Bookworks January Highlights Feature Jimmy Baca, Ruth Ozeki and More

ALBUQUERQUE- The holiday season and new year brings community donation drives and more stellar author events and family happenings to Bookworks.

Through the Christmas season, Bookworks will be accepting book donations for the North Valley Library. The North Valley Library was destroyed by a fire, so the library needs book to restock their shelves with adult and children's fiction and non-fiction. Customers can buy any book in our store at a 20% discount to donate to the library. All books to be donated will be placed on a special "giving shelf" in our store. Help us replenish our neighborhood library!

Also during December, Bookworks holds a diaper drive for the Peanut Butter and Jelly Preschool. Customers who donate diapers will also receive a 10% discount on the Diaper David boardbook to be donated to the PB&J pre-school. More info on the initiative is available by emailing Connie Griffin, Bookworks children's specialist, at kids@bkwrks.com.

Wednesday, January 1, Bookworks starts out the New Year with a one-day New Year's Day Sale where everything in the store is 25% off. Calendars, books, and gift items will all be discounted.

Author events in January feature both local and nationally touring authors. January 4, New Mexico's beloved poet Jimmy Santiago Baca reads from new poetry in the collection,Singing at the Gates, published by Grove Press. On January 16, Bookworks hosts award-winning, best-selling author, Ruth Ozeki. Her book, A Tale for the Time Being, is being released in paper from Penguin. The book was short-listed for the prestigious Man Booker Prize. On January 25, Armistead Maupin reads from the latest novel in his Tales of the City series, The Days of Anna Madrigal, at a free event at Bookworks.

On January 21, Bookworks partners with Albuquerque's Center for Spiritual Living to host spirituality writer Thomas Moore. The event will be held at the Albuquerque Center for Spiritual Living, at 2801 Louisiana Blvd NE. Moore's new book, A Religion of One's Own: A Guide to Creating a Personal Spirituality in a Secular World, expands on the topics he first explored shortly after leaving the monastery and recounts the benefits of contemplative living he has embraced in his secular life. He shares stories of others who are creating their religions and weaves their experiences with the wisdom of philosophers, writers, and artists who have rejected materialism and infused their secular lives with transcendence.

Poetry continues to be a focus of Bookworks events. On January 15, Albuquerque poetsMerimee Moffitt and Georgia Santa Maria present their poetry collections, Making Little Edens and Lichen Kisses. Wayne Lee reads from new poetry on January 22. OnJanuary 26, local poets take part in a tribute to William Stafford upon release of a new collection of his work, Ask Me: 100 Essential Poems, from Graywolf Press. Poets reading from Stafford's work include Tim Anderson, Rich Boucher, Billy Brown, Zachary Kluckman, Don McIver, Bill Nevins, Jules Nyquist and Barbara Rockman.

Books on planning for the future are popular choices for the New Year. On January 7,Donna Skeels Cygan presents her book, The Joy of Financial Security. January 11, bringsMeri Rudd to Bookworks to talk about her book, Life Planning in New Mexico, newly revised. On January 23, Marilyn Mason talks about her book, Becoming a Genuine Leader.

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