Ida Williams Memorial Poetry Contest. Jan. 2-April 18. Free. Atlanta-Fulton Public Library, Buckhead Branch, 269 Buckhead Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-814-3500, afpls.org/buckhead-branch. Children and teens can enter the annual contest and win Barnes & Noble gift cards. Poetry can be free-verse or rhyming; entries can be hand-written, typed or computer printed. There are three categories (grades K-2, 3-5 and 6-8). Several entries per contestant are allowed; all entries are due by April 18.
Ravi Howard, "Driving the King." 7:15 p.m. Jan. 6. Reading, signing. Free. Decatur Library Auditorium, 215 Sycamore St., Decatur. 404-370-8450, Ext. 2225; georgiacenterforthebook.org/Events/show.php?id=751. Howard's new novel is a daring look at race and class in pre-civil rights America, played out in the lives of Nat King Cole and his driver, Nat Weary.
Leon Logothetis, "The Kindness Diaries." 7 p.m. Jan 6. Signing. Free. Eagle Eye Book Shop, 2076 N. Decatur Road, Decatur. 404-486-0307, eagleeyebooks.com/calendar.html. TV host, producer and author Logothetis left his unfulfilling desk job, determined to circumnavigate the globe surviving only on the kindness of strangers. He invites readers to follow him on the inspirational journey that followed.
Colleen Oakley, "Before I Go." 7:15 p.m. Jan. 7. Reading, signing. Free. Decatur Library Auditorium, 215 Sycamore St., Decatur. 404-370-8450, Ext. 2225; georgiacenterforthebook.org/Events/show.php?id=750. When a young wife discovers that she has only a few months to live, she worries most about what will happen to her charmingly helpless husband. Her solution — find him another wife — leads to the question: In the short amount of time she has left, whose happiness is more important?
Neil Foley, "Mexicans in the Making of America." 8 p.m. Jan 8. Lecture, signing. $10. Atlanta History Center, 130 W. Paces Ferry Road N.W., Atlanta. 404-814-4150, atlantahistorycenter.com/visit/event/602. According to census projections, by 2050 nearly one in three U.S. residents will be Latino, and most of these will be of Mexican descent — a demographic shift that's reshaping politics, culture and fundamental ideas about American identity. Foley offers a sweeping view of the evolution of a 21st-century people integral to the nation they have helped build.
Janice Hardy: Planning Your Novel in 10 Easy Steps. 10:30 a.m. Jan. 10. Workshop. Free, teens and adults. Reservations required. Atlanta-Fulton Public Library, Northeast/Spruill Oaks Branch, 9560 Spruill Road, Johns Creek. 770-360-8820, afpls.org/northeast-spruill-oaks-branch. Hardy, author of the teen fantasy trilogy "The Healing Wars," is founder of Fiction University, a site dedicated to helping writers improve their work.
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