GU alumnus opens Visiting Writers Series

First-time authors don’t typically receive rave reviews.

Yet that’s exactly what being thrown at Uwem Akpan, a Jesuit priest, former Gonzaga University philosophy student and author of the story collection “Say You’re One of Them.”

Akpan will inaugurate GU’s 2008-09 Visiting Writers Series at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Cataldo Globe Room. The reading is free and open to the public.

The book includes five stories, each set in a different African country and told from the point of view of a different child laboring under some sort of difficulty (poverty, dislocation, etc.).

Alan Cheuse, writing in the Chicago Tribune, called Akpan’s writing “as translucent a style as I’ve read in a long while.” Cheuse added that Akpan’s subjects “nearly render the mind helpless and throw the heart into a hopeless erratic rhythm out of fear, out of pity, out of the shame of being only a few degrees of separation removed from these monstrous modern circumstances.”

For information about GU’s writers series, call English Professor Tod Marshall at (509) 313-6681.

Pets and more

Marty Becker, a resident of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and author of “The Healing Powers of Pets,” has had a piece included in the forthcoming book “The Ultimate Cat Lover: The Best Experts’ Advice for a Happy, Healthy Cat with Stories and Photos of Fabulous Felines.”

Becker, a veterinarian, is a former Spokesman-Review columnist. His column, Pet Connection, is syndicated nationally.

High on GU

In his book “The College Journey: From College to Career” (BookSurge Publishing, 264 pages, $19.95 paper), Richard C. Dorf has kind words for Gonzaga University.

The Spokane-based Jesuit institution is listed among 18 other American universities as one of “Nineteen High Value Comprehensive Universities,” and one of the schools included under the category “Very Good Colleges with Outstanding Religious Studies Programs.”

Spokane is watching

“Smoke Signals,” Chris Eyre’s 1998 movie that is based on Sherman Alexie’s story collection “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,” will screen at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Moran Prairie Branch of the Spokane County Library District, 6004 S. Regal St.

The screening, which is part of the 2008 Spokane is Reading project, is free and open to the public. Call (509) 893-8340.

•Movie director Sam Peckinpah’s powerful 1969 Western “The Wild Bunch” will be screened at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the downtown branch of the Spokane Public Library, 906 W. Main St., as part of the library’s ongoing Movies @ the Downtown Branch film series. The screening, which will be held in room 1A, is free and open to the public.

Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public.

Book talk

•Gay & Lesbian Book Group (“Heart’s Desire,” by Laura Pedersen), 7 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington. Call (509) 838-0206.

•Spokane Is Reading Book Discussion (“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie), 7 p.m. Wednesday, North Spokane Branch, Spokane Country Library District, 44 E. Hawthorne Road. Call (509) 893-8350.

•Literary Freedom Book Group (“All Aunt Hagar’s Children,” by Edward P. Jones), 1 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Renaissance Readers (“In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed,” by Carl Honore), 2 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

The reader board

•Molly Saty (“Put Sparklers on My Grave”), reading, 12:30 p.m. today, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Monica Olsen (“Secrets No More: Breaking Free from Abuse”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Bruce Bjornstad (“On the Trail of the Ice Age Floods”), lecture/signing, 7 p.m. Tuesday, REI, 1125 N. Monroe St. Call (509) 328-9900.

•Traci E. Hall (“Love’s Magic”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Alex Kuo (“White Jade”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, BookPeople, 521 S. Main St., Moscow, Idaho. Call (208) 882-7957.

•Robert J. Spitzer, S.J. (“Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life: a Guide to Prayer for Active People”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Jim McPherson (“The Conservative Resurgence and the Press: The Media’s Role in the Rise of the Right”), reading, 7 p.m. Thursday, Borders Books, 9980 N. Newport Highway. Call (509) 466-2231.

•Uwem Akpan (“Say You’re One of Them”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Cataldo Globe Room, Gonzaga University.

•Sherry Jones (“The Jewel of Medina”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Carol Buchanan (“God’s Thunderbolts: The Vigilantes of Montana”), signing, 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Sarah Conover (“Harmony: a Treasure of Chinese Wisdom for Children and Parents”), reading/signing, 3-5 p.m. Saturday, Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. Call (509) 456-3931.