Events For the Week

9 Monday

7 P.M. Spoken Heard Mondays Open mic poetry surrounded by acid jazz, neo-soul, and hip hop. Club 347
347 N. Calvert St. Baltimore EVENT PHONE: 410-547-1045

7:30 P.M. Steven Johnson , Discover magazine's "Emerging Technology" columnist, discusses and signs Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter at Barnes & Noble-Georgetown, 3040 M St. NW, 202-965-9880.

7:30 P.M. Poets Karren Alenier and Sandra Beasley read from their work as part of the new reading series at Café Toulouse in Adams Morgan, 2431 18th St. NW, which hosts local poets the second Monday of the month. Call 202-726-4680 for details.

10 Tuesday

7 P.M. The Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture presents a reading and discussion with Marta Moreno Vega for her new memoir, When the Spirits Dance Mambo: Growing Up Nuyorican in El Barrio, at the Hirshhorn Museum, Ring Auditorium, 800 Independence Ave. SW. A screening of the 2002 documentary of the same name (produced by Moreno Vega) follows. Call 202-287-3382 to RSVP.

7 P.M. Essayist and poet John Daniel discusses and signs his new memoir, Rogue River Journal: A Winter Alone (his experience at the remote Dutch Henry Homestead in Oregon), at Chapters Literary Bookstore, 445 11th St. NW, 202-737-5553.

7 P.M. Have you experienced or been told of incidents that would make the perfect story? How does a writer turn real-life events into fiction? Join WIW at the Rock Bottom Brewery to hear award-winning writer Doreen Baingana discuss short story writing. Baingana will share ideas and techniques she used to write the semi-autobiographical stories in her award-winning collection, Tropical Fish: Stories Out of Entebbe. She focuses on the main elements of the short story—plot, characterization, style, setting and theme to turn “what you know” into what could have been. Rock Bottom Brewery, 7900 Norfolk Avenue, Bethesda, Md. 301-652-1311

7 P.M. Melissa McConnell reads from and signs her new novel, Evidence of Love , at Politics and Prose, 202-364-1919.

7 P.M. Nina Killham reads from and signs her new novel, Mounting Desire , at Olsson's-Penn Quarter, 202-638-7610.

7:30 P.M. Poet Michael Collier , author of the collections The Neighbor and The Ledge , and a professor at the University of Maryland, joins graduating students Eva Foster, Laura McKee and Paul Otremba in a reading of their work at Grace Church Georgetown, 1041 Wisconsin Ave. NW. The program is the last of the spring semester's "New Voices" series, which aims to introduce new poets to the community and honor local mentors.

7:30 P.M. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Thomas L. Friedman discusses and signs The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century at Barnes & Noble-Bethesda, 301-986-1761.

9:30 p.m.Trio Ricochet Open mike hosted by Todd Marcus and Russell Kirk. Copra 313 N. Charles St. Baltimore EVENT PHONE: 410-727-6080

11 Wednesday

6:30 P.M. Eric Jerome Dickey reads from and signs his new novel, Genevieve, at Karibu Books, the Mall at Prince Georges, 3500 East-West Hwy., 301-559-1140.

7:30 P.M. Matt Bondurant reads from and signs his new novel, The Third Translation, at Barnes and Noble-Bethesda, 301-986-1761.

12 Thursday

1 P.M. Obert Skye reads from and signs Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo, the first in a new fantasy series for middle readers, at A Likely Story Children's Bookstore, 703-836-2498.

13 Friday

Stay at home, lock your doors.

15 Sunday

The Friends of Fort Ward are holding a Civil War book sale on Saturday, May 14, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Fort Ward Museum & Historic Site, 4301 West Braddock Rd., Alexandria, Va., 703-838-4848.