& i deas literature

OCT. 3

››› The ability to read whatever we like, while most of us take it for granted, is in no way guaranteed. And with the American Library Association recording more attempts to ban books in 2022 than ever before in its history, performances such as Free to Read: A Banned Books Week Event are timelier than ever.

Staged by The Asylum Theatre, the evening is

by ANNE DAVIS

billed as a celebration of First Amendment rights and freedom of artistic expression. Clark County Library, 7-9p, free, thelibrarydistrict. org, 702-507-3459

OCT. 4

››› Add equal parts activism, solid storytelling, and emotional exploration, mix thoroughly, and garnish with a dash of journalism — you now have the recipe for Morgan Thomas’ writing.

Disarming and raw, their body of work will be the subject of this Black Mountain Institute event celebrating one of its four Shearing Fellows for the 2023-24 academic year. In this book reading, Thomas will reflect on what it means to be radically untraditional in America, and all the beauty and pain that goes along with that. UNLV’s Beverly Rogers Literature and Law Building, 7p, free, blackmountaininstitute.org

OCT. 5

››› There’s something appropriate about discussing classic films with a specialty cocktail in hand — mirroring the endless, off-handed pouring of scotch that punctuated scenes throughout midcentury film. Commemorate this bygone era at Bar: Film Classics and Cocktails featuring movie trivia with Turner Classic Movies host Eddie Muller. The evening promises to fill your brain with stimulating discussion and your belly with fancy drinks for every palate. The Mob Museum, 7-8:30p, $30, themobmuseum.org

OCT. 15

››› Shoutout to the overthinkers! Obsessions, the latest installment in Avantpop Bookstore’s Intimate Evenings of Poetry series, is for you (and me). Hosted by activist and writer Shwa Laytart, this installment promises to satisfy your need for dark satirical poetry. If that’s not your thing, catch other readings on Oct. 22 (themed as Invisible Ghosts), Nov. 12 (Sensuality), and Nov. 19 (Fear and Loathing). Ticket prices include one free drink. Office of Collecting and Design, 6-8p, $25, avantpopbooks.com

OCT. 17

››› Architecture and landscaping are part of that wonderful class of art that we all benefit from, yet very rarely think about. May it be invisible no more, says Mary G. Padua, visiting lecturer for the AIA + Klai Juba Wald + UNLV School of Architecture fall lecture series. Padua, a researcher as well as an architect, specializes in the meaning of public spaces and post-Mao urban design in China. Her presentation, Speculations on the Landscape, will shed light on the beauty and purpose of the planned world around us. UNLV’s Architecture Studies Library, 5:30-7p, free, unlv.edu/finearts

OCT. 19

››› Where can one witness 14 local powerhouse authors discussing their writing together in one place, other than at the Las Vegas Writes event, sponsored by Nevada Humanities? This year’s installment, published (as usual) to coincide with the Las Vegas Book Festival, is titled Feather Shows: Las Vegas Writers on Movies, TV, and Other Spectacles. The story collection focuses not only on visitors to Sin City, but also the locals who daily find themselves navigating a complicated, oxymoronic, town. And if you recognize some names, that’s because they — namely, Delight Chinenye Ejiaka and Mike Weatherford — have contributed to

LAS VEGAS

OCT. 21

››› One of my bigger mistakes in 2022 was foregoing the Las Vegas Book Festival because of that crazy windstorm — missing Bob Woodward stung. But around here, we learn from our mistakes, so I’m blocking out Oct. 21 for full lit immersion. And what a year it’ll be: authors Terry McMillan, Malcolm Nance, Rebecca Yarros, and Ana Reyes are slated to make appearances, along with the usual book vendors. Pro tip: Bring a friend to geek out with and help you stay true to your book budget. Historic Fifth Street School, 10a-6p, free, lasvegasbookfestival.com

Unsurprisingly, organized crime had a role in organizing many of them, which is why it makes sense for the Mob Museum to present Racing and Racketeers: Motorsport and Organized Crime in Las Vegas. The lecture, featuring Randy Cannon (a motorsport historian) and Bill Weinberger (a former casino exec), comes to town right before Formula 1. Something to think about the next time you see road closures for repaving — like everything else in Vegas, the Mafia started it! The Mob Museum, 7-8p, free with museum admission, themobmuseum.org

THROUGH OCT. 29

Desert Companion, too. To get to know one of the Feather Shows writers (and the anthology editor) better, flip to page 27 for a review of Jarret Keene’s recently published dystopian novel, Hammer of the Dogs Clark County Library Theater, 7-9p, free, nevadahumanities.org

OCT. 19

››› We Are a Haunting is an apt name for Tyriek White’s most recent novel, published in April. Combining suspense, the supernatural

(naturally), inequality, and a commentary on complicated familial dynamics, the book is further proof that White is a supreme example of his generation’s nuanced novelists, particularly when it comes to sharing Black, urban experiences. UNLV’s Barrick Auditorium, 7p, free, blackmountaininstitute.org

OCT. 26

››› True Vegas trivia buffs know that the city has a distinguished record of hosting auto racing events, stretching as far back as the 1960s.

››› The old saw about an image and a bunch of words gets the literal treatment in this poetry showcase: Students in UNLV’s Creative Writing program created poems based on the art they saw at the Rita Deanin Abbey Museum. That same poetry is now on display beside the corresponding paintings and sculptures in Vegas & Verse: A Collaborative Exhibition Rita Deanin Abbey Museum, Thurs. and Fri. 10a-6p, Sat. 10a-5p, Sun. 10a-4p, free with museum admission, ritadeaninabbeymusuem.org

NOV. 1

››› Critics have declared Artificial, cartoonist and author Amy Kurzweil’s most recent publication, morally challenging, beautifully illustrated, and witty. And the plot isn’t too shabby, either. The book is a generational epic, which thoughtfully takes shape as Kurzweil explores her family’s very complicated past, virtually resurrecting the dead while trying to reconcile her own uncertain future with her partner. For the AI-obsessed, this reading and book signing offer an ideal opportunity to contemplate the role that tech can play in understanding the past. The Writer’s Block, 7-8p, free, thewritersblock.org

NOV. 2

››› Mental health professionals recommend plenty of common methods for reducing climate anxiety: understand what you can and can’t control, reduce climate news consumption, talk it out with a trusted friend or family member. But there are also less well-known avenues. These form the basis for Brian Burkhart’s lecture

Climate Hope Through the Land: An Indigenous Framework for Decolonial Hope During Climate Chaos. Burkhart aims to increase climate hope by reviving the idea of “land as kinship.” Also at UNLV during American Indian Heritage Month, on Nov.

9, is Adorned Since Time Immemorial: First Nations’ Fashion Today, highlighting the current generation of Indigenous fashion designers. Both lectures are in the same place, and at the same price point and timeslot. UNLV’s Beverly Rogers Literature and Law Building, 7:30-8:30p, free, unlv. edu/liberalarts/ universityforum

NOV. 9

››› While most atomic-age history can be heavy, this installment of the Atomic Museum’s Atomix lecture series, Atomic Life: Shaken and Stirred, makes connecting with that era a bit more accessible. It features the work of Cecelia Tichi, author of Midcentury Cocktails: History, Lore, and Recipes from America’s Atomic Age — a dash of midcentury kitsch, a solid scoop of American history, and a Moscow Mule straight out of Ocean’s Eleven Atomic Motor Company, 6-8p, atomicmuseum.vegas

NOV. 16

››› Is food a bonding experience, something you have good memories of, eating with family at an idealized dinner table? Or does food bring up thoughts of insecurity, trauma, lack? Perhaps it invokes some other experience altogether. Food writer Kim Foster explores these associations and more, as part of UNLV’s University Forum Lecture series in collaboration with the Black Mountain Institute. In The Meth Lunches, Foster’s discussion of nutrition in a time of income and access inequality, and how that interacts with depictions of gastronomy on social media, offers plenty to digest. UNLV’s Beverly Rogers Literature and Law Building, 7:30p, free, blackmountaininstitute.org

NOV. 21

››› If you’re reading this public radio-published magazine, then chances are pretty good you’re a fan of David Sedaris, famed for his work on “This American Life,” produced by WBEZ Chicago. Since his personal essays were first heard on the radio almost 30 years ago, Sedaris has blazed a trail as star humorist, even making the New York Times bestsellers list. Sedaris will be live in Vegas, for one show only, An Evening with David Sedaris. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t sit on this chance to see the author live.

Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, 7:30p, $54-69, thesmithcenter.com

DEC. 8

››› Heather Lang-Cassera is making Desert Companion proud. Our 2017 Best of the City choice for Local Writer or Poet, Lang-Cassera has since served as the Clark County, Nevada Poet Laureate; a 2022 Nevada Arts Council Literary Fellow; and has published her most recent collection of poetry, Gathering Broken Light. This reading at The Writer’s Block offers a chance to get acquainted with not only the author herself, but also her poetry, which centers the tragedy of American gun violence, inspired by the aftermath of the 1 October shooting.

The Writer’s Block, 7-8p, free, thewritersblock.org

In Rotten Evidence, the author breaks bonds both literary and political

“I can’t think of any literary genre that lies as habitually about its subject, or is as artistically lazy while claiming authenticity, as prison literature.” This critique of Egyptian prison memoirs is the bar Ahmed Naji sets for himself — and clears — in Rotten Evidence, his own memoir of Egyptian prison.

Now living in exile as a fellow at UNLV’s Black Mountain Institute, Naji became the first writer in Egyptian history imprisoned for “offending public morality.” That is, for literary rather than political reasons, as passages in his 2014 novel Using Life were deemed too sexually provocative. Sentenced to two years, he was imprisoned for 10 months in 2016.

By Ahmed Naji (Katharine Halls translator)

280 pages, $20 McSweeney’s

Rotten Evidence is anything but artistically lazy. Its timeline toggles adroitly between the ritual humiliations of captivity — petty bureaucratic sadisms, vulgar cellblock banter, revolting smells — and scenes from Naji’s life leading up to incarceration. In these, he offers brief, penetrating glimpses into Egypt’s often-surreal political, religious, intellectual, and judicial strata. Frequent excerpts from his journal add a real-time texture, and a kind of psychological shadow narrative gels as Naji recounts his sad, frightening, and hopeless dream life.

Don’t be put off by the book’s Cairo setting or cameos by unfamiliar Arabic writers; an American reader will find plenty of handholds. After all, people everywhere abuse their tiny slivers of power. And when Naji quotes at length from the judgment against him — a florid, self-important, flagrantly wrongheaded argument for censoring books on behalf of public morality — it doesn’t sound much different from a Moms 4 Liberty press conference.

If Rotten Evidence offers an abiding takeaway image, it’s of the writer in his prison bunk, hunched over a notebook cradled on his “makeshift desk of leg bones,” attempting to transmute his squalor into art. Entering prison, Naji wasn’t sure he was a real writer. Question answered.

—Scott Dickensheets