There's a lot going on.

Bailey/Coy is hosting a release party for Final Breath, the tenth mystery novel by Kevin O'Brien. This is a great opportunity for those of you in the neighborhood who haven't been to Bailey/Coy in a while to go in and visit.

Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu talks up at Mount Zion Baptist Church. This is a discussion of Ruby Payne's poverty theory, which alleges that poor and nonwhite students are unable to reach their full potential in a system that is always kicking them in the teeth (i.e. U!S!A!).

Up at Third Place Books, Michelle Goodman reads from My So-Called Freelance Life, which is a book that will probably need a heavy revision now that newspapers and magazines everywhere are completely fucked.

At Elliott Bay Book Company, Knute Berger reads from Pugetopolis. Erica C. Barnett reviews that very book in this week's books section:

Pugetopolis—a collection of Berger's columns and commentary pieces for the Weekly, Seattle magazine, Crosscut, and other publications—posits that Seattle is turning into a nightmarish megacity. It's become a sprawling megalopolis where bungalows have fallen victim to megahouses and townhomes, nanny laws have regulated fun out of existence, and the neighborhoods that made Seattle worth living in have been destroyed by dense developments populated by tradition-hating new residents who tax good working folks out of existence even as they whiz past them on their recumbent bicycles.

And there's much going on in the U District. In Kane Hall, Stanlee Stahl, who is the head of the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, gives a lecture titled "Polish Heroes: Those Who Rescued Jews." And, also in Kane Hall, there's another lecture, titled "Close Down Guantanamo." Guantanamo has been open for 7 years now.

And also in the U District, Jon Raymond reads from his collection of short stories, Livability. There will be a Suggests box popping up soon to recommend this one, but I have to say this is the reading of the night. Raymond wrote stories that became the movies Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy, and both stories are in this book. He writes about angry young people and tired middle-aged people, and he has a very distinct Northwest sensibility. He writes great stuff and you should pay attention to him because he is a beautiful writer.

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