JIM LEMONDS

Chop. Chop. Chop. Chop. TIMBER! Reading and signing by the author of Deadfall: Generations of Logging in the Pacific Northwest. "Loggers have been both glorified and villainized in Pacific Northwest literature," writes Robert Michael Pyle, "and neither extreme rings true. [Lemonds'] Deadfall, in contrast, is a clear-eyed classic: an objective book that captures the true pride and pain of working in the woods and the mixed emotions loggers have about the recent eclipse of their dangerous industry." University Bookstore, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.

*REBECCA WALKER

See Stranger Suggests. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free tickets (required) available free at store.

MIKE O'CONNOR

O'Connor is a Port Townsend-based poet who also selflessly, expertly translates ancient Chinese verse. His latest work of translation--the bilingual collection When I Find You Again It Will Be in Mountains: Selected Poems of Chia Tao--has been praised by Burton Watson as "accurate and eminently readable," while Sam Hamill calls these renderings both "precise" and "elegant." As for the work of the poet Chia Tao himself, Hamill refers to him as "a true master of the lu-shih, or modern poem written in the plain style." Elliott Bay Book Company, 7:30 pm, tickets require (available free at store).

LAURA SIMMS, VI HILBERT

Simms, a faculty member at Naropa Institute, was hailed by The New York Times as "a major force in the renaissance of storytelling in America"; Hilbert is an Upper Skagit elder and acclaimed storyteller who was named a Washington State Living Treasure in 1988 (imagine that!). Together, these two masters of the narrative art will explore the healing potential contained in the sublime act of spinning a good, old-fashioned yarn. Bastyr University Chapel, 14500 Juanita Drive NE, Kenmore, 425-602-3272, noon, $5.

*THANE MAYNARD

Maynard, whose "90-Second Naturalist" broadcasts have featured regularly on NPR, formerly served as the director of education at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. He is now director of the Puget Sound Environmental Learning Center, a 255-acre facility due to open on Bainbridge Island in the fall of 2001. Maynard's new book, Working With Wildlife: A Guide to Careers in the Animal World, is a sort of training manual for anyone interested in working with God's creatures, big and small, and is full of interviews with myriad professionals in the wonderful field of animal care and understanding. Elliott Bay Book Company, 7:30 pm, tickets required (available free at store).

JOHN DEWITZ

Book-signing by the Oregon-based author of Wrath, a thriller set in the Cascade mountain range. Seattle Mystery Bookshop, 117 Cherry St, 587-5737, noon, free.

JIM LEMONDS

See Thursday listing. Elliott Bay Book Company, 4 pm, tickets required (available free at store).

DANIKA DINSMORE

Dinsmore is the featured reader at this installment of Red Sky Poetry Theatre, followed by an open mic. Globe Cafe, 1531 14th Ave, 633-5647, 7:30 pm (sign up begins at 7 pm), free.

THREE POETS & AN OPEN MIC

This evening of presentations by Tacoma-based poets will feature readings by Martin Blackman, Alan Braden, Jean Musser, and Connie Walle. Michael Magee will host. Wit's End Bookstore & Tea Shop, 770 N 34th St, 682-1268, 7 pm, free.

PAUL ROGAT LOEB, VICKI ROBIN, & FRIENDS

Marianne Williamson invited all kinds of activists and academics to contribute essays on the subject of their hopes for America in the 21st century, and the result is Imagine: What America Could Be in the 21st Century, a collection of writings about politics and American society by such luminaries as bell hooks, Anne Lamott, Deepak Chopra, and Thomas Moore. (I, of course, wasn't invited to contribute. I'm far too cynical and depressed to have any hopes about this sad, miserable country of ours). Tonight's event will feature readings by two local contributors to Imagine: Loeb is the author of the wonderful book Soul of a Citizen, and Robin is the author of Your Money or Your Life. Elliott Bay Book Company, 7:30 pm, tickets required (available free at store).

EDWARD HARKNESS

Reading and signing by the author of Saying the Necessary, a new collection of poetry. University Bookstore, 7 pm, free.

*SHELBY SCATES

As a reporter, it seems that Scates has been everywhere, in the right place at the right time: Little Rock during the early days of the civil rights movement, in Israel during the Six-Day War, in Cambodia during guerrilla fighting against the Vietnamese army, in D.C. when Lyndon Johnson occupied the Oval Office. Tonight he will read from and sign War and Politics by Other Means: A Journalist's Memoir, his new book about being in all those right places at the right times (journalistically speaking). Tacoma Public Library, 1102 Tacoma Ave S, 253-272-8080, 7 pm, free.

*CHARLES JOHNSON

Johnson--a National Book Award-winning novelist (Middle Passage, Dreamer) who teaches writing at the University of Washington--will read from his latest work of non-fiction, King: The Photobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. "How soon we forget that King was not only a civil rights activist," says Johnson, "but also this country's preeminent moral philosopher, a spiritual aspirant, a father and husband, and that these diverse roles... were the foundations for his singular "dream" that inspired millions worldwide." Elliott Bay Book Company, 7:30 pm, free.

MARK W. OBERLE

Oberle will show slides, read from and sign his new book, Puerto Rico's Birds in Photographs. University Bookstore, 7pm, free.

*MORRIS DEES

Dees is a civil rights attorney and co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit organization that takes on lawsuits involving civil rights violations and racially motivated crimes. Tonight he will be speaking on the subject of "Responding to Hate: Voices of Hope and Tolerance" as part of the John Danz Lecture Series. Dees will also be signing copies of his new book, Gathering Storm: America's Militia Threat. Kane Hall, UW Campus, 616-1925, 7 pm, free.

SCOTT PHILLIPS

Book-signing by the author of The Ice Harvest, a thriller that has been named a NY Times Notable Book of the Year. Seattle Mystery Bookshop, noon, free.

*THE MOVIE GENERATION LECTURE SERIES

Jon Bridgman, UW professor emeritus of history, delivers the third in a series of six lectures about cinema and American society. Tonight's theme is "The Roaring Twenties." Kane Hall, 543-0540, 7 pm, $12/$10 UW Alumni Association members & students (series passes also available).

*KIM KLEIN

Presentation by the author of Fundraising for Social Change, a book that is called by Ray Santiago of the Seva Foundation "a must for anyone involved in fundraising--from the smallest community-based group to regional and national organizations." Elliott Bay Book Company, 5 pm, tickets required (available free at store).

RICHARD SCHMITT

Schmitt's debut novel, The Aerialist, is praised by Bret Lott as a "haunting, strange, wonderfully comic, and deeply moving book," while Andrea Barrett says it is "full of heat and heart... a great pleasure to read." Elliott Bay Book Company, 7:30 pm, tickets required (available free at store).

VINCE LOMBARDI, JR.

Discussion and book-signing by the intensely-motivated son of the great Green Bay Packers coach and author of the new book, What It Takes to Be #1: Vince Lombardi on Leadership. University Bookstore, 7 pm, free.