Book It: The Five Best Literary Events This Week

As we head into the first official days of spring, the world is starting to open up again. The grass is getting green, buds are appearing on trees, you realize that you have neighbors you haven’t really seen since October, and literary events are starting to blossom across Denver, too.

Much like the praise heaped upon author Luis Urrea’s book The House of Broken Angels (he's at the
Tattered Cover on March 23; keep reading for details), the literary scene in Denver is “a big, messy, warmhearted epic.” Here are the five best events on the calendar over the next week.

Corey Stiles, Grief Interrupted
Wednesday, March 21, 7 p.m.
Tattered Cover LoDo
1628 16th Street
No one escapes grief in their life, but the loss of a child is something that can only be understood by someone who’s lived through it. Is it possible for a parent to find joy and purpose in life after the passing of a young adult child? Corey Stiles, who lost her seventeen-year-old daughter to a car accident, has walked the path and emerged on the other side, ready to guide parents in similar situations through the sorrow and then reclaim their joy. She'll talk about Grief Interrupted: A Holistic Guide to Reclaiming Your Joy, a “personal healing retreat for mothers,” page by healing page.

Shawn Dougherty, Wake
Thursday, March 22, 5:30 p.m.
Boulder Book Store
1107 Pearl Street, Boulder
This free, kid-friendly event celebrates Shawn Dougherty and her lush and lyrical picture book Wake, which focuses on a boy awakened in the quiet hours of the night to join Oak and Wood in the forest. It’s a whispered celebration of our bond with the natural world, filled with striking watercolor illustrations by Leah Busch.


Tim Bono, When Likes Aren’t Enough
Friday, March 23, 7 p.m.
Tattered Cover LoDo
1628 16th Street
Dr. Tim Bono was teaching psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis — but he wasn’t happy. His search for his own happiness led him to work in the field of positive psychology, and his courses helped students find the happiness that eludes so many of them (and us). This, in turn, led to his book When Likes Aren’t Enough: A Crash Course in the Science of Happiness. Begin the trip to your happy place at Tattered Cover LoDo.

Hali C. Broncucia, The Road Ahead
Saturday, March 24, 6 p.m.
BookBar
4280 Tennyson Street
Colorado author Hali C. Broncucia comes to BookBar to read from and sign her new novel, The Road Ahead, which traces the journey of a Colorado scientist during a worldwide viral epidemic that’s wiped out 99 percent of the global population. She begins her trek right here in Denver, trying to get to a purported vaccine developed in San Francisco. Like the path pioneers followed for the Gold Rush, the road is full of challenges, hardships and the promise of a better life at the end…if she can make it.

Luis Urrea, The House of Broken Angels
Saturday, March 24, 7 p.m.
Tattered Cover
2526 East Colfax Avenue
Pulitzer Prize finalist (for his nonfiction book The Devil’s Company) Luis Urrea appears at the Tattered Cover on Colfax to discuss and sign his new novel, The House of Broken Angels, a powerful portrait of a Mexican-American family and the American Dream. Entertainment Weekly called it “a big, messy, warmhearted epic…generous to the last breath.”

Send information on literary events around town to [email protected].