Las Vegas Book Briefs for March 11-17, 2014

WRITERS OF SOUTHERN NEVADA PLANS WRITING FOR LOVE MIXER

Lovers of romantic and erotic fiction are invited to Writing for Love, a free Writers of Southern Nevada-sponsored mixer, scheduled at 6 p.m. March 12 in the Downtown Cocktail Room, 111 Las Vegas Blvd. South. Authors London Porter and Moriah Densley are slated to read from recent works, and other local writers are scheduled to be on hand to meet with readers and sign books. Treats are set to be provided by Sugar Factory.

Authors interested in promoting books at the event can email tdcowden@tamicowden.com for information, or register at tinyurl.com/writingforlove.

BEST-SELLING AUTHOR TO SIGN ‘NIGHT BROKEN’

Patricia Briggs, New York Times best-selling author of “Frost Burned,” is set to sign copies of her the newest novel in her Mercy Thompson series, “Night Broken,” at 7 p.m. March 14 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

VICKI-ANN BUSH TO SIGN BOOKS

Local author Vicki-Ann Bush is slated to sign copies of her books “The Dusk Chronicles” and “The Queen of IT” at 11:30 a.m. March 15 at the 567 N. Stephanie St. Barnes & Noble.

LOCAL AUTHOR TO GIVE TIPS ON CONTESTS

Local young adult author Tera Lynn Childs is slated to speak on participating in writing contests for fun and profit during a meeting of the Las Vegas Romance Writers scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon March 15 at the group’s new meeting site at the Green Valley Library, 2797 N. Green Valley Parkway. For more information, visit lvrwa.org.

AUTHOR PLANS ONE-WOMAN PLAY

Jayne Amelia Larson’s multimedia one-woman play “Driving the Saudis: A Chauffeur’s Tale of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness on Rodeo Drive,” is scheduled at 7 p.m. March 15 at the Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road. A Q-and-A session with Larson followed by a book signing is scheduled after the performance. For more information, visit lvccld.org or call 702-507-3400.

SPRING FLING BOOK FAIR TO FOCUS ON STATE SESQUICENTENNIAL

The Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, plans a Spring Fling Book Fair — Sesquicentennial Edition for 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. March 29. More than 100 authors are set to sign books in rotating 90-minute sessions throughout the event. Organizers are hoping to add another 50 authors to the event for what would be the library district’s highest number of authors participating in an event.

Writing workshops scheduled at the event include a panel on writing about Las Vegas from 11 a.m. to noon and on book publishing from 2 to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

For more information, visit lvccld.org.

BRAVO TV’S JENNI PULOS PLANS BOOK SIGNING

Jenni Pulos from Bravo’s “Flipping Out” and “Interior Therapy” is scheduled to sign copies of “Grin and Bear It: How to Be Happy No Matter What Reality Throws Your Way,” a memoir-advice book she wrote with Laura Morton, at 7 p.m. March 19 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

AUTHOR PLANS APPEARANCES AT THE MOB MUSEUM

Depression-era researcher, author and lecturer Ellen Poulsen is scheduled to appear at the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, The Mob Museum, 300 Stewart Ave. She is slated to sign her book “Don’t Call Us Molls: Women of the John Dillinger Gang” and “The Case Against Lucky Luciano: New York’s Most Sensational Vice Trial” in the gift shop from 1 to 5 p.m. March 21. She is set to speak in the historic courtroom from 1 to 2 p.m. March 22. The gift shop appearance is free, and the talk is included with regular admission.

For more information, visit themobmuseum.org.

EBOOK COACH TO SPEAK TO WRITERS GROUP

Ebook consultant Peggy Richardson is scheduled to speak during a meeting of the Las Vegas Writers Group scheduled at 7 p.m. March 20 at the Tap House, 5589 W. Charleston Blvd. The meeting fee is $5. For more information, visit meetup.com/lasvegas-writers. For more on Richardson, visit her blog at wizardofebooks.com.

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. For more information on the festival or to apply to be a volunteer or visiting author, visit vegasvalleybookfestival.org. Festival organizers are slated to collect author submission forms through April 15.

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

FABLEHAVEN AUTHOR PLANS VISIT

Brandon Mull, best known for his best-selling Fablehaven series, is scheduled to sign copies of “Sky Raiders,” the first book in his Five Kingdoms series, at 6 p.m. March 21 at the 567 N. Stephanie St. Barnes & Noble. Mull is set to be joined by Chad Morris, who plans to sign copies of “The Avatar Battle,” book two in the Cragbridge Hall series. Wristbands to hold places in the signing line are to be handed out starting at 9 a.m. March 21.

AUTHORS TO SIGN BOOK ON ELDERCARE

Kim Boyer and Mary Shapiro are set to sign copies of their book “The Essential Eldercare Handbook for Nevada” at 10 a.m. March 29 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble. D. J. MacHale plans Las Vegas visit

Bestselling author D. J. MacHale is slated to sign copies of “Storm,” the second book in the Sylo Chronicles, at 7 p.m. April 7 at the 2191 N. Barnes & Noble.

NEW SERIES TO FEATURE POP-UP! POETRY

Pop-Up! Poetry: A Las Vegas Poetry Feature Series is set to present poets reading at 7 p.m. every First Friday in the Nevada Humanities offices at Art Square, 1025 S. First St. Upcoming poets to be featured include: Vogue R. on April 4, A.J. Moyer on May 2 and Harry Fagel on June 6. The series is part of Las Vegas Poets Organizations’ celebration of 10 years of service to the community. For more information, visit lasvegaspoets.org.

MEMOIR-WRITING WORKSHOPS SLATED

An ongoing series of free four-week memoir-writing workshops is scheduled at noon Wednesdays and at 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.

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 Coffeehouse inside Emergency Arts, 520 Fremont St. For more information, visit lasvegaspoets.org.

JESSICA BRODY PLANS BOOKSTORE APPEARANCE

Young adult author Jessica Brody, author of “Unforgotten,” “52 Reasons to Hate My Father,” “The Karma Club” and “My Life Undecided” is slated to sign books at 2 p.m. April 12 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

‘ZODACCIA’ AUTHOR TO SIGN BOOKS

Justin Hill, local author of “Zodaccia Realms of Chaos,” is slated to sign books at 1 p.m. April 26 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble. Matched Trilogy author signing slated

Ally Condie is scheduled to sign the second book in her Matched Trilogy, “Crossed,” at 7 p.m. May 2 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

SHOWGIRL-TURNED AUTHOR TO SIGN NEW BOOK

Local showgirl-turned author Vicki Pettersson is scheduled to sign book three in her Celestial Blues series, “The Given,” at 7 p.m. May 27 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

BARNES & NOBLE TO HOST WRITING GROUP

The 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble hosts 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.

LITERARY GUILD PLANS AUTHOR EVENTS

The Sun City MacDonald Ranch Literary Guild plans a literary event featuring Mike Prince at 2 p.m. April 13 at the Desert Willow Community Center, 2020 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway. Admission is free, and guests receive a 20 percent discount in the center’s restaurant the day of the event. Other upcoming speakers scheduled include Robyn Carr on March 4 and Richman Mahlangu on June 8.

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.

ART CENTER HOSTS POETS CORNER

The West Las Vegas Arts Center, 947 W. Lake Mead Blvd., hosts 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 meets 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.

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.”

POET LYNN XU PLANS UNLV VISIT

Poet Lynn Xu is scheduled to speak as part of the Black Mountain Institute Emerging Writers Series at 7 p.m. April 8 in Greenspun Hall Auditorium at UNLV, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway.

The Shanghai-born poet is the author of the collection “Debts & Lessons” and the chapbook “June.” She is an editor at Canarium Books.

For more information, visit blackmountaininstitute.org.

UNLV PROFESSOR’S VERSE DRAMA TO DEBUT

A debut performance of “O, Heart,” a verse drama by local poet Claudia Keelan, is scheduled for 7 p.m. April 24 in the UNLV Student Union Theatre, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway. Keelan, whose books include “Refinery” and “Utopic,” is a creative writing and English professor at UNLV and the editor of Interim magazine.

For more information, visit blackmountaininstitute.org.