Book Briefs

Book lovers can sign up now for updates on events leading up to the Vegas Valley Book Festival at vegas
valleybookfestival.org.

The festival is scheduled to kick off with a keynote presentation by “World War Z” author Max Brooks at 7 p.m. Nov. 3, at the Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, and conclude with a reading by “A Thousand Acres” author Jane Smiley at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 5, at the Historic Fifth Street School, 401 S. Fourth St.

The festival is expected to bring in more than 100 authors for panel discussions, readings, exhibitions and more. Most events are free. Highlights include the Children’s Book Festival, the Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival and “Feasting on Words: The Literature and Food Fair” featuring Rick Moonen and other chefs and cookbook authors.

Panels are set to focus on fiction about Las Vegas and the history of women in the casino workforce. Free writing workshops will cover topics such as poetry, memoir, science fiction/fantasy and travel writing.

For updates, visit the website or call 229-5431.

Dining book to be featured
at wine tasting

Laury and John Bakie plan to sign “The World of Las Vegas Dining” during a wine tasting from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Khoury’s Fine Wine & Spirits, 9915 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 110, in Henderson. The authors ate 750 meals in Las Vegas in preparation for their 280-page book.

Mermaid authors
to splash into Barnes & Noble

As a prelude to Mer-Con, a mermaid convention scheduled to splash into The Mirage Friday and Saturday , mermaid authors Carolyn Turgeon, Tera Lynn Childs, Timothy Schaffert, Tracy Deebs, Dame Darcy, Matthea Harvey and others are scheduled to appear at a Mermaid Ball, costume contest and book signing at 7 p.m. Thursday at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

View outdoors columnist schedules events for ‘Base Camp Las Vegas’

View outdoors columnist Deborah Wall plans to speak and sign copies of her book “Base Camp Las Vegas: Hiking the Southwest States” at 2 p.m. Saturday for readers 50 or older at the Heritage Park Senior Facility, 300 S. Racetrack Road, Henderson.

For more information about the book, visit basecamplasvegashikes.com.

Inspire Your Muse at Children’s Writers and Illustrators workshop

The Nevada Society Of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators plans to host a one-day boot camp titled “Autumn Fire: Inspiring Your Muse” from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 10 at the Las Vegas Day School, 3275 Red Rock St. Advance registration received by Sept. 7 is $90 for society members and $115 for others. Registration at the door is $100 for members and $125 for others. Art portfolios review registration is due by Aug. 17.

Scheduled faculty includes literary agents Michael Bourett and Kelly Sonnack, Little, Brown Children’s Books For Young Readers senior art director Patti Ann Harris, and authors Susan Taylor Brown, Kristin Clark Venuti and Ellen Hopkins, and the society’s Work-in-Progress winner Tracy Clark.

For more information, visit nevada
scbwi.org, email ellenhopkins
@charter.net or call 290-3190.

Author of therapy dog book
to sign at Staples

Author Judy McFadden plans to sign and discuss “Life with McDuff: Lessons Learned from a Therapy Dog” from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the 280 W. Lake Mead Parkway Staples in Henderson during the store’s annual Teacher Appreciation Day. For more information about the book, visit lifewithmcduff.com.

View reporter and freelance writer
to speak at writers group

View reporter Jan Hogan, the as-told-to writer of “Under the Gun in Iraq,” and freelance writer/ guidebook author Carol Patton plan to direct a discussion on the business of writing at 7 p.m. Aug. 18 at the Tap House, 5589 W Charleston Blvd., during a meeting of the Las Vegas Writers Group. For more information, visit meetup.com/Las-Vegas-Writers.

‘Dawn of Realization’ author
to make library appearance

Meet Ronald C. Beach, co-author of the novels “Dawn of Realization” and “Dawn of Redemption,” from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 22 at the Paseo Verde Library, 280 S. Green Valley Parkway in Henderson.

Read Richard Wiley’s work for free

Black Mountain Institute associate director Richard Wiley has made two of his most popular novels — “Commodore Perry’s Minstrel Show” and “Indigo” — available for free download at the Concord ePress website. “I’m delighted to have my books available on what is surely the format of the future,” Wiley said in a press release. To download the books, visit concordepress.com.

Extension program to teach free
memoir workshops for seniors

Life Stories Nevada, a University of Nevada Cooperative Extension program designed to help seniors 50 or older record their memoirs, is sponsoring free four-week memoir workshops.

The Heritage Park Senior Facility at 300 S. Racetrack Road in Henderson plans to host a workshop from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Thursdays from Sept. 1-22. The facility can be reached at 267-2950.

Sun City MacDonald Ranch plans to host a workshop from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Fridays Oct. 7-28 in its clubhouse at 2020 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway in Henderson. The facility can be reached at 270-7000.

To register, call either location, or call the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension at 940-5423.

For more information about the program, visit lifestoriesnevada.org.

Local author S.P. Grogan’s
newest project takes on Bin Laden

S.P. Grogan, also published as Stephen Grogan, has a new serialized book project titled “Retaliate: Beyond the Grave, Bin Laden’s Last Attack on the United States,” set to be released via e-book one week at a time. To subscribe to e-book updates, visit retaliatethebook.com.

“I decided to use the serial e-book format to keep the story accurate and time sensitive,” Grogan said in a press release. “ ’Retaliate’ will be a ‘flash’ work-in-progress that follows current events — much like a weekly TV show, ending with cliff-hanger plots.”

Grogan’s previous books, “Vegas Die” and “Captain Cooked,” were best known for interactive searches for hidden weapons.

Grogan plans to sign books at 1 p.m. Aug. 20 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

For more information on the author, visit spgrogan.com.

Career strategy book event planned

PJ Sheldon plans to sign her book “Career Strategies for Success” at noon on Aug. 20 at the 567 N. Stephanie St. Barnes & Noble in Henderson.

Author’s Speakeasy to feature Ms. China

Playwright, poet, spoken word performance artist Ms. China is set to speak from 2 to 4 p.m. Aug. 27 at the West Las Vegas Library, 951 W. Lake Mead Blvd., as part of the library’s Author’s Speakeasy program.

For more information, call 507-3989.

Free StoryCorps toolkit
helps collect memories

The national StoryCorps’ Memory Loss Initiative encourages people with memory loss to share their stories with loved ones and future generations. To make that task easier, a free step-by-step toolkit is available to download at storycorps.org/mli.

The Commemorate toolkit offers an individual reminiscence program that family members can initiate or memory loss care facilities can add to activities.

The initiative has collected more than 1,800 interviews with 180 partner organizations.

For more information, visit storycorps.org or call 646-723-7027.

Sunrise Coffee Co. on sunset road
hosts open mic night Wednesdays

Sunrise Coffee Co. welcomes poets and poetry fans to participate in its open mic night starting at 7 p.m. every Wednesday at 3130 E. Sunset Road.

Share poems at Human Experience

Polish up a poem or two and try them out live at Human Experience, a free spoken word event, from 7 to 9 p.m. Mondays in The Beat coffee shop at 520 Fremont St. inside Emergency Arts. For more information or to view the events online as they happen, visit lasvegaspoets.org.

Access recorded Book programs online through library district

Too busy to get out to book programs? The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District has started posting videocasts and podcasts of many of its programs online. Selections available so far include: “An Afternoon with Tony Curtis,” John L. Smith’s presentation “Amelia’s Long Journey: The Challenge of Writing What You Know,” “Batman” movie producer Michael Uslan’s presentation at the 2009 Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival, Jami Carpenter’s “ABCs of Editing” workshop and Brian Rouff’s “Getting Published: A Long Strange Trip.” To access the programs, visit lvccld.org, select “Books, Movies & More” and then “Video and Podcasts.”

The Black Mountain Institute has offered recordings of its programming since 2006. To access recordings of a gamut of writers from E.L. Doctorow to Alissa Nutting, visit blackmountain
institute.org and select “multimedia.”

Free read to me program
offers stories online and by phone

Celebrity storytellers Oscar Goodman, Rita Rudner, Clint Holmes, Terry Fator, Carrot Top, The Scintas and others have donated their talents to the Clark County Education Association Community Foundation’s Read To Me program. Children can view more than 15 videos of celebrities reading books on the website at readtomelv.com. Stories also can be accessed by calling 240-2665.

Both databases are frequently updated with fresh stories. Parents and teachers can download lesson plans for each book on the website.

DOWNLOAD BOOKS and MORE
FROM YOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY

Virtual Branch websites make it easy to browse, check out and download digital books and more to a home computer for free. All patrons need is a valid library card and an Internet-connected PC.

Virtual Branch download websites feature a digital catalog of downloadable audio books, e-books, music and video titles.

Each site is meant to look and feel like the library’s main site, and it has many easy-to-use features similar to an online store.

Digital book downloads are borrowed just like print materials. Once patrons select the title or author they want, they follow the steps to check out and then download the title to their home computer.

Patrons can transfer most titles to portable media players, such as MP3 players, PDAs or smart phones.

Each title that is downloaded has a designated lending period. When the title expires, it is automatically returned to the Virtual Branch, so there are no late fees.

For more information, visit
search.overdrive.com.

Henderson Writers Group
meets Mondays

The Henderson Writers Group meets from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m. Mondays. Meetings are at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at 4550 S. Maryland Parkway on the second and fourth Mondays and at Saxby’s Coffee Lounge, 72 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway, on the first, third and occasional fifth Mondays.

Visit hendersonwritersgroup.com for more details.

Meetings are open to the public.

Zine library open in Emergency Arts

Grab a cup of coffee and check out the independently crafted magazines at the Las Vegas Zine Library inside the Beat Cafe in Emergency Arts, 520 Fremont St.

The library is still small, more of a collection on display for reference and on-site reading than a checkout repository. Contributions of zines are appreciated. For more information, visit lvzinelibrary.blogspot.com.