Literary Calendar

24 MONDAY

4 P.M. Brian Doherty, a senior editor at Reason magazine and author of Gun Control on Trial: Inside the Supreme Court Battle Over the Second Amendment (chronicling the struggle over the District's gun control policies) takes part in a roundtable discussion of the book with Christopher Rhee, a partner at the firm Arnold & Porter, and Tim Lynch, director of the Cato Institute's Project on Criminal Justice, at the Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Call 202-789-5229 or e-mail events@cato.orgto RSVP.

6:30 P.M. Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, discusses and signs his new book, All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America?, at Busboys and Poets (5th & K), 1025 Fifth St. NW, 202-789-2227.

6:30 P.M. David A. Taylor, author of Success: Stories, and poet Brandel France de Bravo, author of the collection Provenance, read from their work at Busboys and Poets (D.C.), 2021 14th St. NW, 202-387-7638. Both are winners of the 2008 Washington Writer's Publishing House competition.

7 P.M. George C. Herring discusses and signs From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776 (part of the series "Oxford History of the United States") at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-364-1919.

25 TUESDAY

7 P.M. John Stauffer, a Harvard University professor of English and American Literature and Language, discusses and signs Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 202-364-1919.

28 FRIDAY

11 A.M. Children's author Susan Crites reads from and discusses her new picture book, I Love You More Than Rainbows (illustrated by Mark & Rosemary Jarman), at Borders Books-Tysons, 8021 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, Va., 703-556-7766.

Noon. Children's book author and illustrator Mike Thompson reads from and signs his new book, Chicken Boy and the Wrath of Dr. Dimwad, at Borders Books-Fredericksburg, 1220 Carl D. Silver Pkwy., Fredericksburg, Va., 540-785-6171.

29 SATURDAY

2 P.M. Annette Haws reads from and signs her new novel, Waiting for the Light to Change, at Barnes & Noble-Market Commons, 2800 Clarendon Blvd., Arlington, Va., 703-248-8244.

2:30 P.M. The Newseum (555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW) is hosting "Inside Media: The Most Prestigious Pulitzer," a roundtable discussion of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service awarded each year to a newspaper for outstanding reporting, with Roy J. Harris Jr., author of Pulitzer's Gold: Behind the Prize for Public Service Journalism, and Washington Post reporter Jeff Leen, head of the paper's investigative unit (The Post has been awarded the public service medal four times), in the Knight TV Studio, Level 3. This event is part of the center's "Inside Media" series; for details, call 888-639-7386 or visit http://www.newseum.org.

30 SUNDAY

2 P.M. Books & Crannies (19 E. Washington St., Middleburg, Va.) is co-sponsoring a discussion with chef Virginia Willis, a former TV producer for Martha Stewart Living and the online site Epicurious, for her new cookbook, Bon Appétit, Y'All: Recipes and Stories from Three Generations of Southern Cooking, at the Barrel Oak Winery, 3623 Grove Lane in Delaplane, Va. The event will include a taste testing and book signing; for details, call 540-687-6677.

2 P.M. Historian Marcello Simonetta, author of The Montefeltro Conspiracy: A Renaissance Mystery Decoded, presents a lecture, "From Botticelli to Buanarroti: Medici Portraits and Anti-Medici Plots," at the National Gallery of Art, East Building auditorium, Fourth St. & Constitution Ave. NW. Simonetta's book is an account of the Pazzi Conspiracy, a 15th-century assassination attempt on the Medici brothers; a book signing follows. For details, call 202-737-4215 or visit http://www.nga.gov.

5 P.M. Katherine Neville reads from and signs The Fire, the sequel to her bestselling novel The Eight, at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 202-364-1919.

SPECIAL NOTICE

Letters About Literature(LAL), an annual national writing contest focused on young readers and their relationships with authors, is seeking submissions from elementary, middle school and high school students, asking them to write a letter to a favorite author explaining how the author's work has impacted their lives and somehow changed their view of the world. Six winners will be chosen, each receiving a grant for their community or school library. The deadline for this contest, sponsored by the Center for the Book, the D.C. Public Library and Target stores, is Dec. 6. Teachers and librarians can download contest guidelines (as well as lesson plans, teaching materials and writing samples) at http://www.lettersaboutliterature.org.

A HOLIDAY JUMP START

St. John's Episcopal Church, at 3240 O St. NW in Georgetown, hosts its annual Greens Sale and Authors' Table on Saturday, Dec. 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.. Authors expected to stop by and sign copies of their books (not all writers will be there at the same time) include former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, author of the bestselling Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership; children's author Laura Krauss Melmed, whose latest picture book is Hurry! Hurry! Have You Heard? (illustrated by Jane Dyer); former foreign service officer Harry Kopp, author of Career Diplomacy: Life and Work in the U.S. Foreign Service; J. Phillip London, chairman of the board of CACI International and author of Our Good Name: A Company's Fight to Defend Its Honor and Get the Truth Told About Abu Ghraib; Allen Raymond, author of How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative (written with Ian Spiegelman); Andy Pollin, a sports commentator on local Sports Talk 908-AM, and Leonard Shapiro, a veteran sports reporter for The Washington Post, authors of The Great Book of Washington, D.C. Sports Lists; local culinary expert Amy Riolo, author of Arabian Delights: Recipes & Princely Entertaining Ideas from the Arabian Peninsula; Shawn Martinborough, author of How to Draw a Graphic Novel; photographer Frank van Riper, author (with Judith Goodman) of the photo/essay book Serenissima: Venice in Winter; children's author Susan Stockdale, author of the picture book Fabulous Fishes; journalist and political commentator Eleanor Clift, author of Two Weeks of Life: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Politics; and local pastry chef and entrepreneur Warren Brown, owner of the bakery CakeLove and its sister establishment Love Café and author of CakeLove: How to Bake Cakes from Scratch. Call 202-248-4246 for details.

More than 25 authors will be taking part in the Holiday Book Fair being sponsored by the Black Author Showcase and 22nd Century Press on Saturday, Dec. 13, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Show Place Arena, 14900 Pennsylvania Ave., Upper Marlboro, Md. The event will feature author readings (including children's books, Christian and contemporary novels), a poetry slam, door prizes and gift wrapping. For details, visit http://www.basbookfair.com.

The City of Fairfax Regional Library will hold a Holiday History Book Mart on Sunday, Dec. 7, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., featuring new and gently used books on Virginia history for all ages, with the added bonus of authors dropping by to sign their work. The library is located at 10360 North St., Fairfax, Va.; call 703-293-6227 (and press 6) for details.