There are three readings tonight.

The first two are for very specialized tastes. At Elliott Bay Book Company, Arkadi Kuhlmann, who is the founding CEO of a “Canadian Internet-based direct bank,” will be talking about being the founding CEO of a Canadian Internet-based direct bank. Maybe he’ll have some insight on President-Elect Obama’s* press conference on financial issues, which is coming up this afternoon. And at 1:30, on the UW campus, Eric Hershberg, who is a “specialist on the comparative politics of Latin America and on the politics of development,” reads from his new book, The International Context and Development Strategies of the Latin American Lefts.

Then, this evening, W. S. Merwyn reads from his newest book, The Shadow of Sirius. If you don’t know W.S. Merwyn, you really should. He’s a great poet, and his poetry is not so hard for newcomers to poetry (a description which includes yours truly) to understand and enjoy.

The full readings calendar, including the next week or so, is here.

* I just really like typing “President-Elect Obama.” Last night, I turned to a friend of mine and said “Our president is a Jay-Z fan.” It was weird.