Las Vegas Book Briefs for March 25-31, 2014

A launch party for the novel “Beg 4 Mercy,” the first book in Miles Felony’s Sin City Chronicles series, is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. March 29 at Via Brasil Steakhouse, 1225 S. Fort Apache Road. Admission is free, but RSVPs are requested at 702-277-7568 or milesflony@yahoo.com. The novel, part of a planned two-part thriller, follows a bipolar Vietnam vet who becomes a Las Vegas serial killer.

SPRING FLING BOOK FAIR TO FOCUS ON STATE SESQUICENTENNIAL

The Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, plans a Spring Fling Book Fair — Sesquicentennial Edition for 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 29.

More than 100 authors are set to sign books in rotating 90-minute sessions throughout the event.

Organizers are hoping to add another 50 authors to the event for what would be the library district’s highest number of authors participating in an event.

Workshops scheduled include a panel on writing about Las Vegas from 11 a.m. to noon and on book publishing from 2 to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

For more information, visit lvccld.org.

AUTHORS TO SIGN BOOK ON ELDERCARE

Kim Boyer and Mary Shapiro are set to sign copies of their book “The Essential Eldercare Handbook for Nevada” at 10 a.m. March 29 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble and 1 p.m. April 13 at the 567 N. Stephanie St. Barnes & Noble.

BOOK SIGNING SLATED FOR ‘I FOUND A LITTLE TRINKET’

Local author Kristen Vaccaro plans to read from her book “I Found a Little Trinket” at 11 a.m. and sign books at 11:30 a.m. March 29 at the 567 N. Stephanie St. Barnes & Noble.

AUTHOR PLANS LAUNCH PARTY FOR ‘BEG 4 MERCY’

A launch party for the novel “Beg 4 Mercy,” the first book in Miles Felony’s Sin City Chronicles series, is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. March 29 at Via Brasil Steakhouse, 1225 S. Fort Apache Road. Admission is free, but RSVPs are requested at 702-277-7568 or milesflony@yahoo.com. The novel, part of a planned two-part thriller, follows a bipolar Vietnam vet who becomes a Las Vegas serial killer.

AUDIOBOOK ARTIST PLANS PRESENTATION

Veteran Broadway and television actor George Guidall is set to share personal stores and read selections from his repertoire of more than 900 unabridged audiobooks during a presentation scheduled at 2 p.m. April 6 at the Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road. For more information, visit lvccld.org.

NEW SERIES TO FEATURE POP-UP! POETRY

Pop-Up! Poetry: A Las Vegas Poetry Feature Series is set to present poets reading at 7 p.m. during the First Friday arts festival in the Nevada Humanities offices at Art Square, 1025 S. First St. Upcoming poets to be featured include: Vogue R. on April 4, A.J. Moyer on May 2 and Harry Fagel on June 6. The series is part of Las Vegas Poets Organizations’ celebration of 10 years of service to the community. For more information, visit lasvegaspoets.org.

DISTRICT LAUNCHES LIBRARY CARD CAMPAIGN

The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District plans to team with Shark Reef Aquarium to encourage library card signings during a campaign scheduled April 1-30. Patrons who sign up for a card or like the library on Facebook will be entered for a chance to win four tickets to the reef’s Animal Encounters, where they can feed aquatic animals behind the scenes. Library card holders can also get $3 off adult admission and $2 off children’s admission to Shark Reef during the campaign.

For more information, visit lvccld.org.

AUTHOR TO SIGN ‘THE LEGEND OF STERGIS BERRAHA’

Nicholas Peterson plans to sign copies of his book “The Legend of Stergis Berraha” at noon April 5 at the 567 N. Stephanie St. Barnes & Noble.

WOLFGANG PUCK PLANS COOKBOOK EVENT

Chef Wolfgang Puck is set to sign copies of his newly released cookbook “Wolfgang Puck Makes It Healthy: Light, Delicious Recipes and Easy Exercises for a Better Life” from 2 to 4 p.m. April 9 in front of Spago Las Vegas in The Forum Shops at Caesars, 3500 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

SIGNING SET FOR ‘ANGELS NEVER DIE’

Gwendoloyn S. McNutt is slated to sign “Angels Never Die,” a book written with Henry L. McNutt about the challenge of raising children with Fanconi anemia and Waskott-Aldrich syndrome, at 1 p.m. April 12 at the 567 N. Stephanie St. Barnes & Noble.

D.J. MACHALE PLANS LAS VEGAS VISIT

D.J. MacHale is slated to sign copies of “Storm,” the second book in the Sylo Chronicles, at 7 p.m. April 7 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

POET LYNN XU PLANS UNLV VISIT

Poet Lynn Xu is scheduled to speak as part of the Black Mountain Institute Emerging Writers Series at 7 p.m. April 8 in Greenspun Hall Auditorium at UNLV, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway.

The Shanghai-born poet is the author of the collection “Debts & Lessons” and the chapbook “June.” She is an editor at Canarium Books.

For more information, visit blackmountaininstitute.org.

JESSICA BRODY PLANS BOOKSTORE APPEARANCE

Young adult author Jessica Brody, author of “Unforgotten,” “52 Reasons to Hate My Father,” “The Karma Club” and “My Life Undecided,” is slated to sign books at 2 p.m. April 12 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

WHITNEY LIBRARY TO WELCOME PERFORMANCE POET

Performance poet Lee Mallory is scheduled to read, discuss creativity and sign copies of his book “Now and Then” at 6:30 p.m. April 22 at the Whitney Library, 5175 E. Tropicana Ave.

For more information, visit lvccld.org.

MEMOIR-WRITING WORKSHOPS SLATED

An ongoing series of free four-week memoir-writing workshops is scheduled at noon Wednesdays and at 10 a.m. Fridays at the Las Vegas FamilySearch Library, 509 S. Ninth St. Four-week sessions are set to begin the first week of every month.

For more information, call 702-382-9695.

LITERARY GUILD PLANS AUTHOR EVENTS

The Sun City MacDonald Ranch Literary Guild plans a literary event featuring Mike Prince April 13 at 2 p.m. at the Desert Willow Community Center, 2020 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway. Admission is free, and guests receive a 20 percent discount in the center’s restaurant the day of the event. Other upcoming speakers scheduled include Robyn Carr on May 4 and Richman Mahlangu on June 8.

‘ZODACCIA’ AUTHOR TO SIGN BOOKS

Justin Hill, local author of “Zodaccia Realms of Chaos,” is slated to sign books at 1 p.m. April 26 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

UNLV PROFESSOR’S VERSE DRAMA TO DEBUT

A debut performance of “O, Heart,” a verse drama by local poet Claudia Keelan, is scheduled for 7 p.m. April 24 in the UNLV Student Union Theatre, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway. Keelan, whose books include “Refinery” and “Utopic,” is a creative writing and English professor at UNLV and the editor of Interim magazine.

For more information, visit blackmountaininstitute.org.

SCHOOLS GET BOOK DONATIONS

City National Bank and Barnes & Noble teamed to present three local elementary schools with new books and matching donations March 5 and 7. Lake and Cambiero elementary schools were each given 800 new books and matching donations of $4,500.

Cortez Elementary School received 1,000 new books and a matching donation of $5,000.

MATCHED TRILOGY AUTHOR SIGNING SLATED

Ally Condie is scheduled to sign the second book in her Matched Trilogy, “Crossed,” at 7 p.m. May 2 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

SAVE A DIFFERENT DATE FOR VEGAS VALLEY BOOK FESTIVAL

Readers accustomed to attending the Vegas Valley Book Festival the first weekend in November won’t have to wait as long this year. This year’s main festival and the Vegas Valley Children’s Book Festival are slated for Oct. 16-18. For more information on the festival or to apply to be a volunteer or visiting author, visit vegasvalleybookfestival.org. Festival organizers are slated to collect author submission forms through April 15.

The Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival (vegasvalleycomicbookfestival.org) is scheduled to remain on the first weekend in November at the Clark County Library.

SHOWGIRL-TURNED-AUTHOR TO SIGN NEW BOOK

Local showgirl-turned-author Vicki Pettersson is scheduled to sign book three in her Celestial Blues series, “The Given,” at 7 p.m. May 27 at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

BARNES & NOBLE TO HOST WRITING GROUP

The 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble hosts a writing critique group at 5:15 p.m. the fourth Monday of each month. The group is limited to the first 20 participants per meeting. Sign up at meetup.com/las-vegas-creative-writing-class.

ALIANTE LIBRARY TO HOST WRITERS CLUB

The Aliante Library Writers Club is scheduled to meet from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month at the Aliante Library, 2400 W. Deer Springs Road. For more information, contact facilitator Glory Wade at glorywadewriter@gmail.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 Coffeehouse inside Emergency Arts, 520 Fremont St. For more information, visit lasvegaspoets.org.

ART CENTER HOSTS POETS CORNER

The West Las Vegas Arts Center, 947 W. Lake Mead Blvd., hosts poets corner readings with Keith Brantley at 7 p.m. the first and third Friday of each month. For more information, contact the center at 702-229-4800.

FREE READ TO ME PROGRAM OFFERED

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 702-240-2665. 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 Coffeehouse in Emergency Arts, 520 Fremont St. The library is 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.

HENDERSON WRITERS GROUP MEETINGS SET

The Henderson Writers Group meets from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m. Mondays in room C-2 at Community Lutheran Church, 3720 E. Tropicana Ave. Meetings are typically canceled on holidays. For more information, visit hendersonwritersgroup.

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 videos and podcasts of many of its programs online. Selections available 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 blackmountaininstitute.org and select “multimedia.”