Wednesday, October 4: Lit Crawl Kick-Off Party

It’s almost time for Lit Crawl, Seattle’s wildest cross-city literary party. Tonight, the hosts present an unveiling ceremony where they’ll reveal this year’s lineup of readers and venues to an early-bird crowd, along with readings from local writers and an auction to raise money for the event. \ Capitol Cider, 818 E. Pike St., 397-3564, http://litcrawl.org/seattle. $10. 21+. 6 p.m.

Thursday, October 5: WA 129 Reading

Washington State’s outgoing poet laureate, Todd Marshall, collected as many Washington poets as humanly possible in an anthology titled WA 129. Tonight, Marshall will be joined by 15 local poets, who will each briefly read. Expect to see Elizabeth Austen, Claudia Castro Luna, Sierra Nelson, Susan Rich, and Martha Silano, among others. Open Books, 2414 N. 45th St., 633-0811, http://openpoetrybooks.com. Free. All ages. 7 p.m.

Friday, October 6: From Here to Eternity Reading

Caitlin Doughty is a mortician whose new book, From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death, “travels the world [from Bolivia to Japan to Indonesia] to discover how other cultures care for their dead.” Tonight, she’s joined by Seattle poet Sonya Vatomsky in an onstage conversation. She goes to Bolivia to see cigarette-smoking, wish-granting human skulls; to Japan to watch relatives of the deceased use chopsticks to pluck their loved ones’ bones from cremation ashes; to Indonesia to watch a man dress his grandfather’s mummified body.

The Summit, 420 E. Pike St., 322-7411, http://townhallseattle.org. $5. 21+. 7 p.m.

Saturday, October 7: “Write-In”

This confluence of the literary and the political (“politeracal?”) is a combination of readings by local writers, writing prompts, and joint writing exercise. These events are intended to celebrate the importance of free speech in these Trump-y times. This event is put on by Write Our Democracy, which used to be known by the much better name Writers Resist. Hugo House, 1021 Columbia St., 322-7030, http://hugohouse.org. Free. All ages. 10 a.m.

Sunday, October 8: The Future Is History Reading

See our Event of the Week column for more details.

Monday, October 9: Skyfarer Reading

The best sci-fi bookstore in town brings a Tacoma author named Joseph Brassey to town with his brand-new space fantasy about knights in space and a magical gem. No less a talent than Neal Stephenson says Skyfarer is “One of those remarkable books that consists entirely of ‘the good parts.’” University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., 634-3400, http://www2.bookstore.washington.edu/. Free. All ages. 7 p.m.

Tuesday, October 10: Nasty Women Reading

This anthology from Samhita Mukhopadhyay and Kate Harding is about “Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Trump’s America,” and it was inspired by the Women’s march. The editors are joined by local superstar Ijeoma Oluo, who has a much-anticipated book coming out next year. Hopefully there will be several good Janet Jackson jokes to accompany all the good, thoughtful conversation. Seattle First Baptist Church, 1111 Harvard Ave, 652-4255, http://townhallseattle.org. $5. All ages. 7:30 p.m.