Annie Leibovitz, one of the most celebrated, acclaimed photographers in recent decades will be at Elliott Bay Books, Monday Dec. 12. Annie is here for a brief talk/reading and then booksigning of her new book, Pilgrimage.

Details are here

Saturday, November 19, 3-6 pm. Free.
Phinney Neighborhood Association, Blue Building , Room 7-8 and Gallery.

Enjoy an afternoon of readings and signings. Meet your favorite local authors, do your holiday shopping and support literacy and community! Participating authors include Garth Stein, Stephanie Kallos, Erik Larsen, Kevin O’Brien, Erica Bauermeister, Elizabeth George, Carol Cassella, Jennie Shortridge, Randy Sue Coburn, Laurie Frankel, Maria Dahvana Headley, Bob Dugoni, Thea Cooper, Sean Beaudoin, Dave Boling, Lynne Brunelle, Suzanne Selfors, Deb Caletti, Boyd Morrison, Kathleen Alcala and Peter Mountford. Our local bookseller, Santoro’s Books, will create a mini-bookstore on site and we have a full schedule of readings by the authors.

Proceeds benefit 826 Seattle and the PNA.

Friday November 4th 2011 at 7pm-9pm

Roq La Rue Gallery will host a reading and acoustic performance with the legendary Alice Bag. Alice has written about growing up in the LA Punk scene, and will be doing a reading as well as a book signing at the gallery on FRIDAY NOVEMBER 4TH at 7:00PM.

In addition, Alice Bag will duet on a few songs with special guest El Vez.

Books will be available for purchase at Roq la Rue, located at 2312 2nd Avenue in Belltown in Seattle

Seattle author Maria Dahvana Headley will be reading and signing Queen of Kings at Seattle’s University bookstore on Tuesday, June 7th, from 7-10pm. She promises a party and says there’ll be Egyptian snacks from Golden Beetle and mummified milk and honey from the tombs of pharaohs and kings (well, maybe.)

Here’s the UW Bookstore listing:

Of this debut novel by the Seattle author of The Year of Yes, no less than fantasy superstar Neal Gaiman says: “It’s rare that a first novel is so magical, so dark, so well-researched, so smart or so compelling. Queen of Kings is a powerful work of the imagination, stalking the murky, dangerous territory between Anne Rice’s Queen of the Damned and Robert Graves’ I, Claudius and should appeal to those who like their historical fiction and those who crave dark magics and sharp teeth in the night.” It’s the epic story of a Cleopatra who, distraught over the loss of her beloved Antony, makes a dark pact with a goddess to bring back her love.

PRE-ORDER HERE!

Once there was a queen of Egypt…a queen who became through magic something else…

The year is 30 BC. Octavian Caesar and his massed legions are poised to enter Alexandria. A messenger informs Queen Cleopatra that her beloved Mark Antony has died by his own hand. Desperate to save her kingdom and resurrect her husband, Cleopatra turns to the gods for help. Ignoring the warnings of those around her, she summons Sekhmet, goddess of death and destruction, and strikes a mortal bargain. But not even the wisest of Egypt’s scholars could have predicted what would follow…

In exchange for Antony’s soul, Sekhmet demands something in return: Cleopatra herself. Egypt’s queen is possessed, transformed into a vampiric creature of mythical proportions, an immortal shapeshifter with superhuman strength—at once ferocious and seductive. Fighting to preserve something of her humanity, Cleopatra pursues Octavian back to Rome: she desires revenge, she yearns for her children…and she craves human blood.

Clashing against witches and monsters, gods and warriors, Cleopatra journeys from the tombs of the Pharaohs to the great amphitheaters of imperial Rome to the ancient underworld—where she will meet her love once again, and where the battle between man and beast will determine the fate of the world.

Blending history, mythology and the darkest of fantasy, Queen of Kings brings the timeless story of Cleopatra to life like never before in this stunningly original and spellbinding debut.

The Science Cafe, sponsored by the Pacific Science Center, is this Tuesday March 1 7:30-10:30 at T.S. McHugh’s at 21 Mercer near the Seattle Center. Come hear writer Thea Cooper, co-author of Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle and trace the intersecting stories of the principle discoverer and one of the first recipients of this miracle drug. The speaker will be available afterward to sign copies of her book.

In the early 1900s, the best hope for a child with diabetes was to follow a risky starvation diet while waiting for a cure to be discovered. But the discovery of insulin in 1922 was a most unlikely medical breakthrough. Relax, have a beer and hear all about this fascinating history of the discovery of insulin.

On Saturday 3pm-6pm, the Phinney Neighborhood Center will be crawling with many luminaries of the Seattle’s literary community with local authors from Seattle 7 on hand signing and selling their wares. The poster says “17 authors” but they’ve added several new ones, including Thea Cooper, author of the new book, BREAKTHROUGH. You won’t be able to throw a Kindle without hitting an author. Neighborhood bookstore Santoro’s will supply the merchandise, and plans to donate 10 percent of sales to Seattle Arts and Lectures’ Writers in the Schools program and the Phinney Center. For extra deliciousness, the authors are bringing their own homemade cookies for shoppers to nibble while perusing the wares.

Some of the authors in attendance: Thea Cooper, Maria Dahvana Headley, Garth Stein, Stephanie Kallos, Jim Lynch, Erica Bauermeister, Erik Larson, Carol Cassella, Kevin O’Brien, Jennie Shortridge, Elizabeth George, Randy Sue Coburn, Kit Bakke, Robert Dugoni, Sean Beaudoin, Kathleen Alcala, Suzanne Selfors, David Boling, Laurie Frankel and Susan Wiggs.

Another opportunity to purchase holiday books and gifts will be on Saturday, December 11 which marks the 4th anniversary of the fabulous Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. To celebrate this auspicious occasion they’re having a big party with music, comix, and art, and Larry will post more about that closer to the event.

And by the way, did you see Larry (one of our featured contributors on Seattle Twist) on the City of Seattle website?

The store is featured on this city-sponsored website and other promotional materials as part of their “Only in Seattle” campaign to encourage local commerce in the city’s neighborhoods.

BREAKTHROUGH: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle, by Thea Cooper and Arthur Ainsberg is the dramatic true story of one of the most significant medical breakthroughs of the 20th century: insulin. Told with the suspense and drama of a thriller, BREAKTHROUGH chronicles the discovery through the fragile life of young girl.

The book was written by Thea Cooper and Arthur Ainsberg and together, they embarked on an exploratory research effort that would ultimately take them to medical centers, universities, libraries, archives, and other sites of significance located in twenty-five cities and towns in eight states and four countries over the course of five years.

Seattle resident Thea Cooper will be talking about Breakthrough and signing copies of the book at Elliott Bay Books in Seattle on September 18 and at Third Place Books in Seattle on November 16, and more events will be posted on the book’s website and on Thea’s Amazon author page.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Breakthrough will be donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Life for a Child Program of the International Diabetes Federation.

Come to the Fremont Fair, see the Mighty Elvis Mobile and hear Gillian G. Gaar read from her latest book Return of the King: Elvis Presley’s Great Comeback.

Gillian will make an appearance on Saturday, June 19th at 2pm at the Fremont Fair in the upper parking lot of the Burke Building on N. 35th between Phinney and Evanston.

If you would like to see her in a more traditional environment, she will also be reading at the Elliott Bay Book Company, Sunday June 20th at 4pm.

Return Of The King tells the story of a tumultuous period in the life
of Elvis Presley. By 1967, The King Of Rock & Roll was all but washed-up, thanks to a string of bland movie roles and lackluster records. But within a year he had roused himself, loosened the creative shackles imposed by his grasping manager, “Colonel” Tom Parker, and reconnected with the rock audience through a riveting TV special. There followed a glorious but all too brief artistic flowering, in which he
made some of his most enduring records, including “Suspicious Minds” and “In The Ghetto.” This meticulously researched and elegantly written book, based on a string of new interviews with colleagues, friends, fans, and observers of The King, sheds new light on the events of Elvis’s great comeback.

Seattle’s legendary book store the Elliott Bay Book Company has now
relocated to the Capitol Hill neighborhood at 1521 10th Ave.
(www.elliottbaybook.com). The reading is set for June 20, at 4 pm, and
will be followed by a Q&A and book signing.

Gillian G. Gaar is the author of She’s A Rebel: The History Of Women In
Rock & Roll; Green Day: Rebels With A Cause; Nirvana: In Utero; and The
Rough Guide To Nirvana. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies
and publications. She lives in Seattle.

For all you procrastinating shoppers, Fantagraphics Bookstore is open this week 11:30 to 8:00 PM and on Christmas Eve until 5:00 PM. Avoid the mall nuts and parking hassles. Perfect presents for everyone on your list. – many priced under $20.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport way S.) just minutes south of downtown Seattle. Phone 206.658.0110. See you all soon.