THURSDAY 2/20
ROBERT CRAIS
The best-selling author of Hostage reads from and signs The Last Detective, his latest Elvis Cole mystery. Seattle Mystery Bookshop, 117 Cherry St, 587-5337, noon, free. Also, University Bookstore, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.
SAM GREEN
Seattle University instructor Green reads from his latest poetry collection, The Only Time We Have. Open Books: A Poem Emporium, 2414 N 45th St, 633-0811, 7:30 pm, free.
* WALTER MOSLEY
Once celebrated as Bill Clinton’s favorite writer, Mosley launched the blues detective fiction form into the mainstream. Tonight he takes a sharp turn toward the self-possessed with What Next: An African American Initiative Toward World Peace. Langston Hughes Cultural Arts Center, 104 17th Ave S, 323-4032, 7 pm, $7-$10.
MATT RUFF
Seattle author Ruff (Fool on the Hill) gets all schizo with his latest, a love story of “self-discovery,” in which two people and their army of personalities come together in an explosive… something. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
FRIDAY 2/21
* BOGDAN CZAYKOWSKI
An authority on Poland’s rich tradition of poetics, Czaykowski unites the disparate factions in a talk titled “Czeslaw Milosz and the So-called Polish School of Poetry.” University of Washington, Husky Union Building, room 106B, 543-6848, 7 pm, free.
MARK DOTY
Celebrated poet and author Doty (Source, Sweet Machine, Heaven’s Coast) joins the ranks of Cornish’s Engaged Artist series with “The Poet’s Voice,” a reading and discussion about the importance of community to the artist. Cornish College of the Arts, PONCHO Concert Hall, 710 East Roy St, 325-6500, 8 pm, $5-$10.
LANI GUINIER
Proposing a dramatic restructuring of racial politics in America, Harvard law professor Guinier presents The Miner’s Canary, a complex and academic suggestion of reorganization for social and democratic change. University of Washington, Condon Hall, 1100 NE Campus Parkway, 685-9115, 2 pm, free.
LAURIE LEWIS
Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Laurie Lewis yelps, hollers, and signs copies of Earth & Sky, her newly published songbook. Zeitgeist, 171 S Jackson St, 728-1966, 7 pm, free.
RICK MARIN
Because there’s nothing more interesting than listening to some asshole recount his sexual exploits: Marin signs Cad, his memoir of bachelorhood. Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3333, 6:30 pm, free.
SATURDAY 2/22
MAURIS L. EMEKA
I’m fairly certain I will die of cancer. It doesn’t exactly run in my family, nor do I have any moving evidence of predisposition or susceptibility–I just know it. ‘Cuz nobody expects the cancer. With Emeka’s help, however, I’ll overcome my hypochondria in the pages of Fear Cancer No More. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 4 pm, free.
* AFRICAN AMERICAN WRITERS ALLIANCE
A group reading featuring members of the Seattle Alliance, which offers writing groups and readings for fiction writers, poets, nonfiction writers, and playwrights. My boss and books editor, Charles Mudede, got his start with this organization way back in the early ’90s–and if that ain’t testament to its quality, I don’t know what is. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7 pm, free.
SUNDAY 2/23
* MATT BRIGGS, CORRINA WYCOFF, MICHAEL SANCHEZ
Briggs is that rare thing: a writer with the ability to convey fully formed characters in the midst of an epic landscape, all with an effortless grace of language. Here tonight with award-winning short fiction author Wycoff and OPOPNAX magazine editor Michael Sanchez. Titlewave Books, 7 Mercer St, 282-7687, 7:30 pm, free.
SAPHRON
Seattle-based poet Saphron (note the diva potential of that name) reads some dirty couplets from her latest Afrocentric collection, A Chocolate Taste. Toys in Babeland, 707 E Pike St, 328-2914, 7:30 pm, free.
MONDAY 2/24
GILBERT ACHCAR
Chomsky-recommended! It must be good. Achcar maps the sources of the United States’ conflict with Saudi Arabia in The Clash of Barbarisms. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
MAYA ANGELOU
The world’s only living poet–and she’s friends with Oprah! Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St, 728-4121, 7:30 pm, $20-$60.
ELIZABETH BUCHAN
I don’t think I’ve ever been able to appreciate works whose praise can comfortably shoulder adjectives like “zesty,” but who knows? Maybe British author Buchan’s unfortunately titled The Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman will upturn my preconceptions. Maybe. Zeitgeist, 171 S Jackson St, 728-1966, 7 pm, free.
BETSY LERNER
Overeating insights by The Forest for the Trees author Lerner, in a memoir of fat and food titled Food and Loathing: A Lament. Third Place Books, 366-3333, 7 pm, free. Also, Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, Tues Feb 25 at 7:30 pm, free.
* C. D. WRIGHT
I’m having a personal crisis here. As phase two of this year’s Seattle Arts and Lectures four-part poetry series, Wright’s reading has again sent me into an uncomfortable spiral of self-doubt–could it be that I actually like poetry? I mean, James Tate’s was good, and now Wright’s–god, what does this mean?!?! ACT, 700 Union St, 292-7676, 7:30 pm, $14.
TUESDAY 2/25
* SUSIE BRIGHT
A prominent perv-eyor of classy, thoughtful smut, Bright celebrates 10 years as the editor of the annual Best American Erotica collection. Toys in Babeland, 328-2914, 7:30 pm, free.
* REBECCA BROWN, LESLEY HAZLETON, ROBERT CORBETT
Brown, Hazleton, and Corbett will read from work soon to be published in the Seattle Research Institute’s Public Text 0.2, Experimental Theology, due out in early April. This is why they are holding the reading on this specific day: “We assert that the midpoint between St. Valentine’s Day (the most pagan Christian holiday) and Lent (the most ascetic) should be observed. This midpoint, between the celebration of desire and its repression, seems a particularly appropriate one in these times of decadence and renewed Puritanism.” For more information about SRI check out their website, seattleresearchinstitute.org. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, 7 pm, $3.
DUFF WILSON
The Seattle Times‘ crackerjack investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist Duff Wilson squeezes a little more blood from his first book, Fateful Harvest: The True Story of a Small Town, a Global Industry, and a Toxic Secret. Third Place Books, 366-3333, 7 pm, free.
WEDNESDAY 2/26
MARIAN NESTLE
In Food Politics, a “provocative work [that] will cause quite a stir in food industry circles,” Nestle calls out the corporate powers that manipulate the most underappreciated faction of the government ogre, U.S. “food policy.” Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 5 pm, free.
CARTER SCHOLZ
Radiance author Scholz returns with his latest collection of stories, the recently released The Amount to Carry. Zeitgeist, 728-1966, 7 pm, free.
* STAGGERED THIRDS
A show of mouths, tongues, and chords, with An Exaltation of Larks (Amy Denio, Ivory Smith, and Eryn Young) performing a cappella vocal improv (SCAT!), and Staggered Thirds (Gregory Hischak, Anna Mockler, and Doug Nufer) doing whatever it is that they do so well. Polestar Gallery, 1412 18th Ave, 329-4224, 8 pm, $7.
POETRY/OPEN MICS
POETSWEST–Featuring Sondra Ashton, Jill McGrath, and Sharon Svendsen. Sun Feb 23 at 7 pm. Penny Cafe, 1707 NW Market St, 682-1268, free. Also at Third Place Books, 6504 20th Ave NE, 682-1268. Featuring John Akins, Carrington MacDuffie, Philip Randolph, and others. Mon Feb 24 at 7 pm, free.
RED SKY POETRY THEATRE–Featuring Charlie Burks and Elliott Bronstein. Sun Feb 23 at 7 pm. Globe Cafe, 1531 14th Ave, 547-4585, free.
STAGEFRIGHT–All ages open mic. Wed Feb 26 at 7 pm. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, free.
TAKE A POEM INTO YOUR HEART–Featuring Aaron Silverberg and Cathy Ruiz. Thurs Feb 20 at 7 pm. Lottie Motts, 4900 Rainier Ave S, 725-8199, free.
WORDS AND ART FROM THE HEART–Featuring Laurie Christenson, Greggory Johnson, Erynn Rowan Laurie. Tues Feb 25 at 7 pm. Otis Cafe, 1005 Boren Ave, 342-9866, free.