Novelist Gordon McAlpine, author of “Joy in...

Novelist Gordon McAlpine, author of “Joy in Mudville,” will speak at the Manuscripts literary lecture series at 7 p.m. Monday at the Newport Beach Public Library, 1000 Avocado Ave.

McAlpine, a graduate of UC Irvine’s graduate Program in Writing, teaches creative writing in the Master of Fine Arts Program at Chapman University in Orange. His next novel, “The Persistence of Memory,” will be published in the fall.

Cost: $5 for members of the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation; $8 for nonmembers. Proceeds will go for material acquisitions.

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Literary Salon, a new 10-week course offered by UC Irvine Extension in which students will read and discuss fiction, nonfiction and poetry in an informal setting, will begin April 7. Novelist Greg Bills, author of “Consider This Home” and the forthcoming “Trespassing Angels,” will conduct the course. Fee: $200. UCI Extension: (714) 824-5414.

Also this week:

* Writing Like There’s No Tomorrow, an eight-week writing workshop conducted by Barbara DeMarco Barrett, will begin Monday at Local Grounds Coffee House, 3007 E. Coast Highway, Corona del Mar. Fee: $125. To register: (714) 760-8086.

* Poets John Gardiner and Donna Gebron will read at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Gypsy Den Cafe and Reading Room in the Lab mall, 2930 Bristol St., Costa Mesa.

* Businessman Albert Casey, author of “Casey’s Law: If Something Can Go Right, It Should,” will sign at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Borders Books and Music, 429 Associated Road, Brea.

* Leonard Garment, former Nixon White House counsel and special assistant, will discuss his new book, “Crazy Rhythm: My Journey From Brooklyn, Jazz and Wall Street, to Nixon’s White House, Watergate and Beyond,” at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace, 18001 Yorba Linda Blvd., Yorba Linda. Cost: $6.

* Diana James, author of “Bounce Back: 39 Heart-Lifting, Hope-Building True Stories,” will sign at 7 p.m. Friday at Barnes & Noble, 4600 Barranca Parkway, Irvine.

* Joseph Crane, author of “Blessings, Gifts and Deeds: A Visitation by an Angel,” will read and sign at 1 p.m. Saturday at Different Drummer Books, 1294 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach.

* Anne Perry, author of “Ashworth Hall,” will speak and sign at 3 p.m. Saturday, and Robert Greer, author of “The Devil’s Red Nickel,” will speak and sign at 5 p.m. Saturday at Coffee, Tea & Mystery, 13232 Springdale St., Westminster.

* Anne Perry, author of “Ashford Hall,” will sign at 1 p.m. Saturday at Book Carnival, 348 S. Tustin Ave., Orange. Robert Greer, author of “The Devil’s Red Nickel,” and Todd Komarnicki, author of “Famine,” will sign at Book Carnival at 3 p.m. Saturday.

* The Friends of the Anaheim Public Library will hold a spring book sale from 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Central Library, 500 W. Broadway, Anaheim.