Literary Pleasures -- Books, Lectures And Author Readings Spice Up Cool Autumn Days

Just when you think the Seattle literary scene couldn't get busier, something new comes along - such as this fall's first installment of The Northwest Book Festival. The huge celebration of the written word, which will be on Pier 48 in late October, promises to be an annual institution.

Add to that the eighth season of the immensely popular Seattle Arts & Lectures series and the second season of the Celebrity Forum Series, as well as the usual crowded parade of author readings and book signings, and you have a rich fall harvest of events for book lovers.

Here's a selection of some of the best:

September

Julia Alvarez reads from her new poetry collection, "The Other Side," and her novel, "In the Time of Butterflies," 7 p.m., today, Elliott Bay Books.

"Computers, Kids and Education," a discussion with Robert Powell of Futurekids on computer education for children, 2 p.m., Sunday, Barnes & Noble, Downtown Bellevue.

Fred Moody reads from his new book, "I Sing the Body Electric: A Year with Microsoft on the Multimedia Frontier," 8 p.m., Wednesday, Elliott Bay Books; 7 p.m., Sept. 21, Barnes & Noble/University Village.

Vine Deloria autographs "Red Earth, White Lies," 1 p.m., Thursday, University Book Store/Seattle.

"Getting Started: How to Get Those First Words on Paper," a workshop with Sheila Bender, at 7 p.m., Thursday, Barnes & Noble/Bellevue.

Northwest author Jack Cady reads from his works, including

"Inagehi" and "The Night We Buried Road Dog and Other Gentle Spirits," 7 p.m., Thursday, Lynnwood Library Gallery.

Local writer Burl Barer discusses "Man Overboard," 7 p.m. Thursday, Killing Time Mystery Books.

Anne Rice, the undisputed queen of vampire fiction, autographs "Memnoch the Devil," 5 p.m., Thursday, Elliott Bay Books.

African-American mystery writer Barbara Neely autographs and/or reads from "Blanche Among the Talented Tenth," 7:30 p.m., Sept. 17, Red & Black Books; 12:30 p.m., Sept. 18, Barnes & Noble/University Village; 7 p.m., Sept. 19, Killing Time Mystery Books.

Seattle novelist Shawn Wong reads from "American Knees," 7:30 p.m., Sept. 18, Elliott Bay Books; 7 p.m., Sept.19, Barnes & Noble/University Village; 7 p.m., Oct. 5, University Book Store/Seattle.

Seattle author Brenda Peterson reads from "Nature and Other Mothers," 1 p.m., Sept. 19, University Book Store/Seattle.

Arab Writers and Scholars Discussion Group, the World Affairs Council co-sponsors this discussion group of eight notable writers and scholars from the Middle East, 8 p.m., Sept. 19, Elliott Bay Books.

Stephen H. Bogart, son of the actor, autographs "Bogart: In Search of My Father," 4:30 p.m., Sept. 20, University Book Store/Seattle.

Novelist Bebe Moore Campbell reads from "Brothers and Sisters," 12:15 p.m., Sept. 20, Elliott Bay Books; 7:30 p.m., Sept. 20, Red & Black Books.

Jayne Anne Phillips reads from her novel, "Shelter," 8 p.m., Sept. 21, Elliott Bay Books.

Outdoors writer Harvey Manning discusses his new book, "Walks and Hikes in the Foothills and Lowlands Around Puget Sound," 7 p.m., Sept. 22, Barnes & Noble/Issaquah.

Beat Generation poet Michael McClure reads from "3 Poems: Dolphin Skull, Rare Angel, Dark Brown," 8 p.m., Sept. 23, Elliott Bay Books.

Seattle romance writer Stella Cameron reads from "Sheer Pleasures" and speaks on commercial fiction in the '90s, 3 p.m., Sept. 23, Barnes & Noble/Issaquah.

Editors and contributors to "The Poem and the World," the latest volume in an international sister-city poetry project, will read from the book, including readings in Hungarian and Italian, 3 p.m., Sept. 24, Elliott Bay Books.

Novelist Mary McGarry Morris reads from "Songs in Ordinary Times," 5:30 p.m., Sept. 25, Elliott Bay Books.

Novelist and screenwriter Hanif Kureishi reads from his new novel, "The Black Album," 8 p.m., Sept. 25, Elliott Bay Books.

Novelist Bret Easton Ellis reads from "The Informers," 8 p.m., Sept. 26, Elliott Bay Books.

Dorothy Allison, the novelist ("Bastard Out of Carolina") and essayist, reads from "Two or Three Things I Know for Sure," 8 p.m., Sept. 27, Elliott Bay Books.

Colin L. Powell, the retired Army general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, autographs his new autobiography, "My American Journey," 6:30 p.m., Sept. 28, Elliott Bay Books.

Seattle true-crime writer Ann Rule autographs and/or reads from "Dead by Sunset," 3 p.m., Sept. 29, University Book Store/Seattle, and Oct. 12, Elliott Bay Books.

Novelist Elizabeth Berg reads from "Range of Motion," 7 p.m., Sept. 29, Barnes & Noble/University Village.

Spokane novelist Ursula Hegi reads from her new book, "Salt Dancers," 7:30 p.m., Sept. 29, Elliott Bay Books.

Rock-music journalist Mikal Gilmore reads from "Shot in the Heart," his family memoir dealing with his brother, executed killer Gary Gilmore, 5 p.m., Sept. 30, Elliott Bay Books.

Seattle fiction writer Charlotte Watson Sherman reads from her new novel, "Touch," 7:30 p.m., Sept. 30, Elliott Bay Books, and 7:30 p.m., Oct. 3, Red & Black Books.

October

Novelist Kaye Gibbons reads from "Sights Unseen," 7:30 p.m., Oct. 2, Elliott Bay Books.

Anne Beattie reads from her new novel, "Another You," 8 p.m. Oct. 3, Elliott Bay Books.

Write on the Sound, an annual writers' conference, will feature a keynote address, "How I Get Some Writing Done Every Day in Spite of It All," by Anne Lamott, author of "Bird by Bird," 7:30 p.m., Oct. 7, Triton Union Building, Edmonds Community College. The conference is 8:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., Oct. 7 and 8, Frances Anderson Center, Edmonds.

Native American leader Russell Means discusses his new autobiography, "Where White Men Fear to Tread," 5 p.m., Oct. 10, Elliott Bay Books.

Fiction writer T. Coraghessan Boyle reads from his new novel, "The Tortilla Curtain," 7:30 p.m., Oct. 11, Elliott Bay Books.

Nature writer and essayist Terry Tempest Williams reads from her new book, "Desert Quartet," 7:30 p.m., Oct. 13, Elliott Bay Books.

British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, author of "The Remains of the Day" and the new novel "The Unconsoled," appears in the Seattle Arts & Lectures series, 7:30 p.m., Oct. 16, 5th Avenue Theatre.

Amy Tan reads from her new novel, "The Hundred Secret Senses," 7 p.m., Oct. 17, First United Methodist Church, 811 Fifth Ave. ($5), sponsored by Elliott Bay Books.

Former President George Bush addresses the Celebrity Forum Series, Oct. 19, Washington State Convention Center.

Journalist and nature writer Bill McKibben reads from "Hope, Human and Wild," his new book about positive developments in the eco-struggle, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 19, Elliott Bay Books.

Architecture professor Witold Rybczynski discusses his new book, "City Life: Urban Expectations in a New World," 8 p.m., Oct. 19, Elliott Bay Books.

Seattle writer Michael Upchurch reads from his new novel, "Passive Intruder," 7:30 p.m., Oct. 23, Elliott Bay Books.

Travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux discusses his career and new book, "The Pillars of Hercules: A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean," in a benefit for Seattle Arts & Lectures' Writers in the Schools project, 7:30 p.m., Oct. 25, First United Methodist Church, 811 Fifth Ave. ($8-$10; 621-2230).

New Yorker staff writer Lawrence Weschler reads from his new book about Los Angeles' Museum of Jurassic Technology, "Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonders," 7:30 p.m., Oct. 26, Elliott Bay Books.

John Updike reads from the new edition of his "Rabbit Angstrom" novels, 7 p.m., Oct. 26, First United Methodist Church, 811 Fifth Ave. ($5), sponsored by Elliott Bay Books.

Essayist and natural history writer Diane Ackerman reads from her new collection, "The Rarest of the Rare: Vanishing Animals, Timeless Worlds," 5 p.m., Oct. 27, Elliott Bay Books.

J. California Cooper reads from her new short-story collection, "Some Love, Some Pain, Sometime," 8 p.m., Oct. 27, Elliott Bay Books.

The Northwest Book Festival features more than 200 authors and exhibits by 120 publishers, bookstores, libraries and book-related organizations, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Oct. 28 and 29, Pier 48 on the Seattle waterfront (suggested donation, $5).

Oral historian Studs Terkel discusses his new book, "Coming of Age: The Story of Our Century by Those Who Lived It," 7 p.m., Oct. 30, First United Methodist Church, 811 Fifth Ave., sponsored by Independent Booksellers of Washington.

November

Robert MacNeil, the PBS newsman, reads from his new novel, "Voyage," at 5 p.m., Nov. 7, Elliott Bay Books.

African-American science-fiction writer Octavia E. Butler reads from her new novel, "Bloodchild," 8 p.m., Nov. 7, Elliott Bay Books, and 7:30 p.m., Nov. 8, Red & Black Books.

Bob Woodward, the bestselling author and Washington Post editor, speaks in the Celebrity Forum Series, Nov. 10, Washington State Convention Center.

Jonathan Kozol, the National Book Award-winning author, will read from his new book, "Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation," 7 p.m., Lee Auditorium, downtown Seattle Public Library.

December

Actress Lauren Bacall appears in the Celebrity Forum Series, Dec. 7, Washington State Convention Center.

Playwright and actress Anna Deavere Smith performs "Snapshots: Glimpses of America in Change" in the Seattle Arts & Lectures series, 7:30 p.m., Dec. 11, 5th Avenue Theatre.

Gary Snyder, the Pulitzer-winning poet and essayist, will read from his new collection, "A Place in Space: Ethics, Aesthetics and Watersheds," 7:30 p.m., Elliott Bay Books.

Book/author/lecture phone numbers

The Northwest Book Festival: 789-9868

Barnes & Noble, downtown Bellevue: 451-8463

Barnes & Noble, Issaquah: 557-8808

Barnes & Noble, University Village: 517-4107

Celebrity Forum: (800) 636-1988

Elliott Bay Book Co.: 624-6600

Independent Booksellers of Washington: Molly Cook, 283-1062

Killing Time Mystery Books: 525-2266

Lynnwood Library: 778-2148

Red & Black Books: 322-7323

Seattle Arts & Lectures: 621-2230

Seattle Public Library: 386-4115

University Book Store, Seattle: 634-3400

University Book Store, Bellevue: 632-9500

Write on the Sound: 771-0228