Book Briefs for May 29-June 4

Las Vegas native to sign poetry book

Las Vegas native An Howard plans to promote her poetry book "Whispers of Words Spoken" at 4 p.m. Saturday at the 3860 S. Maryland Parkway Barnes & Noble. For more on the poet, visit thoughtsofanhoward.com.

Event slated for Phil Simon's 'The age of the Platform'

Author Phil Simon plans to sign copies of his book "The Age of the Platform: How Amazon, Facebook, and Google Have Redefined Business" at 1 p.m. Saturday at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

'Marginal Workers' signing set

Ruben J. Garcia plans to sign copies of his book "Marginal Workers" at 1 p.m. Saturday at the 567 N. Stephanie St. Barnes & Noble in Henderson.

Seniors invited to memoir workshops

LifeStories Nevada plans memoir-writing workshops for seniors 50 or older. Workshops are scheduled from 10:30 a.m. to noon Tuesdays through June 12 at the Centennial Hills Active Adult Center, 6601 N. Buffalo Drive, and from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through June 12 at the Barbara Greenspun WomensCare Center West, 7220 S. Cimarron Road. To register, contact Jean Norman at 940-5423, email normanj@unce.unr.edu or visit lifestoriesnevada.org.

Authors to be featured at Bellagio

"The World of Las Vegas Dining" authors Laury and John Bakie are set to be featured during the book and food chat event "The Book and The Bakies" from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturdays in the Tutto store at the Bellagio, 3600 Las Vegas Blvd. South, beginning this week. For more information, visit theworldof lasvegasdining.com.

Las Vegas Romance writers to welcome Siobhan Muir

Siobhan Muir, author of Her Devoted Vampire, plans to present an interactive talk on flash fiction at the Las Vegas Romance Writers meeting scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon June 16 in the Wengert Room at NV Energy, 6226 W. Sahara Ave. The public is welcome. For more information, visit lasvegasrwa.org. For more on Muir, visit siobhanmuir. blogspot.com.

Michael Schrenk to speak at Las Vegas Writers Group meeting

Michael Schrenk, a Las Vegas-based writer, consultant and Internet entrepreneur, is scheduled to speak on career advancement through non-fiction writing at a meeting of the Las Vegas Writers Group scheduled at 7 p.m. June 21 at the Tap House, 5589 W. Charleston Blvd. A $5 meeting fee is charged. For more information on the group, visit meetup.com/las-vegas-writers. For more on the author, visit saknussemm.com.

SHARE POEMS AT HUMAN EXPERIENCE

Polish up a poem or two and try them out 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 details, visit lasvegaspoets.org.

Library to host Local Author series

Meet local writer Victoria Galan, author of "Forever Illegal: The Other Face of the Immigration and Naturalization Services," as part of the READ Local Author series, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. June 25 in the lobby of the Paseo Verde Library, 280 S. Green Valley Parkway. Visit mypubliclibrary.com for details. For more on the author, visit victoriagalan.com.

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.

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 Saxbys Coffee Lounge, 72 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway in Henderson, on the first, third and occasional fifth Mondays. Meetings are typically canceled on holidays. Visit hendersonwritersgroup.com for more information. Meetings are open to the public.

SUNRISE COFFEE CO. ON SUNSET ROAD HOSTS OPEN MIC NIGHT 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.

Kris Saknussemm to speak at Las Vegas Writers Group meeting

Author Kris Saknussemm, a recent Gallagher Fellow at the Black Mountain Institute, is scheduled to speak at a meeting of the Las Vegas Writers Group scheduled at 7 p.m. July 19 at the Tap House, 5589 W. Charleston Blvd. A $5 meeting fee is charged. For more information on the group, visit meetup.com/las-vegas-writers. For more on the author, visit saknussemm.com.

ACCESS RECORDED BOOK PROGRAMS ONLINE

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.

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.

Teen Writing Club plans meetings

A Teen Writing Club meets at the Green Valley Library, 2797 N. Green Valley Parkway. The club schedules meetings every other month. For more information, call 207-4260.