There are so many literary highlights this week that we can't count them on a single hand. From a whale of a book sale to a sci-fi confab to a Fort Collins foodfest, here are your seven best bookish bets for the week, Denver. Enjoy.

Catherine Pierce, The Tornado Is the World
Thursday, October 17, 6:30 p.m.
Tivoli 640 (Zenith Room)
900 Auraria Parkway
Free
Award-winning poet Catherine Pierce is the special guest of the University of Colorado Denver’s Creative Writing program as she brings her latest collection of poems, The Tornado Is the World, to the Auraria campus. Pierce is the author of three books of poems so far, has another debuting in 2020, and has had work published in such venues as Best American Poetry, American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Crazyhorse and the 2019 Pushcart Anthology, to name only a few. All that, and tornadoes, too? Yes, it’s true. All of it.

Whale of a Used Book Sale
Thursday, October 17, through Sunday, October 20
Jefferson County Fairgrounds
15200 West Sixth Avenue Frontage Road, Golden
Free
Jefferson County Library Foundation brings back its super-popular, semi-annual Whale of a Used Book Sale, where over 80,000 books, DVDs, vinyl records and more will be available. Thursday is Friends of JCPL Preview Night; you can pay $10 for early-bird access on Friday (the rest of the day admission is free, as it is on Saturday); and Sunday is bag day, when bags of books start at only $6. For more information on the event, check out the Jeffco website.

MileHiCon 51
Friday, October 18, through Sunday, October 20
Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center, 7800 East Tufts Avenue
Three-day passes at the door $50/Single-day passes $20-22
Last year saw the golden anniversary for this Denver sci-fi/fantasy lit celebration; come out to see how it celebrates the first year of its second half-century! And while you’re there, don’t forget to get some of your favorite books signed, shake hands with the authors, and rub elbows with some of the biggest writers (and fans!) in the genre. It’s three days of pure geek-lit love. Remember that thrill when you’d find a great book you’d heard of, wanted to read but had never seen on the shelf before? Live it again. Pre-registration is closed, but tickets are still available at the door.

Hillary Leftwich, Ghosts Are Just Strangers Who Know How to Knock
Friday, October 18, 7 p.m.
BookBar
4280 Tennyson Street
Free
Local literary dynamo Hillary Leftwich launches her new collection, Ghosts Are Just Strangers Who Know How to Knock, at BookBar with a reading and signing. She’s joined at the event by friends and fellow writers Nancy Stohlman, Charly “City Mouse” Fasano and Jane Keir, all of whom come ready to read, drink and eat cake — not necessarily in that order.