Book It: The Seven Best Literary Events This Week

Denver’s literary scene is all about storytelling this week, from learning how to turn your own most embarrassing moments into worthy anecdotes to true stories from top-notch authors, including former Denverite Rick Reilly and current Denverite Jason Heller. And, of course, there will be parties and prizes. Here are the seven best bookish events over the next seven days:

Jason Heller, Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music and the Decade Sci-Fi Exploded
Tuesday, June 4, 7 p.m.
Mutiny Information Cafe
2 South Broadway
Free
Science fiction had an outsized impact on music in the 1970s, from David Bowie to Parliament. Occasional Westword writer and Denver-based music critic Jason Heller’s Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music and the Decade Sci-Fi Exploded takes a dive into how everything from Samuel Delaney novels to comics and the Star Wars series impacted rock, funk, punk, glam and beyond, while looking at various stages of Bowie’s career and how it wove in and out of science fiction. Heller will celebrating the paperback release of his 2018 book tonight; for more information, go to mutinyinfocafe.com.


Storytelling Workshop: The Art of Humiliation
Wednesday, June 5, 6:30 p.m.
Boulder Writing Studio
777 Pearl Street, #211, Boulder
$335 ($305 for members) for the six-week series
How can the worst thing that ever happened to you become one of the best things that ever happened to you? Ask Alyssa Pinsker, widelyvpublished writer and participant in such world-renowned performance events as the Moth storytelling hour; she’ll attest that turning embarrassment into a story can not only be great therapy, it can also be great entertainment. In Pinsker’s six-week workshop, you can learn to create a compelling narrative arc, connect with an audience and find some closure: It’s the art of completely vulnerable storytelling.


LitFest Kickoff Party
Friday, June 7, 6:30 p.m.
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
1515 Race Street
$20 for members/$30 non-members
Lighthouse Writers Workshop has become known for any number of great literary resources in the Denver area, perhaps none so thorough and well-known as LitFest, its celebration of writers and writing that happens for a couple of glorious weeks every summer. Come celebrate the beginning of the fourteenth year of this hometown literary tradition at a party with food from Cuba Cuba, plus live music, games, lots of mingling and more. Tickets are still available at the Lighthouse website.

Neal Stephenson, Fall
Friday, June 7, 7 p.m.
Tattered Cover
2526 East Colfax Avenue
$35
Join the Tattered Cover in welcoming acclaimed science-fiction author Neal Stephenson (author of the prescient Snow Crash and several other novels) to Denver to talk about and autograph Fall; Or, Dodge in Hell: A Novel. The new book is another wildly inventive and entertaining science-fiction thriller that unfolds in the near future, in parallel worlds. Tickets to the event include a copy of the book and a spot in the signing line.

Elaine Russell, In the Company of Like-Minded Women
Saturday, June 8, 2 p.m.
Tattered Cover LoDo
1628 16th Street
Free
Author Elaine Russell invites readers to visit 1901 Denver through her story of three sisters reuniting many years after a family rift separated them. Russell comes to the Tattered Cover to read from and sign In the Company of Like-Minded Women, which explores the complexity of love, the bonds between sisters, and the struggles women faced in determining their own future at the start of the twentieth century.

Rick Reilly, Commander in Cheat
Saturday, June 8, 2 p.m.
Tattered Cover Colfax
2526 East Colfax Avenue
Free
Sunday, June 9, 5 p.m.
Boulder Book Store
1107 Pearl Street, Boulder
$5 (includes $5 voucher for day of reading)
ESPN and Sports Illustrated contributor Rick Reilly returns to Colorado with his new book Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump. Reilly interviewed golfers, caddies, developers and more to levy a startling and hilarious indictment of Trump and his golf game. From his golf scores to the value of the courses he owns, Trump tramples the etiquette of the game.

Colorado Authors' League 2019 Celebration of Excellence
Sunday, June 9, 5 p.m.
Sie Film Center
2510 East Colfax Avenue
Free
Professional writers have looked to the Colorado Authors' League (CAL) since the 1930s to connect with the literary world both inside and outside of the state. Join keynote speaker and best-selling author Todd Fahnestock (The Undying Man) in honoring mystery writer Rex Burns with the Lifetime Achievement Award (presented by author Sandra Dallas) and BookBar owner Nicole Sullivan, who will receive the Author’s Advocate Award. All other awards will be announced live at the event; tickets are available at the CAL website.

Have a literary event you think should be included on this list? Send details to [email protected].