by Rick Levin

*ROBIN SEYFRIED, DAVID WAGONER

In iambic pentametric celebration of National Poetry Month, UW prof and distinguished poet Wagoner will be reading from and signing Walt Whitman Bathing and Travelling Light (which just won an award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association). Joining him will be his wife and co-editor at Poetry Northwest, the also poetically inclined Seyfried, who has just published her first work, Balancing Act. An artistic marriage, publishable verse, and rhythmic images of Walt Whitman's soapy butt: This should be one hot reading. University Book Store, 4325 University Way NE, 634-3400, 7:30 pm, free.

SWITCHED ON GUTENBERG: FOOD IN POETRY

What rhymes with spaghetti? Can you fit the words "liver pté," "asparagus," and "feta cheese" into a beautiful and moving haiku? Was T. S. Elliott really lactose intolerant? What else was cooking in the oven when Sylvia Plath stuck her head in there? If these are questions you frequently ask yourself, meet today in the "demo kitchen" for a reading of poetry about "food, hunger, and sustenance." Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3300, 7 pm, free.

*SARAH VOWELL

See Stranger Suggests, page 46. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, advance free tickets available at store.

JOHN LANCHESTER

The Anglophilic practice of highly selective literary grave-robbing continues unchecked. This time around, British author Lanchester chimes in (get it?) with Mr. Phillips, an end-of-the-century walk around the park à la Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. The results, according to Kirkus Review, "are as brilliantly captivating as Michael Cunningham's were in The Hours." (By the way, I recently read Mrs. Dalloway. Man, that's a great book.) Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, advance free tickets available at store.

*SARAH VOWELL

See Stranger Suggests, page 46. Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3300, 6:30 pm, free.

ROGER RAPAPORT

The editor of I Should Have Stayed Home, an anthology of terrible true-life travel stories by famous writers, will announce this year's winner of the "Travel Disaster Writing Contest" (entry deadline was April 15, sorry). University Book Store Bellevue Branch, 990 102nd Ave NE, 425-462-4500, 1 pm, free.

BILL WITHERUP

Fact: In the history of the world, every single weapon designed and manufactured by the sick of humanity has eventually been used for its intended purpose -- to kill. You think the buck stops with nuclear arms? Think again. The unfathomable psychological impact of growing up in a nuclear age is the subject of Learning to Glow: A Nuclear Reader, an anthology featuring such luminaries as Barbara Kingsolver and Terry Tempest Williams. Seattle writer Witherup will discuss this collection and read nuclear-themed poems from his forthcoming collection, Down Wind, Down River. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 4:30 pm, advance free tickets available at store.

CAITLIN MATTHEWS

Matthews' discussion, titled "Masters of the Threshold," will address the subject of "great masculine guardians of the Celtic world" -- a pantheon that includes such mythological giants as Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Dennis "D. J." Johnson. Stonehouse Bookstore & Growth Center, 12602 NE 85th St, Kirkland, 425-889-5106, 7-9 pm, free.

MICHAEL PALIN

Palin, a former cast member of the brilliantly absurd Monty Python's Flying Circus, has already weighed in with a novel based on Hemingway's legacy (the uninspiringly titled Hemingway's Chair). Now Palin's published a prequel of sorts, called Hemingway's Travels -- a "literary biography" and companion piece to a three-part PBS series inspired by his writerly pursuit of Papa's ghost. Kane Hall, UW Campus, 634-3400, 8 pm, advance free tickets available at University Book Store.

WOMEN OF COLOR BIBLE READING

Praise God, church is now in session: Three Seattle-area ministers (Reverends Hall, Josey, and Peete) discuss the recently published Women of Color Study Bible, a collection of essays by over 120 scholars, pastors, and educators focusing on "specific aspects of the King James Bible and its lessons for women of African descent today." Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 3 pm, advance free tickets available at store.

*RITAH PARRISH, KEVIN SAMPSELL, DAN RAPHAEL

The Titlewave Reading Series hosts a "Special Portland Show," which will feature Stranger writer Sampsell reading from his latest collection of short fiction, Invisible Radios: Re-mixes, Statistics, Jokes, Etc. Parrish has published two collections of short stories, Pink Menace and Trim, and event-host Raphael's 14th book of poetry, Clear to Where, is due out in November. Titlewave Fine Used Books, 7 Mercer St, 324-6379, 7:30 pm, free.

BART BAXTER

Red Sky Poetry Theatre features readings by local writers, plus open mic. Globe Cafe, 1531 14th, 633-5647, 7 pm sign-up, free.

MICHAEL PALIN

See extremely witty Saturday listing. Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3300, 4 pm, free.

LYNNE FRANKS

Plant your corn early and then come celebrate May Day with the author of The Seed Handbook. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 5 pm, advance free tickets available at store.

LESLIE MARMON SILKO

Ain't promotion a bitch? Once around for the hardcover, now Silko's back for the paperback publication of her latest novel, Gardens in the Dunes. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, advance free tickets available at store.

ZACHARY KARABELL

Karabell's book The Last Campaign: The Election of 1948 documents the end of the era of collective political integrity -- the last time an election would be dominated solely by radio and print media. After that, it was Nixon's pasty face and Reagan's cathode grin that would make or break the fate of the so-called free world. Does this seedy, moronic, televised talent show we now suffer even remotely resemble a democracy? HA! Ha. Ha. Ha. University Book Store, 4325 University Way NE, 634-3400, 7 pm, free, untelevised.

*GALYA DIMENT

"I have been following the debate lately as to Seattle's soul, whether it ever existed and, if so, when it was lost." These are the words of Diment, a professor of Slavic languages and lit at UW. As part of "Hugo Talks" -- a new monthly series in which writers will bandy about their ideas on the meaning and significance of a place called Seattle -- Diment's talk is entitled "Seattle in the '60s and '70s Through the Eyes of a Misplaced Exile." Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, 7 pm, $5 general admission/$3 upstairs pass holders.

EDNA O'BRIEN

O'Brien, the Ireland-born author who Philip Roth called "the most gifted woman now writing fiction in English," reads from her new novel, Wild December. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, advance free tickets available at store.

GREG BEAR

It takes a brave, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning sci-fi writer to pen a sequel to The Phantom Menace, a movie so outrageously bad it came off as an exercise in nihilistic, audience-directed hate and cinematic cynicism. Bear reads from and signs his novel Star Wars: Rogue Planet, a book we can only hope does away in brutal fashion with that jive-turkey extraterrestrial Jar-Jar Binks. University Book Store, 4325 University Way NE, 634-3400, 7 pm, free with interstellar passport.

JAN FAULL

The University Book Store's "Tools for Parents 2000" lecture series continues with Faull's discussion on "Siblings, Fighting, and Anger." Her latest book is entitled Unplugging Power Struggles, a sequel to her very successful Mommy! I Have to Go Potty!: A Parent's Guide to Toilet Training. This woman must be a saint! Children's Hospital Auditorium, 4800 Sand Point Way NE, 441-0191, 7 pm, call for ticket information.

MARK PLOTKIN

Ethnobotany is undoubtedly the most interesting field of study within the broad spectrum of anthropological pursuits. Plotkin reads from and signs his newest, Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature's Secrets, a monograph that searches out "ancient cures for some of our most prevalent chronic diseases." University Book Store, 4325 University Way NE, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.

CAROL WESTON

Teenage girls need all the help they can get. Weston, author of such adolescent self-help titles as Social Smarts, Girl Talk, and the brand-new Private and Personal: Questions and Answers for Girls Only, will be hanging out to talk about zits, cramps, and dumb parents. University Book Store, Children's Dept., 4325 University Way NE, 634-3400, 4:30 pm, free.

BARRETT WATTEN, ROBERT MITTENTHAL

Subtext Poetry Reading continues its monthly series with offerings by Watten (Bad History, Opera-Works) and Mittenthal (Martyr Economy, Ready Terms). The show will be preceded by a multi-media slide show called "Silent Open Mic." Alas, if only all open mics were silent open mics. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, 7:30 pm, $5 donation suggested.