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 May 1, 2010 through May 7, 2010 are:
Saturday May 1-
Free Comic Book Day Celebration (Bridge City Comics, @10:00am): In addition to dozens of free comics available during the day, Bridge City Comics will also host autograph signings from two Portland locals! Will Redwood (artist and writer of A Bird’s Song) and illustrator Andy Lunday will be signing copies of their works and talking comics during the day. Redwood will be signing starting at 11am and Lunday will start his signing at noon.
Free Comic Book Day Celebration (Guapo Comics, @10:00am): We will be giving out Free Comics from 10:00am to 6:00pm. Local cartoonists Jesse Reklaw and Ian Sundahl will be in store signing copies of the free anthology of Portland cartoonists “Dope Flounder” to which they both contribute.
Friends of Hillsboro Library Spring Book Sale (Hillsboro Main Library, @10:00am): The Friends of the Hillsboro Public Library are having the Spring Book Sale in the Meeting Room during regular library hours. For more information about the Friends, visit their website.
Free Comic Book Day Celebration (Cosmic Monkey Comics, @11:00am): We have free comics for kids of all ages (limit 3 per person)! We will have artists in the store signing from 12pm to 3pm, but free comics are available all day, until supplies run out, which is unlikely. Joining us this year: Mike & Laura Allred, Jim Valentino, David Hahn, Zachary Baldus, Farel Dalrymple, Joshua Williamson & Vincente Navarrete, Sean Christensen & Tom Lechner, Jeremy Barlow, Brandon Seifert & Lukas Ketner, Adam Watson & Tony Morgan, George Leon, along with the Editors of Stumptown Underground and Baywolf!
Free Comic Book Day Celebration (Floating World Comics, @11:00am): We’ll have dozens of new comics that are all totally free. Publishers often offer books that are great starting points to check out new series. We do not limit the number of books you can take, although we do ask that you don’t take more than 1 of any title. From Noon – 3pm we’ll have special guest, Amy Mebberson, in attendance to do sketches and sign books. She has worked for Disney and Laika animation studios, and is now the artist for many popular Boom Kids series like Muppet Show, Toy Story and Monsters Inc. We’ll have free Muppet Show posters that she can sign as well as a limited edition Chicago ComicCon Muppet Show exclusive “blank” cover for sketches.
A Cup of Comfort Reading (Barnes & Noble-Tanasbourne, @2:00pm): Join “A Cup of Comfort” series editor Colleen Sell, and ten local authors for a book reading and signing this Saturday. Featured Books: Better World, Fathers, Grieving Heart, Mothers. Featured Authors: Kristin Berger, Christie Caballero, Cara Holman, Diana Jordan, Kimila Kay, Sue Lick, Minnete Meador, Alaina Smith, Samantha Ducloux Waltx, Kelly Wilson, and Colleen Sell (editor).
Loggernaut’s Fifth Anniversary Reading (Urban Grind East, @7:30pm, $2 donation): Loggernaut’s Fifth Anniversary Celebration will feature: Mary Szybist, Barry Sanders, Chelsey Johnson, and Rodney Koeneke will be reading new work. There will be cake! Here is a thumbnail gallery of Loggernaut cover art over the past five years. For more check out Loggernaut’s Facebook page.
Sunday May 2-
Friends of Hillsboro Library Spring Book Sale (Hillsboro Main Library, @12:00pm): The Friends of the Hillsboro Public Library are having the Spring Book Sale in the Meeting Room during regular library hours. For more information about the Friends, visit their website.
Ed Lin (Murder by the Book, @5:00pm): Following the success of This Is a Bust, the first in Ed Lin’s series, we find NYPD detective Robert Chow working on the murders of two Asian men. As an Asian-American cop, Robert knows Manhattan’s Chinatown. We, too, learn about it as we follow Robert through its streets, chasing a ring of human smugglers known as “snakeheads.”
Monday May 3-
Friends of Hillsboro Library Spring Book Sale (Hillsboro Main Library, @10:00am): The Friends of the Hillsboro Public Library are having the Spring Book Sale in the Meeting Room during regular library hours. For more information about the Friends, visit their website.
Adult Book Club (West Linn Library, @6:45pm): Join the adult book club to discuss The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell. 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. Group members are expected to have read the month’s book before attending discussion sessions, but first-time attendees are always welcome to drop in.
1000 Words: Quitting (The Maiden, @7:00pm): 1,000 Words convenes once again for another Monday night of literary revelry. As per usual, four writers agreed to write 250 words per week for the month leading up to the reading, this time on the theme “Quitting”. The writers also agreed, wisely or not, to include a handful of challenging prompts in each week’s effort. The results are, well, pretty fascinating. Join us for a free all ages show that may leave your socks intact, but will blow your mind. Reid Trevarthen and Ethan Camp will favor us with a short set of songs based on the prompts during intermission. Readers for the evening are: B. Frayn Masters, Lisa Hoashi, Spencer Newlin-Cushing, and Jeff Schmitt.
Robin Cody (Powells Books on Hawthorne, @7:30pm): Another Way the River Has (OSU Press) collects Robin Cody’s finest nonfiction writings, bringing the ear of a novelist and the eye of a reporter to the people and places that distinguishes the Northwest.
PSU MFA Monday Night Lecture Series Features: Hank Willis (Portland State, Shattuck Hall Annex, @7:30pm): Hank Willis will lecture about his work! The public is invited (its free, tell your friends).
Story Time For Grownups: Catch-22 (Grendel’s Coffee House, @7:30pm): “Story Time for Grownups” returns once again to Grendel’s. David Loftus will read excerpts from Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. Admission is free.
Tuesday May 4-
Friends of Hillsboro Library Spring Book Sale (Hillsboro Main Library, @10:00am): The Friends of the Hillsboro Public Library are having the Spring Book Sale in the Meeting Room during regular library hours. For more information about the Friends, visit their website.
Nez Perce Stories and the Grammar of Place-Making (PSU-Native American Student & Community Center, @2:00pm): Beth Piatote is Assistant Professor of Native American Studies and the University of California Berkeley. She is currently completing the manuscript, Domestic Subjects: Gender, Citizenship, and Law in Native American Literature, which focuses on legal discourses in the literary works of the following indigenous writers: E. Pauline Johnson, John Oskison, Mourning Dove, Alice Callahan, and D’Arcy McNickle. Piatote’s lecture will be an exploration of her work in the Nez Perce language. She will reveal some of more intriguing features of the language as well as the classic conventions of Nez Perce stories even as she shares those tales and the the theoretical conclusions she has drawn.
Writers Talking: Leslie What and Craig Lesley (Central Library, @6:30pm): Leslie What is a Nebula-Award winning writer, graduate of Pacific University’s MFA in Writing, and author of the story collection Crazy Love. Recent work has appeared in Utne Reader and Serving House. Craig Lesley is the author of four novels, numerous short stories, and, most recently, a memoir. His work has received The Western Writers of America Best Novel of the Year, three Pacific Northwest Booksellers’ Association Awards, an Oregon Book Award, and the Medicine Pipe Bearer’s Award. Both Storm Riders and The Sky Fisherman were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
David Oates (Broadway Books, @7:00pm): David Oates will be here to read from his latest book, What We Love Will Save Us. This new book records our collective national descent into a propaganda and torture state in the years 2000-2008, and the ways he struggled, as a private citizen, to find an adequate, loving, effective response. (Hint: it involved good wine, truth telling, and lots of long walks.) David’s previous books include City Limits: Walking Portland’s Boundary and Paradise Wild: Reimagining American Nature, both published by Oregon State University Press, and his poetry and essays have appeared in many journals.
Randall Stickrod: The Roadmap to 100 (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): From Randall Stickrod, a founding editor of Wired magazine, and longevity expert Walter M. Bortz, comes The Roadmap to 100 (Macmillan), which uses cutting-edge research to show that we need to take a second look at our preconceptions about growing old.
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand (Random House), Helen Simonson’s remarkable debut novel, is full of warm, indelible characters, and explores the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of obligation and tradition.
Wednesday May 5-
Friends of Hillsboro Library Spring Book Sale (Hillsboro Main Library, @10:00am): The Friends of the Hillsboro Public Library are having the Spring Book Sale in the Meeting Room during regular library hours. For more information about the Friends, visit their website.
Monograph Bookwerks Opening (Monograph Bookwerks, @11:00am): Portland’s newest bookstore opens for business! Monograph Bookwerks, started by local artists John Brodie and Blair Saxon-Hill, adds to Alberta’s burgeoning literary community, and will be dedicated to modern and contemporary artists.
Stuart Woods (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): Lucid Intervals (Putnam) is Stuart Woods’s latest page-turner featuring the New York City attorney Stone Barrington. Fans of Woods’s long-running series will not be disappointed by this fun-filled romp.
Sheila Lowe (Murder by the Book, @7:00pm): Claudia Rose is a forensic handwriting analyst, not unlike the creator of this series, Sheila Lowe. Although her next book won’t be out until July, we have a golden opportunity to meet her now. Poison Pen, Written in Blood, and Dead Write (each $6.99) are the three books now available. Your fate, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars, but within your own hand.
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 May 5 are Rebecca Harrison, Jean Johnson, Amy Temple Harper, and Jillian Starr.
CFI/Freethinkers Book Group (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): This month’s nonfiction book group meets to discuss the second half of Future Bioethics by Ronald A. Lindsay. Join us!
Adult Book Group (Tualatin Public Library, @7:00pm): May’s selection is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Our book discussion group is an informal and relaxed gathering, with a respectful, congenial, and inquisitive atmosphere. Every member of the group takes two to three minutes to give their overall impression of the book. After everyone has given their opening summary, the group is ready to engage in a more thorough discussion. Everyone will be given an opportunity to participate in the discussion, however participation is not a requirement. Listeners are welcome!
Roddy Doyle (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): The Dead Republic (Viking) is the conclusion of Roddy Doyle’s bestselling trilogy that began with A Star Called Henry. Irish rebel Henry Smart ends up in Hollywood collaborating with legendary director John Ford on a script based on Henry’s life.
Thursday May 6-
Friends of Hillsboro Library Spring Book Sale (Hillsboro Main Library, @10:00am): The Friends of the Hillsboro Public Library are having the Spring Book Sale in the Meeting Room during regular library hours. For more information about the Friends, visit their website.
The Awards Show (Reading Frenzy, @6:00pm): The month of May at Reading Frenzy we present The Awards Show, an assortment of my favorite Portland graphic artists, sharing their interpretations of awards. This collective showing uses the iconography of recognition, while focusing on atypical qualities, triumphs, praises or defeats.
Project R.U.N.W.A.Y. “Hipsters of the Universe” (Floating World Comics, @6:00pm): May’s First Thursday features the artwork of Adrian Riemann, who has designed a series 16 prints with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe – except they’re all wearing and modeling current fashions and designer labels. We also invited the following artists to do their interpretations of cartoon or comics characters in modern fashions: Matt Furie, Nick Gazin, Brandon Graham, Corey Lewis, and Angie Wang.
Paul McHugh (Murder by the Book, @6:00pm): Coastal land issues can be nasty business in California. When an activist is murdered, a young reporter tires to determine if a coastal resort hired her killers. When the reporter, too, is murdered, veteran reporter Colm MacCay must fight his way out of an alcoholic haze to find the real story. Dan Rather says: “Every reporter worth his or her notepad is a sleuth at heart. Paul McHugh brings this truth to life with crackling suspense. ”
Audrey Braun (The Wyatt, @6:00pm): Please join Audrey Braun, author of the steamy thriller A Small Fortune, on First Thursday in the beautiful lobby of The Wyatt for an evening of book signing and book chatting with beer and wine and food served by Bridgeport Brewery. There will be a DJ and amazing art as well.
First Thursday: Nikki McClure (Powells City of Books, @6:30pm): Following the success of All in a Day, Nikki McClure once again uses her unique paper cutouts to showcase wonderful images of nature and the joys of family and the outdoors in her new book Mama, Is It Summer Yet? (Abrams). This event includes a reception at 6:30pm and a talk and booksigning at 7:30pm.
J. A. Pitts (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): From J. A. Pitts, an exciting new voice on the fantasy scene, Black Blade Blues (Tor) takes the reader on a rollicking fantasy adventure full of pathos and humor.
Kurt Hoelting (Powells Books on Hawthorne, @7:30pm): The Circumference of Home (Da Capo) details how Zen wilderness guide Kurt Hoelting traded in his car and air transportation for a kayak, a bike, and his own feet, traveling a radius of roughly 60 miles for a serious look at climate change.
Friday May 7-
Friends of Hillsboro Library Spring Book Sale (Hillsboro Main Library, @10:00am): The Friends of the Hillsboro Public Library are having the Spring Book Sale in the Meeting Room during regular library hours. For more information about the Friends, visit their website.
Paul Collier (Mercy Corps Action Center, @7:00pm, $30, includes admission and a copy of The Plundered Planet): In The Plundered Planet (Oxford), Paul Collier (The Bottom Billion) builds upon his renowned work on developing countries and the poorest populations to confront the global mismanagement of nature. Presented by Powell’s Books, World Affairs Council of Oregon, and Mercy Corps.
Girl in Translation (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): Introducing a fresh Chinese-American voice, Jean Kwok’s Girl in Translation (Riverhead) is an inspiring debut about an immigrant girl forced to choose between two worlds and two futures.
Robert Leonard Reid (Audobon Society of Portland, @7:00pm): The Audobon Society welcomes Robert Leonard Reid, author of the new Arctic Circle: Birth and Rebirth in the Land of the Caribou (David R. Godine, $27.95). Full of adventure, literary references, natural history, and ecological concerns, Reid’s memoir is moving and poignant, evocative and cautionary. The multi-talented author of two previous books, he’s also worked as a songwriter, cabaret pianist, teacher and mathematics textbook writer.
Laurie Notaro (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): In Spooky Little Girl (Villard), Laurie Notaro lends her signature humor and flair for storytelling to a new topic: the unknowingly undead.
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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.
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