Book It: The Five Best Literary Events This Week

They say that January is the best month for skiing in Colorado, but it’s an even better month to enjoy books. You can read in front of your fire, burrito'd-up in a blanket or three, or brave the streets and head to a local gathering place to socialize with others who love, create and consume the written word. Whether you’re looking for inspiration, want to enjoy some escapism, or simply celebrate courage and creativity, go out, buy some books, thank some authors, then get back home to make tea, get cozy and turn some pages. Here are your five literary best bets for the week, to accomplish just that.

Tommy Caldwell, The Push
Tuesday, January 8, 6 p.m.
Aspen Institute, Paepcke Auditorium
1000 North 3rd Street, Aspen
$25
The 22nd annual Winter Words series kicks off with Tommy Caldwell and his book The Push: A Climber’s Search for the Path. Caldwell, a world-renowned rock climber and native of Estes Park, will discuss his career and book, which the Denver Post called “an absolutely captivating glimpse into how a simple yet unwavering resolve can turn adversity into reward.” This is the first of five Winter Words events during ski season; check the website for scheduling, tickets and more information.

Katherine Arden, The Winter of the Witch
Wednesday, January 9, 7 p.m.
Tattered Cover
2526 East Colfax Avenue
Free
Venture to the Tattered Cover for fantasy adventure set in a Russian landscape of both history and imagination, with the plucky heroine battling enemies both mortal and magical. The Winter of the Witch is the stunning conclusion to the best-selling Winternight Trilogy, which also included the books The Bear and the Nightingale and The Girl in the Tower. Author Katherine Arden will be on hand to discuss and sign any and all of her books.

Ellen Korman Mains, Buried Rivers
Thursday, January 10, 7:30 p.m.
Boulder Book Store
1107 Pearl Street, Boulder
$5
Second-generation Holocaust survivor and best-selling memoirist Ellen Korman Mains comes to the Boulder Book Store to talk about her new work, Buried Rivers: A Spiritual Journey into the Holocaust. Mains, whose mother survived Auschwitz, explores what she calls “basic goodness” in the light of the atrocities of the Holocaust and her own family’s history. Tickets are $5 and are good for $5 off the purchase of Buried Rivers or anything else in the store on the day of the reading.


Brendan Leonard, Sixty Meters to Anywhere
Saturday, January 12, 2 p.m.
Improper City
3201 Walnut Street
Free
The Denver Public Library brings journalist, speaker and adventurer Brendan Leonard to Denver to talk about his memoir, Sixty Meters to Anywhere, a painfully honest and inspiring story of substance abuse and the first year of recovery in the Rocky Mountain West. BookBar will be on hand to sell copies of both Sixty Meters to Anywhere and Leonard’s latest, The Art of Getting Lost: 365 Days of Adventure, Big and Small. The event is free, but registration is required.


Stories on Stage, A Typewriter Revolution
Saturday, January 12 . 1:30 p.m./7 p.m.
Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center
721 Santa Fe Drive
$15 to $28
The members of Buntport Theater Company throw down the gauntlet at the feet of the digital paradigm with performances of poems and stories written on, for and about our good old friend the typewriter. Come celebrate the beauty of click-clack key strikes and carriage returns with this latest raucous partnership between Stories on Stage and Buntport. Tickets are on sale at the Stories on Stage website.

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