Fully booked
Sacto has some serious bookish street cred to its name, historically speaking (Joan Didion and William T. Vollmann go a long way), and the scene is getting better all the time. But this is especially true this week, with celebrations of new releases from much-buzzed-about literary figures and a festival bringing together local writers and readers across a wide range of subjects:
On Friday, April 8, at 7 p.m., Rob Spillman, editor of the influential literary magazine Tin House, joins local author Jodi Angel in discussion about his new memoir, All Tomorrow’s Parties, at Time Tested Books (1114 21st Street). The book follows Spillman’s upbringing in a divided Berlin and his pursuit of culture and a sense of place as he eventually moves to New York City and then back to Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Check out http://timetestedbooks.blogspot.com or call (916) 447-5696 for details.
Keep feeding your literary fix with author Garth Greenwell as part of the UC Davis Creative Writing Program’s reading series on Tuesday, April 12, at 7 p.m. at Voorhies Hall on campus (1 Shields Avenue in Davis). Greenwell’s debut novel, What Belongs to You, released in January of this year, has been called “a rich, important debut, an instant classic” by the New York Times Book Review and “brilliantly self-aware” by the New Yorker. More information can be found at http://ls.ucdavis.edu/news-events/harcs-news/writers-reading.html.
For those looking to dig in on a more local level, the Sacramento Public Library (828 I Street) is hosting the Local Author Festival on Sunday, April 10, from noon to 3 p.m. The gathering will include more than 40 local authors, book-art demos and a keynote speech from Hugo Award-winning author Kim Stanley Robinson. His 1,000-page novel Green Earth, which came out in November of last year, is a sci-fi portrayal of a world grappling with the dire consequences of global warming. Admission is free, but registration is required to attend the keynote event; register at www.saclibrary.org or call (916) 264-2920 for more info.