Monday, May 6th: Write On! with Charles Johnson

See our Event of the Week column for more details. Northwest African-American Museum, 2300 S Massachusetts St, 518-6000, http://www.naamnw.org, 7 pm.

Tuesday, May 7th: Become America Reading

Seattle author Eric Liu has made it his life's mission to revive the American civic spirit. His Civic Saturdays series of church-like meetings invite secular-minded people to come together and celebrate art, democracy, justice, and community. Liu's latest book, Become America, collects some of his best secular sermons into an inspiring book about what it means to be an American. Washington Hall, 153 14th Ave, Seattle, 322-1151, http://washingtonhall.org, 7 pm, free.

Wednesday, May 8th: Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl Reading

Andrea Lawlor's novel is about a shapeshifter — or a changeling, if you prefer— in the 1990s LGBTQ activist scene in the 1990s. This was a time when Bill Clinton pushed against same-sex marriage and gay panic was a regular punchline at multiplexes, so changing shape would probably come in handy. Lawlor will be in conversation with Seattle author Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore. Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 10th Ave, 624-6600, http://elliottbaybook.com, 7 pm, free.

Thursday, May 9th: Seattle Prohibition Reading

Brad Holden's latest book describes what Prohibition was like in Seattle. If you think a port city known for its raucous history got completely dry without a fight, you're in for a few surprises. Third Place Books Lake Forest Park, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3333, http://thirdplacebooks.com, 7 pm, free.

Friday, May 10th: Three Poets

Two Seattle-area poets who are friends of the Seattle Review of Books will read work with a visiting poet from San Francisco. Regular readers of this site won't need an introduction to Kelli Russell Agodon or Susan Rich. (If you do need an introduction: Agodon is the co-founder of small but mighty poetry publisher Two Sylvias Press, and Rich is the author, most recently, of Cloud Pharmacy.) They're welcoming Mary Peelen, author of Quantum Heresies, to town. Open Books, 2414 N. 45th St, 633-0811, http://openpoetrybooks.com, 7 pm, free.

Saturday, May 11th: Planet of the Nerds Reading

Okay, this listing is a top-to-bottom conflict of interest. I'm appearing at Elliott Bay Book Company to celebrate the launch of two comics from Syracuse comics publisher AHOY Comics. The first book is the collected edition of The Wrong Earth, which is the story of a light-hearted superhero who changes places with a gritty, dark version of himself. I have five short stories in that one. And the other book is Planet of the Nerds, which is my first full-length comic. I'll be in conversation with brilliant Seattle arts writer Brangien Davis, and there will be drinks and snacks and fun. Please join me. And here's a graphic for the event made by great graphic designer Mary Traverse:

Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 10th Ave, 624-6600, http://elliottbaybook.com, 7 pm, free.

Alternate Saturday, May 11th: Red State Revolt Reading

Red-state America over the last year has hosted the largest strikes in recent American history. Teachers in West Virginia and Oklahoma and Arizona basically shut down the government with popular support from the general population. Is this the beginning of something big? That's what the new book Red State Revolt: The Teachers' Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics is all about. This is a moderated discussion about the amazing things that are happening in plain sight. University Book Store,  4326 University Way N.E., 634-3400, http://www2.bookstore.washington.edu/, 7 pm, noon.

Sunday, May 12th: Make It True Meets Medusario Reading

Cuban poet José Kozer and Seattle poet Paul E Nelson have put together an anthology that seeks to shake off the "cliquishness" of the modern age by inviting "poets from divergent languages, cultures, and aesthetics to create a type of conversation, or at least a fertile meeting place for ongoing ideas about poetry." Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 10th Ave, 624-6600, http://elliottbaybook.com, 3 pm, free.