MARK & DIANE BUTTON
The romance of college-ruled script is the focus of the Buttons' Letter Box, a salute to the fine lost art of letter writing. Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3333, 7 pm, free.
* DAN SAVAGE
See excerpt this week and Stranger Suggests. Bailey/Coy Books, 414 Broadway E, 323-8842, 7 pm, free.
FRIDAY 11/8
HELEN HUMPHREYS
Love, death, plants: Humphreys' The Lost Garden. University Bookstore, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.
* RACE, SPACE, AND PLACE
Seattle University's ethnically sensitive global African studies program welcomes every single nonwhite resident of Seattle for a two-day conference on the titular topics. Featuring acclaimed author Charles Johnson, Maggie Chon, Charles Mudede, and many more. Seattle University, 900 Broadway Ave, 9 am-9 pm. Also Sat, 10 am-4 pm, free. For further details call 296-5475.
SUSAN STARBUCK
Seattle's deceased anti-icon Hazel Wolf, politically active until her death in 2000 at age 101, falls into the spotlight of Antioch University professor Susan Starbuck in her latest, Hazel Wolf: Fighting the Establishment. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
SATURDAY 11/9
WILLIAM LANGEWIESCHE
Collapsed buildings and the literary paper trail that follows: Langewiesche collects his post 9/11 Atlantic Monthly series in American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
SUNDAY 11/10
STEPHEN ELLIOTT & ADAM JOHNSON
A Stanford creative-writing double shot, with Elliott's startling narrative of three fictional Chicago sex workers (What It Means to Love You) and Johnson's latest collection, Emporium. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
JAN TISSOT
A Seattle University law student enters the electrifying sphere of Hawaiian land-use disputes in Tissot's stirring new novel, Keiki. University Bookstore, 634-3400, 2 pm, free.
VELMA WALLIS
Publicist Victoria Stugis' possible interview topics and questions for Raising Ourselves author Velma Wallis: "The author's view of what alcohol has done to her people and the ongoing struggle in many Alaskan bush villages [over] whether to be dry, wet, or 'damp'"; "What hope and aspirations does Velma have for her own children?"; "What Velma Wallis tells a young person outside of the mainstream culture who wants to be a writer." Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 2 pm, free.
MONDAY 11/11
ALEXANDER CHEE
Questions of the relationship between sexual abuse and sexual orientation are among the paradoxical themes flowing through Chee's debut novel, the arrestingly honest Edinburgh. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
MARSHALL MILLER
Ranking second in the nation in the live-in couple department, wedlock-be-damned Seattle welcomes Unmarried to Each Other author Miller, who discusses the ways folks living in sin can milk the system just like all us chaste traditionalists. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 5 pm, free.
SY MONTGOMERY
Montgomery, the apparent female inspiration for the Indiana Jones series (we're talkin' vampire bat bites, angry gorilla chases, snake pits, and hearts torn from chests, people), discusses her latest, The Search for the Golden Moon Bear. Third Place Books, 366-3333, 7 pm, free. Also Zeitgeist, 171 S Jackson, 583-0497, Wed at 7 pm.
WENDY NORTHCUTT
Northcutt signs The Darwin Awards 2--because, let's face it, ain't nothin' funny like good old-fashioned human tragedy. Barnes & Noble, 2700 NE University Village, 517-4107, 7 pm, free.
TUESDAY 11/12
ESTHER DRILL, HEATHER McDONALD, REBECCA ODES
Advancing the cause for cosmetics companies everywhere, gURL.com founders Drill, McDonald, and Odes perpetuate adolescent body-obsession issues under the guise of moral support in The Looks Book. University Bookstore, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.
ELIZABETH EAVES
The Lusty Lady, Seattle's latest publishing hotbed, garners another index page in your local card catalog with dancer Elizabeth Eaves' Bare: On Women, Dancing, Sex, and Power. Bailey/Coy Books, 323-8842, 7 pm, free.
D. NURKSE
Shouting the poetic truths of high-school journal keepers is Brooklyn's poet laureate D. Nurkse, promoting his new collection of "coming-of-age" poetry, The Fall. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
* ZADIE SMITH
See Stranger Suggests. Benaroya Hall, 200 University St, 621-2230, 7:30 pm, $9-$23.
WEDNESDAY 11/13
* MICHAEL COLLINS
What? You haven't read anything by Michael Collins? You haven't attended one of his readings? Why the hell not? Do you think we sit around and write this shit for our health? Pay attention, for crying out loud! Collins is reading from his recent novel, The Resurrectionists, and you had all better show up. Seattle Mystery Bookshop, 117 Cherry St, 587-5737, noon, free.
* EVA HOFFMAN
Hoffman, a former New York Times staffer and the author of three nonfiction works, presents her fiction debut, The Secret, as part of "Conflicting Memories, Contested Pasts: Some Reflections on Polish-Jewish Relations," the UW's Slavic-literature-department-sponsored lecture series. University of Washington, Kane Hall, Walker-Ames room, 543-7691, 7 pm, free.
POETRY/OPEN MICS
IT'S ABOUT TIME--Featuring poets Bruce Taylor, Waverly Fitzgerald, Paul Hunter, and Judith van Praag. Wed Nov 13 at 6:30 pm. Seattle Public Library, 5009 Roosevelt Way NE, 684-4063, free.
* SPOKEN WORD NIGHT AT THE WILDROSE--Featuring Morris Stegosaurus, Anna Bergman, and April Kane. Thurs Nov 7 at 8 pm. Wildrose, 1021 E Pike St, 271-0364, free.
STAGEFRIGHT--Writing by and for youth, performed and hosted by youth. All ages welcome. Wed Nov 13 at 5:30 pm. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, free.
TAKE A POEM INTO YOUR HEART--Featuring Vivienne Inman, David D. Horowitz, and Terrilynn Towns. Thurs Nov 7 at 7 pm. Lottie Motts Coffee Shop, 4900 Rainier Ave S, 725-8199, free.
WORDS & ART FROM THE HEART--Aforementioned words by Priscilla Long and Don Kentop. Tues Nov 12 at 7 pm. Otis Cafe, 1005 Boren Ave, 342-9866, free.
