Book It: The Five Best Literary Events This Week

This is a big literary week, with readings, launch parties and literary receptions all over town. If you want to keep some seriously kick-ass company, here are the five best events to book.

Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy
Tuesday, April 17, 7 p.m.
Tattered Cover
2526 East Colfax Avenue
Free
Jonathan Evison (Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving) is already becoming known for his sharp and engaging commentary on race and socioeconomic conditions in today’s world, and on April 17 he'll bring his newest novel, Lawn Boy, to the Tattered Cover on Colfax for a reading and signing.  Some critics are calling Lawn Boy his finest work yet; it’s a book that Publisher’s Weekly says “quietly considers the deterioration of the American Dream.”

Madeline Albright, Fascism: A Warning
Wednesday, April 18, 7 p.m.
Trinity United Methodist Church
1820 Broadway
$26.99
Presented by the Tattered Cover (tickets, $26.99, come with a copy of the book), this conversation with former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, the first woman to hold that position, promises to be both eye-opening and deeply unsettling — as well as one of the most important conversations Americans can have in this era. Albright’s book isn’t just a history of fascism in the twentieth century; it’s a canary singing loudly in the coal mine, warning us to learn from the lessons of the past in order to secure freedom for ourselves and our posterity.

Mary Taylor Young, Rocky Mountain National Park: The First 100 Years
Saturday, April 21, noon
Antlers Hotel, 4 South Cascade Avenue, Colorado Springs
$40
This event, sponsored by the Friends of the Pikes Peak Library District, honors Colorado author Mary Taylor Young as the 2018 Frank Waters Award winner. Young, the author of Rocky Mountain National Park: The First 100 Years, among many other works, joins prestigious company; past winners include Barbara Kingsolver and Tony Hillerman. Proceeds benefit library programs; find more information on the library website.


Christopher Moore, Noir
Saturday, April 21, 2 p.m.
Tattered Cover
2526 East Colfax Avenue
$27.99
Christopher Moore is the author of a number of weird, wonderful and witty books skewering a slew of subjects: religion (Lamb), the occult (Practical Demonkeeping), marine biology (Fluke) and a whole lot more. Now comes his latest, Noir, a comic sendup of the hard-boiled 1940s thriller, a place of dames with secrets, guys just trying to get by, fedoras on hat racks, and…black mambas named Petey. Okay, that last one might be unique to Moore. Tickets for this event include a copy of the book, ready for signing by Moore (and anyone else you'd like).

Young Adult/Juvenile Literature Finalists Reading
Sunday, April 22, 4:30 p.m.
BookBar
4280 Tennyson Street
Free
Colorado Book Award finalists in the Juvenile and Young Adult categories will gather at BookBar on April 22 to read from their honored works. Readers include Todd Mitchell (The Last Panther), Sara Miller and Pat Toole (Path of the Thunderbird: A Grand Canyon Adventure), Len Vlahos (Life in a Fishbowl), and Sara Jade Alan (A Messy, Beautiful Life). Complimentary pizza bites and Shirley Temples available while supplies last — which really is all you need to know. Extra cherries in mine, please.