Toad Suck Review, the new incarnation of the UCA Department of Writing-based Exquisite Corpse Annual, will celebrate its release on Friday, March 4, with the Toad Suck Review Launchapalooza on the rooftop of Michelangelo’s, 1117 W. Oak St., Conway. The inaugural edition of the review — described by editor Mark Spitzer in an introduction as “an incandescent stew of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, translations and review; a place-based, pomo-inspired, international literary journal” — includes contributions by Kevin Brockmeier, C.D. Wright and Times contributor Bernard Reed.
Brockmeier, Reed and more contributors will launch the Launchapalooza with readings beginning at 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Best-selling novelist Nicholas Sparks, author of chick-flick fodder like “The Notebook,” “Message in a Bottle,” and “A Walk to Remember,” is coming to UCA’s Reynolds Performance Hall at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 15. He’s touring behind his latest novel, “Safe Haven.”
Tickets, available by calling 1-866-810-0012 or visiting www.uca.edu/tickets, are $10 for the general public.
Jim Young, former UALR chancellor and author of books such as “A Labor of Love: Weaving Your Own Virgin Birth on the Loom of Love” and “God’s Pocket Dictionary,” has a new book published by O-Books. “2013! The Beginning Is Here” (paperback, $19.99) is a collection of essays about the significance of the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012.
On May 3, Charlaine Harris will publish “Dead Reckoning,” the 11th novel in her Southern Vampire series. Fans best savor it: Only two more (contractually-obligated) editions of the Sookie Stackhouse saga will follow.
“It’s been a big part of my life and I hate to see it go,” Harris recently told the Wall Street Journal. “But it’s kind of taken over my professional life, and I’m excited for new opportunities.”
Those new opportunities, according to the WSJ, include providing story guidance on “Dying for Daylight,” a computer game based on Dahlia, a she-vampire from one of Harris’ short stories.
March Books Calendar
3 Shirley Sagawa (“The American Way to Change”), 6 p.m., CS.
4 Howard Zehr (“What Will Happen to Me?”), 12 p.m., CS.
4 Toad Suck Review Launchapalooza, 8 p.m., Michelangelo’s Rooftop, Conway.
5 Janet Carson (“In the Garden”), 1 p.m., Terry Library, 2015 Napa Valley Drive.
7 David Hunt (“The Art of the Old West”), 6 p.m., CS.
10 Carla Killough McClafferty (“The Many Faces of George Washington”), 6:30 p.m., Amy Sanders Library, Sherwood.
11 Faulkner County Library Book Sale, 6 p.m., FCL.
12 Faulkner County Library Book Sale, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., FCL.
15 Nicholas Sparks (“Safe Haven”), 7:30 p.m., UCA’s Reynolds Performance Hall, Conway.
15 Janet Carson (“In the Garden”), 10 a.m., Nixon Library, Jacksonville.
15 Cookie’s Book Club discusses Malcolm Gladwell’s “Blink,” 7 p.m., TBIB
19 Les Standiford (“Bringing Adam Home”), 7 p.m., TBIB.
29 Leo Honeycutt (“Edwin Edwards: Governor of Louisiana”), 6 p.m., CS.
31 Sheena Iyengar (“The Art of Choosing”), 6 p.m., CS.
Area bookstores and libraries:
CS: Clinton School of Public Service, Sturgis Hall, 1200 President Clinton Ave., 683-5200.
FCL: Faulkner County Library, 1900 Tyler St., Conway, 501-327-7482
LL: Laman Library, 2801 Orange St., North Little Rock, 501-758-1720
ML: Main Library, 100 Rock St., 918-3000
SAC: Starving Artist Cafe, 411 Main St., North Little Rock, 372-7976
TBIB: That Bookstore in Blytheville, 316 W. Main St., Blytheville, 870-763-3333
WW: WordsWorth Books & Co., 5920 R St., 663-9198