Book It: The Five Best Literary Events This Week

Denver will enjoy a cornucopia of literary goodness this Thanksgiving week. Sure, Thursday looks pretty quiet, given that many of us will be somewhere we call home, eating and laughing and washing more dishes than we knew we actually owned. But hot on the heels of Turkey Day comes Black Friday, and then Small Business Saturday and the opening of the holly-trimmed commercial floodgates that is the holiday shopping season. So give thanks: Here are your top five reasons to be bookishly grateful this year.

Write-In Wednesdays
Wednesday, November 21, 4 to 6 p.m.
BookBar
4280 Tennyson Street
Free
Need a break from the pie-making and the thanks-giving? Westword’s Best Bookstore of 2018 proves its ongoing awesomeness with this weekly devotion of writing space (and bottomless cups of coffee!) to local authors who just need a peaceful and supportive place to write. Come to Tennyson Street for a mug of joe, some peace of mind, and the opportunity to write the next great lit-work for BookBar to champion.

Colorado #ResistanceReads
Friday, November 23, through Tuesday, December 4
coresistancereads.wordpress.com
Free
This is what literary democracy looks like! Kick off Black Friday in make-your-voice-heard style with this campaign by local authors like organizer Kate Jonuska, who want to make a positive difference in today’s America. Between Black Friday and Colorado Gives Day, fully 50 percent of all proceeds from sales of several Colorado authors’ political and social works will go to nonprofits like the ACLU, IRC Denver, the Continental Divide Trail Coalition, ACCESS Housing, CHARG Resource Center, Extended Hands for Hope, the Transgender Resource Center and more. Do good hand in hand with some of your favorite authors, who are looking to do the same. Check out the website for more information, and to find out how to buy, read and make a difference.

Andrea Gibson, Lord of the Butterflies
Friday, November 23, 7 p.m.
Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Cafe
1301 Pennsylvania Avenue, Boulder
$20
Andrea Gibson's career began with a breakup poem at a Boulder open mic event in 1999; since then, Gibson's work has been increasingly celebrated, launching even higher when the poet won the Woman of the World Poetry Slam in 2008. Gibson’s newest collection, Lord of the Butterflies, sees the launch of its national tour in Denver, at Innisfree Poetry. Call the store for tickets; $20 gets you admission to the night of music and poetry as well as a copy of the book.

Small Business Saturday Sale
Saturday, November 24
Time Warp Comics and Games
3105 28th Street, Boulder
With the passing of the legendary Stan Lee, let’s take a moment to praise the comic book as literature —because it is (sorry, Bill Maher). Comic books have jump-started more literary love than twelve-plus years of English classes and required reading could hope for, and it’s their bang-thoom-swoosh excitement that keeps enticing new generations into the ranks of the True Believers. What better way to celebrate Stan Lee and his literary legacy than to patronize Time Warp Comics in Boulder, which will be celebrating Small Business Saturday with blowout sales on just about everything? Appreciate the heroes at your local comic store; they’re fighting the good literary fight, too.

Kim Adrian, The Twenty-Seventh Letter of the Alphabet
Sarah Boyer, Howard
Phil Cordelli, Manual of Woody Plants
Saturday, November 24, 7 p.m.
Counterpath
7935 East 14th Avenue
Free
Let Counterpath bust you out of your turkey comas with an evening of readings from three dynamic writers. Kim Adrian is the author of the harrowing childhood memoir The Twenty-Seventh Letter of the Alphabet and Sock from the “Object Lessons” series of books. Sarah Boyer is the author of the poetry collection Howard, and Phil Cordelli of the poetry collection Manual of Woody Plants. At the end of this Thanksgiving week, come to Counterpath and give thanks for good company and the written word.

Know of an event that belongs on this list? Send information to [email protected].