Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Get Lit! rolls on: Tisdale, Fitch, Smith still to come

Get Lit! is in full swing this weekend – and some of the top events are still to come:

Insight with author Sallie Tisdale, today, 11:30 a.m., the Davenport Hotel, 10 S. Post St., $10. Tisdale has been a columnist for Salon.com and her books include “Women of the Way: Discovering 2,500 Years of Buddhist Wisdom.” She’s a “generalist,” writing about subjects ranging from sex to spirituality.

In Conversation with Janet Fitch, today, 7 p.m., Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave., $20. She’s best-known for “White Oleander,” a 1999 coming-of-age novel about a foster child, which was an Oprah Book Club pick.

Jazz Poetry with Patricia Smith, Wednesday, 7 p.m., Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox, 1001 W. Sprague Ave., $20. She’s a huge name in the national poetry slam scene and will be collaborating with local musicians in an evening of jazz combined with poetry.

Tickets for any of the above are available at the door or through TicketsWest outlets (800-325-SEAT, www.ticketswest.com).

Free Get Lit! events include a regional MFA reading at the Post Street Ale House, 1 N. Post St., today at 4 p.m., and an Eastern Washington University faculty reading on Monday, 7 p.m. at the Glover Mansion 321 W. Eighth Ave.

A Wyoming writing duo

Those of us who are former Wyoming residents – along with anyone interested in the literature of the West – have a fine double feature to look forward to at Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave.

Wyoming authors Mark Spragg and Laura Bell will read from their new books on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Spragg is the author of “The Fruit of Stone” and “An Unfinished Life” (which was made into a 2005 Robert Redford-Jennifer Lopez movie). He’ll be reading from his most recent novel, “Bone Fire” (Knopf, $25.95).

He lives and writes in Cody, Wyo., and his books are set in that distinctive part of the country.

Bell has just published a memoir titled “Claiming Ground” (Knopf, $24.95) about her life as a sheepherder in the same region, the Big Horn Basin.

They’re old friends who decided to team up for a Wyoming-themed book tour.

A bistro book-signing

Pullman author Nicole Taflinger will hold a distinctive kind of book-signing on Friday between 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.

It’s a signing you can combine with dinner, because it will be at the Bank Left Bistro, 100 S. Bridge in Palouse, Wash.

Taflinger’s book, a memoir about her time in France during the Nazi occupation, is titled “Season of Suffering – Coming of Age in Occupied France” (Washington State University Press, $22.95).

You can just go for the signing, or you can combine it with a French dinner by calling (509) 878-1800 for reservations.

Taflinger is also an artist, and the Bistro will be displaying her oil paintings.

Advance Auntie’s notice

Auntie’s Bookstore has booked two upcoming readings of special interest:

Jamie Ford, author of the fine novel “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet,” about a romance between a young Chinese-American boy and a Japanese-American girl at the start of World War II.

This is one of the best depictions of Seattle’s historic International District that I’ve read. May 8, 2 p.m.

Candace Dempsey, author of the soon-to-be-released “Murder in Italy: The Shocking Slaying of a British Student, the Accused American Girl and an International Scandal” (Penguin-Berkley, $7.99).

This is about the sensational Italian murder case involving a University of Washington student.

Dempsey grew up in Spokane – and even worked at The Spokesman-Review one summer – and now lives in Seattle. May 6, 7 p.m.