We have a poetry slam, a historical novel about Louis XIV, an allegedly “uplifting and joyous debut novel” about an idiot, and a book from the point of view of a dog in town tonight. Plus more!

Over at Bailey/Coy books, Stephanie Brill reads from The Transgender Child: A Handbook for Families and Professionals. When I was doing my story about masculinity, I was told by a couple of professionals that as they were studying transgendered people, they learned that there’s basically no textbook on transgender studies. So it’s always good to see a new one of those, and it’s also a fascinating subject that really only started to be discussed a few years ago. This is clearly the reading of the night.

At Town Hall, Richard Bolles, that What Color Is Your Parachute? guy, gives a little job-finding seminar. Expect a lot of out-of-work people to attend.

And up in the U District, there is a tenth anniversary celebration of Pontoon, the locally produced poetry journal. I don’t believe I have ever read an issue of Pontoon, but I hate their name so very, very much. It’s a clumsy, ugly word. And I’m usually in favor of the oons: raccoon, poon, boon. Perhaps it’s the ‘pon’ that I’m not in favor of.

The full readings calendar, including the next week or so, is up on our Books page.