Ray McNiece
How many two-time National Poetry Slam Champions from Ohio do YOU know? Well, that's what McNiece is, so now you'll know one. Red & Black, 2138 SE Division St, 231-3899, 7 pm, donation
Writer's Block Party
Write Around Portland (WRAP) throws a summer bash with established performance poets throwing down, followed by an open mic for upstarts. Hosting will be Rochell D. Hart, also know as Ro Deezy, also described as "a female cross between Langston Hughes and Tupac." Youch. North Portland Branch Library, 512 N Killingsworth, 988-5394, starts at noon, open mic at 1:45, free
Skateboard Mom
Skate champion Barbara Odanka shares her new book about the time she bought her four-year-old son a skateboard, then ripped it out of his tender hands and made him watch while she took it to town. She then founded the International Society of Skateboard Moms. Powell's Books on Hawthorne, 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd, 238-1668, 7:30 pm
* Books and Bikes Neighborhood Rides
The Multnomah Library presents fun guided bike rides beginning and ending at different branches, including Belmont, Central, and Hollywood. Drawings and prizes included. See multcolib.org for the full details. Various Libraries, www.multcolib.org, 10 am - noon, free
D'arcy Fallon
Fallon reads from her new book So Late, So Soon, about her time spent on a religious commune in the early '70s. Mountain Writers Center, 3624 SE Milwaukie, 236-4854, 7 pm, $3 donation
* Two Years in the Heart of an African Village
Peace Corps volunteer Sarah Erdman shares this book about her health care work in Nambonkaha, a small African village ravaged by poverty and AIDS. Powell's Books on Hawthorne, 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd, 238-1668, 7:30 pm
* Bharati Mukherjee
See review this issue. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651, 7:30 pm
Burnside Review
There's a new poetry journal in town and it looks pretty snazzy. Contributors to the first edition read tonight, but none of the press materials are specifying who exactly those contributors are, which makes us a bit nervous. Blue Monk, 3341 SE Belmont,, 7:30 pm, free
* Bow Your Head and Say Yes: Confessions of an Ex-Mormon
Nothing warms our cynical little hearts like a book that exposes the blatant oppressive hypocrisies within the Mormon church. Relatively recent Portland transplant Alexis Woolfe went all the way before penning Bow Your Head; she got married to a Mormon, had four beautiful Mormon children, turned 40, and realized her Mormon life pretty much sucked. In Other Words, 3734 SE Hawthorne Blvd, 232-6003, 7 pm
* Brian Herbert
The fact that Brian Herbert had the audacity to even attempt writing prequels to his much more famous father Frank's Dune (the greatest work of sci-fi of all time), is almost morbid enough in itself to check the dude out. But supposedly, Brian's books aren't half bad to boot. He'll share from Dune: The Battle of Corrin, the final book in his trilogy penned with Kevin J. Anderson. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651, 7:30 pm
