Book Briefs, Feb. 7

Book Boutique to reopen today

The Book Boutique, 19 W. Pacific Ave. in Henderson, is scheduled to reopen at 9:30 a.m. today.

"Since experiencing a flood on Jan. 16, it has been a busy, and at times stressful, three weeks," owner Shereen Hale wrote in an email. "But, I have finally gotten the store back in order, books and furniture in their proper place."

For more information, the store can be reached at 697-0001.

BMI series to feature Blake Butler

Blake Butler, author of "There is No Year, Ever," and "Scorch Atlas," is scheduled to speak as part of the Black Mountain Institute’s Nevada Emerging Writers Series at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Greenspun Hall Auditorium at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway.

For more, visit blackmountaininstitute.org.

P.J. Sheldon plans book signing

Author/photographer P.J. Sheldon plans to sign her book "Feathers and Gifts" at 1 p.m. Saturday at  the 567 N. Stephanie St. Barnes & Noble in Henderson.

Book Festival sends out call for art

The Vegas Valley Book Festival invites artists to submit qualifications to create three original artworks as posters for the festival, planned for Nov. 1-3. The deadline to apply is Friday. The artworks will celebrate the festival, the Vegas Valley Children’s Book Festival and the Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival. Members of the festival’s steering committee and employees (and their families) of the city of Las Vegas, the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District and Nevada Humanities are not eligible. There is no entry fee.

The selected artist will receive an honorarium of $1,500. Request an application via email at info@vegas valleybookfestival.org.

For details, visit vegasvalleybook festival.org or call 229-5431.

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.

EXHIBIT TO FEATURE HISTORICAL FIGURES

Bauman Rare Books plans to showcase "The American Experience" exhibit from Feb. 16 to March 1 inside The Shoppes at the Palazzo, 3339 Las Vegas Blvd. South. The exhibit is slated to feature rare first editions of "The Federalist" and "Lewis and Clark Expedition," and signed documents by Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. For more information, call 948-1617 or visit baumanrarebooks.com.

Writers group to welcome Mystery Author MOrgan St. James

Morgan St. James, author of "Writers’ Tricks of the Trade: 39 Things You Need to Know About the ABCs of Writing Fiction" and co-author of the Silver Sisters Mystery series, is scheduled to speak at a meeting of the Las Vegas Writers Group at 7 p.m. Feb. 16 at the Tap House, 5589 W. Charleston Blvd. The meeting fee is $5. Visit meetup.com/Las-Vegas-Writers for details. For details, visit meetup.com/las-vegas-writers.

Ms. China plans poet interview

Ms. China plans to interview poet Keith Brantley from 2 to 4 p.m. Feb. 25 at the West Las Vegas Library, 951 W. Lake Mead Blvd. Visit lvccld.org for details.

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 in Henderson, on the first, third and occasional fifth Mondays. Meetings are typically canceled on holidays. Visit henderson writersgroup.com for more information. Meetings are open to the public.

Las Vegas Writers Conference scheduled for April 19-21

The Las Vegas Writers Conference is scheduled for April 19-21 at Sam’s Town, 5111 Boulder Highway. Registration for the full conference is $450 or $500 at the door. One-day registration also is available.

For more information, visit lasvegaswritersconference.com.

SHARE POEMS AT HUMAN EXPERIENCE

Polish up a poem or two and try them out 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, visit lasvegaspoets.org.

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.

ACCESS RECORDED BOOK PROGRAMS ONLINE

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, Kindles 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.

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.

Teen Writing Club plans meetings

A Teen Writing Club meets at the Green Valley Library, 2797 N. Green Valley Parkway. The club schedules meetings every other month. For more information, call 207-4260.