Book It: The Six Best Literary Events This Week

Denver boasts a literary week filled with promising up-and-coming authors as well as established writers both local and international. Here are your six best bets for recognizing and enjoying the best in literature right here in Denver.

Chris Ransick, mummer prisoner scavenger thief
Friday, September 13, 7 p.m.
BookBar
4280 Tennyson Street
Free
Former Denver poet laureate Chris Ransick, who served in the role from 2006 to 2010, returns to Colorado for a reading and signing of his newest poetry collection, mummer prisoner scavenger thief, at BookBar. Ransick has long been a champion of the local literary scene, from his work with the city’s public library board to the state’s humanities board of directors to his extensive work in higher education and at Lighthouse Writers Workshop.

Atticus, The Truth About Magic
Saturday, September 14, 2 p.m.
Tattered Cover
2526 East Colfax Avenue
$18
Poet and Instagram sensation Atticus reads from and signs his new book, The Truth About Magic, at the Tattered Cover. This third collection of poems takes readers on an adventure to discover the truth about magic through heartbreak and falling in love, looking both back and inward, finding ourselves, our purpose, and the simple joys of life with grace. Magic is everywhere: oak barrels, old barns, wine, laughter and the oceans — and at a bookstore on a late-summer Saturday afternoon. Tickets include a copy of the book and a place in the autograph line.

At the Inkwell: Indigenous Writers
Saturday, September 14, 2:30 p.m.
BookBar
4280 Tennyson Street
Free
Local author Erika T. Wurth (Buckskin Cocaine) hosts this special At the Inkwell event with six talented writers coming together to read their work and sign their books. Readers include Byron F. Aspaas, Crisosto Apache, Lemanuel Loley, Steven Graham Jones, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, and Wurth herself. Come out to celebrate these writers and their important bodies of work.


Colorado Authors Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Saturday, September 14, 5 p.m.
Courtyard Marriott Cherry Creek
1475 South Colorado Boulevard
$115 ($70 is tax deductible)
Colorado’s newest Hall of Fame honors are all about authors and the written word they create; join the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame in recognizing the inaugural class of some of the best and most notable writers the state has to offer. Mix 100’s Dom Testa serves as host for the event, and tickets are still available for the ceremony and the after-party.


Ayse Papatya Bucak, The Trojan War Museum and Other Stories
Monday, September 16, 6:30 p.m.
Tivoli 640 (Zenith Room), Auraria Campus
900 Auraria Parkway
Free
Award-winning author Ayse Papatya Bucak will be the special guest of CU Denver’s Creative Writing program when she brings her newest collection of award-winning stories, The Trojan War Museum and Other Stories, to the Auraria campus. The beguiling collection includes the O. Henry Award-winning “The History of Girls,” as well as other stories that work with both narrative form and the author’s Turkish roots. The event is free and open to the public; books will be available for purchase and signing at the event.

Salman Rushdie, Quichotte
Monday, September 16, 7 p.m.
Arvada Center for the Arts & Humanities
6901 Wadsworth Boulevard, Arvada
$37.77
Internationally best-selling author Salman Rushdie comes to the Arvada Center to discuss and sign his new novel, Quichotte, which has already been long-listed for the Booker Prize. The book is a “dazzling Don Quixote for the modern age — an epic tour de force that is as much an homage to an immortal work of literature as it is to the quest for love and family.” Tattered Cover is co-sponsoring this event; tickets include a signed copy of the novel.

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