in the everyday world — faced the horrors of racism. It’s playfully called “a place for Idle men and Wild women.”

My mother, 36th District Court Chief Judge Marylin Atkins, who helped GrandPop build the cottage from scratch, retreats to the cottage to relax after hectic weeks at court. Growing up in Idlewild’s heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, Marylin enjoyed Motown shows at The Paradise Club on the lake, roller-skating into the night to hits by the Supremes, and enjoying teenaged fun on the beach with her friends.

The end of segregation in 1964 was bittersweet for Idlewild. Other vacation spots opened up for African Americans, many of whom abandoned their Idlewild cottages. But the last two decades have inspired a renaissance in which folks are renovating their cottages and flocking back to Idlewild to celebrate its history and the incredible peace and beauty of its woods and lake.

Now, the happy energy of Idlewild still whispers as the breeze sways the treetops, and sparkles like a million diamonds on the lake.

And it is that magic that makes me proud to serve on the Governor’s prestigious Commission to celebrate our state sanctuary called Idlewild.

I cordially invite you to join the party — to celebrate and create with us. Whether you're an "idle man" or "wild woman" as the saying goes — the peace and serenity that you experience in Idlewild will be unmatched by anywhere on Earth. See you soon!