Book It: The Five Best Literary Events This Week

Pack your sunscreen and stay hydrated for these five best local literary bets.

May 21, 2019

Feels like summer, literarily speaking. Onay Davus at Flickr

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It’s not summer here in the Mile High, but you couldn’t tell that if you stayed away from your windows and instead perused Denver’s upcoming literary options, several of which embrace the summertime vibe. A memoir about living on a permanent road trip, baseball anecdotes and a beach read that actually has the word "beach" in the title are all on the roster. After these, you’ll be thankful for the cool relief of poetry and self-healing. Pack your sunscreen and stay hydrated for these five best bets this week:

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Omnidawn

Diana Khoi Nguyen, Ghost Of
Sam Ace, Our Weather Our Sea
Wednesday, May 22, 7 p.m.
Counterpath
7935 East 14th Avenue
Free
Join Counterpath in a scintillating night of readings and performances that expand the poetic beyond the page. Sam Ace is a trans/genderqueer poet and sound artist, and will present work from his new collection, Our Weather Our Sea. Diana Khoi Nguyen is an award-winning poet and multimedia artist who teaches in the Randolph College MFA program and at Lighthouse Writers Workshop; she’ll be reading from her debut collection, Ghost Of, which just won the Colorado Book Award for Poetry. This event is free; light refreshments and deep thoughts will be provided.

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Simon & Schuster

Marc and Julie Bennett, Living the RV Life
Wednesday, May 22, 7:30 p.m.
Boulder Book Store
1107 Pearl Street, Boulder
$5
Love traveling? Craving a life that feels meaningful and new? If so, Marc and Julie Bennett offer their advice in Living the RV Life: Your Ultimate Guide to Life on the Road. Learn if life in a motor home is right for you at this discussion and signing, which will include insightful details from road-educated, adventure-loving, full-time RVers. Tickets to the event are $5 and good for a $5 discount on any purchase on the same day.

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St. Martin's

Mary Kay Andrews, Sunset Beach
Thursday, May 23, 7 p.m.
Tattered Cover
2526 East Colfax Avenue
Free
New York Times best-selling author Mary Kay Andrews (The Beach House Cookbook) brings her latest novel to the Tattered Cover for a reading and signing. Andrews’s new novel is called Sunset Beach, and involves a suspicious death at a sandy and sunny chi-chi resort. Between lawyers-in-love romance and the reopening of a decades-old missing-persons case, there’s a storm a-brewing, and it’s coming ashore.

Triumph Books

Drew Goodman, If These Walls Could Talk
Saturday, May 25, 1 p.m.
Barnes & Noble Bookstore
960 South Colorado Boulevard, Glendale
Free
Meet Drew Goodman, TV play-by-play announcer for the Colorado Rockies and oft-awarded Colorado Sportscaster of the Year, as he brings his new book, If These Walls Could Talk: Stories From the Colorado Rockies Dugout, Locker Room, and Press Box, to the Glendale Barnes & Noble. Fans already know that Goodman lives and breathes Rockies baseball; this book offers insight into the Rockies’ inner sanctum by a guy who’s been there and loved every moment of it. Just the event to take in before you head out to Coors Field for the Rockies' night game with the Orioles!

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Rodale Books

Megan Griswold, The Book of Help
Saturday, May 25, 7 p.m.
BookBar
4280 Tennyson Street
Free
Megan Griswold has been around the world and has a passion for helping others find their own path. She'll bring that enthusiasm to BookBar for a reading and signing of her new work, The Book of Help: A Memoir in Remedies. Griswold, who’s worked as a mountain instructor, an acupuncturist, a freelance reporter, an NPR All Things Considered commentator, a spokesperson for egg freezing, an off-the grid interior designer, and the creator of the backcountry-meets-high-style online store Little Moving Spaces, uses her wide and varied experiences to talk about non-traditional healing, and all the world has to offer. The event is free, but registration is suggested.

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

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Teague Bohlen is a writer, novelist and professor at the University of Colorado Denver. His first novel, The Pull of the Earth, won the Colorado Book Award for Literary Fiction in 2007; his textbook The Snarktastic Guide to College Success came out in 2014. His new collection of flash fiction, Flatland, is available now.

Contact: Teague Bohlen