Book It: The Five Best Literary Events This Week

This week's literary calendar provides some much-needed distraction from snow, snow, snow. From live storytelling to discussions of AI and the modern media to new novels and independent comics, there’s a buffet of beautiful bookish events. Here are your five best bets:

Unsent
Tuesday, February 18, 7 p.m.
Rock Steady
2100 Curtis Street
$10 in advance, $15 at the door
Back by popular demand, Unsent is the live-mic storytelling event spotlighting brave souls who take the stage to share that email draft, letter or text that they’d wish they’d sent…or wish they hadn’t. Co-hosts Brittany Ballard and Hanna Bowens bring the show to Rock Steady for an evening of laughs, tears and beers. And probably some hot wings.

Janelle Shane, You Look Like a Thing and I Love You
Wednesday, February 19, 7:30 p.m.
Boulder Book Store
1107 Pearl Street, Boulder
$5
Writer and popular science blogger Janelle Shane comes to the Boulder Book Store to discuss her new book, You Look Like a Thing and I Love You. It’s a smart and hilarious introduction to our growing dependence on artificial intelligence (more commonly abbreviated as AI), and how it represents both the best and worst of humanity. Also, not for nothing, but this title is definitely in the running for Most Awesome Book Title of 2020. Tickets are $5, and good for a $5 discount off the purchase of this book or any other on the day of the event.

Rye Curtis, Kingdomtide
Thursday, February 20, 7 p.m.
Tattered Cover
2526 East Colfax Avenue
Free
Author Rye Curtis brings his debut novel, Kingdomtide, to the Tattered Cover for a reading and signing. The book focuses on the lives of two women as they intersect following a tragic airplane crash in the wild Bitterroot Range of Montana. Both characters find themselves in very different situations that nonetheless require similar impulses for tough-minded resilience. The event is free and open to the public.

Nolan Higdon, United States of Distraction
Thursday, February 20, 7:30 p.m.
Boulder Book Store
1107 Pearl Street, Boulder
$5
Worried about the role of media as a crucial check on political power? Cal State East Bay Professor of History and Communication Nolan Higdon brings his timely and important new book, United States of Distraction: Media Manipulation in Post-Truth America (and What We Can Do About It), to the Boulder Book Store for a discussion and signing on exactly that topic. It’s a clear and concise appraisal of our current American situation, right alongside action items for how to improve it. Tickets are $5, and good for a $5 discount off the purchase of this book or any other on the day of the event.

Catana Chetwynd, Snug
Sunday, February 23, 7 p.m.
Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities
6901 Wadsworth Boulevard, Arvada
$22
Indie comic artist Catana Chetwynd brings her new book, Snug: A Collection of Comics About Doing Your Best Friend, to the Arvada Center, in association with the Tattered Cover. If you and your significant other are up for a little post-Valentine’s Day action, these comics will do the trick. Tickets include a copy of the book.

Have a literary event you think should be included on this list? Send details to [email protected].