Book Briefs

Local author JoAnn Oppenheimer plans to sign copies of her book "Potpourri, For and About Women" at 1 p.m. Saturday at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

Author to share 'Skinflint Hints'

Erin Lale plans to sign copies of "Skinflint Hints," a self-described "guide to surviving the 'new normal' for the formerly middle class," from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Book Boutique, 19 W. Pacific Ave. in Henderson. Book Boutique is scheduled to be closed Nov. 19 and Nov. 24-26. For more information, call 697-0001.

H. Lee Barnes to speak in Henderson

H. Lee Barnes plans to talk about "When We Walked Above the Clouds," an account of his experiences as a member of a Special Forces A-team in Vietnam, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Paseo Verde Library, 280 S. Green Valley Parkway.

'Life with McDuff' signing planned

Judy McFadden plans to sign copies of "Life with McDuff: Lessons Learned from a Therapy Dog" at noon Saturday at the 567 N. Stephanie St. Barnes & Noble in Henderson. For more information about the Henderson author's book, visit lifewithmcduff.com.

Local writers to read at Author event

Join Las Vegas writers John Getter, Micaela Fischer, Carrie Ann Lahain and Linda O'Connor as they read from their recent work and talk about the people, places and events that have inspired them during Author to Author, a free Nevada Arts Council-sponsored event, scheduled at
2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Sahara West Library, 9600 W. Sahara Ave.

Writing teacher to introduce web-logs

Poet and writing teacher Barbara Miller plans to present a Reader & Writers Corner program, The Wonderful World of Web-logs, at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Summerlin Library, 1771 Inner Circle Drive. The program is free. Call Susan Williams at 507-3866.

Detective to chat with Ms. China

Playwright, poet, spoken word performer Ms. China is set to welcome Chris Baughman for an Author's Speakeasy discussion from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the West Las Vegas Library, 951 W. Lake Mead Blvd.

Baughman's book "Off the Street" shares stories from his work as a detective with the Metropolitan Police Department's Pandering Unit.

For more information, call 507-3989.

All are welcome to attend free events
at Jewish Book & Arts Festival

The Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada's fourth annual Jewish Book & Arts Festival is free and open to all. Highlights include:

n Choreographer, dancer and scholar Judith Brin Ingber plans to present her book "Seeing Israeli and Jewish Dance" at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the Adelson Educational Campus, 9700 W. Hillpointe Road.

n Joseph Gelman, author of "Confidential: The Life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan," plans to speak at 11 a.m. Sunday at Midbar Kodesh Temple, 1940 Paseo Verde Parkway in Henderson.

n 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. Nov. 20 at Congregation Ner Tamid, 55 N. Valle Verde Drive in Henderson.

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

'Amazing Adventures' author to visit

With $5 in his pocket, Leon Logothetis hit the road to see the world. His travels have been viewed on television and captured in the book, "Amazing Adventures of a Nobody," which he plans to sign at 1 p.m. Sunday at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

UNLV to host Free lecture and play

California State University, Fullerton, professor Jeffrey Kottler, founder of Empower Nepali Girls, an organization that works to prevent sex slavery among lower caste girls, and author of more than 80 books, is scheduled to speak as part of the free University Forum lecture series at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Marjorie Barrick Museum at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway.

The series is also set to present "Dylan Thomas at Age Nineteen: A One-Man Play," performed by Philip Watt and directed by Louis Wells at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15.

For more information, visit liberalarts.unlv.edu.

Pop singer to sign CD and book

Pop singer Angelica Ganea-Mile plans to sign copies of her book/CD "Remember Who You Are" at 6 p.m. Nov. 15 at the 8915 W. Charleston Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

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. Nov. 16 in the Greenspun Hall Auditorium at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway.

'Christmas Jars' author plans signing

Jason Wright plans to promote his new book "The Wedding Letters" at 4 p.m. Nov. 17 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.

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.

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.

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. Nov. 19 at the Gibson Library, 100 W. Lake Mead Parkway in Henderson.

Meet author of 'From Vegas With Blood'

Jonathan Sturak plans to promote his book "From Vegas with Blood" from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 28 at the Paseo Verde Library, 280 S. Green Valley Parkway in Henderson.

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.

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 DURING WORKSHOP SERIES

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 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.