Tonight 5-19: Backfence PDX presents "At Your Service" at the Mission Theater

Today’s Featured Book Event:

Backfence PDX presents: “At Your Service” (Mission Theater, @7:30pm, $14): What do a harem girl, a celebrity personal assistant, and a sexy rock-n-roll writer have in common? They and other awesome people will tell true, unmemorized stories as part of Back Fence PDX’s latest production: At Your Service!  Storytellers for the evening are: Steve Almond, Author of Rock -n-Roll Will Save Your Life; Jillian Lauren, Harem Girl for Prince Jefri Bolkiah; Eric Spitznagel, Super Funny Writer for Playboy and Vanity Fair; Sean McGrath, filled Patrick Swayze’s Sweat Pants in Road House: The Play; Sunny Parker, Corrections Officer; Cole Gamble, Celebrity Personal Assistant; and Doug Lyon, Director of Health Services for Mercy Corps. Cupcake girls and boys will serve you…free cupcakes from Saint Cupcake!

Other Book Events Today:

Food Politics (Midland Library, @4:30pm): Local author Jean Johnson will discuss food sourcing and compare sustainable agriculture with agribusiness. The class will look at confined animal feeding operations for laying hens, chickens, dairy cows, and beef cattle. Finally, we’ll tackle cost issues and see if it is possible for a family to stay within its budget and buy food that is produced sustainably.

Phillip Margolin (Barnes & Noble-Clackamas, @7:00pm): Join us as we welcome bestselling author Phillip Margolin as he presents his new legal thriller, Supreme Justice. As always, this local author and former criminal defense attorney writes with a compelling insider’s view of criminal behavior.

Figures of Speech presents: Marie Buckley & Sage Cohen (100th Monkey Studio, @7:00pm): Marie Buckley is co-author of Quartet: four poetic voices, and the 2009-10 president of the Oregon State Poetry Association. Sage Cohen is the author of the poetry collection Like the Heart, the World (Queen of Wands Press, 2007), Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry (Writer’s Digest Books, 2009) and The Productive Writer: Tips & Tools for Writing More, Stressing Less & Creating Success (Writer’s Digest Books, forthcoming in December 2010).

Patrick Carman (Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, @7:00pm): In Thirteen Days to Midnight (Little Brown), a nail-biting young adult novel of dark intrigue, powerful romance, friendship, and adventure, reluctant superhero Jacob Fielding learns that the Grim Reaper doesn’t disappear… he catches up.

Heather Strang, Toni Partington, Sophie Tree & Pam Crow (Kir Wine Bar, @7:00pm): Spend Wednesday evening sipping wine, noshing on yummy treats and listening to poetry by Toni Partington, Sophie Tree, Pam Crow and Anatomy of the Heart: Love Poems author Heather Strang.

Bonnie J. Rough (Annie Bloom’s Books, @7:30pm): Bonnie J. Rough presents Carrier, her memoir of the genetic disorder that ruined her grandfather and causes her to reconsider having children of her own.

PSU MFA Fiction Graduate Readings (Blackfish Gallery, @7:30pm): These readings celebrate PSU’s graduating creative writing students and present an opportunity to hear some of Portland’s most exciting emerging writers. Reading will be Bob Balmer, MacKenzie Courtney, Crystal Root, Monique Wentzel, and Lora Worden. Professor Charles D’Ambrosio will introduce the writers.

Mountain Writers present: David Axelrod & David Memmott (The Press Club, @8:00pm): David Axelrod is the author of five collections of poems, including The Cartographer’s Melancholy, winner of the 2004 Spokane Prize for Poetry and finalist for the 2006 Oregon Book Award in Poetry,and most recently, Departing By A Broken Gate, published in 2010 by Wordcraft of Oregon. David Memmott has published five books of poetry, a novel and a story collection. Recent work has been published by Strange Horizons, High Desert Journal, Windfall and several anthologies. His newest book is the poetry collection, Giving It Away. He is the editor and publisher of Wordcraft of Oregon.

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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 Fresno Famous.