* WILLIS BARNSTONE
Poet, professor, and translator Barnstone reads and discusses his latest book, The New Covenant: The Four Gospels and Apocalypse, a translation of the New Testament. Open Books, 2414 N 45th St, 633-0811, 7:30 pm, free.
* ELLEN FORNEY
Cartoonist Ellen Forney (I Was Seven in '75) will, among other excellent things, discuss the recent controversies surrounding her "How D'ya Do That?" pieces that have appeared in The Stranger. Seattle Central Community College, Room BE 1110, 1701 Broadway, 587-3800, 2:00 pm, Free.
IAN FRAZIER
Frazier's book, The Fish's Eye: Essays About Angling and the Outdoors, is a collection of essays about fishing. University Bookstore, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400, 7 pm, free. Frazier also reads Fri April 26 at Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
RONALD TAKAKI
Tonight Dr. Takaki will talk about "Why Multiculturalism Matters in America." UW Kane Hall, room 130, 7 pm, free w/ticket, available at University Bookstore, 634-3400.
ATUL GAWANDE
Dr. Gawande is a surgical resident in Boston who writes for The New Yorker. Tonight he reads and signs his first book, Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 5:30 pm, free.
NORA OKJA KELLER
Keller, who wrote Comfort Women, appears tonight with a new novel called Fox Girl, which is about the fate of Amerasian children in Korea after the Korean War. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
REGENA THOMASHAUER
My intern Colin Booy wrote this note to me: "Charles, this press release is so unimaginably bad, maybe we should just let it speak for itself." I have decided to take Booy's advice and present this "unimaginably bad" press release without cuts or enhancements. "Darlings, have no fear, Mama Gena [Thomashauer] is here! I am your gal guide to the world of pleasure, fulfillment, and fun. My goal is to teach women how to weave their own dreams. By the time you reach the end of Mama Gena's School of Womanly Arts, you will have the tools to take a single golden thread and weave the most exquisite tapestry called 'Your Life, Your Way.' Mama Gena does not believe 'Do what you love and the money will follow,' she believes, 'Do what you love and everything will follow!'" Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3333, 7 pm, free.
DON ZIMMER
Current New York Yankee bench coach Don Zimmer signs copies of his memoir, Zim: A Baseball Life. This takes place just before the Yankees open a three-game series against the mighty Mariners. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 11 am, free.
NICOLE MONES
Mones reads from A Cup of Light, which is about contemporary China and the antique art world. Third Place Books, 366-3333, 6:30 pm, free.
* JOHN STAUBER
Stauber, the founder and director of the Center for Media and Democracy, reads from the paperback of Trust Us, We're Experts, his exposé of P.R. campaigns. Barbara Ehrenreich writes: "[Trust Us, We're Experts] is a brilliant piece of investigative journalism and a powerful vaccine against the stupefying effects of the corporate P.R. machine." Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 2 pm, free.
LAWNEY L. REYES
Seattle sculptor Reyes, who comes from both a Filipino and Sin-Aikst (part of the Colville Confederated Tribes) background, reads from his memoir White Grizzly Bear's Legacy: Learning to Be. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
ABRAM SHALOM HIMELSTEIN
Himelstein, the co-author of Tales of a Punk Rock Nothing, reads from Another World is Possible: Conversations in a Time of Terror, a book he contributed to. It is an anthology which responds to (yes) September 11. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 3 pm, free.
* EMILY WHITE, MICHAEL HUREAUX, PAULA GILOVICH, TIM KNEEDLER
Tonight, the Titlewave Reading Series offers what has to be one of the most significant nights in our region's literary history. The primary readers are on the Seattle literary A-list: Emily White, who is the author of Fast Girls: Teenage Tribes and the Myth of the Slut; Michael Hureaux, who is the author of Black Dog Blues and Fool Moon Rising; and Paula Gilovich, who is co-author of The Stranger's Guide to Seattle, a co-curator of the Rendezvous Reading Series, and co-publisher of Tenth Avenue East Press. I don't know who Tim Kneedler is, but he lives in Seattle. Titlewave Books, 7 Mercer St, 324-6379, 7:30 pm, free.
STEVE ALMOND
Boston's Almond is here to promote a book of stories called My Life in Heavy Metal. According to Stewart O'Nan, Almonds book "probes the heart of American youth to portray the pleasures and terrors of contemporary intimacy with beauty and regret, humor, and surprising tenderness." Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
* CARA BLACK
Black signs and reads from Murder in the Sentier, her third Parisian mystery with Aimee Leduc, who is tangling with the Red Gang, a '60s terrorist group. Seattle Mystery Bookshop, 117 Cherry, 587-5737, noon, free.
JULIA WHITTY
Whitty, a documentary filmmaker, reads from her first book of stories, A Tortoise for the Queen of Tonga. Zeitgeist Art & Coffee, 171 S Jackson; call Elliott Bay Book Company for details, 624-6600, 7 pm, free.
NICOLA GRIFFITH
Griffith reads from and signs Stay, a detective novel that is, according to Dorothy Allison, "simply gorgeous." Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
* "SEATTLE'S FAVORITE POEM: A CELEBRATION"
I have to give this reading a star because I'm in it. I, along with many others (12-year-old Kate Lund, council member Jim Compton, and so on), will read our favorite poems at the Seattle Art Museum. Seattle Art Museum, First Ave and University St, 386-4650, 7:30 pm, free.
MAGGIE ESTEP and ADEENA KARASICK
As part of the Seattle Poetry Festival, Estep and Karasick will read poetry. A panel on "The Future of Poetry" precedes the event at 5:30 pm. See www.poetryfestival.org. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, 8 pm, $5.
MICHAEL COLLINS
See Stranger Suggests. UW Kane Hall, room 110, 7 pm, free.
* "4 WRITERS, 4 SHORES": NELLY ROSARIO, ANN PACKER, MEERA NAIR, and EMMA DONOGHUE
"An extraordinary number of writers were set to be in Seattle this day," says the press release. "We have decided to present them together as though it was our own one-evening international literary festival. Dominican Republic-born writer Rosario is here with her debut novel, Song of the Water Saints... Packer is here with her first novel, The Dive from Clausen's Pier... Nair came to the U.S. from India in 1997, has published stories widely, and now has her first collection out, Video... [and] Dublin-born Donoghue is here with a new book of stories, The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits." Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7 pm, free.
* CHARLES BORKHUIS and JEANNE HEUVING
Keeping it real in Seattle, Subtext Readings offers hardcore literature and nothing less. Tonight's readers are Borkhuis, who is from New York City and the author of three collections of poetry; and Heuving, who has written a critical book on Marianne Moore called Omissions Are Not Accidents. There will also be a "Silent Open Mic," a multimedia slideshow that incorporates projected texts, images, and the anonymous sounds of DJ Yum Yum. A Seattle Poetry Festival panel on the "Poetics of Identity" precedes the event at 5:30 pm. Richard Hugo House, 322-7030, 7:30 pm, $5.
POETRY/OPEN MICS
* RED SKY POETRY THEATER--The grand-diddy of open mics. This week: Seattle Poetry Festival preview, with featured readers Scott Vetch, Jaha Zainabu, and Frankie Drayus. Sun April 28, 7:30 pm. Globe Cafe, 1531 14th Ave, 324-8815, free.
* HYPOCRISY--A weekly forum for writers by writers. Mondays at 7 pm. Coffee Messiah, 1554 E Olive Way, 208-1188 (Hypocrisy info line), free.
CATHARTICISM--Poetry, music, performance, and chaos, with host Ricki Rebel. Wednesdays at 8 pm. Coffee Messiah, 861-8233, free.
SCRATCHING POST--Poetry open mic, all ages. Thursdays at 8 pm, sign-up at 7:30 pm. Mr. Spot's Chai House, 2213 NW Market St, 297-2424, free.
SEATTLE POETRY SLAM--Live music provided by the James Whiton Ego Project. Wed May 1, 8 pm. Sit & Spin, 2219 Fourth Ave, $4.
POETRY GAMES--With Marcel Parker and Nancy Depper. Fri April 26, 7:30 pm. Espresso Roma, 4201 University Ave, 632-6001, free.
POETSWEST--Featured poets are Michael Magee, Jean Musser, Mildred Renfrow. Sun April 28, 7 pm. Wit's End Books & Tea, 770 N 34th St, 547-2330, free.
"TAKE A POEM INTO YOUR HEART"--With host Christopher Jarmick, and featured poets Fred Willis and Rudy Singer. Thurs May 2, 7 pm. Take Another Look Books, 5023 Rainier Ave S, 721-1022, free.
