Book briefs

SHARPEN WRITING SKILLS AT WORKSHOPS

Maxwell Drake plans to offer free adult writing workshops at 4:45 p.m. today , 3 p.m. Dec. 4 and 4:45 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Centennial Hills Library, 6711 N. Buffalo Drive.

Meet 'From Vegas With Blood' author

Jonathan Sturak plans to promote "From Vegas with Blood" from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Monday at the Paseo Verde Library, 280 S. Green Valley Parkway in Henderson.

'CRIT' READING SET FOR NOV. 29

Andrew Kiraly is scheduled to read from his novel "Crit" during a Black Mountain Institute event at 7 p.m. Nov. 29 inside the Marjorie Barrick Museum at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway. For more on the book, visit critbook.com.

DETECTIVE TALKS ABOUT NEW BOOK

Chris Baughman plans to discuss his debut book "Off the Street" from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5 at Paseo Verde Library, 280 S. Green Valley Parkway. The work explores Baughman's work as a detective with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's Pandering Investigation Team and the prevalence of human trafficking in Las Vegas.

For more information, visit chrisbaughman.com.

NEW MEDIA EXPERT TO TALK ABOUT DETAILS OF DIGITAL DITCHING

"The Breakup 2.0: Disconnecting over New Media" author Ilana Gershon, from the department of anthropology at Indiana University, plans to deliver a lecture titled "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover: New Media and Breaking Up" as part of the University Forum Lecture Series at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 6 inside the Marjorie Barrick Museum at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway. For more information, visit liberalarts.unlv.edu.

SUNRISE COFFEE CO. ON SUNSET ROAD HOSTS OPEN MIC WEDNESDAYS

Sunrise Coffee Co. welcomes poets and poetry fans to participate in its open mic night starting at 7 p.m. every Wednesday at 3130 E. Sunset Road.

FREE STORYCORPS TOOLKIT HELPS COLLECT MEMORIES

The national StoryCorps' Memory Loss Initiative encourages people with memory loss to share their stories with loved ones and future generations. To make that task easier, a free step-by-step toolkit is available to download at storycorps.org/mli.

The Commemorate toolkit offers an individual reminiscence program that family members can initiate or memory loss care facilities can add to activities.

The initiative has collected more than 1,800 interviews with 180 partner organizations.

For more information, visit storycorps.org or call 646-723-7027.

SHARE POEMS AT HUMAN EXPERIENCE

Polish up a poem or two and try them out live at Human Experience, a free spoken word event, from 7 to 9 p.m. Mondays in The Beat coffee shop at 520 Fremont St. inside Emergency Arts. For more information or to view the events online as they happen, visit lasvegaspoets.org.

ACCESS RECORED BOOK PROGRAMS THROUGH LIBRARY DISTRICT

Too busy to get out to book programs? The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District has started posting videocasts and podcasts of many of its programs online. Selections available so far include: "An Afternoon with Tony Curtis," John L. Smith's presentation "Amelia's Long Journey: The Challenge of Writing What You Know," "Batman" movie producer Michael Uslan's presentation at the 2009 Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival, Jami Carpenter's "ABCs of Editing" workshop and Brian Rouff's "Getting Published: A Long Strange Trip." To access the programs, visit lvccld.org, select "Books, Movies & More" and then "Video and Podcasts."

The Black Mountain Institute has offered recordings of its programming since 2006. To access recordings of a gamut of writers from E.L. Doctorow to Alissa Nutting, visit blackmountain institute.org and select "multimedia."

FREE READ TO ME PROGRAM OFFERS STORIES ONLINE AND BY PHONE

Celebrity storytellers Oscar Goodman, Rita Rudner, Clint Holmes, Terry Fator, Carrot Top, The Scintas and others have donated their talents to the Clark County Education Association Community Foundation's Read To Me program. Children can view more than 15 videos of celebrities reading books on the website at readtomelv.com. Stories also can be accessed by calling 240-2665.

Both databases are frequently updated with fresh stories. Parents and teachers can download lesson plans for each book on the website.

DOWNLOAD BOOKS AND MORE FROM YOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY

Virtual Branch websites make it easy to browse, check out and download digital books and more to a home computer for free. All patrons need is a valid library card and an Internet-connected PC.

Virtual Branch download websites feature a digital catalog of downloadable audio books, e-books, music and video titles.

Each site is meant to look and feel like the library's main site, and it has many easy-to-use features similar to an online store.

Digital book downloads are borrowed just like print materials. Once patrons select the title or author they want, they follow the steps to check out and then download the title to their home computer.

Patrons can transfer most titles to portable media players, such as MP3 players, PDAs, Kindles or smart phones.

Each title that is downloaded has a designated lending period. When the title expires, it is automatically returned to the Virtual Branch, so there are no late fees.

For more information, visit search.overdrive.com.

HENDERSON WRITERS GROUP MEETS MONDAYS

The Henderson Writers Group meets from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m. Mondays. Meetings are at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at 4550 S. Maryland Parkway on the second and fourth Mondays and at Saxby's Coffee Lounge, 72 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway in Henderson, on the first, third and occasional fifth Mondays.

Visit hendersonwritersgroup.com for more details.

Meetings are open to the public.

ZINE LIBRARY OPEN IN EMERGENCY ARTS

Grab a cup of coffee and check out the independently crafted magazines at the Las Vegas Zine Library inside the Beat Cafe in Emergency Arts, 520 Fremont St.

The library is still small, more of a collection on display for reference and on-site reading than a checkout repository. Contributions of zines are appreciated. For more information, visit lvzinelibrary.blogspot.com.