by Rick Levin

MICHAEL DANKO

Seattle attorney Michael Danko has seen the best minds of his generation poked, prodded with billy clubs, and peppered hysterical with the bleary dynamo of hissing tear gas canisters. After his successful recent defense of several WTO protesters, Danko now takes a moment to perform his interpretation of the late Allen Ginsberg's epic poem, Howl. Dutch Ned's Saloon, 206 First Ave, 340-8859, 7 pm, free.

JUDY DOENGES, CHRIS FORHAN, THOMAS ORTON

Three local writers will read from their debut works (two of which, Doenges' "What She Left Me" and Forhan's "Forgive Us Our Happiness," won the Bakeless Prize in fiction and poetry, respectively). They will also talk about the trials and tribulations of finding a publisher. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, 7:30 pm, free. See Bio Box.

WAYNE KARLIN

The superb author Tim O'Brien, who knows a thing or two himself about America's foreign policy quagmire in Saigon, called Karlin "one of the most gifted writers to emerge from the Vietnam War." Karlin will be reading from his latest novel, Prisoners, "an emotional story involving a Vietnamese American teenager and three Vietnam vets." Borders, 1501 Fourth Ave, 622-4599, 6 pm, free.

*MATTHEW STADLER

Stranger writer and all-around super guy Matthew Stadler reads from and signs Allen Stein. Parrington Hall, UW Campus, 634-3400, 7:30 pm, free.

MARGARET READ McDONALD

McDonald is a children's librarian for the Bothell branch of the King County Library System. Her kid's book, Earthcare: World Folk Tales, scours the globe for traditional lore that points to the cross-cultural one-ness and interconnectedness of all things, great and small. Listen up, parents: If this generation of TV-hypnotized children doesn't learn to respect the sanctity and diversity of the planet, we're all doomed. Hooray for Ms. McDonald! Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3300, 6:30 pm, free.

*YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA

As part of Hugo House's series "After War: The Long Road Home" -- a four-day public event acknowledging the lingering impact of the Vietnam War -- Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Komunyakka (a former war-zone correspondent and Bronze Star recipient) will read from Dien Cai Dau, a volume of poems about the war. Dien Cai Dau translates, appropriately enough, as "crazy." Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 322-7030, 7:30 pm, $10, $8 members and war veterans.

CRAIG CHILDS

About three-quarters of this big, blue planet is covered with water -- miles and miles of lakes and oceans and streams, deep and wide and obvious -- and so this guy goes looking for it in the only place it ain't: the desert. Talk about a go-getter! Childs' book The Secret Knowledge of Water: Discovering the Essence of the American Desert, was described in Publishers Weekly as a personal odyssey that is at once spiritual and scientific, part Barry Lopez and part John McPhee. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, advance, free tickets available at store.

MICHAEL SPENCE & DAVID D. HOROWITZ

Reading by Rose Alley Press poets. Island Books, 3014 78th SE, Mercer Island, 232-6920, 7:30 pm, free.

GORDON MILLER

Kermit was right: It ain't easy being green, as is evidenced by the slow, steady, heart-breaking extinction of the world's diverse population of frogs. As everyone's been saying for years, when these little amphibious barometers of ecological devastation start showing up with eyes where their assholes should be, the apocalypse is truly nigh. Even Miller's book sounds like an elegy for this late, not-so-great, and soon to be frogless planet: Nature's Fading Chorus: Classic and Contemporary Writings on Amphibians. Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3300, 2 pm, free.

ANTHONY ARNOVE & SHARON SMITH

Edited by Arnove, Iraq under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War is a compilation of critical writings on the cruel and usual inhumanity of U.S. foreign policy toward the losing side of Bush's spectacularly senseless Gulf War. Of this collection, Edward Said wrote: "This remarkable book is an invaluable documentation of the tragedy in Iraq, and deserves reading by every citizen interested in the appalling reality of U.S. and U.K. foreign policy." Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, advance, free tickets available at store.

ELLEN GILCHRIST

Gilchrist, a writer the Miami Herald called "funny, forgiving and lyric," will be reading from her newest collection, The Cabal and Other Stories. The title novella is an ironic tale about a prominent psychiatrist in Jackson, Mississippi who suddenly goes nuts and starts spilling the beans on all his patients' deep, dark secrets. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, advance, free tickets available at store.

KIM BARNES

In the Wilderness, Barnes' first book, won the PEN/Jerard Fund Award, and was also a finalist for the 1997 Pulitzer Prize. Her newest spiritual offering, Hungry for the World, is a memoir detailing the long, painful process of one woman's putting the pieces back together after life has exploded in her face. University Book Store, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.

RIGOBERTO GONZALEZ

Gonzalez's debut collection of poetry, the fantastically titled So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water until It Breaks, was a 1999 National Poetry Series selection. Sandra McPherson wrote that Gonzalez's poems "shock me and they regale with the charming particulars of death and constant loss." Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, advance, free tickets available at store.

MARY PIPHER, Ph.D.

This reading, by the author of the popular Reviving Ophelia, is part of a "Tools for Parents 2000" lecture series, which is co-sponsored by University Book Store. Poor parents -- they certainly have their work cut out for them. Pipher contends that "modern culture, instead of working to support families, splits them apart." Every single episode of The Simpsons perfectly supports this brilliant and provocative thesis. Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 441-0191, 7:30 pm, call for single-event tickets.

CARINTHY HIM

When Broken Glass Floats: Growing up under the Khmer Rouge is Him's harrowing account of the horrors suffered during the genocidal campaign waged on the people of Cambodia by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. Publishers Weekly said: "This beautifully told story is an important addition to the literature of this period." Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7 pm, free, first come, first served.

TIM MOXLEY

The editor of The Human Zoo: A Death Row Poetry Collection reads from and signs this compendium of poems penned by inmates sitting in the "deep end of the tunnel" that is death row. University Book Store, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.

*TRISHA READY

See Stranger Suggests, pgae 37. The Little Theatre, 608 19th Ave E, 323-3420, 7:30 pm, $5 requested donation, $2 w/donation of a meaningful or useful book (no pulp trash, please).