Monday, May 18, 2026
7–9PM
Green Brain Comics

Brain Candy returns for another curated evening of live, original work — a focused arts showcase highlighting writers, musicians, and visual artists in a setting designed to give the work the attention it deserves.

Brain Candy is co-produced by the Dan E. Wickett Legacy Committee, the Brain Candy Network, and Green Brain Comics, continuing a shared commitment to supporting and elevating creative voices in our community.

What You’ll Experience

Brain Candy is not an open mic, not a panel, and not an interactive workshop. It is a curated performance night — structured, intentional, and centered on the art and the artist.

This month’s featured creatives include:

Music: Emilia Ward:
Emilia is a former college lacrosse coach and Detroit area native. Got into music as an outlet away from sports and frequently joins her dad, Mike Ward, on stage around the state.

Poetry: Dennis Hinrichsen:
Dennis Hinrichsen's 12th book of poems, dementia lyrics, appeared earlier this year from Green Linden Press. His previous books include Dominion + Selected Poems, Flesh-plastique and schema geometrica, also from Green Linden. He lives in Lansing where he free lances and offers poetry workshops.

Prose: Kayla Chenault:
Kayla Chenault is the author of These Bones from Lanternfish Press, and her previous work can be found in The Blue Pages Journal and Honey and Lime literary magazine. When she is not writing, Kayla can be found at work being a public historian or with her Super8 camera in hand filming her rambunctious dog.

Visual Art Julianna Sanroman Rojas:
Julianna Sanromán Rojas is an artist from Southwest Detroit with roots in Jalisco, Mexico, currently pursuing her MFA at the Stamps School of Art & Design. Through painting and installation, her work explores migration, deportation, incarceration, memory, and domestic ritual, often using rice as a material collaborator connected to care, labor, and intergenerational knowledge. she/her

Host Cal Freeman:
Cal Freeman is a Detroit-born writer and author of Brother Of Leaving (Marick Press) and Fight Songs (Eyewear Publishing). His work has appeared in journals including New Orleans Review, Passages North, The Journal, and The Poetry Review. A recipient of the Devine Poetry Fellowship and multiple Pushcart Prize nominee, he reviews poetry for Stateside on Michigan Public Radio and teaches at Oakland University in Dearborn.