Portland Book Events: April 3-9

From what we could find (please contact us if you have an event you would like us to add to this or future schedules), the local book events for the week of April 3, 2010 through April 9, 2010 are:

Saturday April 3-

Kimberly Derting (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @2:00pm): A young adult novel filled with suspense, gripping romance, and deadly consequences, Kimberly Derting’s The Body Finder (HarperCollins) is the story of a young woman with the ability to find the bodies of the murdered — and who may be the only one who can stop the serial killer terrorizing her town.

National Poetry Month Celebration (Hillsboro Main Library, @2:00pm): Celebrate National Poetry Month with two local poets: Mark Thalman and Doyle Walls. A great program for teens and adults!

Philosophy Cafe (Powells City of Books, @4:00pm): Join philosophers and PCC instructors Brian Elliott and John Farnum for a discussion of topical issues from a philosophical perspective. This month’s topic: Human freedom.

Alafair Burke (Murder by the Book, @4:30pm): The Reed College graduate, former Portlander, and former assistant D.A., returns to the Northwest with her latest book, 212 (Harper Collins).

Alembic #9: Organizam-A Mutant Cabaret of Non Acts (Performance Works NW, @8:00pm, $10-$15): A night of humor-based, conceptual, nondramatic events informed by experimental traditions such as Dada, Situationism, and Fluxus. Blending words, laughs, music, dancing, props, concepts, video, (non-) acting, games, sounds, implosions, with live humans. Performing will be John Berendzen, Tony Christy, James Yeary, Justin Smith, Jeff Diteman, Maryrose Larkin, Eric Matchett, Jake Anderson, Anna Daedalus, Leo Daedalus, John Berendzen, kollodi nishimoto norton, Alex P. Reagan, David Abel, J.A. Lee, Crag Hill, Linda Austin, Curated by Marko Whens. ALEMBIC is an ongoing series of performative events at Performance Works North West curated by guest artists from the worlds of dance, theater, visual and media arts.

Sunday April 4-

Justin Taylor (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): Fearless and funny, Justin Taylor’s Everything Here Is the Best Thing Ever (Harper Perennial) is a short-story collection that paints a dark picture of his generation — one that is upwardly mobile yet adrift, fumbling for connection but hopelessly self-involved.

Monday April 5-

West Linn Book Club (West Linn Library, @6:45pm): Join the adult book club to discuss Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford. The Adult Book Club focuses on contemporary literary fiction, although non-fiction and classic works are read as well. All titles are selected by the members of the Book Club.

Gayle Forman (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): A sophisticated, layered, and achingly beautiful story about a teenage girl’s life-or-death choice, Gayle Forman’s If I Stay (Speak) is an emotionally arresting young adult novel that’s sure to captivate readers.

Remedios: A Conversation about Healing, Life, and Art (Three Friends Coffee House, @7:00pm): Please join Joanne Mulcahy and Cindy Williams Gutiérrez with musician Gerardo Calderón for a literary event that celebrates women as ritual healers in Mexican and Mexican American culture. Mulcahy will read from her recently published book, Remedios: The Healing Life of Eva Castellanoz. Gutiérrez will perform her poems inspired by healers and the women in her life and by the “flower and song” of the ancient Aztecs. Calderón will accompany Cindy’s Aztec-inspired poems on pre-Hispanic instruments. It will be an evening of story and testimonio, and poetry and music.

Story Time For Grownups: Gonna Roll The Bones (Grendel’s Coffee House, @7:30pm): “Story Time for Grownups” returns to Grendel’s with a classic story of the ultimate game of craps – against the devil. Joe Slattermill, a perpetual no- count, finds himself wagering his life and everything on a roll of the dice. David Loftus will read Fritz Leiber’s Gonna Roll the Bones the Hugo Award-winning fantasy story. Admission is free.

Sonya Chung (Powells Books on Hawthorne, @7:30pm): Sure to establish Sonya Chung as a thrilling new voice in fiction, Long for This World (Scribner) is a brilliant, powerful debut novel about a Korean family divided between America and their small Korean town.

David Shields (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): Fresh from his acclaimed exploration of mortality in the genre-defying, bestselling The Thing about Life Is That One Day You’ll Be Dead, David Shields’s latest, Reality Hunger: A Manifesto (Knopf), is an open call for new literary and art forms to match the complexities of the 21st century.

PSU MFA Monday Night Lecture Series Features: Sam Durant (Portland State, Shattuck Hall Annex, @7:30pm): Sam Durant will lecture about his work! The public is invited (its free, tell your friends).

Tuesday April 6-

Poetry in Motion Kickoff (Antoinette Hatfield Hall, @10:30am): After a three year hiatus, we’re excited to announce that Poetry in Motion is returning with eight new poems! Join us when we unveil poems by two Portland Public high school students from our Writers in the Schools program, three poems by Oregon Book Awards finalists and three other poems chosen by public vote. Jennifer Yocom, Director of Arts & Culture from the Mayor’s office, will present the Mayor’s proclamation for Poetry in Motion. Oregon Poets, Judith Barrington and Paulann Petersen will open the event with a reading! We hope to see you there.

Title Raves: Green Reads for Earth Day (Central Library, US Bank Room, @12:00pm): Rave about your reading Faves @your library. Local environmental activists talk about the books that sparked their eco-awareness. Share your faves with the group — and the world. Title Raves recommendations will be posted on the library’s website. Panelists include: Theressa Latoski and Norris Thomlinson, passionate permaculturists; Linda Rose and Eldon Haines, zero-energy home dwellers; and Andrew Koyaanisqatsi, solar systems installer.

Mini-Sledgehammer Writing Contest (Blackbird Wineshop, @7:00pm): Indigo Editing & Publications presents a miniature version of their popular Sledgehammer Writing Contest. After a reading by Alan Dubinsky—the winner of the last year’s contest—the audience will receive prompts and will have 36 minutes to write their own short stories. All entries will be judged on the spot and winners will take home prizes. The Mini-Sledgehammer Contest is free and open to the public.

Diane Hammond (Broadway Books, @7:00pm): Diane Hammond will be here to read from her latest book, Seeing Stars, published by HarperCollins. Seeing Stars is a novel of hope, dreams, love and ambition. Set in Hollywood – where every child wants to be a star and every grownup wants a piece of the action – this novel explores the not-so-glamorous world of stage mothers, adolescent Tinsel Town wannabes, and desperate chances. Ms. Hammond’s previous novel (which she read at Broadway Books) was Hannah’s Dream.

Willamette Writers Meeting featuring Naseem Rakha (The Old Church, @7:00pm): Naseem Rakha will speak about writing as a medium for creating social change. Naseem is the author of The Crying Tree, a novel about the death penalty and forgiveness set in southern Illinois and Oregon. Naseem is an award winning journalist whose stories have been heard on OPB and National Public Radio. She lives in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

Paul Verhoeven (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): Paul Verhoeven, director of Basic Instinct and Black Book, has spent a lifetime studying the Gospels, parsing fact from revision in the historical documents that have been interpreted and altered over the centuries. Jesus of Nazareth (Seven Stories) is Verhoeven’s finely documented yet personal assessment of a man who was devoid of divine powers, but whose fervent belief in the kingdom of God led to the most significant ethical revival of the last 2000 years. Co-sponsored by the NW Film Center.

Wednesday April 7-

Oregon Literary Review presents First Wednesdays (Blackbird Wineshop, @7:00pm): Oregon Literary Review co-hosts First Wednesdays, a series of readings, performances and wine-tasting. This show is 21 and over. The readers for April 7 are Jackie Shannon-Hollis, Peter Sears, Brian Christopher and Elizabeth Enslin.

CFI/Freethinkers Book Group (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): This month’s nonfiction book group meets to discuss the first half of Future Bioethics by Ronald A. Lindsay. Join us!

Centennial Book Group (Lake Oswego Library, @7:00pm): The Centennial Book Group will meet to discuss the local history book Iron, Wood and Water by Ann Fulton. The group is meeting throughout the year to read and discuss books related to the early history of Lake Oswego.

I Am Not a Serial Killer (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): Fifteen-year-old sociopath John Wayne Cleaver is dangerous, and he knows it. He’s obsessed with serial killers, but really doesn’t want to become one. For his own sake, and the safety of those around him, he lives a life governed by rigid rules and practices. Now, John has to confront a danger outside himself, a threat he can’t control, a menace to everything and everyone he would love, if only he could. Dan Wells’s debut novel I Am Not a Serial Killer (Tor) is the first volume of a trilogy guaranteed to keep readers awake at night.

Carlos Reyes presents The Book of Shadows (Annie Bloom’s Books, @7:30pm): “Over the years Carlos Reyes has written poems of the highest order and it’s a pleasure to see so many of them gathered together in The Book of Shadows. This is a necessary book that clearly shows the author’s deep humanity and his sophisticated skill.” —Vern Rutsala

Laila Lalami (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): Laila Lalami’s powerful first novel, Secret Son (Algonquin), explores the struggle for identity, the need for family, and the desperation that overtakes ordinary lives in a country divided by class, politics, and religion.

Andy Couturier (Powells Books on Hawthorne, @7:30pm): Raised in the tumult of Japan’s industrial powerhouse, the 11 men and women profiled in A Different Kind of Luxury: Japanese Lessons in Simple Living and Inner Abundance (Stone Bridge Press) have all made the transition to sustainable, fulfilling lives. By presenting the journeys of these ordinary yet exceptional people, Andy Couturier shows how we too can travel a meaningful path of simple living.

Thursday April 8-

Live Wire! Radio (Mission Theater, @6:30pm, $20): Live Wire! is an independently produced radio variety show recorded in front of a live audience at the Mission Theater and broadcast on Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB). Guests on the April 8th show include:

• Foo Fighters’ guitarist Chris Shiflett, promoting his forthcoming solo record
• Black Prairie, an experimental side project from several members of the Decemberists
• Donald Miller, author of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
• Slam poet Derrick Brown, who just released his third book, Scandalabra
• …and selections from the musical storybook One Night in Frogtown by composer Philip Pelletier.

Plus, original sketch comedy from Faces For Radio Theater, music from Ralph Huntley and the Mutton Chops, host Courtenay Hameister — and more!

Peter Rock (Broadway Books, @7:00pm): Portland novelist Peter Rock will be here to read from his book, My Abandonment, just published in paperback by Mariner Books. Inspired by the real-life story of a man and his daughter who were found living in Forest Park. My Abandonment imagines what might have happened to this small family – how they survived off the grid, how they were caught and forced to return to civilization, and what happened when they fled back to the wilderness. The book was recently honored with a 2010 Alex Award, given by the American Library Association to books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults. Peter Rock is the author of four previous novels. He lives in Portland with his family and teaches at Reed College.

Graphic Novel Reading Club (Bridge City Comics, @7:00pm): Join us on the second Thursday of every month for Portland’s first Graphic Novel Reading Club! Bring a chair and something to drink, if you’d like!  This month’s selection: 45 GN.

Deadly Diversions Mystery Book Group (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): This month we meet to discuss Hell to Pay by George Pelecanos. Join us!

David D. Levine’s Mission to Mars (Powell’s Technical Books, @7:00pm): Just in from Mars — David D. Levine, Hugo Award-winning author of the short story collection Space Magic (Wheatland Press) discusses his recent stay in the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. This project (not affiliated with NASA) simulates living and conducting research on Mars. David will share photos, stories, and insights gained from his experience.

Jim Butcher (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): Changes (Roc) is the new novel in Jim Butcher’s #1 bestselling Dresden Files series. Long ago, Susan Rodriguez was Harry Dresden’s lover — until she was attacked by his enemies, leaving her torn between her own humanity and the bloodlust of the vampiric Red Court.

Walt Curtis and James Honzik (Cover to Cover Books, @7:00pm): Walt Curtis is Portland’s unofficial Poet Laureate. He has published 15 small-press books, including Mala Noche, which inspired Gus Van Sant’s first film. Curtis is a cofounder of the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission, having written about neglected Oregon writers John Reed, Hazel Hall, Joaquin Miller, C.E.S. Wood, and others. For 35 years, he has co-hosted The Talking Earth on KBOO.fm radio.  James Honzik studied poetry under John Yau, Bernadette Meyer, and David Trinidad at the Poetry Project at St. Marks Church, the heart of poetry in New York City, and with Charles Bernstein at the New School. He has lived in Wisconsin, New York City, and New Orleans, and currently resides in Portland.

Howard Frank Mosher presents Walking to Gatlinburg (Annie Bloom’s Books, @7:30pm): A stunning and lyrical Civil War thriller, Walking to Gatlinburg is a spellbinding story of survival, wilderness adventure, mystery, and love in the time of war. 17-year-old Morgan Kinneson is part of the Underground Railroad. When an escaped slave is murdered on his watch, he begins a trek into the South. Along the way, Morgan encounters a fantastical array of characters, including a weeping elephant, a pacifist gunsmith, a woman who lives in a tree, a blind cobbler, and a beautiful and intriguing slave girl named Slidell who is the key to unlocking the mystery of a mysterious stone that has fallen into his possession.

Jacki Kane & Debby Dodds (In Other Words Women’s Books & Resources, @7:30pm): Jacki Kane is an award-winning writer, stand-up comedian, and founder of a parent comedy show called TIME OUT: The mother of all comedy shows. She recently published a memoir called Sass Mouth: Destiny is a Joke. Her and her husband Brian live in Portland, Oregon, with their five-year-old daughter, eight-year-old son and a herd of dust bunnies. Debby Dodds has a story in the NY Times best-selling anthology, My Little Red Book (Twelve Press), an anthology of stories by women about their experiences with their first periods. Royalties are donated to organizations promoting women’s health and education.  Debby makes her home in Portland, OR with her partner, Deke and five year-old daughter, Dory.

William T. Vollmann (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): Writing with the extraordinary awareness and endless curiosity that has defined his oeuvre, William T. Vollmann’s Kissing the Mask (Ecco) offers an in-depth look at the unusual Japanese craft of Noh theater, using the medium as a prism to reveal humanity’s conception of beauty itself.

Every Dog Has a Gift (Powells Books on Hawthorne, @7:30pm): In Every Dog Has a Gift (Tarcher), Rachel McPherson draws on her experience as the founder and executive director of The Good Dog Foundation, the largest animal-assisted therapy organization on the East Coast, to share the amazing stories of dogs that bring hope and healing into people’s lives. This event is co-sponsored by Autism Service Dogs of America.

Friday April 9-

Lloyd Haberly Exhibition Opening (Central Library, Collins Gallery, @10:00am): The work of Loyd Haberly as a poet, artist — he created the many brightly colored woodcuts that adorn his books — printer and binder, caught the attention of Portland book collector Brian Booth. Over the years, Booth has generously been donating his Haberly collection to the John Wilson Special Collections at Multnomah County Library. This exhibition, the first on Haberly in more than a decade, features all of these items along with materials borrowed from other institutions and private collections.

HomeWord Bound 2010 (Tualatin Country Club, @6:00pm, $65): CPAH presents their twelfth annual “HomeWord Bound.” Featured Authors are: Matt Love, Oregon Literary Arts’ Stewart Holbrook Award 2009 recipient and author of Gimme Refuge: A Teacher’s Memoir of Restoration, and Citadel of the Spirit: Oregon’s Sesquicentennial Anthology; and Willy Vlautin, internationally-acclaimed, award-winning author, Lean on Pete, and The Motel Life, who is also lead singer-songwriter for the band Richmond Fontaine. In addition to our featured authors, several guest authors will be in attendance, including: Debra Gwartney, April Henry, Bart King, Joe Kurmaskie, Jeff Mapes, Loyce Martinazzi, R. Gregory Nokes, Naseem Rakha, David Michael Slater, and Tim Sproul. Master of Ceremonies will be the founding General Manager of The Broadway Rose Theatre Company, Dan Murphy.

Dirty Queer Open Mic (In Other Words Women’s Books & Resources, @6:30pm, $1-$5 Suggested Donation): Dirty Queer is an X rated open mic: a place to celebrate sexuality and strut your creative stuff! Hosted by renegade writer and poet Sossity Chiricuzio, Dirty Queer is proven itself to be a thought provoking evening of excitement, laughter and full body shivers. We’re looking for queer erotic entertainers of all sorts: dancers, jugglers, singers, musicians, comics, poets, storytellers, magicians, gender performers … if you can do it in 5-10 minutes or less (w/ minimal props/equip), this open mic’s for you! It’s highly recommended to bring your own folding chairs if you can, as we average 85 people/month. Everyone who attends has a chance to win door prizes from local businesses! Caveats: 18+, consent is key, no hate speech.

In Search of Lili’uokalani (Portland State, Smith Center, Rm 236, @7:00pm): Forced from her throne by American business interests in 1893, Queen Liliuokalani saw the Hawaiian Kingdom turned briefly into a “republic” and then-the real goal of the men who overthrew her- annexed to the United States. Acclaimed journalist Elinor Langer will talk about the research for her upcoming book on the last Kawaiian Queen, and how she used her strength and itelligence in guiding Hawaii through the then-uncharted stages of American overseas imperialism that has left Liliuokalani as beloved and honored by her people today as she was in her lifetime.

Karl Marlantes (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): Written over the course of 30 years by a highly decorated Marine veteran, Karl Marlantes’s Matterhorn (Atlantic Monthly) is a spellbinding and unforgettable novel that brings to life the Vietnam War — both its horrors and its thrills.

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For further events check out the links to the community calendars for Tri-County area Libraries: Washington County, Multnomah County, Clackamas County.

Image credit Zorger.