CAROLINE ALEXANDER
After a lag of, oh, about 90 years, this whole Shackleton expedition has really blown up--a movie, an exhibit at the Burke Museum, and now another book: The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. Alexander was the curator of the Shackleton exhibit at New York's American Museum of Natural History. Meany Hall, UW Campus, 634-3400, 7 pm, $5 (tickets available at University Bookstore).
ROBERT BALLARD
More historical disaster and panic, in the form of rare photographs by the underwater explorer Robert Ballard, in Graveyards of the Pacific, which evidences the Pacific War battles. University Bookstore, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.
RACHEL SEIFFERT & ANNIE WANG
A pairing of debut novelists that highlights each writers' interest in international political history. Seiffert's The Dark Room is set in Germany, and explores, through three characters from three different generations, that country's relationship with war and its aftermath. Ursula Hegi calls it "outstanding." Wang, born in Beijing, presents her first English language novel, Lili: A Novel of Tiananmen. Elliott Bay Books, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free advance tickets.
WENDY KOPP
Is it just me, or have nonfiction book titles grown to unwieldy lengths? Tonight, the creator of the admirable Teach for America organization talks about her mumbly-jumbly titled memoir, One Day All Children: The Unlikely Triumph of Teach for America and What I Learned Along the Way. Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.
* DAVID McCULLOUGH
Ah, short titled biography! Succintly: the Pultizer Prize-winning historian and two-time National Book Award-winner reads from his new study of our second president, John Adams. Town Hall, 7 pm, free advance tickets at University Bookstore.
* GERRY SPENCE
Although Powell's Bookstore employee (and Stranger writer) Kevin Sampsell published a piece on McSweeney's Internet Tendency joking (I think) that during a reading at Powell's, "leather jacket-wearing lawyer Gerry Spence acted drunk and (allegedly) groped a female employee at our store," Elliott Bay is happy to welcome the lawyer/groper with his reportedly fantastic first novel, a thriller titled Half-Moon and Empty Stars. Note mid-day reading time. Elliott Bay Books, 12:15 pm, free advance tickets.
ANA MENENDEZ
A lovely and literary debut collection of linked short stories, Menendez's In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd, is being critically compared to Lorrie Moore and Eugene O'Neill--comparisons that jump the gun by more than a little, I think. But still, a talented debut that explores the fertile Miami/Cuba connection is reason to jump something. Elliott Bay Books, 7:30 pm, free advance tickets.
* PUSH ANNIVERSARY PARTY
Seattle's boundary-pushing alternative dyke/genderqueer magazine parties into its second year with a reading by contributors, an erotic art show, food and wine, and "a special surprise"! Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, 7 pm, $3-$10.
* JEAN KILBOURNE
The rockin' media critic who wrote Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel lectures to benefit Reel Grrls. See Stranger Suggests. D.A.R. Hall, 800 E Roy, 682-6552, 7 pm, $15.
* DAVID SEDARIS
Funny man reads from and signs Me Talk Pretty One Day. See Stranger Suggests. University Bookstore, noon, free; Bailey/Coy Books, 414 Broadway E, 323-8842, 3 pm, free.
HAMPTON SIDES
Yet more true horror: an account of the rescue of 500 POWs who survived the Bataan Death March--Ghost Soldiers: The Forgotten Epic Story of World War II's Most Dramatic Mission. University Bookstore, 4 pm, free.
DAVID McCULLOUGH
See Friday listing. Elliott Bay Books, 4 pm, free advance tickets.
TOM CRAWFORD
A quiet Saturday evening full of Buddhist yearning, old cars, and the namelessness of nature: Portland's Crawford reads from his new poetry collection, titled The Temple on Monday. Elliott Bay Books, 7:30 pm, free advance tickets.
PATSY CLARKE & ELOISE VAUGHN
The two bad-ass grandmothers who founded Mothers Against Jesse Helms In Congress (MAJIC) talk about their new book, co-written (and co-long-titled--am I bitter?) with Seattle Times' Nicole Brodeur, Keep Singing: Two Mothers, Two Sons, and Their Fight Against Jesse Helms. Elliott Bay Books, 2 pm, free advance tickets.
* DAVID SEDARIS
See Stranger Suggests. Elliott Bay Books, 5:30 pm, free advance tickets.
* DAVID HAJDU
Hadju's biography of Billy Stayhorn, Lush Life, was a great read; tonight, Hajdu presents Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña, and (oh, my aching wrists) Richard Fariña, a chronicle of the remarkably fertile 1960s folk rock era. Elliott Bay Books, 7:30 pm, free advance tickets.
THISBE NISSEN
Meanwhile, upstairs, snappy dialogue writer Thisbe Nissen reads from her first novel, The Good People of New York, set in New York in the '70s and '80s. Elliott Bay Books, 7:30 pm, free advance tickets.
SAM LIGHTNER JR.
Would you not give a book advance to this premise? With a map labeled "all elevations unknown," a rumor based on a 1944 attempt by a British soldier, Lightner sets off to climb an unknown mountain. He tells his story in All Elevations Unknown: An Adventure in the Heart of Borneo. Walker Ames Room, Kane Hall, UW Campus, 634-3400, 7 pm, free advance tickets at University Bookstore.
ELIZABETH BERG
Berg's last book was an Oprah pick, and her newest, Never Change, continues the vein of reassuring and self-deprecating female narrator striking gamely out through an unhappy world. University Bookstore, 7 pm, free.
* OCTAVIA E. BUTLER
A summer of Clarion West readings begins tonight with Butler, the only science fiction writer to ever win a MacArthur genius grant, and Nebula Award-winner for Parable of the Talents. Elliott Bay Books, 7:30 pm, $4.
* DAVID HAJDU
See Monday listing. University Bookstore, 7 pm, free.
* TED CONOVER
Here's a man who believes in his art. As a journalist, Conover's attempts to get into New York's maximum security prison, Sing Sing, were unsuccessful--so he applied to be a prison guard. What he finds inside is both predictable and completely shocking. His stories about both the guards and the prisoners are told in the remarkably clear-eyed Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing. Kane Hall, Room 220, UW Campus, 634-3400, 7 pm, free advance tickets at University Bookstore.
* MYLA GOLDBERG
Bee Season was a sneak bookstore bestseller, recommended by word of mouth, which should immediately endear a novel. The story of an unusually gifted young woman whose knack for spelling carries her through family tumult, this now-in-paperback charmer should ride a new wave of summer popularity with the author's visit. University Bookstore, 7 pm, free.
MARY TRAVERS, JOE REINER, GITANA GAROFALO, NASSIM ASSEFI
Four local writers read as "The Outhouse Rats." There will also be music by the Rick Countryman Group and "a display of sexy aprons by Melea." It sounds like fun, but that's all I know. I'm guessing it starts at 7:00 p.m. and that it's free, but bring your pocket change anyway. Richard Hugo House, 7 pm, free.
PETER NICHOLS
Only one of the nine competing men would survive the sailing race. Peter Nichols tells this gripping yarn in A Voyage for Madmen. Elliott Bay Books, 7:30 pm, free advance tickets.
JENNIFER G. ACKERMAN
Ackerman, a science writer, writes--while pregnant with her first child--about the changing field of heredity, in Chance in the House of Fate: A Natural History of Heredity. Ow. Okay, that's it--where's my arm brace? Kane Hall, Room 210, UW Campus, 634-3400, 7 pm, free advance tickets at University Bookstore.
POETRY/SPOKEN WORD OPEN MICS
CATHARTICISM--Wed at 9. Coffee Messiah, 1554 E Olive Way, 861-8233, free.
EAST INDIA TRADING COMPANY--Mon at 7. Coffee Messiah, free.
HOMELAND--Tues at 8. Globe Cafe, 1531 14th Ave, 324-8815, donation.
NW POETRY SLAM--Every other Fri (6/8, 6/22...) at 7. Cafe Allegro, 4002 University Way NE, 634-2310, free.
POETRY RELEASE--Sun at 6. Contour, 807 First Ave, 447-7704, free.
POETS WEST--Sun June 17 only, 7 pm. With featured poet Douglas J. Anderson. Wit's End Bookstore & Tea Shop, 770 N 34th St, 682-1268, free.
REBIRTH--Thurs at 7. Zodiac Coffee, 607 Broadway E, 720-4502, free.
RED SKY POETRY THEATER--Sun at 7:30. Featured reader for 6/17: Ted Mahon. Globe Cafe, donation.
SEATTLE POETRY SLAM--Wed at 8 (21+). Sit & Spin, 2219 Fourth Ave, 441-9484, $3.
STAGE FRIGHT--Every second and fourth Wed at 7; writers ages 14-24 only. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, free.
YAWP!--Tues at 8. The Pearl, 4215 University Way NE, 547-3326, $3.
