Book Briefs

'CHRISTMAS JARS' AUTHOR PLANS SIGNING

Jason Wright plans to promote his new book "The Wedding Letters" at 4 p.m. Thursday at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble. He is also the author of "Christmas Jars," "The Wednesday Letters," "The Cross Gardener" and "The Seventeen Second Miracle."

BETTY BUNCH PLANS BOOK LAUNCH

Betty Bunch plans to greet readers at a public reception for her new book "High Heels and Headdresses: Memoirs of a Vintage Vegas Showgirl" from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Mesquite Club, 702 E. St. Louis Ave. For more information, visit highheelsandheaddresses.com.

Saturday Signing to feature 'Straight to the Heart of What Matters'

Deborah Howell plans to sign copies of her book "Straight to the Heart of What Matters" at 1 p.m. Saturday at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

IOWA WRITERS' WORKSHOP CLASSMATES TO SHARE EXPERIENCES IN NEW BOOK

Poet Joy Harjo, writer Michelle Huneven, literary activist Glenn Schaeffer, writer Doug Unger and journalist Eric Olsen plan to reflect on their shared experiences as classmates in the Iowa Writers' Workshop and talk about the just-released book "We Wanted to Be Writers: Life, Love and Literature at the Iowa Writers' Workshop" during a free public event from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday at The Lady Silvia in the Soho Lofts, 900 Las Vegas Blvd. South, No. 140.

NEVADA EMERGING WRITERS SERIES TO FEATURE SRIKANTH REDDY

Srikanth Reddy, author of "Facts for Visitors," is scheduled to read as part of the Black Mountain Institute's Nevada Emerging Writers Series at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Greenspun Hall Auditorium at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway.

FREE BOOK FESTIVAL READING PLANNED

Mark Ribowsky, author of "Howard Cosell: The Man, the Myth, and the Transformation of American Sports," is scheduled to speak at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Congregation Ner Tamid, 55 N. Valle Verde Drive in Henderson as part of the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada's fourth annual Jewish Book & Arts Festival

For more information, visit jccsn.org or call 794-0090.

'HELEN J. STEWART' BOOK SIGNINGS SET

Carrie Townley Porter, co-author of "Helen J. Stewart, First Lady of Las Vegas," plans to appear as Stewart for a program and book signing at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Nevada State Museum, 309 S. Valley View Blvd. inside the Springs Preserve. A second performance is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at the Sun City MacDonald Ranch Community Center, 2020 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway in Henderson. For more information, visit helenjstewart.com.

PHOTOGRAPHER SHARES TRUE STORY

"Feathers & Gifts" author PJ Sheldon is set to sign her true story about a life-changing photo assignment in the wilderness at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Gibson Library, 100 W. Lake Mead Parkway in Henderson.

POP SINGER TO SIGN CD AND BOOK

Pop singer Angelica Ganea-Mileto plans to sign copies of her book/CD "Remember Who You Are" at 6 p.m. today at the 8915 W. Charleston Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

'MY FIRST NASCAR RACE' EVENT SCHEDULED

Local author Mickey Frazier Sr. plans to sign copies of his third book, "My First NASCAR Race," from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the City Lights Clubhouse, 6800 E. Lake Mead Blvd.

Plans include a viewing of the last race of the year and refreshments. For more information, call 285-6503.

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.

SUNRISE COFFEE CO. HOSTS OPEN MIC POETRY NIGHT

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.

ACCESS RECORDED BOOK PROGRAMS ONLINE 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."

SHARPEN WRITING SKILLS AT WORKSHOPS

Author Maxwell Alexander Drake plans a series of free workshops to sharpen writing skills this fall at the Centennial Hills Library, 6711 N. Buffalo Drive. Remaining seminars are set for 3 p.m. Nov. 20 and 4:45 p.m. Nov. 22.

For more information, call 507-6100.

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, 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.