THURSDAY 8/23

Calyx 25th Anniversary
Release of the new anthology, Cracking the Earth. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St, 228-4651, 7:30 pm


FRIDAY 8/24

Portland Poetry Workshop
Full of verse and all alone? Here's your poetry support group. It's never too late to get started writing poetry, unleashing that inner voice. Start with a writing exercise, a discussion of work, and party favors. Barnes & Noble Northeast (Lloyd Center), 1231 NE Broadway, 335-0201, 7 pm

W.S. Di Piero
Skirts and Slacks. New poems from a favorite author. The title? "When I was going through my mother's closet after her death...I found loaded and cocked, the gun she and my father had kept hidden for years...." Looking Glass Bookstore, 318 SW Taylor, 227-4760, 7 pm


SATURDAY 8/25

Mari Gayatri Stein
Unleashing Your Inner Dog. A book of "doggie inspiration." Barnes & Noble Northeast (Lloyd Center), 1231 NE Broadway, 335-0201, 7 pm

Mari Gayatri Stein
Unleashing Your Inner Dog. Self-help doggie style. Barnes & Noble-Beaverton, 18300 NW Evergreen Parkway, 645-3046, 1 pm


TUESDAY 8/28

Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Group
The Mote in God's Eye, by Larry Niven. Barnes & Noble, 1720 N Jantzen Beach, 283-2800, 7 pm

Promotion and Distribution for Zines and Comics
Learn how to get that box of zines out of your apartment and on the store shelves somewhere, or at least scattered on the floor at some other apartment. Independent Publishing Resource Center, 917 SW Oak Street, #218, 232-5673, 7-9 pm, $5-7


WEDNESDAY 8/29

Open Mic Poetry
A new venue, an enthusiastic organizer, another opportunity to find a community of like-minded poets. Get up and read. Andiamo Espresso, 6014 NE Glisan, 233-1953, 8 pm

Charles Cross on Kurt Cobain
Former music journalist and editor of The Rocket, Cross offers his own look behind the fame of Kurt Cobain, based on access to Cobain's very private diary entries and surely a lot of interviews with those who knew him. Ah, that rise from trailer trash to fame, to an early grave. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St, 228-4651, 7:30 pm

Robert Michael Pyle
Wintergreen. Set in the Willapa Hills of SW Washington, looking at the logging industry. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St, 228-4651, 7 pm

* means we recommend it. press releases need to be in by wednesday, two weeks before publication. fax to: 294-0844; mail to: READINGS calendar, portland mercury, 1524 NW 23rd, Portland, OR 97210 or e-mail to: events@portlandmercury.com.