Book briefs

SUMMERLIN AUTHOR PLANS EVENTS

Summerlin resident Debra Gauthier plans to sign copies of her book "Bright Lights, Dark Places: Pioneering as a Female Police Officer in Las Vegas" at noon Wednesday at the 8175 W. Sahara Ave. Marie Callender's.

Gauthier also plans to greet readers from 1 to 3 p.m. Jan. 7 at the Green Valley Library, 2797 N. Green Valley Parkway.

WRITERS GROUP TO WELCOME RICK LAX

Rick Lax, author of "Fool Me Once," "Lawyer Boy" and the soon-to-be-released "I Get Paid for This," is scheduled to speak at a meeting of the Las Vegas Writers Group at 7 p.m. Jan. 19 at the Tap House, 5589 W. Charleston Blvd. Meeting fee is $5. For more information, visit meetup.com/las-vegas-writers.

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 more information, visit lasvegaspoets.org.

The Las Vegas Writers Conference is scheduled April 19-21 at Sam's Town, 5111 Boulder Highway. Early registration for the full conference is $400 through Jan. 1. After that, the price goes up to $450. Faculty scheduled to participate in the conference includes: authors Kirt Hickman, Eva Shaw, Randall Platt and Kathleen Shaputis; literary agents Mary Kole, Lauren Ruth, Rita Rosenkranz, Jeff Kleinman, Malaga Baldi and Angie Rasmussen; editors Chuck Sambuchino, Annette Rogers and Chris Roerden and publishers Mark E. Cull, Bruce Bortz and Jo Wilkins. For more information, visit lasvegaswriters conference.com.

LIBRARY TO HOST FAMILY LITERACY PROJECT

The Green Valley Library, 2797 N. Green Valley Parkway, plans to host "Read. Play. Grow. A Family Literacy Project," a six-week program designed to help families improve literacy skills. Participants must complete a nomination form and be scheduled for the program before attending. Sessions are scheduled from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Jan. 17, 24 and 31 and Feb. 7, 14 and 21. For more information, visit mypubliclibrary.com or call 207-4260.

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."

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 in Henderson, on the first, third and occasional fifth Mondays. Meetings are typically canceled on holidays. Visit henderson writersgroup.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.

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.

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.

MS. CHINA PLANS AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Ms. China plans to interview Toni T. Ellis, author of "Baby Girl's Mirror," from 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 14 at the West Las Vegas Library, 951 W. Lake Mead Blvd. Visit lvccld.org for details.