* Rubber to the Road: Volume II
It's books like this one that make Portland one of the most bike-friendly cities in the world. A follow-up to Otis Rubottom's original cycling guidebook, it outlines more than 30 stellar rides around the Portland area. Part of its earnings will go to the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, and the Community Cycling Center. Powell's Books on Hawthorne, 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd, 238-1668, 7:30 pm, free
Rabbi Joshua Stampfer
The subject of David Smith's new biography, To Learn and To Teach, appears tonight with Smith. Stampfer has been an influential rabbi in Portland for fifty years. He fought in Israel's War of Independence, and was the first rabbi of the country's Center for Conservative Judaism. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651, 7:30 pm, free
* Five Northwest Writers
Border's presents a seemingly random sampling of excellent local writers. Ursula K. Le Guin, Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due, Steve Perry, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch will all be in attendance for a panel discussion and signing. Borders-Downtown, 708 SW 3rd Ave, 221-9814, 7 pm, free
* Book Launch: The Clear Cut Future
Charles D'Ambrosio, Tiffany Lee Brown, and Emily White read tonight to celebrate the very cool Clear Cut Press' first publication. See review this issue. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, 8 pm, $3
* Nalo Hopkinson
The Jamaican-born Hopkinson has a fascination with Caribbean magic and folklore, an ample storytelling ability, and a huge ambition. Hence, books like The Salt Roads, a time-traveling spiritual odyssey that follows three 1800s slave women and the African-Caribbean goddess Ezili, who visits them after they bury a stillborn baby. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651, 7:30 pm, free
* Tobias Wolff
The man, the myth, the legend. See review this issue. Portland Arts & Lectures at Arlene Schnitzer Hall, SW Broadway & Main, 227-2583, 7:30 pm, $24
Maxine Hong Kingston
The feminist/Buddhist essayist/novelist presents a new memoir, The Fifth Book of Peace, which grew from a period in the early 1990s during which she lost her father, her house burned down, and the Persian Gulf War broke out. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651, 7:30, free
