Author Talk with Wade Rouse

Join the Arts and Culture Commission for the debut of Wade Rouse’s newest novel, “That’s What Friends Are For,” at 7:00pm on March 4th, 2026 at the Community and Cultural Center. All participants will receive a signed hardcover copy of his book and have an opportunity to hear excerpts from the story while enjoying sweet treats and drinks.

“Wade Rouse has written the most unabashedly joyful novel you’ll read this year, a rip-roaringly funny ode to found family, Palm Springs, drag, and Bea Arthur. But beneath all the wigs and the California sunshine, Thank You For Being A Friend is also a poignant study of survival–of what it means to persevere in a world hell-bent on bringing you down, and a celebration of the friends who always have our backs.”

—GRANT GINDER, author of The People We Hate at the Wedding

About Wade: Wade Rouse is the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of five memoirs and twelve novels. His novels, written under the pseudonym Viola Shipman, which he uses to honor his late grandmother, have been selected as Must-Reads by NBC’s Today Show as well as Michigan Notable Books of the Year, and featured in the Washington Post. Wade lives in Michigan and California and hosts Wine & Words with Wade, a literary happy hour, on Facebook every Thursday.