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Judge's Book, A Love Letter To Detroit, Shines Light On City's Unseen Beauty

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Judge Terrance Keith shows off his book "Sunrise on the Detroit River." (credit: Vickie Thomas/WWJ Newsradio 950)

DETROIT (WWJ) - It's Detroit's 313th birthday - and with that, one resident has his own special message for the city.

Wayne County Probate Judge Terrance Keith recently published a book called "Sunrise on the Detroit River: A Love Letter to Detroit."

"Detroit needs to know, the nation needs to know that Detroit is loved," Keith told WWJ's Vickie Thomas. "[The book] is a collection of photos, there's about 100 photos out of several thousand, and it's set to the theme of Les Miserables, the love themes in Les Misérables."

Keith said the idea for his book started when he moved from the west side to Riverfront Apartments in 2007.

"The first morning that I awakened, I saw the sun arise on the Detroit River," he said. "I had never seen such a sight in Detroit."

Keith described his book as a love story of how the sun gently rises in a colorful array of light, anew each day.

"From [Victor] Hugo's quote of saying 'If no one loved, the sun would go out' and I wanted to say, by using the quotes from Les Misérables, that Detroit is loved -- the sun will never go out," he said.

Keith is having a book signing next Wednesday, July 30 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Detroit Public Library Main Branch on Woodward Avenue.

The book goes up for sale online the same day.

love letter detroit
(credit: Vickie Thomas/WWJ Newsradio 950)
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