October in Davis is hot! (And not just in terms of weather...)

Friends,

Have you visited Davis lately? Or maybe you live in Davis, but you don't always have time to get out and enjoy the literary feast that exists here? Make the effort this month. There is so much going on! Enjoy! ~Kate

All events are free and open to the general public unless indicated otherwise.

October 14, 7:00pm, Wyatt Deck in the Arboretum: Award-winning writers from UCD’s English Department read from their work to kick off the academic year. The free program includes Lucy Corin, Greg Glazner, Pam Houston, Joe Wenderoth, and Yiyun Li. Co-sponsored by the UC Davis Department of English.http://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/calendar.aspx

October 15, 6:00pm, Shields Library lobby: Carolyn De La Pena will present her new book, EMPTY PLEASURES: THE STORY OF ARTIFICAIL SWEETNERS FROM SACHARRIN TO SPLENDA. In Empty Pleasures, the first history of artificial sweeteners in the United States, Carolyn de la Peña blends popular culture with business and women's history, examining the invention, production, marketing, regulation, and consumption of sugar substitutes such as saccharin, Sucaryl, NutraSweet, and Splenda.http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/ul/news/?item=23463

October 19, noon to 2pm, Bookstore front entrance: David Johnson will sign copies of his new book, DECODED: DATING, RELATIONSHIPS, LOVE. In Decoded, Johnson reveals the inner truths about men and their thinking process.http://www.davisboypublishing.com/

October 20, 11am to 12:30pm, Cabernet Room in the Silo: Dr. Mary Ann Mason presents her book, MOTHERS ON THE FAST TRACK: HOW THE NEW GENERATION CAN BALANCE CAREER AND FAMILY. Mason has been in a unique position to evaluate the unprecedented admission of women, now nearing equal numbers, into advanced fields over the past thirty years. Her research on the impact of family on the lifetime careers of academic and professional women and men has garnered attention from individuals and institutionsnationwidehttp://iccweb.ucdavis.edu/graduates/pds/pdf/F10MaryAnnMason.pdf

October 26, noon to 1:30pm, The Bookstore Lounge: Yiyun Li presents her new book of short stories, GOLD BOY, EMERALD GIRL. In these spellbinding stories, Yiyun Li, Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award winner and recently named MacArthur Fellow, gives us exquisite fiction filled with suspense, depth, and beauty, in which history, politics, and folklore magnificently illuminate the human condition. http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400068135

October 26, 7:00pm to 8:30pm, location TBD: Kate Bernheimer reads from her work. Baltimore City Paper says of Horse, Flower, Bird: ”By taking up residence in the main female characters’ hearts and souls and by looking out from their eyes, these stories give others a glimpse of not just what she sees of what’s taken place, but what she thinks of it all . . . the stories in Horse, Flower, Bird are melancholy—as are Rikki Ducornet’s accompanying illustrations—but also as bright and sprightly as a little caged bird.”http://www.katebernheimer.com/

October 27, 7:00pm to 9:00pm, Freeborn Hall, students: $5, general public: $20: Dr. Reza Aslan presents a talk entitled IS AMERICA ISLAMOPHOBIC: THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF RISING ANTI-MUSLIM SENTIMENT IN THE UNITED STATES.http://mesa.ucdavis.edu/events/reza-aslan-lecture

October 27, 8:00pm to 9:30pm, The Mondavi, tickets at $49, $37, $25: Jonah Lehrer talks about his book HOW WE DECIDE: THE NEW SCIENCE OF DECISION MAKING, a fascinating look at the new science of decision-making and how it can help us make better choices. Since Plato, philosophers have described the decision making process as either rational or emotional: we carefully deliberate or we blink and go with our gut. But as scientists break open the mind's black box with the latest tools of neuroscience, they're discovering that this is not how the mind works.http://mondavi.ucdavis.edu/events/event.cfm?event_id=885&season=2010

October 28, 4:00pm to 5:30pm, 3201 Hart Hall: Eric Rauchway presents his new novel, BANANA REPUBLICAN. A novel that sends the sexist, racist, elitist Tom Buchanan (from “The Great Gatsby”) careening through America’s brilliantly mismanaged intervention in Nicaragua in the early twentieth century. http://us.macmillan.com/bananarepublican

And, even though it's not October:

Wednesday, November 3, 12 noon at Wyatt Deck in the UC Davis Arboretum: Poets in the Garden presents Susan Kelly-DeWitt, author of The Fortunate Islands (Marick Press, 2008), eight small press collections, and the electronic chapbook The Limbo Suite (Mudlark No. 38). Her work appears in a number of anthologies and is forthcoming in Afghanistan, A Window Into The Tragedy, edited and with photographs by Alen Silva.