SAD BUT SIGNIFICANT—Three years ago, Joyce Carol Oates’ husband died suddenly after being admitted to the hospital for pneumonia. In an attempt to cope with the crushing, unexpected death and its aftermath, the famed, tirelessly prolific, and genre-straddling author wrote A Widow’s Story. It is a book exhausted with grief, but Oates’ charisma and lucid prose makes her reading tonight a must-see. JL
Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills, 7 pm, FREE
RAPTORS—OMSI is on to something with their Science Pub series: Turns out learning is more fun with a buzz. This month, cozy up with a pint of Hammerhead as the Audubon Society tells an uplifting environmental tale: how dedicated volunteers restored Portland’s peregrine falcon population after DDT wiped it out. AH
Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan, 7 pm, $3 suggested donation