• Capitol Hill Seattle this morning published a post on the Queer Resurgence on Capitol Hill Poetry Slam Festival, which happens this weekend. Check out the lineup of readers here.

• If you missed Tuesday night's event at the central branch of the Seattle Public Library, in which Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore interviewed Sarah Schulman, author of Conflict Is Not Abuse, a video of the event is now available on YouTube:

• Young booksellers from around the country, including a few in Seattle, are launching Indies Forward, which Sydney Jarrard at Bookselling This Week calls "a new volunteer organization dedicated to cultivating, supporting, and sustaining the emerging generation of innovators and leaders in the bookselling industry." Jarrard continues:

Indies Forward, which will focus primarily on development, networking, and mentorship, will provide educational programming specifically tailored to new and emerging booksellers, on such topics as personal finance, management, and the economics of bookstores and publishing. The group plans to set up standalone networking events as well as in conjunction with regular industry gatherings so that younger booksellers will have a greater chance of being able to attend.

• PEN America just announced their literary awards finalists for the year. It's an impressive array of authors, including Teju Cole, Colson Whitehead, Yaa Gyasi, and Helen Oyeyemi.

• And the National Book Critics Circle finalists have been announced. The fiction prize is a face-off between heavyweights: Zadie Smith, Michael Chabon, Ann Patchett, Louise Erdrich, and Adam Haslett. Also, Margaret Atwood is getting a lifetime achievement award.

• Entertainment Weekly has collected every book President Obama ever recommended.