Speaking Tour: 2/26 - 3/4

Monday
SEATTLEST BOOK CLUB PICK: For March, we're reading Jonathan Raban's Surveillance, set in a not-so-distant future, when everyone's actions are highly monitored. Get a head start on the conversation by hearing from Raban himself. (We'll know if you went or not.)

7pm // UW Bookstore // FREE

FANTASTIC FICTION SALON: Connie Willis, an award-winning SF writer, hosts this discussion of sci-fi/fantasy fiction writing. (As a new member of Hugo House's "Writing Fantastic Fiction" series, she'll also teach a workshop called "Fantastic Miracles of Rare Device: The Techniques and Tropes of Science Fiction.")

7pm // Hugo House // $4 donation

Tuesday
AUTHOR, AUTHOR: Before Pete Dexter became known as an award-winning author, he wrote darkly funny newspaper columns on topics ranging from his family life to the streets of Philadelphia. Here Dexter reads from his essay collection Paper Trails: True Stories of Confusion, Mindless Violence, and Forbidden Desires, a Surprising Number of Which Are Not About Marriage.

7pm // UW Bookstore // FREE

LOCAL DISASTERS: Gary Krist's The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche recounts the 1910 avalanche in the Cascades that took the lives of nearly 100 people. "You almost feel like you're a Great Northern Railway passenger in 1910, coping with the blizzard-from-hell. Jack London would be proud of this riveting nonfiction," says Douglas Brinkley.

7:30pm // Elliott Bay // FREE

Wednesday
MARRIAGE & PARENTING: Dr. John Gottman gives a talk based on his New York Times bestseller, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. Gottman is the author or co-author of 119 published academic articles, as well as 38 books, including The Relationship Cure and Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child: The Heart of Parenting.

7pm // Town Hall // Tickets: $25 advance/$28 at the door

CELEBRITY STEM CELLS: James McManus wrote the a book on stem cell research entitled Physical. Ron Reagan, son of President Ronald Reagan and 710 KIRO’s chief political analyst, spoke in support of federal funding for stem cell research at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Together, they're racing for a cure.

7:30pm // Town Hall // $5

Thursday
OCTAVIA BUTLER TRIBUTE This tribute to Octavia Butler (1947-2006) features readings from her works by her admirers and friends: actor/director Timeca Briggs, author Nalo Hopkinson, Clarion West executive director Leslie Howle, Seattle Times columnist Jerry Large, award-winning author Vonda McIntyre, and author Nisi Shawl. Howle will present a slide show of photos of Octavia Butler. Hopkinson will also read from her new book, The New Moon’s Arms.

7-8:30pm // Seattle Central Public Library // FREE

FIGHT FOR E-JUSTICE: James A. Bamberger, Director of Washington State's Office of Civil Legal Aid, talks about Washington's Access to Justice Technology Bill of Rights, the first in the nation, designed to ensure that technology increases the accessibility and effectiveness of the justice system for all citizens.

7-9pm // UW Club (near the HUB) // FREE with RSVP

Friday
INDIA WELCOMES YOU: Mira Kamdar, a Senior Fellow at the World Policy Institute, visits with her new book, Planet India: How the Fastest-Growing Democracy is Transforming America and the World, an across-the-board look at a country still too little known or understood in much of the U.S.

7:30pm // Elliott Bay // FREE

Saturday
DIGITAL PHOTO WORKSHOP: Subtitled "A Survival Kit," this hands-on workshop teaches essential knowledge for communications professionals who are not professional photographers but need to manage the creation and use of digital images. Instructors: Dan Lamont, M.C., media consultant and photojournalist, and Don Wilson, M.C., award-winning corporate/industrial photographer.

9am-2pm // UW Communications Bldg Rm 302 // Tickets: $100 general/$75 UWAA & AWC members

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY: The program "Latin American Women's Poetry, Music, and Art" features Seattle-area-based poets María Nélida Mendoza of Colombia and Eugenia Toledo-Keyser of Chile. Each will be reading in Spanish from newly published collections. For an interlude between their readings, Diego Coy y su Grupo performs Andean and Latin American music.

2-4:30pm // Seattle Central Public Library // FREE

Sunday
ADVICE FROM LITERARY AGENTS: InPrint presents "Pitching to Agents," a talk with literary agents Ted Weinstein, Elizabeth Wales, Stephen Mettee, and others. Before the talk, beginning at 6:15, you can sign up for a five-minute pitch session.

7pm // Hugo House // $7 general/$5 members

SAT PREP: If you’re taking the SAT, get some quick tips to increase your score from a Princeton Review test-prep expert in this free one-hour workshop that we can't help but think is designed to get students to pay, of course, for further assistance.

5:30pm // Third Place Books // FREE