Author Events, Feb. 17-23

Patricia Schultz will share her book, “1000 Places To See Before You Die in the USA & Canada,” at Book Passage on Tuesday.

For more events or to list author events in our calendar, visit The Press Democrat’s events listings at pressdemocrat.com.

SUNDAY (FEB 17)

Third Sunday Poetry Open Mic, 12:30 p.m.
Round robin open mic, hosted by Sher and John Christian.
Coffee Catz, 6761 Sebastopol Ave., Sebastopol. lusciouspoetry.typepad.com/sherlianne

Third Sunday Salon features Larry Robinson, 1:30 p.m.
Bean Affair, 1270 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, 395-0177.

TUESDAY (FEB 19)

Patricia Schultz, “1000 Places To See Before You Die in the USA & Canada,” 7 p.m.
Schultz will share her thirty favorite places in our own great country where you can explore, relax and appreciate the beauty that abounds!
Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera. (415) 927-0960, bookpassage.com.

WEDNESDAY (FEB 20)

Hilary Mantell’s “A Change of Climate,” 2 p.m.
Discussion at the Sitting Room Book Group: Back to South Africa, this time with Hilary Mantel, first woman to win the Booker prize twice. A Change in Climate is an earlier novel based upon her own experiences living in South Africa under apartheid and before the revolution. A couple who go to the country intended to do good discover otherwise. Recommended by our own Africa expert, Rosemary Manchester.
2025 Curtis Drive, Penngrove. More info, www.sittingroom.org/events.html

THURSDAY (FEB 21)

Poetry reading, 7 p.m.
Native Americans Natalie Diaz, Lucille Lang Day, Luke Warm Water and more read poetry.
Marin Poetry Center’s Third Thursday Series reading, at 1408 Mission St., San Rafael. Details at www.marinpoetrycenter.org.

FRIDAY (FEB 22)

Patrick Fanning, “Infidels Abroad: a Novel of Mark Twain & John Singer Sargent,” 7 p.m.
Imagine that the Mexicans and Russians never left Sonoma County, that they ruled two vigorous empires with their border at the Russian River, that Mark Twain wrote a travel book about the area, and that John Singer Sargent sketched and painted the sights. Patrick will discuss and read from his illustrated book, Infidels Abroad: a Novel of Mark Twain & John Singer Sargent in an Alternate California.
Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Court, Occidental. Info, 874-9392 or www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org.

SATURDAY (FEB 23)

Gretel Erlich, “Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami,” 1 p.m.
A passionate student of Japanese poetry and art for much of her life, Gretel Ehrlich felt compelled to return to the earthquake- and tsunami-devastated Tohoku coast, to bear witness and listen to the survivors. In an eloquent narrative that blends reportage, poetic observation, and deeply felt reflection, she introduces us to fishermen, farmers, teachers, monks, outcasts, and an eighty-four-year-old geisha, who survived the wave to hand down a song that only she still remembered. Their harrowing and inspirational stories are set against a landscape both shattered and beautiful, with the ever-present specter of the nearby Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex that spews radiation into the fields and the fishing grounds.
Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera. (415) 927-0960, bookpassage.com.

To submit book events for consideration in this column, contact Sara Peyton at sara.peyton@gmail.com at least three weeks in advance of the event.