THURSDAY 3/23

recommended RICK STEVES
The travel writer (and pot smoker; see Nightstand, page 29) talks about Europe. Parkplace Books, 348 Parkplace Center, Kirkland, 425-828-6546, 7 pm, free.

DEBRA DEAN
The Madonnas of Leningrad is a novel set in 1941. Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3333, 7 pm, free.

MACKENZIE BEZOS
The wife of Jeff Bezos reads from her debut novel, The Testing of Luther Albright, about a dam designer and his family. Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave, 386-4636, 7 pm, free.

recommended ELIZABETH KOLBERT
Kolbert writes about all kinds of things for the New Yorker, but recently she's been doing alarming, beautifully written pieces on global warming, now collected in a book called Field Notes from a Catastrophe. There's a review of it on page 29. Meantime, here's a randomly selected quote: "In February 2003, a series of ads on the theme of inundation began appearing on Dutch TV. The ads were sponsored by the Netherlands' Ministry of Transportation, Public Works, and Water Management, and they featured a celebrity weatherman named Peter Timofeeff. In one commercial, Timofeeff, who looks a bit like Albert Brooks and a bit like Gene Shalit, sat relaxing on the shore in a folding chair. 'Sea level is rising,' he announced, as waves started creeping up the beach. He continued to sit and talk even as a boy who had been building a sand castle abandoned it in panic. At the end of the ad, Timofeeff, still seated, was immersed in water up to his waist. In another commercial, Timofeeff was shown wearing a business suit and standing by a bathtub. 'These are our rivers,' he explained, climbing into the tub and turning on the shower full blast. 'The climate is changing. It will rain more often, and more heavily.' Water filled the tub and spilled over the sides. It dripped through the floorboards, onto the head of his screeching wife below. 'We should give the water more space and widen the rivers,' he advised, calmly reaching for a towel." Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 652-4255, 7:30 pm, $5.

MICHAEL R. GORDON
The New York Times correspondent reads from Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.

CATHERINE WING
The prize-winning local poet reads from her debut collection, Enter Invisible. Ravenna Third Place Books, 6504 20th Ave NE, 525-2347, 7:30 pm, free.

DONALD MARGULIES
The playwright (God of Vengeance, Brooklyn Boy, the Pulitzer Prize–winning Dinner with Friends) gets interviewed onstage by Seattle Times theater critic Misha Berson. Benaroya Hall, Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall, 200 University St, 888-621-2230, www.nextbook.org, 7:30 pm, $8–$10.

FRIDAY 3/24

CHRISTOPHER MOORE
Dirty Job is a novel. The job in question? Reaping the souls of the dead. University Book Store, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400, 7 pm, free. (Also appearing on 3/25 at Third Place Books, 366-3333, 6:30 pm, free.)

LARRY FRENCH, MARY KAY FRENCH
They read from Youth Group Travel. Third Place Books, 366-3333, 6:30 pm, free.

LYANDA LYNN HAUPT
The author and ornithological researcher reads from her new book Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent: The Importance of Everything and Other Lessons from Darwin's Lost Notebooks. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.

SATURDAY 3/25

JOSEPH APRILE, LARRY EBERSOLE, DONNA FRISK
The three antiwar poets read. From a poem by Frisk: "And we/who have been talking/about impending war/are stunned silent/by this delightful bit of humanity/appliquéd against the rough buff/of the museum, by the duality/of red and white: red's carnage/razoring the white of peace." Epilogue Books, 2005 NW Market St, 682-1268, 6 pm, free.

MYKEL BOARD, MARK SILVERMAN, LAURA MACDONALD
Board is the author of Even a Daughter Is Better than Nothing, which is about Mongolian drinking, heavy metal, wrestling, problematic plumbing, and sex. Mark Silverman is a songwriter and comedian from San Francisco. Laura Boo MacDonald is a "renowned fag hag" who lives in Vancouver. Confounded Books, 315 E Pine St, 382-3376, 7 pm, free.

SOLVEIG TORVIK
Nikolai's Fortune is a debut novel by the Seattle P-I editor and columnist that involves Finnish women, a 500-mile journey, Nazis, and Idaho. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.

SUNDAY 3/26

RAE ARMANTROUT
Up to Speed is a collection of poems. I quote: "Does a road/run its whole length/at once?/Does a creature/curve to meet/itself?" Open Books, 2414 N 45th St, 633-0811, 3:30, free.

LESLIE MONSOUR
The Alarming Beauty of the Sky is a book of poems. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 4 pm, free.

MONDAY 3/27

SUSAN MATTHEWS
Warring States: A Jurisdiction Novel is about innocent crews, space stations, anarchy, horror, etc. University Book Store, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.

recommended EDWARD HIRSCH
Poet's Choice is a collection of the famous poet's weekly essays (about American poetry) for Washington Post Book World. It also includes more than 130 poems by poets around the world. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.

TUESDAY 3/28

MEGAN NICOLAY
Nicolay talks about Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt. Third Place Books, 366-3333, 6 pm, free.

TOURÉ, JEFF CHANG
Never Drank the Kool-Aid is Touré's book of essays (about Eminem, Lauryn Hill, Al Sharpton, dating, the '90s, etc.). Chang's Can't Stop Won't Stop is a history of hiphop. University Book Store, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.

recommended SARAH WATERS
Waters, author of Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, and Fingersmith, reads from her new novel, The Night Watch, which is number one in the UK right now. It's reviewed on page 29. Here's a passage from the book: "The room beside the bathroom was Mr. Leonard's treatment room, and Kay could hear, above the sound of the toothbrush in her own mouth and the splash of water in the basin, his passionate monotone, as he worked on the snub-nosed man with the wasted arm. When she let herself out of the bathroom and went softly past his door, the monotone grew louder. It was like the throb of some machine. 'Eric,' she caught. 'You must hmmm-hmmm. How can buzz-buzz when buzz-buzz whole again.' She stepped very stealthily down the stairs, opened the unlocked front door, and stood for a moment on the step—almost hesitating, now. The whiteness of the sky made her blink. The day seemed limp, suddenly; not fine so much as dried out, exhausted. She thought she could feel dust, settling already on her lips, her lashes, in the corners of her eyes. But she wouldn't turn back. She had, as it were, her own brushed hair to live up to; her polished shoes, her cuff-links. She went down the steps and started to walk. She stepped like a person who knew exactly where they were going, and why they were going there—though the fact was, she had nothing to do, and no one to visit, no one to see. Her day was a blank, like all of her days. She might have been inventing the ground she walked on, laboriously, with every step." Third Place Books, 366-3333, 7 pm, free. (Also appearing on 3/29 at Central Library, 386-4636, 7 pm, free.)

YITZHAK NAKASH
The religious scholar talks about Reaching for Power. According to Newsweek's foreign-affairs columnist Fareed Zakaria, "The most significant long-term shift in the Muslim world today is the rise of the Shi'a, a process that has begun in Iraq but will not end there. No one can better explain this upheaval, and what it means for the entire Arab world, than Yitzhak Nakash." Town Hall, 652-4255, 7:30 pm, $5.

WEDNESDAY 3/29

ROBERT DUGONI
The Jury Master is a legal thriller. University Book Store, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.

ROSALIND WISEMAN
Queen Bee Moms and Kingpin Dads is about how to be a relaxed parent. Third Place Books, 366-3333, 7 pm, free.

POETRY/OPEN MICS

ELLIOTT BAY OPEN MIKE NIGHT: Signup at 7, reading at 7:30 pm. Last Wednesday of the month. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, free.

HOMELAND: Words. So many words. Tuesdays at 7 pm. Caffe Vita, 1005 E Pike St, 709-4440, free.

POETSWEST: Featured readers and an open mic. Saturdays at 6 pm. Epilogue Books, 2005 NW Market St, 682-1268, free.

RED SKY POETRY THEATER: Featured readers and an open mic. Sundays at 7 pm. Globe Cafe, 1531 14th Ave, 547-4585, free.

SCRATCHING POST: Poetry open mic, all ages. Thursdays at 8 pm, signup at 7:30 pm. Mr. Spot's Chai House, 5463 Leary Ave NW, 297-2424, free.

SEATTLE POETRY SLAM: Every Tuesday at 8 pm. Mirabeau Room, 529 Queen Anne Ave N, 650-2869, $4.

STAGE FRIGHT: Youth open mic. Fourth Wednesday of every month at 7 pm. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, free.

TAKE A POEM INTO YOUR HEART: Featured readers. Fourth Friday of every month at 7 pm, signup at 6:45 pm. Bookworm Exchange, 4860 Rainier Ave, 722-6633, free.

SEATTLE SPIT: Featured readers and an open mic. First Thursday of every month at 8:30 pm. The Wild Rose, 1021 E Pike St, free.

TUESDAYS AT THE CABARET: An evening of poetry, comedy, and prose on the second Tuesday of every month. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, $5.