Readings and Signings of a Mostly Political Tilt for the Week of January 10, 2011

The literary calendar is packed this week, but snow is once again predicted for the region. Should we actually get a weather event, please call ahead to confirm that the reading event has not been canceled.

01/10/11 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
"New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss." Aye, Cap'n!

01/10/11 6:30 p.m. Richard Hugo House
Northwest Independent Editors Guild
Show and Tell
Guild members will also be swapping office supplies. Allegedly.

01/10/11 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Elsie Hulsizer
Glaciers, Bears and Totems: Sailing in Search of the Real Southeast Alaska
Rescheduled from November, when our little snowstorm caused the cancellation of all life in Seattle, one hopes the weather holds long enough for the local writer to finally say her piece. Or perhaps not, since the previously threatened PowerPoint presentation is still on the evening's agenda.

01/10/11 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Allison Stanger
One Nation Under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and the Future of Foreign Policy
This book should be required reading for the "government is too big!" crowd. Them are fightin' words, a meaningless catchphrase tossed out by the misguided, the uninformed, or those who would deliberately mislead the public for questionable purposes.

01/11/11 10 a.m. Barnes & Noble U-Village
Thom Ditty
Storytime
Apparently, the monorail has been wrapped into a Harry Potter billboard for the month of January, in conjunction with the Pacific Science Center exhibit. Mr. Ditty works for the Seattle Monorail. Somehow this is all supposed to make sense.

01/11/11 6 p.m. High Point Branch Library
Poetry Workshop
Get feedback on your writing from a panel of poets. (Meep!)

01/11/11 6:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Helena Norberg-Hodge
The Economics of Happiness
The author of Ancient Lessons: Learning from Ladakh will screen her documentary film about the global movement for economic localization. The showing will be followed by conversation with David Korten, John de Graaf, and Fran Korten.

01/11/11 6:30 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Michael J. Sandel
Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do
The Global Issues & Ethics Book Group meeting examines Wall Street, immigration, affirmative action, marriage, and religion with one of the more interesting books of political philosophy to be published in the past few years. Professor Sandel will not be on hand, unfortunately, but your neighbors will. Join them to discuss liberty and the common good.

01/11/11 6:30 p.m. UW Kane Hall, Room 120
Paulo Valesio
"On Mysticism and Modern Italian Poetry"
Professor Valesio attempts to anchor the concepts of "mysticism" and "poetry" to historical and linguistic contexts. Good luck with that.

01/11/11 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Olúfémi Táíwò
How Colonialism Preempted Modernity in Africa
The Seattle U. professor of Philosophy and Global African Studies, and director of the Global African Studies Program, will explain why colonialism is evil. This is the book to throw at people who say "President Obama is anti-colonialist" as if 1. they have the slightest clue what the word means, and 2. that would be a bad thing.

01/12/11 12:10 p.m. Seattle Public Library
Ladies Musical Club
Join the Ladies for some music on your lunch hour.

01/12/11 2 p.m. Ballard Branch Library
Seattle Opera
The Barber of Seville
Preview.

01/12/11 6:30 p.m. Northeast Branch Library
Seattle Opera
The Barber of Seville
Preview.

01/12/11 7 p.m. Richard Hugo House
Group Reading
Secrets
Local female authors read new work, hosted by The Stranger's David Schmader, who may or may not have a penis.

01/12/11 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
Jerry Gay
Seeing Reality
The Pulitzer-winning photojournalist presents a collection of his best pictures.

01/12/11 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle - CANCELED
Eric Alterman
Kabuki Democracy: The System vs. Barack Obama
 Alterman has a very different take on the question of "what went wrong" with the Obama administration. Join the CUNY Distinguished Professor of English and Journalism, media columnist for the Nation, and Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress for fascinating examination of the forces bunkered-in against "Change."

01/12/11 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Siddartha Muherjee
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
The writer, physician, and researcher is in town. "Rarely have the science and poetry of illness been so elegantly braided together as they are in this erudite, engrossing, kind book. Mukherjee's clinical wisdom never erases the personal tragedies which are its occasion; indeed, he locates with meticulous clarity and profound compassion the beautiful hope buried in cancer's ravages." – Andrew Solomon

01/12/11 7:30 p.m. Richard Hugo House
Stage Fright
Open mic for teens.

01/13/11 12 p.m. Seattle Public Library
Seattle Opera
The Barber of Seville
Preview.

01/13/11 6 p.m. Ballard Branch Library
It's About Time Writers' Reading Series'
The 255th meeting of the author reading and open mic series.

01/13/11 7 p.m. UW Johnson Hall, Room 075
Dr. Richard Solomon
American Negotiating Behavior: Wheeler-Dealers, Legal Eagles, Bullies & Preachers
The President of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) talks about whether or not Americans are mature enough to participate in a globalized world.

01/13/11 7 p.m. Northwest African American Museum
Heidi W. Durrow
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
"Heidi Durrow's first novel stunned me and partially broke my heart. The deeply divided world of her child narrator reflects that struggle between universes—race, family, art, and love—that so many 'light-skinned girls' face ... Ms. Durrow has created a resonant world all her own." – Susan Straight

01/13/11 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
Julian Smith
Crossing the Heart of Africa
In 2007, Smith attempted to reproduce 19th century explorer Ewan Grogan's trek across Africa. Then he wrote about it.

01/13/11 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
William Hartung
Prophets of War
The author examines how the military-industrial complex, i.e. the arms industry, has shaped U.S. foreign policy. Students of late 19th and early 20th century Germany will find this scarily resonant.

01/14/11 12 p.m. Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Robert Crais
The Sentry
The author returns with the latest of his Joe Pike/Elvis Cole mysteries, in which our heroes rescue a damsel in distress. Crais' books are deeply problematic, if you want to rip them apart for -isms. Screw it. They are ripping good reads, pure candy-coated fun. I'll have a review up later in the week.

01/14/11 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
Phil & Kaja Foglio
Agatha H and the Airship City
The authors behind Girl Genius present their steampunk romance.

01/14/11 7 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Philip N. Howard
The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Information Technology and Political Islam
"This book presents a most challenging and original analysis of the cultural and political analysis of the cultural and political dynamics of the Muslim world through the lens of the interaction between communication technology and politics. It breaks new ground in our understanding of the implications of digital technology for socio-political change. It will become a reference in political communication for the years to come." – Manuel Castells, University of Southern California

01/14/11 7:30 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Seattle Opera
The Barber of Seville
Speight Jenkins and guest will discuss the cultural, political, and social milieu of Rossini's popular comic opera.

01/15/11 11 a.m. Barnes & Noble U-Village
Cheryl Kilodavis
My Princess Boy
Celebrate National No Name-Calling Storytime at the B&N.

01/15/11 2 p.m. Seattle Public Library
Dzhaan Dementyeva
Happy Birthday, Chopin!
The Armenian pianist helps SPL celebrate Frederic Chopin's bicentennial.

01/15/11 4 p.m. Green Lake Branch Library
PoetsWest
Open mic and poetry reading.

01/15/11 7 p.m. Pilot Books
Ellen Welcker
The Botanical Garden
"Ellen Welcker’s first book, The Botanical Garden, won the 2009 Astrophil Poetry Prize and was published in November, 2010. Her poems and critical writing have appeared in Tinfish, Shampoo, Mudlark, XCP: Cross Cultural Poetics, Quarterly Conversation, and Gently Read Literature, among others. She lives in Seattle, where she works at Wave Books." -Pilot Books

01/15/11 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Peggy Herring
This Innocent Corner
"Herring examines the struggle for openness on several levels, from political arguments and negotiations to small and resonant details of place, such as the 'tiny laija-patta plants whose delicate fringe of leaves folds up when touched.' Presenting the physical as entranceway to the psychological is one of Herring's skills, making for a book that is well-crafted and deeply satisfying." – Amy Reiswig, Focus Magazine

01/15/11 8 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Michael Pollan
Food Rules: An Eater's Manual
Saint Michael will speak on "In Defense of Food: The Omnivore's Solution."

01/15/11 9:30 a.m. SAAM
Robert Buswell
"Buddhist Monasteries and Monastic Life in Korea"
Saturday University Sacred Sites of Asia Lecture Series. [Do you have any idea what a giant PITA it is to get from White Center to SAAM via bus in time for these lectures? The Saturday schedule is not kind. If these lectures started just an hour later, I would be there more than once per year.]

01/16/11 2 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Dori Jones Yang
Daughter of Xanadu
EBBC is billing this as a "kid's event." May I borrow yours? Because this novel rocks like a bituminous thing: "A glorious, gripping tale of a girl torn between duty, dreams, and reality, love and war." – Tamora Pierce

01/16/11 8 p.m. The Can Can
The Bushwick Book Club
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Local musicians perform original music inspired by the book.