Alexie Will Conduct Readings At Sfcc

Sherman Alexie fans should mark their calendars for Jan. 26-28. The Spokane Indian who now lives and works in Seattle will spend three days at Spokane Falls Community College conducting readings and discussions of his work.

As part of that visit, his movie “Smoke Signals” will be shown a couple of times. Many of the events are free and will be open to the public. Details will follow.

Drop-in book groups

The new Barnes & Noble store at the Spokane Valley Mall has its open book clubs organized. Here’s how they work: Check the schedule posted at the store for books to be discussed the following month, read the books you are interested in and show up the nights they will be discussed.

In January, for example, “The Trial: A New Translation” by Breon Mitchell will be discussed Wednesday; “Wizard’s First Rule” by Terry Goodkind, a science fiction book, will be discussed Jan. 19.

UW author honored

Belated kudos to University of Washington assistant professor Peter Bacho. The author of a collection of short stories, “Dark Blue Suit and other stories,” was given the 1998 Murray Morgan Prize in December. The prize is awarded annually to an outstanding Washington author in recognition of work published during the previous year which is deemed of high literary quality and wide interest.

Bacho has just completed a novel, “Nelson’s Run.”

Late-winter workshop

Registration is being taken for the annual Winter Fishtrap writing workshop, Feb. 19-21 at Wallowa Lake, Ore.

The workshops focus on issues of writing and public policy and the theme for this winter’s seminar is “Growing Up.” The faculty includes Jim Heynen, Joanna Rose and Mike Males.

Heynen most recently had published a young adult novel, “Being Youngest.” He is writer-in-residence at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn.

Rose’s novel “Little Miss Strange” won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award in fiction last year; she lives in Portland and works at Powells Books.

Males is a doctoral student in social ecology at the University of California-Irvine and writes extensively on youth and social issues.

Information about both the Winter and Summer Fishtrap Gatherings (the summer version is June 27-July 4) is available by writing Fishtrap, PO Box 28, Enterprise, OR 97828; or call (541) 426-3623.

Expand that vocabulary

If you collect new words, here’s one for your collection: analysisparalysis.

The committee that monitors the English language for the Oxford Dictionaries defines that word as “decisionmaking abilite paralysed by over exposure to overwhelming amounts of information, a symptom of information fatigue syndrome” (the committee’s italics and spelling).

Analysisparalysis is among the more than 18,000 words that are rounded up each month for the Oxford Database of World English, from which the dictionaries find their raw sources.

Not all make the cut. Another questionable nominee: zippergate.

You know what that concerns, right?

True crime night

Mike Prim, an officer for the Spokane Police Department and teacher in Spokane Community College’s criminal justice program, will headline a “True Crime” discussion at 7 p.m. Thursday at Dark City Books, 111 S. Cedar.

Prim will discuss police procedures and offer his perspective on the South Hill Rapist case of the early 1980s. For information, call 744-9243.

Book signatures

Vicki Cavin, author of “A Chair Full of Heart,” will sign copies of her book at 3 p.m. Saturday at the North Division Hastings, 7706 N. Division. For information, call 483-2154.

John Dalmas, author of “The Three-Cornered War,” will sign copies of his science-fiction novel at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Lincoln Heights Hastings, in the Lincoln Heights Shopping Center. For information, call 327-6008.

The reader board

Spokane romance novelist Joan Overfield, author of “Lady Cat,” will read from the book at 7 p.m. Thursday at Barnes & Noble, at the Spokane Valley Mall. She will also discuss women in England during Jane Austen’s era and the art of writing commercial fiction. For information, call 922-4104.

Alberta A. Murray, author of “These My Children,” will read from her book at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington. For information, call 838-0206.