reading

THURSDAY 9/22

Get SMART Gala
Hey, Reader, like readin'? Then get your ass over to this benefit for Start Making A Reader Today (SMART), the dope nonprofit devoted to encouraging kids to read. Kink FM's Les Sarnoff hosts the event, and there'll be a silent auction and a raffling off of great prizes like an $800 InFocus ScreenPlay 4805 Projector, which, strangely, is actually a very high-definition projector to be used for TVs and DVD players. Hmm. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, 6:30 pm, $30-35

Trust, Cab, Chiaroscuro
The cofounder of Write Around Portland (WRAP), Ben Moorad is also a poet and solo performer. This new "verse show" incorporates images from William Blake's Gates of Paradise and features light design from defunkt's James Moore. Ogle, 310 NW Broadway, 232-2246, Fri-Sat 7 pm, through Oct. 1, $15

Cynthia Ozick
Portland Arts & Lectures kicks off its somewhat lackluster 2005/2006 season with Ozick, author of The Shawl, The Puttermesser Papers, and pretty much the most renowned female Jewish intellect in the business. Literary Arts, at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, SW Broadway and Main, 227-2583, 7:30 pm, $5-25

Kim Addonizio
Normally a poet, Addonizio presents a novel tonight, Little Beauties, in which a 34-year-old obsessive compulsive woman takes a 17-year-old unwed mother into her home. Powell's Books on Hawthorne, 3723 SE Hawthorne, 238-1668, 7:30 pm

Lydia Millet
Millet presents her unique-sounding new book, Oh Pure and Radiant Heart, in which atomic bomb creators Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, and Leo Szilard come back to life and join up with a meek librarian on a pilgrimage to Washington D.C. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside, 228-4651, 7:30 pm

FRIDAY 9/23

Ani Mojgani
The Couch Gallery has been having all sorts of cool events in their space lately, not stopping with tonight's appearance by spoken word artist Mojgani, who recently took first place at the 2005 Individual National Poetry Slam festival. He's also a native of New Orleans, and will be donating all proceeds to hurricane relief. Couch Gallery, 328 NW Broadway, #117, 538-4661, 8 pm, $4

Salman Rushdie
See My, What A Busy Week!, pg. 9. First Unitarian Church, 1011 SW 12th, 7:30 pm, free

Richard Hell
Influential punker Hell fancies himself a writer, too, and has penned a new novel, Godlike. Powell's Books on Hawthorne, 3723 SE Hawthorne, 238-1668, 7:30 pm

MONDAY 9/26

Robert Hicks
Hicks presents The Widow of the South, a 452-page historical epic about real person Carrie McGavock, who turned her home into a field hospital during the Civil War's Battle of Franklin. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside, 228-4651, 7:30 pm

TUESDAY 9/27

David Rakoff
Smooth, savage cultural commentator Rakoff presents another collection of essays, Don't Get Too Comfortable, a follow-up to the bestselling Fraud. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside, 228-4651, 7:30 pm

WEDNESDAY 9/28

Casey Bush & Sean Patrick Hill
Bush is the poetry editor for cool enviro-mag Bear Deluxe, and also the author of the 1991 chess biography Grandmaster from Oregon: The Life and Games of Arthur Dake. Bold-Sky Cafe and Studios, 3943 N Mississippi, 287-0154, 7:30 pm

Mark Anderson
In his new book, "Shakespeare" by Another Name, Anderson reveals tantalizing evidence that Shakespeare's body of work was ACTUALLY written by Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. Blasphemy! Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside, 228-4651, 7:30 pm