Book Briefs

"Revising for Royals: Performing Shakespeare at Court" is the title of Ohio State University p rofessor Richard Dutton's lecture scheduled for 7:30 p.m. today in the Barrick Museum Auditorium at UNLV, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway.

The free University Forum Lecture Series presentation is set to explore the Bard's process of correcting, rehearsing and perfecting popular drama for a royal audience.

For more information, visit liberalarts.unlv.edu.

Jeff Allen to share field reports
at Henderson bookstore

Jeff Allen is scheduled to participate in a book event for his adults-only how-to book, "Get Laid or Die Trying: The Field Reports," at 7 p.m. Saturday at the 567 N. Stephanie St. Barnes & Noble.

For more information on the book, visit simonandschuster.com.

Celebrate National Library Week

Celebrate National Library Week, April 10-16, by dropping off donations of new or gently used books at any Las Vegas-Clark County Library District branch. Donations of audio books, CDs, DVDs and history, art, literary and antique magazines also are appreciated. Donors will received a receipt to claim donations on their taxes. Many of the donations to the Library District Foundation are sold through the district's used bookstores to help support library reading and technology programs.

The library fine amnesty program, long a staple of the district's observation of National Library Week, will not take place this year.

For more information about the foundation,visit lvccldfoundation.org or call 507-3597. For more information about library programs, visit lvccld.org.

Poets to face off at The Arts Factory
in Las Vegas Slam semi finals

Las Vegas Slam performance poetry semi finals are scheduled for 7 to 10 p.m. April 6 at The Arts Factory, 101 E. Charleston Blvd. A roster of 15 local poets is set to compete in hopes of making it to the Grand Slam, to be scheduled for the end of April. For more information, visit lasvegaspoets.org.

'End of Story' to be discussed at UNLV

UNLV English professor John M. Bowers is set to speak about his novel "End of Story" during a free University Forum Lecture Series presentation scheduled for 7:30 p.m. April 7 in the Barrick Museum Auditorium at UNLV, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway.

The novel, a fictional sequel to E.M. Forster's landmark novel "Maurice," begins in 1914 and concludes with the bombing of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

For more information about the lecture series, visit liberalarts.unlv.edu.

Las Vegas Writers Conference
is back for its seventh year

The seventh annual Las Vegas Writers Conference is set for April 14-16 at Sam's Town, 5111 Boulder Highway.

Offerings will include workshops with editors, agents and authors. Registration is $425. If space is available, one-day registration for April 15 or 16 costs $225.

Stephens Press is sponsoring a free open house meet and greet for conference attendees and the public from 7 to 10 p.m. April 14. For more information, visit
lasvegaswritersconference.com.

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.

'Sammy The Semi' authors
to visit Paseo Verde Library

Meet Perry and Celia Johnson, authors of "The Adventures Of Sammy The Semi: Sammy's Toy Store Adventure," from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. April 25 at the Paseo Verde Library, 280 S. Green Valley Parkway.

The author visit is part of the READ local author series, which features authors from the surrounding community on the fourth Monday of each month. Contact Arlene Caruso at 492-6580 for more information.

Green Valley Library to host
teen literary magazine unveiling

An unveiling of the second annual Teen Voices literary magazine is scheduled for 6 p.m. April 25 at the Green Valley Library, 2797 N. Green Valley Parkway.

Finalists in the Teen Voices writing competition will be invited to participate in a panel session with authors from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and prize winners will be announced. For more information, call 207-4258.

Senior poet laureate
competition under way

Entries are being accepted for regional winners in the 19th annual National Senior Poets Laureate Poetry Competition for American poets 50 or older. The submission deadline is June 30. State senior poets laureate are expected to be named in July, and the National Senior Poet Laureate is set to be announced Sept. 1.

For more information, visit amykitchenerfdn.org.

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.

Just Write group focuses
on getting down to work

Looking for a place to write or meet other writers? The new Just Write Meetup group gathers for hourlong meetings at the 4550 S. Maryland Parkway Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Introductions are made in the first five minutes. The next half hour is for writing, the last 25 minutes is for discussion of work. For details and meeting times, visit meetup.com/just-writelv/.

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."

final book in Signs of the Zodiac
series to be launched in June

Las Vegas showgirl turned bestselling author Vicki Pettersson is scheduled to sign copies of her newest book "The Neon Graveyard" at 7 p.m. June 3 at the 6521 Las Vegas Blvd. South Borders in Town Square Las Vegas.

According to Pettersson's website, vickipettersson.com, this will be the last in her Signs of the Zodiac series, set in Las Vegas.

Pettersson also hopes to meet up with her Twitter followers to share coffee prior to the event. To learn more, follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/vickipettersson.

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.

Library District on a paperless push

The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District wants your e-mail address.

On July 1, the district will discontinue the mailing of hold and overdue notices. After that date, notifications will only be provided electronically. But patrons can elect to receive notices electronically now.

Advantages include: a courtesy notice via e-mail three days before your items will be overdue, prompt notices when held items are available and a library newsletter and events notices via e-mail.

E-mail addresses can be submitted online at lvccld.org, at any library customer service desk or by phone at 507-3595.

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, eBooks, 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 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
http://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 Horizon Ridge Parkway, on the first, third and occasional fifth Mondays.

Visit hendersonwritersgroup.com for more details.

Meetings are open to the public.

Madison to share secrets
in upcoming guide to Las Vegas

Holly Madison is scheduled to debut her first book, "The Showgirl Next Door: Holly Madison's Guide to Las Vegas." The star of "Peepshow" at Planet Hollywood promises to reveal her best-kept secrets and provide an intimate peek at some of the exclusive areas of Las Vegas. The book will be distributed by Stephens Press and is expected to be released April 15.

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.

CityLife Books to publish novel
by Desert Companion editor

CityLife Books, an imprint of Stephens Press, announced plans to publish "Crit," a novel by Desert Companion editor Andrew Kiraly.

"Crit" follows a Los Angeles rock critic's dark journey to Las Vegas in search of an elusive, infamously bad lounge singer.

Kiraly is a native Las Vegan and former CityLife managing editor.

Clubs invited to help plan Festival

The Vegas Valley Book Festival is inviting local book clubs to participate in the selection of authors to appear at the 2011 festival set for Nov. 3-6. To submit suggestions and book club information, contact Eileen Horn by e-mail at eihorn@aol.com or by phone at 454-9746. Participating book clubs will be invited to special pre-festival events.

Northwest-area borders offers
writers group on Tuesdays

Borders bookstore hosts a free writers group at 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays at 2190 N. Rainbow Blvd.