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 June 15, 2009 through June 21, 2009 are:

Monday June 15-

Carol Cassella Reading (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): With the compassion of Jodi Picoult and the medical realism of Atul Gawande, Oxygen (Simon & Schuster) is a riveting new novel by a real-life anesthesiologist, an intimate story of relationships and family that collides with a high-stakes medical drama.

Portland Spelling Bee (Mississippi Pizza Pub, @7:00pm): The Bee is where logophiles gather every week to test their knowledge of Greek roots, Latin stems, the tricksy little vowels that bind them all together, and of course a scattering of Gaelic words whose spelling has little or no relationship to their pronunciation (”ceilidh,” anyone?).  Monday nights, adult spellers take the stage (perhaps with a glass in hand) to show off their skills. Erin Ergenbright hosts this event and is always glad to see new faces in the ever-growing crowd. Spelling starts at 7 sharp… but get there early for your best chance at scoring one of the limited number of slots!  So brush off that dictionary… run those spelling rules through your mind (and their inevitable exceptions)… and head down to Mississippi Avenue for some spelling-related excitement!

Josh Weil Reading (Powells Books on Hawthorne, @7:30pm): The linked novellas that comprise The New Valley (Grove), Josh Weil’s masterful debut, bring readers into America’s remote, unforgiving backcountry, and delicately unveil the private worlds of three very different men as they confront love, loss, and their own personal demons.

Robert Olmstead Reading (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): Set in 1916, Robert Olmstead’s seventh novel, Far Bright Star (Algonquin), follows Napoleon Childs, an aging cavalryman, as he leads an expedition of inexperienced soldiers into the mountains of Mexico to hunt down Pancho Villa and bring him to justice.

Tuesday June 16-

Ariel Gore, Lois Leveen, Michael Sage Ricci, Jacqueline Raphael and Nicole Vaicunas (Reading Frenzy, @7:00pm): At once a love letter to the Rose City and a dream of escape, the first-person narratives of Portland Queer: Tales of the Rose City reveal the contradictions and commonalities of life in one of the world’s great queer meccas. A waiter falls in love with a straight guy from the cafe next door. A young dyke discovers gay karaoke at the Silverado. A pregnant man prepares for new life transitions. An ambitious teenager finds her tribe at St. Mary’s Academy. A closet-case is confronted by his wife. And a video-game addict takes a chance on love.

The book features local writers like Marc Acito, Tom Spanbauer, Sarah Dougher, Dexter Flowers, and many others. Illustrations by Annie Murphy and Sarah Gottesdiener.

“As rough-hewn and gorgeous as the city that inspired it, this anthology breaks queer ground as it shows us that everywhere is Portland — but Portland is its own special place, home to queers seeking and finding home, from the city itself to each others’ arms.” –Daphne Gottlieb, author of Kissing Dead Girls

Book Club Mixer (Broadway Books, @7:00pm): We invite book-clubbers and book lovers alike to join us for our Second Book Club Mixer. We’ll be talking about good books to read and discuss, new books coming out soon (did you know that Barbara Kingsolver, Pat Conroy, and John Irving all have new novels coming out in the next few months?), books coming out in paperback, and a few tricks to shake up your book group. We’re also excited to hear from YOU about what books you’ve enjoyed lately. You don’t need to be in a book club to attend — just be someone who loves to read and talk about books. We’ll have refreshments and gifts! Space is limited, and you must register in advance by paying a $5 per person fee (cash, check or credit card). The $5 will be refunded toward any purchase you make during the event. Hope you can join us!

Ursula Bacon Reading (Lake Oswego Library, @7:00pm): The Lake Oswego Public Library is pleased to present local author Ursula Bacon as part of the Library’s Third Tuesday author series. Ursula Bacon is a prominent author and speaker. Her memoir, Shanghai Diary: A Young Girl’s Journey from Hitler’s Hate to War-Torn China, tells the story of Bacon’s escape from Nazi Germany and her subsequent years lived in a Japanese-controlled “Designated Area” often referred to as the Shanghai Ghetto. Bacon has also authored the award-winning Eternal Strangers, the prequel to Shanghai Diary. This free program, part of the Library’s ongoing author series, is presented with the generous support of the Friends of the Lake Oswego Library.

Get Gardening with Daniel Hinkley (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): If you thought the age of plant exploration was over, guess again! As Hinkley shows in The Explorer’s Garden: Shrubs and Vines from the Four Corners of the World (Timber), there are still exciting plants awaiting wider use by the gardening public.

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche Reading (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, the author of the internationally acclaimed The Joy of Living, explains how to overcome the problems of everyday life. Joyful Wisdom (Harmony) is wise, funny, and graced with the author’s irresistible charm.

Wednesday June 17-

Think & Drink with Ursula K. Le Guin and Lani Roberts (rontoms, @6:30pm): We hope you’ll join us for the next Think & Drink happy-hour discussion on Wednesday, June 17, 2009, at 6:30 at rontoms, 600 E. Burnside, Portland. This event is free and open to the public.

In the acclaimed short story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” writer Ursula Le Guin describes a utopian society whose citizens’ happiness is bought at the cost of one child’s suffering. Join Le Guin and Oregon State University philosophy professor Lani Roberts for a conversation exploring individual morality and self-deception–when, how, and why we deceive ourselves about our moral choices. If you haven’t yet read Le Guin’s powerful story, you can do so at the Think & Drink web page.

Think & Drink is a bimonthly discussion series that sparks provocative conversations about big ideas. Mark your calendars for the August 12, 2009, program that will feature Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Portland State University president Wim Wiewel.

Graphic Novel Book Group (Belmont Library, @6:30pm): Get together and gab about graphic novels. Engage in stimulating conversation, exchange perspectives about characters, plot and art, and get to know your neighbors. Read “Exit Wounds” by Rutu Modan.

The Corresponding Society Poetry Reading (Reading Frenzy, @7:00pm): Reading Frenzy welcomes the Corresponding Society to Portland! What pray tell is the Corresponding Society?

“The Corresponding Society is a radical body concentrated on the expansion of alphabetic engagements. The creators of the group are young writers dwelling in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn, a borough of New York City. Subsequent to its localized formation, geographically diverse affiliates were established. The strategy is to build a network of corresponding subjects to encourage creative instigation and support the distribution of printed material. The society irritates mundanity by opposing ideological concord and promoting new writing. In 2008 CE the society commenced printing a biannual record titled Correspondence, a compendium of perfervid language, a healthy variorum of contrastive pursuits. Thereafter the society developed an obscure Internet presence purposed to serve the cause by disseminating pertinent information, providing a directory of its membership, and possibly a discursive platform via the official web log.”

Here are your society members for the evening:

Robert Snyderman was born a day after Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania. He is a contributing editor of Correspondence. He is a poet, who sometimes paints, or sometimes directs dramatic productions, and who has just put together his second book, a collection of long poems called Cloth. He is interested in learning how to live in a new way. His memory is in Brooklyn, New York, where brave friends run a small press and journal.

Christopher Sweeney was born in Pleasantville, New York. He is the editor-in-chief of Correspondence. He writes poetry, and works in French translation. Seven CirclePress is publishing his long poem, Face, in a book with Robert Snyderman, Fall 2009.

Adrian Shirk was born on a stifling hot Labor Day in Brooklyn, but raised in Portland, Oregon. She is a contributing editor of Correspondence. She writes short fiction, family mythology, and pieces for performance. She is trying to sell “a vision of eternal oranges and sunshine door-to-door in a land where people [eat] apples and it rains a lot.” She is a student of The Writing Program at Pratt Institute.

Joe Batt is a singer-songwriter from Olympia, Washington. He started performing as a college student in the Midwest and Montana, and he played in various rock groups. He continues to write songs about food, religion, relationships, and cows, when not busy with his day job as an art professor. He will travel, with his guitar and banjo, to any art event, farmer’s market, or poetry reading, if there is an audience willing to listen to his original tunes and reinterpretations of Elvis, Charlie Pride, or Holy Model Rounders numbers.

Scott Poole is the author of two books for poetry, The Cheap Seats and Hiding from Salesmen.  He is also the “house poet” for Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Live Wire! radio show. He lives in Vancouver, Washington and is a software developer.

Christopher Brean Murray was born New Jersey. His poems have appeared in Jubilat, Cutbank, Hoboeye, and Fou Magazine. Recently, he was a featured reader at the Hoboeye Poetry Palooza. He teaches writing at Mount Hood Community College and Portland Community College.

Lisa See Reading (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): From Lisa See, author of the bestsellers Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love, comes Shanghai Girls (Random House), a stunning new novel about two sisters who leave Shanghai to find new lives in 1930s Los Angeles.

Jessica Lamb & Donna Henderson Reading (Annie Bloom’s Books, @7:30pm): Jessica Lamb walks the night rounds of the spirit in Last Apples of Late Empires, her first, unflinching collection of poems, keeping her accounts of desire and disappointment, loneliness and kinship, fertility and decay. The book is animated by a fierce, imperfect love – a mother’s love for her young son; a woman’s love for her long-time husband; a human’s love for this afflicted earth. In poems of gratitude and lament, Jessica Lamb explores the private, and often silent, negotiations a woman makes between the longings of the solitary heart and the demands of marriage and parenting. In the midst of hunger, plunder, and surrender, she finds small stubborn signs of promise and renewal.

Donna Henderson’s new collection traces the contours of The Eddy Fence where love and loss meet. In poems that confront a mother’s illness, a forest’s destruction, and the struggles to seed new life, she discovers a difficult beauty and passage to healing. Here we encounter a restless intelligence in dialogue with itself, seeking to enter the world more entirely through deeper and deeper seeing.

Tom Crawford & Carlos Reyes Reading (The Press Club, @7:30pm): This month’s featured readers are Portland poet, editor and translator Carlos Reyes, recently returned from the Joshua Tree National Park where he was Poet-in-Residence; and poet Tom Crawford, now living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, who will be among the featured writers teaching workshops and giving readings at the upcoming Mountain Writers Columbia Gorge Writers Conference in Hood River. Suggested donation for the reading at The Press Club is $5.

Tom Crawford is the author of five books of poems: If It Weren’t for Trees; Lauds, winner of the Oregon Book Award for Poetry; China Dancing; The Temple on Monday, winner of the ForeWord Book of the Year Award; and Wu Wei (Milkweed Editions, 2007). Widely published in journals and anthologies, Crawford has been the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and Oregon Arts Commission.For thirty years he has taught throughout the Western U.S. as well as in the People’s Republic of China and at Chonnam National University in Kwangju, Korea. In 2008 he was Poet in Residence at Harborview Hospital in Seattle. He lives with his partner Mary and their dog Walt in Santa Fe, NM.

Carlos Reyes is a noted poet and translator. His latest book of poetry is At the Edge of the Western Wave (2004). His The Book of Shadows: New and Selected Poems is due out next year from Lost Horse Press. A Suitcase Full of Crows (1995) was a winner of the Bluestem Prize. His most recent book of translatios is Ignacio Ruiz Perez’s La senal del cuervo / The Sign of the Crow. Last year he was recipient of The Fortner Award from St. Andrews College. He has been an Oregon Arts Commission Fellow, a Yaddo Fellow, a Fundacion Valparaiso Fellow (Spain), a Heinrich Boll Fellow (Ireland), and most recently was Poet in Residence at the Joshua Tree National Park.

Norman Ollestad Reading (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): Set amid the spontaneous, uninhibited surf culture of Malibu and Mexico in the late 1970s, Crazy for the Storm (Ecco) is a riveting memoir that recalls Norman Ollestad’s childhood and the magnetic man whose determination and love infuriated and inspired him.

Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith (Bagdad Theater, 7:30pm, $35): Beyond Words Publishing hosts an evening of spiritual liberation with Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith, world-renowned spiritual teacher and founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center. Dr. Beckwith will be joined by musical guests: Broadway star Charles Holt; jazz and gospel singer LaRhonda Steele; and the “first lady of New Thought music,” Rickie Byars Beckwith. Please note: This ticketed event takes place at the Bagdad Theater, 3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Tickets ($35 general admission; $100 VIP reception) include admission and a copy of Spiritual Liberation and are available at the Bagdad Theater box office, the Crystal Ballroom box office, Ticketmaster.com, and all Ticketmaster outlets. The ticketed VIP reception begins at 6:30 p.m.; event at 7:30. For more information, please visit Beyond Words’ website.

Bacfence PDX (The Mission Theater, @7:30pm, $10 online, $12 at the door): On Wednesday, June 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Mission Theater, Back Fence PDX will take the stage with great people telling unmemorized, true eight-minute stories based on the theme, Caught Red-Handed. In addition, a swimsuit fashion show featuring suits from Popina will be held at 7:15 p.m. and Tinymeat will give away wallets at intermission.  Click here for the full line up of storytellers.

Thursday June 18-

Summer Thursday at ACP (A Childrens Place Bookstore, @1:00pm): During the bright, fun days of summertime, come join your friends at ACP for “Summer Thursdays.” Each Thursday at 1:00, the store will host various events from sidewalk-chalk art drawing to author workshop visits. Sure to be fun for all. This Thursday ACP plays host to Carmen Bernier-Grand, author of Diego.

Craig Johnson Reading (Murder By The Book, @6:30pm): Craig returns to Portland, bringing with him the latest book starring the intrepid Sheriff Walt Longmire, Dark Horse (hc, $24.95). Walt must travel undercover in Absaroka County, Wyoming, to learn if a woman really killed her husband after he maliciously killed her horses.

Floyd Skloot, Ariel Gore, Dan DeWeese, Megan Kruse, and Kevin Sampsell (Looking Glass Bookstore, @7:00pm): Portland Noir is an encompassing literary journey where your tour guides take you to the Shanghai Tunnels, dog parks, dive bars, sex shops, Powell’s Books, Voodoo Doughnuts, suspiciously quiet neighborhoods, the pseudo-glitzy Pearl District, Oaks Amusement Park, and a strip club shaped like a jug. Violent crime, petty mischief, and personal tragedy run through these mysterious tales that careen through this cloudy, wet city. Portland Noir is sure to both charm and frighten readers familiar with this northwest hub and intrigue those who have never traveled to this proudly weird city. Featuring brand-new stories by: Gigi Little, Justin Hocking, Christopher Bolton, Jess Walter, Monica Drake, Jamie S. Rich (illustrated by Joelle Jones), Dan DeWeese, Zoe Trope, Luciana Lopez, Karen Karbo, Bill Cameron, Ariel Gore, Floyd Skloot, Megan Kruse, Kimberly Warner-Cohen, and Jonathan Selwood.
Portland Noir is part of Akashic Books’ groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city.

Kevin Sampsell (editor) is a bookstore employee and writer. He is the author of a short story collection, Creamy Bullets (Chiasmus Press), and the upcoming memoir, The Suitcase (HarperPerennial, summer 2009). He is also the editor of The Insomniac Reader (Manic D Press) and the publisher of the micropress, Future Tense Books.

Camille Alexa Reading (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): Push of the Sky (Hadley Rille) offers over two dozen of Camille Alexa’s short speculative works, including SpaceWesterns.com’s most-read story of all time, “The Clone Wrangler’s Bride,” and its sequel, “Droidtown Blues.”

Travis Williams Reading (Annie Bloom’s Books, @7:30pm): The Willamette River Field Guide is the story of Oregon’s earliest inhabitants, the connection between the river and the towns along its banks, the wildlife it supports, and the effects of alterations to its geography and ecology. The Willamette River Field Guide includes tips for more than a dozen riverside visits and trips. Twelve maps cover each segment of the river. Beautiful new color photographs and rare historical photos help tell the story.

Travis Williams knows the river intimately and cares about it passionately. Whether you take in the views from land or water, or just dip into this fascinating guide from home, you will know the Willamette River as you never have before.

G. Xavier Robillard Reading (Powells Books on Hawthorne, @7:30pm): In Captain Freedom (Harper), the titular superhero’s 15 minutes of fame are up — but, with the guidance of his new life coach, maybe Freedom can stumble in a new direction. “[A] gleeful romp through American pop culture,” raves Kirkus Reviews.

Kate Hopkins Reading (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): Combining comprehensive research with informal narrative, Kate Hopkins’s 99 Drams of Whiskey (St. Martin’s) explains the place of whiskey in the history of the world.

Tin House and Disjecta present Arty Words Vol. 2 (Disjecta, @7:30pm, $7): Disjecta and Tin House return to a winning formula for the next installment of Arty Words, the literary/art/music sensation too unwieldy to be called an event. Vol. II features Los Angeles artist and writer Zak Smith, Portland’s own Jon Raymond and a very special musical performance by Quasi.

Zak Smith does for alt porn what Hunter S. Thompson did for motorcycle gangs and Tom Wolfe for psychedelica.

Friday June 19-

Cheeky Pages Romance Book Group (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): This month we meet to discuss Deadly Gamble by Linda Lael Miller. Join us!

Ali Sethi Reading (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): A major new international voice debuts with The Wish Maker (Riverhead), Ali Sethi’s sweeping story of love, friendship, and family ties that brings to life the turbulent world of modern Pakistan.

Kerry Cohen Reading (Writers Dojo, @7:30pm): Dojo editor, Kerry Cohen, reads from Loose Girl, a memoir of promiscuity now in paperback. Entertainment Weekly said, “Cohen’s brutal honesty about her relentless request for companionship is refreshingly relatable.” Loose Girl is Kerry Cohen’s captivating memoir about her descent into promiscuity and how she gradually found her way toward real intimacy.

A Night of Musical Stories and Instrumental Music (Three Degrees Lounge, @8:00pm): Join author and narrator Lynn Darroch — with Randy Porter (piano) and John Stowell (guitar) — for an evening of musical stories and instrumental music on the banks of the Willamette. Hear tales of local heroes, jazz originals, underground histories and the rivers that run through them — all in an interplay of words and music.

Local Heroes/American Originals, Darroch’s third CD of musical stories, brings the cultural history of Portland, Oregon, to life in an interplay of words and live jazz. Local heroes on this CD include Native American saxophonist Jim Pepper, pianist Warren Bracken, and ordinary people whose unheralded lives are equally emblematic of place and time. Other American originals here include singer Betty Carter, pianist and composer Clare Fischer, the iconic Chet Baker, and in a different slice of the American grain William Faulkner’s wife, Estelle.

Saturday June 20-

Paul Riddel Reading (St. Johns Booksellers, @12:00pm): Science fiction essayist Paul T. Riddell isn’t the first to compare magazine writing to public masturbation, but he’s the first to practice what he preached and quite writing.  Before he did, he and cohort Edgar Harris (former sports editor of Science Fiction Age) spent thirteen years covering such diverse subjects as assistance to beginning writers (“I want to hunt down the idiot who came up with that ‘writers make $37.50 an hour’ story and let Whitley Strieber’s aliens make him/her squeal like a pig”) to Harlan Ellison’s cybernetic history and how Canada formally apologized to the UN for the TV series Lexx. Put down the Edmond Scientific catalog, grab a UNIT recruiting flyer, and find out why Ellen Datlow referred to Riddell as .” . .unfailingly incendiary.”

Riddell is now a dealer in carnivorous plants–click here to learn more.

Thorn Publishing and Ursula Bacon Writing Workshop (Lake Oswego Library, @1:00pm): Join local authors and publishers Thorn and Ursula Bacon for an engaging writing workshop entitled “What’s It All About Mr. Doubleday?” Founders of the publishing company Bestseller Books, Thorn and Ursula Bacon will lead an hour and a half workshop on the publishing industry. Come learn how to conceive, organize, outline and write a book on a favorite subject. This free program, part of the Library’s ongoing author series, is presented with the generous support of the Friends of the Lake Oswego Library.

Zayra Yves Reading (In Other Words Books, @3:00pm): Empty as Nirvana is a passageway between worlds, it is a fusion between the modern and ancient. It hides nothing as it explores the moments of arrival and departure in relationship, as well as in religion, tribal traditions, love and heartbreak. We are exposed to the compassionate nature as much as the haunting memories of survival after savage experiences. In this book we hear the voices of Buddhists and mothers mixed together; of Zimbabweans, South Africans, Zulu’s, White Lions and Egyptians. Zayra Yves shows us that she is capable of seeing into the soul of our soul that leaves us feeling pure rather than exposed, sane rather than lost. She is a passion-filled force embracing both her human desires as well as the divine essence. Empty as Nirvana has been compiled from both new material and previously published poems that have been included in magazines, journals, audio recordings, radio broadcasts, and other print publications. Yves is a multi-faceted and thought provoking writer as she delves into the raw soul exposed in all of its paradox, pain and healing. Her poetry is often spiritual without being religious while it is earthy, mystical, flowing – like a river that moves through the universe of stars. In its course, it reveals the human suffering that cries from the abyss, the majestic cathedral of the ceremonial soul, the erotic body of light, the undeniable presence of the muse, the great hope for a more expansive state of compassion, and the rapture of total abandonment of love.

A Night of Light & Shadows (Yoga Shala of Portland, N. Williams Studio, @7:00pm): This year, Yoga Shala of Portland’s annual bash will benefit the New Oregon Interview Series. Come by their gorgeous, huge space on North Williams for music, film, readings, performance, and installations on the longest day of the year, June 20. Literary readings from Jon Raymond: new work in progress, Lidia Yuknavitch: mysterious beauty, and Pecos B.: sweet spoken word. Click here for a full schedule.

Here are links to the community calendars for the Tri-County area Libraries: Washington County, Multnomah County, Clackamas County

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