From what I could find (please contact me if you have an event you would like me to add to this or future schedules), the local book events for the week of May 24, 2009 through May 30, 2009 are:

Sunday May 24-

The Dirty Queer Swap and Shop (In Other Words Books, @3:00pm): There are skilled vendors in this town whose wares are too sexy for an all ages crowd, which means that they miss out on the chance to sell their products at In Other Words. Some of us have treasures that no longer meet our needs, too, and want more than we can afford to buy – so why not also turn to the time honored tradition of trading? A limited number of vending tables and individual spaces will be available for this event (first come first serve) and details on claiming those spaces will be given first to those on the dirtyqueer.com mailing list. This event is associated with Dirty Queer, and the point is to create a community space to swap and sell items related to sexuality, including (but not limited to) toys, clothing, costumes, reading material and jewelry. You can also email us for details, which will be available after our mailing goes out (info@dirtyqueer.com). This will be an 18+ public event, with a $1 donation at the door, on May 24th, from 3-6pm. (All used items must be sterilized ahead of time and in good working condition.)

Monday May 25-

OWC Presents! M.K. Wren (Looking Glass Bookstore, @7:00pm): Anyone who’s taken a class taught by M.K. Wren knows about her “nitty gritties.” She goes over her favorites from the class assignments in each workshop. We’ve always said, “You’ve got to put these in a book. Here, at long last, is Nitty Gritties: The Pursuit of the Perfect Manuscript which was published in February, 2009 by Media Weavers, Portland.

OWC Presents! is a monthly series of free workshops for or about writers and writing – presented by the Oregon Writers Colony and hosted by Looking Glass Bookstore.

Tuesday May 26-

Washington County Peak Oil Reading Group (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @6:00pm): This month the book group meets to discuss The Limits of Power by Andrew J. Bacevich. Join us!

Chris Santella Reading (Broadway Books, @7:00pm): Chris Santella, author of the Fifty Places to …(fly fish, dive, bird, golf, sail) Before You Die series, joins us tonight to read from his newly published book Once In A Lifetime Trips: The World’s 50 Most Extraordinary and Memorable Travel Experiences. Each trip described in the book is captured through stunning photography and an essay based on in-depth interviews with experts who have firsthand knowledge of the destination and itinerary. These trips are intended to be distinctive events that you will remember for the rest of your life — in other words, once in a lifetime trips. The book offers both a vicarious and thrilling reading experience and a source of ideas and inspiration for future trips. It is a treasure trove of ideas for travels that are unique, decadent, and off the beaten path. Please join us!

Thomas Day Reading (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): A monumental science fiction saga by an amazing new talent, Thomas Day’s A Grey Moon over China (Tor) opens in the year 2027 with the world on the verge of economic and environmental collapse. A remarkable device is discovered that could slow civilization’s inevitable descent into environmental disaster, but an Army engineer has other plans for it.

Christopher McDougall Reading (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): Part adventure story, part extreme sports, Born to Run (Knopf) is journalist Christopher McDougall’s riveting story of his quest to discover the secrets of the world’s greatest distance runners — a reclusive Indian tribe living deep in the Copper Canyon of northern Mexico.

INFKP Presents Zachary Schomburg and James Gendron (3968 SE Mall St., Apt A, @7:30pm): Beer and wine provided, perhaps food (if we can scrape together the money)! If you feel like it, bring something to share! Also, donations totally not turned down!

Zachary Schomburg is the author of two books of poems, The Man Suit (Black Ocean 2007), and the forthcoming Scary, No Scary (Black Ocean 2009), and some poetry chapbooks, most recently The Pond (Greying Ghost Press) and I Am a Small Boy (Factory Hollow). He co-edits an online poetry magazine,Octopus, and a small press, Octopus Books. He teaches film, literature, and writing at Portland State and Portland Community College. At INFK Zach will show us poems using video footage from his Olympus snapshot camera. With this manipulated footage, and a combination of text, and music, comes Schomburg’s Poem-Film project.

James Gendron is from the sun. In 1996 he almost died from a cocaine underdose. He votes ironically. For three years, he “lived” in Syracuse. Lou Reed paid for 1/3 of his MFA. His poems are forthcoming in Fence. His band, Stabotage, rules; and this Saturday they’re playing at the Kenton Club with Dean Gorman. His poems explore themes of greatness, wonderfulness, patience, charity, and sex. His favorite book is Leaves of Grass, which he one day hopes to go back in time and make obscure, so that he seems cooler. He’s in the process of pulling a “Single White Female” on his mentor, Michael Burkard. He’s taught at Portland State, Syracuse University, and the Onondaga Nation School.

Wednesday May 27-

Write Around Portland Spring Anthology Release (First United Methodist Church, @6:30pm): Mark your calendar now for our anthology release party and community reading featuring writers from our spring workshops, including adults living with mental illness, teen parents, seniors in assisted living, families of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans and many others.

North of North, our 29th anthology is the first of our 10th anniversary publications, with a special introduction written by Write Around Portland Co-founder Liza Halley.

The reading is free, and everyone is welcome. ADA-accessible. Light snacks and drinks provided. Free childcare available – please call ahead to reserve (503.796.9224). Anthologies will be available for purchase, and financial donations welcome and appreciated.

Verse In Person (Northwest Library, @7:00pm): Listen to Oregon poets read from their works. This monthly program is organized by local poets Barbara LaMorticella, Robert Davies, and Mike Ferrell, who draw on their extensive contacts in the Oregon poetry community to highlight two to three poets each reading.

Classics Book Group (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): This month we meet to discuss Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. Join us!

D. J. MacHale Reading (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): Every question is answered and every truth revealed in The Soldiers of Halla (Aladdin), the final installment of D. J. MacHale’s #1 New York Times-bestselling Pendragon series. The final battle has begun, and the saga’s passionate fan base will not be disappointed.

James Kopp Reading (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): Oregon has long been a destination for those seeking new beginnings. Since the establishment of the Aurora Colony in 1856, Oregon has been the home of nearly 300 communal experiments. James Kopp’s Eden within Eden (Oregon State Univ. Press) is the first book to survey this utopian history, from religious and socialist groups of the 19th century to ecologically conscious communities of the 21st century.

Shawn Levy Reading (Annie Bloom’s Books, @7:30pm): In Paul Newman: A Life, Oregonian film critic and pop culture historian Shawn Levy gives readers the ultimate behind-the-scenes examination of the actor’s life, from his merry pranks on the set to his lasting romance with Joanne Woodward to the devastating impact of his son’s death from a drug overdose. This definitive biography is a fascinating portrait of an extraordinarily gifted man who gave back as much as he got out of life and just happened to be one of the most celebrated movie stars of the twentieth century.

Matt Briggs Reading (Clackamas Community College, Rook Hall 220, @8:00pm): Novelist and short story writer Matt Briggs will read in CCC’s Literary Arts Center (Rook 220) at 8 pm on May 22. The event is open and free to the public. Briggs is the author of four collections of short stories, The Remains of River Names, Misplaced Alice, The Moss Gatherers and The End is the Beginning. His first novel, Shoot the Buffalo, won the American Book Award in 2006. He lives in Seattle with his wife and daughter.

Thursday May 28-

Perceptions Release Celebration (McMenamins Edgefield Ballroom, @6:00pm): Perceptions will celebrate this year’s edition of the MHCC literary magazine May 28 at 6 p.m. at McMenamins Edgefield Ballroom. Perceptions is a magazine of the arts which has existed at MHCC since 1969. The magazine is produced by students who register for WR247, The Literary Publication, a three term class.

The Black Bough Poets (Blackbird Wineshop, @7:00pm): Pam Crow, Kelly Sievers, Jane Knechtel, Jeanne Gabriel and Patricia Bollin – will read new work at the Blackbird Wine Shop.

Aleksandar Hemon Reading (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): A new book of linked stories by the author of the National Book Award finalist The Lazarus Project, Love and Obstacles (Riverhead) is as cohesive and powerful as any novel — achingly human, charming, and inviting.

William Lobdell Reading (Powells Books on Hawthorne, @7:30pm): Losing My Religion (Collins) William Lobdell’s journey of faith — and doubt — is a book about life’s deepest questions that speaks to everyone: the author understands the longings and satisfactions of the faithful, as well as the unrelenting power of doubt. How he faced that power, and wrestled with it, is must reading for people of faith and nonbelievers alike.

Friday May 29-

Ooligan Press Write to Publish Conference (PSU Smith Memorial Student Union, Third Floor, @8:30am): Join Ooligan on Friday, May 29th for a full day of education about publishing for writers and a free informational open house. Seminars will be offered on subjects including copyright, finding an agent, polishing your manuscript, self publishing, and finding a publisher.

In addition, Ooligan will be selecting twenty manuscripts for advance critique by editing students and Ooligan Press acquisitions will be hosting a pitch table. For more information about the conference, click here. Tickets will go on sale on Monday, April 20th, 2009. To purchase tickets please go to http://boxoffice.pdx.edu/ or call 503.725.3307

Hydropods at Krakow (Krakow Cafe & Pub, @5:00pm): John Dooley and Gary Glover have been recording and touring from UCLA to Seattle for over 10 years, as Hydropods. After a lengthy hiatus (a band spat occurred aboard the historic Seattle schooner, Zodiac), the two are now compelled to continue their creative journey by producing new material, and reworking to get the forgotten works (see “Ruth” and “Lost Chance Sessions” below) into the proverbial ether.

Roving Writers* Read (Studio Thirty, 5424 N.E. 30th Avenue, @7:00pm): *A new Ad Hoc group of roving writers sharing prose and poetry. Thea Constantine, Gloria Geiser, Diana Mekelburg, Luna Prado, Cecilie Scott, and Alida Thatcher.

Open mic to follow.  Wine and snacks provided. For further information, contact Gloria, 503-954-3707.

Glen David Gold Reading (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): From Glen David Gold, the author of the acclaimed bestseller Carter Beats the Devil, comes Sunnyside (Knopf), a novel that dramatizes the moment when American capitalism, a world at war, and the emerging mecca of Hollywood intersect to spawn an enduring culture of celebrity.

Saturday May 30-

Powell’s at The Farmers Market (South Park Blocks at PSU, 8:30am): The 2009 series includes:

  • April 25: Going to Seed — Seed gardening and composting
  • May 30: Localvores — Preparing local food and eating locally
  • June 27: Birds and Bugs — The care and feeding of chickens and bees
  • July 25: Berries — Cook ‘em, eat ‘em, store ‘em
  • August 29: BBQ — Build it and they will come
  • September 26: Preserving — Capturing the harvest
  • October 24: Fun with Fungi — Hunting and cooking the elusive mushroom

Throughout the summer, local authors will be stopping by the booth to sign and talk about their books. This month’s selection will feature books on eating locally, with special guest Timber Press editor-in-chief, Tom Fischer, signing copies of his book Perennial Companions from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m.

We’re also pleased to welcome Tami Parr, author of Artisan Cheese of the Pacific Northwest: A Discovery Guide, to our booth from 11:00 a.m. to noon.

Here are links to the community calendars for the Tri-County area Libraries (there are a phenomenal amount of events held at our local libraries, we should count ourselves lucky): Washington County, Multnomah County, Clackamas County

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