Snohomish County book calendar

Published 1:30 am Sunday, January 1, 2017

Kandy Orr

6 p.m. Jan. 5, Hibulb Cultural Center, Tulalip

Poet Kandy Orr is the center’s First Thursday presenter. Her creative inspiration springs from her personal experiences having survived domestic abuse. She turned the negative energy into poetry. A poetry open mic follows at 7 p.m. Hibulb is open free of charge from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the first Thursdays of each month at 6410 23rd Ave. NE, just off Marine Drive.

Mort Kondracke and Robert Merry

7:30 p.m. Jan. 6, Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, Langley

The journalists and authors plan to talk about the direction of American politics. Kondracke is perhaps best known for his long stint as a panelist on “The McLaughlin Group” and is a former executive editor of the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call. Merry, who worked as a political reporter for The Wall Street Journal, is the author of five books. His biography of President William McKinley will be out next year. Tickets are $25. Call 800-638-7631.

Paula Becker

2 p.m. Jan. 7, Everett Public Library

Author Paula Becker gives an illustrated lecture on Betty MacDonald’s life, including readings from MacDonald’s most famous books. Becker recently wrote “Looking for Betty MacDonald: the Egg, The Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and I.” The free event will be in the main library auditorium at 2702 Hoyt Ave.

Lynn Brunelle

11 a.m. Jan. 14, University Book Store, Mill Creek

The author of “Big Science for Little People” will be on hand to do some experiments from her book and talk about the inspiration for the parent-child interactive publication.

Tracy Weber

5 to 8 p.m. Jan. 15, Edmonds Book Shop

The fourth in Weber’s award-winning Downward Dog Mystery series is “A Fatal Twist,” in which yoga instructor Kate Davidson’s life takes a chaotic turn once she agrees to not only the doula for her pregnant best friend, but also play foster mother to two puppies. The chaos heightens when Kate finds the dead body of a philandering fertility doctor. One of Kate’s yoga students is seen fleeing the scene.

Ellen Hopkins

7 p.m. Jan. 24, Third Place Books

In her new YA novel “The You I’ve Never Known,” Hopkins delivers a “deeply personal” novel in which a teenager named Maya discovers a startling truth: her mother didn’t abandon her. In fact, her father kidnapped her. At the Lake Forest Park town center store.

— Gale Fiege, Herald staff