Alexie novel chosen for Spokane is Reading

It’s always nice when someone local gets national attention.

It’s even better when that same person gets attention from the community that helped spawn him.

Wellpinit, Wash., homeboy Sherman Alexie is well known among Spokane circles, having read here dozens of times on the way to earning a reputation as a national literary voice. Though he long ago relocated to Seattle, Alexie still carries a connection with Eastern Washington that shows up in his work.

And that connection has never been stronger than in his novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” which won the young-adult category of the 2007 National Book Awards.

Now, the consortium that sponsors the annual Spokane Is Reading event – Spokane Public Library, Spokane Country Library District, Auntie’s Bookstore – has chosen Alexie’s novel as its next selection.

Along with the regular meetings and book discussions during October, Alexie is scheduled to appear twice on Oct. 16 in support of the seventh-annual festival.

Specific times and locations will be announced at a later date on the event’s Web site, www.spokaneisreading.org.

For further information, call Eva Silverstone at (509) 444-5307 or Beth Gillespie at (509) 893-8205.

Big Read time

The schedule for this week’s Big Read event, which revolves around Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel “The Maltese Falcon,” includes:

•Reader’s Theater (“The Maltese Falcon,” performed by Gonzaga University theater department), 6:30 p.m. Monday, Cheney Community Library, 610. First Ave., Cheney. Call (509) 893-8280.

•Lecture (“Could Flitcraft Disappear Today,” by GU law professor Larry Weiser), 7 p.m. Monday, Gonzaga Law School Moot Courtroom. Call (509) 323-5792.

•”The Maltese Falcon” (film), 7 p.m. Wednesday, Spokane Valley Library, 12004 E. Main Ave. Call (509) 893-8400.

•”Double Indemnity” (film), 7 p.m. Thursday, North Spokane Library, 44 E. Hawthorne Road. Call (509) 893-8350.

•Reader’s Theater (“The Maltese Falcon,” performed by GU theater department), 8 p.m. Thursday, Empyrean Coffee House, 154 S. Madison St. Call (509) 838-9819.

•Reader’s Theater (“The Maltese Falcon,” performed by GU theater department), 6:30 p.m. Friday, Spokane Transit Authority Plaza, 701 W. Riverside Ave. Call (509) 444-5342 or 893-8362.

(Note: A Thursday-night lecture at Fairchild Air Force Base is intended for base personnel only.)

On the air

Spokane poet Zan Agzigian will perform her poetry, accompanied by the musical group Mercury Rising, at 10 tonight on Spokane Public Radio, KPBX-FM (91.1).

The performance, titled “A Late Winter’s Reading,” will take place on the show “Soundspace,” which is hosted by Norvel Trosst.

Mercury Rising is made up of Kathy Kostelec, Bill Kostelec and Rick Singer. Call Trosst at (509) 328-5729 for information.

She’s a winner

Midge Raymond, author of the story collection “Forgetting English,” was named the winner of the 2007 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction, which is sponsored by Eastern Washington University Press.

Raymond’s book was chosen, from more than 300 entries, by Medical Lake novelist John Keeble. Besides winning $1,500, Raymond, a resident of Escondido, Calif., will see her book published by EWU Press.

Deadline for the 2008 contest is May 15. For further information, go online at www.ewupress.ewu.edu, call the Press at (509) 368-6574 or e-mail Christopher Howell at cnhowell@mail.ewu.edu.

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

Book talk

•Read Across America Dr. Seuss celebration, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Monday, Colfax branch, Whitman County Library, 102 S. Main St., Colfax. Guest readers will include Mayor Norma Becker, Whitman County Sheriff Brett Myers, Colfax Police Chief Bill Hickman. Call (509) 397-4366.

•Gay & Lesbian Book Club (“Liddy-Jean, Marketing Queen,” by Mari Sangiovanni), 7 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington. Call (509) 838-0206.

•Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers, noon Thursday, Old Country Buffet, 5504 N. Division St. Bob Weldin will speak on “Finding Your Niche as a Writer and Speaker.” Call Dave McChesney (509) 325-2072.

•Forza Coffee & Story Force Women’s History Month Celebration, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Thursday, Forza Coffee Company, 2829 E. 29th Ave. Call (509) 535-7179.

The reader board

•Linda Lael Miller (“Deadly Deceptions”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Roderick Stackelberg (“The Routledge Companion to Nazi History”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Bryan Lee McGlothin (“Have You Seen My Mother: A True Story of Parental Kidnap”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Tony D’Souza (“Whiteman”), reading, 7 p.m. Thursday, Washington State University Museum of Art, Pullman. Call Andrea Mason at (509) 335-8747.

•Michele Glazer (“Aggregate of Disturbances”), reading, 7 p.m. Friday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Pat Cary Peek (“Silver Threads: War in the Coeur d’Alene, 1891-1892”), signing, 5-7 p.m. Friday, Placer Village Books, 611 Cedar St., Wallace. Call (208) 512-0722.