Thursday 1/11

Allan Folsom
Folsom reads from The Machiavelli Covenant, a novel involving an Italian political mastermind, a cult of rich people, an LAPD detective, a murderer, and French photo-journalist. University Book Store, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400. Free. 7 pm.

Barbara Taylor Bradford
The Ravenscar Dynasty is the first of "an epic trilogy set in the glittering Edwardian Era." Third Place Books (Lake Forest Park), 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3333. Free. 7 pm.

Kevin O'Brien
The best-selling mystery/thriller author—who had a story published in The Stranger's 2006 Halloween issue—talks about his latest: Killing Spree. Wine and cheese will be served. Bailey/Coy Books, 414 Broadway E, 323-8842. Free. 7 pm.

'Mare Nostrum'
Contributors to the journal Mare Nostrum read. These poets are "fresh from the streets of Rome." They include Kevin Craft, Rebecca Hoogs, Richard Kenney, and Sierra Nelson—all talented. University Book Store, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400. Free. 7 pm.

Matthew Stadler
Stadler, who continues not to have a new novel, gives a lecture—one he presented recently in the Netherlands—about the future of cities. As Charles Mudede wrote last week, in a preview: "Stadler has abandoned 'the old centralized city' for the edge city, the 'Zwischenstadt,' as he calls it, borrowing the term from a German urbanist named Thomas Sieverts. Zwischenstadt is an in-between space that does away with the binary order of power that makes a city meaningful to itself: urban/rural; nomos/physis; futuristic/backward. Stadler's paradigm for Zwischenstadt is Portland's former suburb Beaverton, an area that most in the center of the city would read as a wasteland of manufactured homes, strip malls, and corporate parks. But Stadler sees this area as the next site of political, racial, and cultural revolution." Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 652-4255. $5. 7:30 pm.

Robert Michael Pyle
Pyle reads from Sky Time in Gray's River: Living for Keeps in a Forgotten Place. Now there's only a single road that gets you to Gray's River. Pyle has lived there for decades. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600. Free. 7:30 pm.

Friday 1/12

Shawna Ryan
Destiny's Damned is the first novel in a planned trilogy about the Roman Empire. Third Place Books (Lake Forest Park), 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3333. Free. 6:30 pm.

Juliet McMains
The professional dancer talks about her book Glamour Addiction: Inside the American Ballroom Dance Industry. University Book Store, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400. Free. 7 pm.

Saturday 1/13

Carol O'Connell
O'Connell signs Find Me, a thriller about a detective searching for a killer who's burying bodies along a highway. Seattle Mystery Bookshop, 117 Cherry St, 587-5737. Free. 12 pm.

Genoa Caldwell
The former magazine photo editor talks about her book on the traveler/entertainer/giver-of-illustrated-lectures Burton Holmes, entitled Burton Holmes Travelogue: The Greatest of His Times, 1892-1952 (published by Taschen), and shows pictures. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600. Free. 2 pm.

Anthony Swofford
The former Marine reads from his second book and first novel Exit A, about a guy named Severin Boxx who grows up on a military base in Japan. Swofford's first book was Jarhead (made into a movie, purportedly terrible). Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600. Free. 7:30 pm.

Jenifer Browne Lawrence, Terry Martin
The poets read their recent work. Lawrence is the author of One Hundred Steps from Shore. Martin is the author of The Secret Language of Women. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030. Free. 8 pm.

Monday 1/15

MLK Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech
A staged reading of the Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Fact: He won it when he was 35—youngest person ever.) Seattle Center Fisher Pavillion, 305 Harrison St, 684-7200. Free. 2 pm.

Barbara Ehrenreich
The best-selling Nickel and Dimed author talks about her latest work, Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy, which "teases out the many incarnations of sanctioned public revelry, starting with the protofeminist oreibasia, or Dionysian winter dance, in antiquity, and from there covering trance, ancient mystery cults and carnival, right up to rock and roll and sports-related mass celebrations of our own day" (Publishers Weekly). Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 652-4255. $5. 7:30 pm.

Colum McCann
McCann reads from his new novel Zoli, about a woman raised by Gypsies in Slovakia who becomes a poet and grapples with being a poet in a totalitarian state. "As he did for Manhattan tunnel workers in This Side of Brightness and Nureyev in Dancer, McCann vividly animates an insular culture different from our own," according to Booklist. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600. Free. 7:30 pm.

Tuesday 1/16

Charlie Huston
Huston signs No Dominion, a crime novel involving a vampire. Seattle Mystery Bookshop, 117 Cherry St, 587-5737. Free. 12 pm.

Alice Marshall
Marshall has a short story in the Best New American Voices 2007 anthology. She reads from the story—it's called "By Any Other Name"—and talks about what it's like to be best, and new, and American. University Book Store, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400. Free. 7 pm.

Mark Matthews
Matthews reads from his book Smoke Jumping on the Western Fire Line: Conscientious Objectors During World War II, about people who fought fires because they refused to kill people overseas. Huh. Sounds interesting. University Book Store (Bellevue), 990 102nd Ave NE, 425 462-4500. Free. 7 pm.

Michael Beard
The English professor from North Dakota gives a lecture called "Kiarostami's Anti-narrative Moments," about the Iranian poet and filmmaker. University of Washington Club, E. Stevens Way - UW Campus, 206.543.0437. Free. 7 pm.

David Lynch
The filmmaker David Lynch (in case you've been underground the last three decades: Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive) talks about his book Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity. What should you expect? "I watched a live internet feed of Lynch's UW Kane Hall presentation on Transcental Meditation when he was in town a year or so ago," Stranger books intern Chris Weeg says. "I love David Lynch movies, but his lecture was surprisingly tedious." Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 652-4255. $5. 7:30 pm.

Frances McCue
Richard Hugo—who flew 35 combat missions in World War II and is now battling it out in the afterlife with Theodore Roethke over who's going to go down as the Northwest's greatest poet—is the subject of Frances McCue's memoir-in-progress, entitled Chasing Richard Hugo. It's very exciting that this is in progress. Long ago and far away, McCue published a book of poetry that was quite good. Then she did some teaching. Then, for 10 years, she founded and ran the literary nonprofit Richard Hugo House. Even though she got to write as part of that job, she didn't seem to write that much. She's left that gig and doing what she should have been doing all along: writing. Hallelujah! She reads sections from her manuscript and shows a short film about going to Montana in search of Hugo. The film was made with Charles D'Ambrosio, Bill Kittredge, Annick Smith. You are advised to attend this reading/screening/return to form. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030. $10/$5 members. 7:30 pm.

Wednesday 1/17

Dana Stabenow
The mystery novelist signs A Deeper Sleep, her 15th book in the Kate Shugak series. Seattle Mystery Bookshop, 117 Cherry St, 587-5737. Free. 12 pm.

Friends of the Nib
The weekly cartoonists salon founded by Jim Woodring offers a demonstration of comic book production. Fantagraphic Bookstore and Gallery, 1201 S. Vale Street, 658-0110. Free. 6 pm.

David Hvalsa
The acting coach talks about his book An Actor Rehearses: What to Do—When & Why. Third Place Books (Lake Forest Park), 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3333. Free. 7 pm.

Dana Stabenow
Stabenow reads from A Deeper Sleep, a mystery novel set in Alaska starring an Aleut detective. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600. Free. 7:30 pm.