SABRINA WARD HARRISON

The author of Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself, a journal about journal-writing, reads and signs. Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, 366-3320, 7 pm, free.

KARL MAIER

The keynote speaker of this World Affairs Council luncheon is the author of This House Has Fallen: Midnight in Nigeria, about the postcolonial economic and political hell of West Africa. Wazobia Restaurant, 170 S Washington, 441-5910, noon, $15 (reservations required).

JOEL RADCLIFFE

The audience is invited to bring along heirloom books; this local bookbinder and restorationist will show you how to make them last for hundreds of years. Then when some late-lunching exec trying to talk into her cell phone while carrying a latte spills it all over your frontier-family Bible printed in Ireland and re-covered in handtooled leather by your great-great-grandfather in a beaver camp on the Platte, you can stare with the utmost, vengeful fury while the exec squalls, "I'll clean it off for you!" Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main, 624-6600, 7 pm, free.

JOHN F. MCGRADY

Two guys go sailing for three years and one writes a book, Sailing the Dream, published to such acclaim on the web it is now out in book form, and he's not even reading from it, just signing it! Snore! Borders Books, 1501 Fourth Ave, 622-4599, 1 pm, free.

*ZINE ARCHIVE PROJECT

One of Richard Hugo House's most worthy projects has been to amass a huge zine library. Some of the stars of the stacks take the stage tonight, including Peter Bagge, Blair Wilson, Randy Wood, Dan Halligan, Melanie Renecker, Hellary Homosex, and Chris Estey. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, 6 pm, $3.

JAYNE ANN KRENTZ

The contemporary bestselling romantic suspense author (who also writes futuristic fantasy romances as Jayne Castle, and historical romances as Amanda Quick) will give a talk "in the Fireside Room at the foot of the escalator." The Lake Forest Park Library is co-sponsoring this, instead of trying to get people to read something that won't turn their brains to mush. I have to buy my porn. Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, 366-3320, 7 pm, free.

*AMY BLOOM

The author of Come to Me and Love Invents Us tours in support of her new short fiction collection, A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free tickets available at store.

PAUL MCELROY

McElroy, an editor at the Seattle P-I, will read from his novel Tracon, which Randy Schmitz of the National Air Traffic Control Association called, "the most authentic book ever" about air traffic control. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main, 624-6600, 3 pm, free tickets available at store.

EDWARD HARKNESS

The author of the poetry chapbooks Long Eye, Lost Wind Forgive Me, Fiddle Wrapped in a Gunnysack, and Watercolor Painting of a Bamboo Rake has a new full-length collection from Bainbridge Island's Pleasure Boat Studio, titled Saying the Necessary. Elliott Bay Book Company 101 S Main, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free tickets available at store.

SUZANNE ROBERTS

Advice for taking care of aging parents; Coping in New Territory. Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, 366-3320, 12:30 pm, free.

*DANIEL ASA ROSE

Rose and his two sons traced his mother's cousin's escape route from the Nazis--kind of a stretch, but probably pretty intense anyway--and Rose wrote Hiding Places: A Father and His Sons Retrace Their Family's Escape from the Holocaust. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main, 624-6600, 2 pm, free tickets available at store.

*MARGARET ATWOOD

The author of Cat's Eye, Surfacing, and the bestselling The Handmaid's Tale reads from a new novel, The Blind Assassin. Atwood blends a fierce feminist political intelligence with a deep and sympathetic instinct for storytelling. This event is a benefit for Copper Canyon Press of Port Townsend. First United Methodist Church, Fifth and Marion, 7:30 pm, $10 (tickets available from Elliott Bay Book Company).

ALLEN NOREN

One more "couple on a long trip" book, Storm: A Motorcycle Journey of Love, Endurance, and Transformation, tells about Allen and romantic partner Suzanne's ride around the Baltic Sea in 1993. Doesn't anybody just take a bunch of slides anymore? See Bio Box. Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, 366-3320, 7 pm, free.

TERRY BROOKS

The continuation of the series the Talisman of Shannara, The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara: Ilse Witch, brings back Walter Boh and his neverending search for ancient talismans. What is this shit? Kane Hall, UW Campus, Room 220, 7 pm, free tickets available at University Bookstore.

HEIDI JULAVITS

The author of The Mineral Palace reads from this acclaimed fiction debut. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free tickets available at store.

*COLETTE DOWLING

Physiologist Dowling will read from The Frailty Myth: Women Approaching Physical Equality, which applies new scientific information to challenging the veracity of the "strength gap" between the sexes. This is good news for everyone. University Bookstore, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.

VAL MCDERMID

Mystery writer reads from A Place of Execution, which the Times Literary Supplement calls, "immensely engrossing." Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, 366-3320, 7 pm, free.

*WILLIAM T. VOLLMANN

The first unmissable literary event here since the '98 double-whammy of Adrienne Rich and Don DeLillo. See Stranger Suggests. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free tickets available at store.