* IVAN DOIG
Mr. Western is the second speaker in the UW History Department-sponsored series, "A Sense of Where We Are," and as a nod to the honor he gives a reading from his new novel, a work in progress. Savery Hall 239, UW Campus, 634-3400, 2 pm, free.
LAURA SWAN
Swan, who is prioress of St. Placid Priory, a women's Benedictine monastic order in Lacey, Washington, collects The Forgotten Desert Mothers: Sayings, Lives and Stories of Early Christian Women. Elliott Bay Books, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free advance tickets.
COL. ROBERT MORGAN
The famous WWII bomber pilot of the Memphis Belle signs his new book, The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle. Um, I think it's a memoir. Museum of Flight, 9404 E Marginal Way S, 764-5700, 7 pm, free.
MICHAEL PARKER
Parker's sequel to the well-received Hello Down There is Towns Without Rivers, in which dirt-poor siblings Reka and Randall leave the family shack and never look back. Library Journal says it has "tons of plot." It ends in Seattle, here, tonight. Elliott Bay Books, 7:30 pm, free advance tickets.
SHARON ROBINSON
In celebration of All-Star Weekend, Elliott Bay hosts Jackie Robinson's daughter, reading from her book, Jackie's Nine: Jackie Robinson's Values to Live By, in which nine hard-won lessons from Jackie Robinson's life apply to your own. University Bookstore, Husky Shop, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.
SATURDAY 7/7
SHARON ROBINSON
See Friday listing. Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park Towne Centre, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3333, noon, free; then, Elliott Bay Books, 3 pm, free advance tickets.
GALE ZOE GARNETT
A more frank Lolita, Garnett's teenage Roanne inhabits a debut novel, Visible Amazement, that is being called witty, vibrant, frightening, authentic. After Roanne discovers the professor she's been sleeping with is also boinking her mother, she decides to run away, and she travels along the Pacific Coast encountering strange characters. Elliott Bay Books, 7:30 pm, free advance tickets.
MICHAEL PARKER
See Friday listing. Third Place Books, 6 pm, free.
JIM CURRIE
A Buddhist-inspired travel guide, Currie's The Mindful Traveler: A Guide to Journaling and Transformative Travel is, well, pretty much self-explanatory. Elliott Bay Books, 3 pm, free advance tickets.
JIM BOUTON
Bouton reads from his deeply American account of '70s-era major league baseball, Ball Four: The Final Pitch. Elliott Bay Books, 3 pm, free advance tickets.
RIDLEY PEARSON
Popular thriller writer Pearson makes his annual visit to Seattle to read for the paperback release of Middle of Nowhere and the hardcover release of his newest, Parallel Lies. How exhausting it must be to be so productive! Elliott Bay Books, 7:30 pm, free advance tickets.
* SARAH BIRD
Bird's novel The Yokota Officers Club is a dead-on depiction of the life of an overseas military family, complete with surreal cultural dissonance and melancholic displacement, narrated by resourceful wiseacre Bernadette "Bernie" Root. Third Place Books, 7 pm, free.
J. RICHARD GOTT
As part of Houghton Mifflin's Literature in Science Series, the renowned astrophysicist discusses the reality of time travel, reading from and signing his book, Time Travel in Einstein's Universe: The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time. University Bookstore, 7 pm, free.
* CHUCK KLOSTERMAN
Klosterman's account of heavy metal rock culture in North Dakota, Fargo Rock City, is an eminently readable and hilarious slice of Americana. The Stranger's Hannah Levin says, "Chuck Klosterman's explorations of the Crue's yelling match with Satan (and other ponderations such as 'Why is the use of keyboards the Roe V. Wade of heavy metal?' and 'What are the parallels between GNR Lies and the four Gospels?') are more worthwhile than you might think, and just as pee-in-your-spandex-pants-funny as you would hope." See Bio Box. Elliott Bay Books, 7 pm, free advance tickets.
* CONNIE WILLIS
With more sci-fi awards in her kitchen cabinet than any other author, Willis, author of Passage, promises a world-class reading tonight, sponsored by the local sci-fi writers organization Clarion West. Passage explores death, and is kind of like a literate Flatliners, but with an unexpected ending. Elliott Bay Books, 7:30 pm, free advance tickets.
* STEVE KUUSISTO & REBECCA WEE
Two Copper Canyon poets read from their new collections: respectively, Only Bread, Only Light and Uncertain Grace. Open Books, 2414 N 45th St, 633-0811, 7:30 pm, free.
GEORGE H. KRAFT & MARCI CANTANZARO
The authors of Living with Multiple Sclerosis: A Wellness Approach discuss their work. University Bookstore, 7 pm, free.
RIDLEY PEARSON
See Monday listing. Third Place Books, 7:30 pm, free.
ROBERT FUNGE
Bay area poet Funge, a favorite of such big names as Billy Collins and Jane Hirshfield, reads from his fine new collection, The Passage. Elliott Bay Books, 5 pm, free advance tickets.
SHEILA KOHLER
Kohler's novel, Children of Pithiviers, is a strangely musty mystery, in the decadent style of Daphne DuMaurier. When Deirdre, a troubled 18-year-old South African woman, is housed for a summer in France with a sexually open aristocratic couple, she discovers a diary in the attic that tells the story of two young girls who had escaped from a concentration camp during the war. But what happened to them? Elliott Bay Books, 7 pm, free advance tickets.
* WALTER MOSLEY
See Stranger Suggests. Elliott Bay Books, 7:30 pm, free advance tickets.
* BRUCE CAMPBELL
Campbell, who has starred in and helped direct the series of campy, gorey B flicks known as the Evil Dead series, reads from his very funny, insidery new memoir, If Chins Could Kill. University Bookstore, 7 pm, free.
POETRY/SPOKEN WORD OPEN MICS
CATHARTICISM--Wed at 9. Coffee Messiah, 1554 E Olive Way, 861-8233, free.
EAST INDIA TRADING COMPANY--Mon at 7. Coffee Messiah, free.
HOMELAND--Tues at 8. Globe Cafe, 1531 14th Ave, 324-8815, donation.
NW POETRY SLAM--Every other Fri (7/6, 7/20...) at 7. Cafe Allegro, 4002 University Way NE, 634-2310, free.
POETRY RELEASE--Sun at 6. Contour, 807 First Ave, 447-7704, free.
POETS WEST--Sun June 24, 7 pm. With featured poets Martin Blackman, Alan Braden, Michael Magee, Jean Musser, Connie Walle, then open mic. Wit's End Bookstore & Tea Shop, 770 N 34th St, 682-1268, free.
REBIRTH--Thurs at 7. Zodiac Coffee, 607 Broadway E, 720-4502, free.
RED SKY POETRY THEATER--Sun at 7:30. This week is the last open mic until September. Globe Cafe, donation.
SEATTLE POETRY SLAM--Wed at 8 (21+). Sit & Spin, 2219 Fourth Ave, 441-9484, $3.
STAGE FRIGHT--Every second and fourth Wed at 7; writers ages 14-24 only. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, free.
YAWP!--Tues at 8. The Pearl, 4215 University Way NE, 547-3326, $3.
