Las Vegas Book Briefs for June 26-July 2, 2014

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION CONVENTION HEADED TO LAS VEGAS CONVENTION CENTER

The American Library Association’s annual conference is in town June 26 through July 1 at the Las Vegas Convention Center and with it are hundreds of authors out to impress librarians. Conference registration for the general public is $395 on site. But book fans who want access to the exhibit floor only can get in for $35. The floor is set to feature 775 exhibiting organizations and multiple pavilions and stages featuring authors and signings. The exhibit floor is set to be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 28 and 29 and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 30. For more information, visit ala14.ala.org.

HENDERSON BOOKSTORE PLANS SEVERAL SIGNINGS

Several signings are slated at the 567 N. Stephanie St. Barnes & Noble. Tony Montana is set to sign copies of “The Real Tony Montana” at 2 p.m. June 28. Lennox Nelson is scheduled to sign his book “Black Nancy” at 5 p.m. June 28. Crystal Clary is set to sign her book “Signs of a Serial Killer” at 2 p.m. June 29.

AUTHOR TO SIGN B.B. KING BOOK

Author Eric Dahl plans to sign copies of his book “B.B. King’s Lucille and the Loves Before Her” at 1 p.m. June 28 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

FIERCE READS TOUR TO VISIT LAS VEGAS

The Fierce Reads book tour featuring Leigh Bardugo, Jessica Brody, Mary Pearson, Josephine Angelini and Caragh O’Brien is scheduled to make a stop at 6 p.m. June 28 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble. For more on the young adult book tour, visit fiercereads.com.

COMIC BOOK EVENT SCHEDULED

An author event for “Batman and Robin Vol. 4 Requiem for Damian” by Peter Tomasi, with illustrations by Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray, is scheduled at 7 p.m. June 28 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

BANK TO HOST SUMMER BOOK DRIVE

Through June, all 50-plus Bank of America banking locations across the valley are slated to collect new and gently used books for Spread the Word Nevada. The donations will support Spread the Word Nevada’s newly launched summer reading program. For bank location information, visit bankofamerica.com. For more on Spread the Word Nevada, visit spreadthewordnevada.org.

FORMER GOV. BOB MILLER TO SPEAK

Former Gov. Bob Miller is set to speak about his book “Son of a Gambling Man: My Journey From a Casino Family to the Governor’s Mansion” from 7 to 8:30 p.m. July 8 at the Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road. For more information, visit lvccld.org or call 702-507-3400.

AUTHOR PLANS NORTH LAS VEGAS EVENT

Monica Hatley-Carr, author and illustrator of the children’s book “I Love the Color Pink! The Adventures of Laci Macasey,” plans to read to children and give a drawing lesson from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. July 9 at the Alexander Library, 1755 W. Alexander Road. Visit cityofnorthlasvegas.com.

LUNCHEON TO FEATURE ‘THE CALLING’ AUTHOR

James Cannon, author, with Toi Moore, of “The Calling: How to Discover Your Calling in Three Days,” is set to be a featured speaker at the eighth anniversary Visionary Awards and Luncheon scheduled from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 1 at the Suncoast, 9090 Alta Drive. For information on tickets, call 702-639-6964.

SAVE A DIFFERENT DATE FOR VEGAS VALLEY BOOK FESTIVAL

Readers accustomed to attending the Vegas Valley Book Festival the first weekend in November won’t have to wait as long this year. This year’s main festival and the Vegas Valley Children’s Book Festival are slated for Oct. 16-18.

The festival is set to offer interaction with more than 165 authors at 100 events including panel discussions, keynote lectures, readings, book signings, workshops, vendor exhibits, art exhibitions, spoken word performances and more. Most events are free and offered at the Historic Fifth Street School and at the Clark County Library.

Keynote presenters planned include Sylvia Day in conversation with Tracy Wolff, and novelist and short-story writer Aimee Bender.

The festival is slated to offer programing for all ages with activities for children and 108 young adult authors — the largest free gathering of young adult authors in the United States — for panel discussions and book signings.

For more information or to apply to be a volunteer, visit vegasvalleybookfestival.org.

The Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival (vegasvalleycomicbookfestival.org) is scheduled to remain on the first weekend in November at the Clark County Library.

NEVADA STUDENTS HONORED IN LETTERS ABOUT LITERATURE COMPETITION

Letters About Literature is a reading and writing contest for students in grades 4-12

sponsored by the U.S. Library of Congress Center for the Book in Washington, DC. Students are asked to read a book, poem or speech and write to that author about how the book affected them personally. Letters are judged on state and national levels.

Nevada winners include Level 1, grades 4-6: Kennedy Cole of Minden Elementary School; Level 2, grades 7-8: Julianne Agapinan from The Adelson Education Campus; and Level 3, grades 9-12: Nancy Villeda, who is home-schooled.

Kennedy’s letter to Jeanne Birdsall, author of The Penderwicks books made it to the finals in national judging in Washington, D.C.

BARNES & NOBLE TO HOST WRITING GROUP

The 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble plans to host a writing critique group at 5:15 p.m. the fourth Monday of each month. The group is limited to the first 20 participants per meeting. Sign up at meetup.com/las-vegas-creative-writing-class.

ALIANTE LIBRARY TO HOST WRITERS CLUB

The Aliante Library Writers Club is scheduled to meet from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month at the Aliante Library, 2400 W. Deer Springs Road. For more information, contact facilitator Glory Wade at glorywadewriter@gmail.com.

LIBRARY DISTRICT TO KICK OFF SUMMER READING PROGRAMS

Summer reading programs are set to run through Aug. 2 at all Las Vegas-Clark County Library District branches. Teens and children are invited to drop by any branch to sign up. Activities are planned throughout the program. For more information, visit lvccld.org.

NORTH LAS VEGAS READING CLUB UNDERWAY

Children and teens are invited to register for the summer reading club at the Aliante Library, 2400 W. Deer Springs Road, and at the Alexander Library, 1755 W. Alexander Road. Participants may have a chance to earn prizes including a Kindle Fire HD to be awarded as a grand prize to a raffle winner from each reading group.

SHARE POEMS AT HUMAN EXPERIENCE

Polish up a poem or two and try them out at Human Experience, a free spoken word event scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m. Mondays in The Beat Coffeehouse inside Emergency Arts, 520 Fremont St. For more information, visit lasvegaspoets.org.

ART CENTER TO HOST POETS CORNER

The West Las Vegas Arts Center, 947 W. Lake Mead Blvd., plans to host poets corner readings with Keith Brantley at 7 p.m. the first and third Friday of each month. For more information, contact the center at 702-229-4800.

FREE READ TO ME PROGRAM OFFERED

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 702-240-2665. 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 Coffeehouse in Emergency Arts, 520 Fremont St. The library is 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.

HENDERSON WRITERS GROUP MEETINGS SET

The Henderson Writers Group plans to meet from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m. Mondays in Room C-2 at Community Lutheran Church, 3720 E. Tropicana Ave. Meetings are typically canceled on holidays. For more information, visit hendersonwritersgroup.

MEMOIR-WRITING WORKSHOPS SLATED

An ongoing series of free four-week memoir-writing workshops is scheduled at noon Wednesdays and 10 a.m. Fridays at the Las Vegas FamilySearch Library, 509 S. Ninth St. Four-week sessions are set to begin the first week of every month. For more information, call 702-382-9695.

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

Too busy to get out to book programs? The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District has started posting videos and podcasts of many of its programs online. Selections available 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 blackmountaininstitute.org and select “multimedia.”