This week you can kick back and meet some of this year’s Colorado Book Awards finalists in the Lighthouse Writers Workshop Lit Fest tent, have a laugh with a Colorado success story or — if you‘re a nine- to twelve-year-old bookworm — dive into this summer’s Youth One Book, One Denver programming. Read on.
Lit Fest Speakeasy Reading: Colorado Book Award Finalists
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
4 p.m. Monday, June 6
Free
As part of its two-week intensive Lit Fest, Lighthouse Writers Workshop’s informal Speakeasy Readings offer happy-hour literature and libations in collaboration with the Tattered Cover. On June 6, come to the book tent for a taste of this year’s Colorado Book Award finalists in the poetry and literary-fiction categories, including winning poet Nicky Beer (The Octopus Game), Martin McGovern (Bad Fame), Mark Stevens (reading from Gary Reilly’s Pickup at Union Station) and Tiffany Quay Tyson (Three Rivers: A Novel). Visit Lighthouse Writers online for a list of upcoming Speakeasy readings and other Lit Fest at Night readings and salons. 
Matteson Perry, Available: A Memoir of Heartbreak, Hookups, Love and Brunch
Tattered Cover LoDo
7 p.m. Thursday, June 9
Free
Colorado-born author and storyteller Matteson Perry, two-time winner of the Moth GrandSlam storytelling championship and host of the Lost Angeles Moth StorySlam, continues to keep audiences laughing with his book Available: A Memoir of Heartbreak, Hookups, Love and Brunch, a funny firsthand account of living single in the 21st century.
Youth One Book, One Denver Kickoff Celebration
Tattered Cover Colfax Avenue
1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 11
Free
Denver’s Youth One Book, One Denver program picked a peach for this year’s chosen summer read: Colorado author Jennifer Chambliss Bertman’s middle-grade novel Book Scavenger, the story of a twelve-year-old girl who is hot on a trail left by her favorite author and creator of an online game, searching for clues in books and puzzles he’s left behind. The Tattered Cover will kick off a summer-long series of interactive events and activities on June 11 with a public introduction of Bertman, her book and the related programming to come. Get started on your own book-scavenging adventure and plan to meet back up at the Tattered on August 6 for an an end-of-summer celebration. Can’t make the kickoff party? Learn more about this summer’s YOBOD programs at Denver Arts & Venues.

What's on the next page in Denver's literary world? Visit Westword's Literary Event listings for this week.