On April 23, Santa Cruz volunteers will be hosting World Book Night, an international event intended to spread the love of books.

UC Santa Cruz Literature and Creative Writing Professor Gary Young to be featured on an upcoming segment of Garrison Keillor’s literary radio program, The Writer’s Almanac. This will be Young’s fourth time having his poetry read on the program.

New Literary Online zine, Phren-Z, had their official launch event last First Friday at the Musuem of Modern Art. Talented, local Santa Cruz writers brought their best work to present to a packed crowd.

Last week Borders announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and would be “reorganizing” the company, resulting in the closure of 200 stores including the Borders on Pacific Avenue. The partial closure of the national megastore highlights the shift taking place in print media to electronic books and Internet booksellers.

Bookshop Santa Cruz is hosting a discussion on race relations in America with the visit of NPR host and author Michele Norris. She recently wrote “The Grace of Silence,” which delves into the perception of race in light of President Barack Obama’s election.

UC Santa Cruz Literature professor Karen Tei Yamashita is nominated for the 2010 National Book Award for her fifth novel I Hotel. Experiences of her life around the Yellow Power Movement inspired her novel.

Joël Barraquiel Tan, an openly queer Filipino writer, held a reading during the Living Writers Series this past Thursday. Tan discussed his writing, his current activism, his “Filipino-ness”, and what it is he hopes to see from future generations.

Speaking at Santa Cruz’s Civic Auditorium, David Sedaris read humorous passages from his journal and new works that are yet to be published.

UC Santa Cruz’s quarterly “Living Writers” lecture series kicked off on Jan. 13, aiming to tackle potential imbalances in history due to a previous male monopoly over the field. The lineup includes nine female writers devoted to showing history through a double lens.