Tonight 2-4: 11th Annual Valentine’s Invitational at Reading Frenzy

Today’s Featured Book Event:

11th Annual Valentine’s Invitational (Reading Frenzy, @6:00pm): Join us for our 11th Annual Valentine’s Invitational! Dozens of artists contribute Valentine themed artwork to benefit a local non-profit. This year’s recipient in the Special Education PTA of Portland (SEPTAP). Free beer from Ninkasi!  See the Reading Frenzy website for a full list of artists.

Other Book Events Today:

The Gift and the Commons: Creativity and the Public Good with Lewis Hyde (Lewis & Clark, Templeton Campus Center, Council Chambers , @4:00pm): The Gift, Lewis Hyde’s groundbreaking study of creativity, explores the meaning of art in a market-driven society.  Hyde asks questions central to the lives of artists as well as teachers and others who serve the public good: How do we discover work that satisfies beyond financial compensation? What are our norms for reciprocity and how do gifts create bonds in communities?  Hyde’s current project extends these questions to the realm of the “cultural commons” – “that vast store of unowned ideas, inventions, and works of art we have inherited from the past, and that we continue to create.” As we debate “intellectual property,” cultural “piracy,” and what counts as shared “cultural literacy,” these issues take on renewed urgency.

“Chocolate Cheeks” Book Release & Art Exhibit with Steven Weissman (Floating World Comics, @6:00pm): Steven Weissman, modern master of light tragedy, is at his most horrible with Chocolate Cheeks. Juxtaposing gag-driven, newspaper-fashioned strips that are just gross enough to delight younger readers and sophisticated enough to be appreciated by grown-ups alongside the symbolically rich extended narrative of “Blue Jay,” this is the greatest “Yikes” book yet.

First Thursday: Marc Jordan (Powells City of Books, @6:30pm): The Basil Hallward Gallery is pleased to present Transmogrify, a collection of oil paintings by Marc Jordan. Jordan, whose paintings change stylistically based on concept, says, “I get an idea, execute it to the best of my ability, and move on. Pictorially, I believe very few things can be communicated in the same way.”

Kelli Stanley (Murder by the Book, @7:00pm): Join us in welcoming Kelli Stanley and her new book City of Dragons. Kelli paints a vivid portrait of San Francisco in the 1940’s and introduces Miranda Corbie, private investigator.

Raymond Carver: A Writer’s Life (Powell’s Books on Hawthorne, @7:30pm): In Raymond Carver: A Writer’s Life (Scribner), a biography of the iconic literary figure whom the London Times called “the American Chekhov,” Carol Sklenicka penetrates the myths and controversies surrounding Carver’s life and career. “The epic biography that Carver deserves,” hails Kirkus Reviews (starred review), while Booklist calls it “a riveting and essential piece in the grand puzzle of American literature.”

You can find other events on your community Libraries schedule using these links: Washington County, Multnomah County, Clackamas County, and the rest of this weeks Portland book events here.

Image credit Reading Frenzy.