Authors, poets set to gather next weekend

Readings by writers and poets, panel discussions and an author talk are highlights of the fifth Albuquerque Cultural Conference, being held Friday, Sept. 28, through Sept. 30.

The conference kicks off with a free potluck reception at 4:30 p.m. Friday at the Albuquerque Center for Peace & Justice, 202 Harvard SE.

That evening, at 7 p.m., there is a poetry gala “Breaking Borders” at Outpost Performance Space, 210 Yale SE. Poets and writers reading include Lorna Dee Cervantes, Damien Flores, Luis Rodriguez, and Andrea Serrano. $10 suggested donation.

From 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, the conference presents panel discussions at the Harwood Art Center, 1114 Seventh NW. Panels include “The Southwest Border” with E.A. “Tony” Mares, Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz and Roberto Rodriguez at 9:30 a.m. and “Culture and Community of the Border” with Michelle Otero, Sandra Soto and Luis Rodriguez at 11 a.m. (Rodriguez discusses his book “It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions and Healing” at 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27 at the UNM Bookstore.)

At the Harwood at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jeff Biggers discusses his book, “State Out of the Union.” (See story this page.) Following Biggers there is an open mic; among those reading from their work are Merimee Moffitt, Jennifer Simpson and Jeanetta Calhoun Mish. The event is free.

There are panel discussions from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 30 at the Harwood. A 9 a.m. panel on “Can Tucson Happen Here?” includes Irene Vásquez, director of UNM’s Chicano and Chicana Studies, Elaine Romero, Sofia Martinez and Nadine Cordova.

Admission to the Saturday and Sept. 30 daytime panels is $20 general public for one day or $40 for both; students $15 one day or $25 both days. Tickets at www.albuquerque culturalconference.org or at the door.

AT BOOKWORKS: The bookstore at 4022 Rio Grande NW hosts these events. … Veronica Tiller and Mary Velarde discuss their book, “The Jicarilla Apache of Dulce,” at 3 p.m. today. It’s a collection of archival photographs with text about the Jicarilla, who had been relocated to Dulce, a community in Rio Arriba County. … Hadar Dubowsky Ma’ayan talks about her book “Reading Girls: The Lives and Literacies of Adolescents” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27. It meshes issues of multiple literacies, technologies, race, class, gender and sexuality. … Maria de la Luz Reyes discusses her book “Words Were All We Had: Becoming Biliterate Against the Odds” at 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29. It contains educators’ accounts of achieving literacy in English and Spanish as students before bilingual education.

AT ALAMOSA BOOKS: Socorro children’s author/illustrator Jan Thomas reads from her new book, “Let’s Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25, at the store, 8810 Holly NE.

IN OLD TOWN: Steven F. Havill signs his latest Posadas County mystery, “One Perfect Shot,” from noon-2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at Treasure House Books & Gifts, 2012 South Plaza NW.

AT PAGE ONE: J.L. Greger discusses her medical thriller “Coming Flu” at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at the bookstore, 11018 Montgomery NE.

AT BARNES & NOBLE: Lopez Lomong discusses his book “Running for My Life: One Lost Boy’s Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games” at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at the Barnes & Noble in Coronado Shopping Center.

WORKSHOP: Steve Brewer is doing a “Writing Your Mystery” workshop Saturday, Sept. 29 at Bear Canyon Senior Center, 4645 Pitt NE. Details at www.southwestwriters.com/workshops.php

IN SANTA FE: Collected Works, 202 Galisteo, hosts photographer Joan Myers who is in conversation with William deBuys about her new book, “The Jungle at the Door: A Glimpse of Wild India,” at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28.