BOONVILLE – Author Valerie Miner will hold a reading of her newest novel on Saturday, Aug. 21.

The reading will begin at 4 p.m. at Laughing Dog Books, 14125 Highway 128, Boonville.

Following the reading there will be a chance for discussion with the author.

Miner will read three brief selections from a novel set in Mendocino County, a collection of short fiction and a memoir.

She is the award-winning author of 13 books.

Her new novel, “After Eden,” is published in the “Literature of the American West Series” by the University of Oklahoma Press.

Other novels include “Range of Light,” “A Walking Fire,” “Winter's Edge,” “Blood Sisters,” “All Good Women,” “Movement: A Novel in Stories” and “Murder in the English Department.”

Her short fiction books include “Abundant Light,” “The Night Singers” and “Trespassing.” Her collection of essays is “Rumors from the Cauldron: Selected Essays, Reviews and Reportage.” Miner's work has been translated into eight languages.

She has won fellowships and awards from The Rockefeller Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The NEA, The Jerome Foundation, The Heinz Foundation, The Australia Council Literary Arts Board and numerous other sources. She has had Fulbright Fellowships to Tunisia, India and Indonesia.

Winner of a Distinguished Teaching Award, she has taught for more than 25 years and is now artist-in-residence and professor at Stanford University.

She travels internationally giving readings, lectures and workshops. She and her partner live in San Francisco and Mendocino County.

Visit her Web site at www.valerieminer.com.

Laughing Dog Books can be reached at 707-272-7323.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Dance Alliance will hold auditions for “The Nutcracker” on Saturday, Aug. 21.

The auditions will take place at the PACK Community Arts Academy, 21055 Bush St., Middletown.

Auditions will take place from noon to 4 p.m. Those wanting to audition can arrive anytime within those hours.

Ages 6 to adult may audition. Parts for ages 4 to 5 are only open to current PACK families.

All levels of experience and styles of dance are welcome – tumbling, ballet, modern, jazz, pointe, contemporary and theatrical pantomime.

For more information call 707-987-8230 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Visit the PACK Community Arts Academy online at www.packcaa.org.

Mark Rudiger, Austin Ison, Jeanine Mullen, Sue Condit (hidden, Eleanor Cook and Andi Skelton), members of the Konocti Fiddle Club performing at Lakeport Library last summer in the summer of 2009. The fiddlers will perform Friday, Aug. 20, 2010, at Lakeport Library, Lakeport, Calif. Photo by Jan Cook.

The library and the musicians invite the public to this family-friendly event at 1425 N. High St.

Classic fiddle tunes resonate whenever these musicians, ranging in age from kindergarten to grandparent, perform.

An old saying states that “the violin sings, but the fiddle dances.” The Konocti Fiddlers do indeed make their fiddles dance, and sometimes the fiddles cluck like hens, moo like cows and whistle like trains.

Miss Barbara the story lady will read music-themed books to the children.

Lakeport Library is open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Wednesday noon to 8 p.m. The phone number is 707-263-8817.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Join respected local musician Jim Williams for an evening of music on Saturday, Aug. 21.

Williams will host an open microphone event from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Kelsey Creek Coffee Co. in Lakeport.

Bring your guitar or other instrument and have some fun.

Kelsey Creek Coffee Co. is located at 930 N. Main St. Visit the business on Facebook, www.facebook.com/pages/Kelsey-Creek-Coffee-Co/144886771325#!/pages/Kelsey-Creek-Coffee-Co/144886771325?v=wall.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Join the Moore Family Winery on Saturday, Aug. 21, for a concert and wine tasting.

The event will be held from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The concert in the vineyard will feature Lightning Hand and Blind Monkey Band.

Formed in 2004, lightning hand has been one of Northern California's premier classic/rock, blues and Americana roots bands.

Tickets are $15.

Moore Family Winery is located at 11990 Bottle Rock Road.

For more information visit http://www.moorefamilywinery.com or call 707-279-9279.

Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. Photo by UNL Publications and Photography.

Anton Chekhov, the master of the short story, was able to see whole worlds within the interactions of simple Russian peasants, and in this little poem by Leo Dangel, who grew up in rural South Dakota, something similar happens.

One September Afternoon

Home from town

the two of them sit

looking over what they have bought

spread out on the kitchen table

like gifts to themselves.

She holds a card of buttons

against the new dress material

and asks if they match.

The hay is dry enough to rake,

but he watches her

empty the grocery bag.

He reads the label

on a grape jelly glass

and tries on

the new straw hat again.

Ted Kooser was US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. He is a professor in the English Department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He lives on an acreage near the village of Garland, Nebraska, with his wife Kathleen Rutledge, the editor of the Lincoln Journal Star.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org),

publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of

Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2009 by Donal Heffernan, whose most recent book of poetry is

“Duets of Motion,” Lone Oak Press, 2001. Poem reprinted by permission of Donal Heffernan.

Introduction copyright ©2010 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

American Life in Poetry ©2006 The Poetry Foundation

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This column does not accept unsolicited poetry.