Check out this week’s book talks, plus Small Business Saturday fun at L.A. bookstores

This week’s L.A. lit events include historic book talks, plus local authors sharing their favorite books at shops across the region.

Here’s the rundown of free events:

Holiday shopping for book lovers

On Saturday, independent bookstores across Los Angeles will offer special incentives to shop local on Small Business Saturday. Bonus: Booksellers will have authors on hand to recommend titles. For example, at Skylight Books, meet Liska Jacobs, Sarah Gailey, Brandy Colbert, AJ Dungo and Steph Cha. At Book Soup, Josh Sabarra, Henrietta D. Elmore-Smith, Florian N. Louisoder and Andreina Perez will be there to hand-sell books. Book Show in Highland Park welcomes the Sad Girls and other bands to play “fun, eclectic and touching tunes.” Pages bookstore hosts Wendy Jones, Dibs Baer and other writers.

Check your local bookstore for special guests and programs.

Commemorating World AIDS Day

“Through Positive Eyes” is a photography and storytelling project and publication created in collaboration with more than 130 people living with HIV/AIDS. This week, in conjunction with World AIDS Day, the Fowler hosts a book signing with co-curator David Gere, a UCLA professor of world arts and cultures, to celebrate the exhibition publication. A 3:30 p.m. book signing will follow the 1 p.m. screening of the 2012 film “How to Survive a Plague.”

3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Fowler Museum at UCLA, 308 Charles E. Young Drive West. Free.

Their 9/11 stories

There have been other histories of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but “The Only Plane in the Sky” is told by those who experienced it. Drawing on never-before-published transcripts, recently declassified documents, original interviews and oral histories from nearly 500 government officials, first responders, witnesses, survivors, friends and family members, journalist Garrett Graff captures the story as it was lived. He’ll be in conversation with Liz Hannah, who cowrote the 2017 film “The Post.”

7 p.m. Monday. Chevaliers, 126 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles. Free.

Jerry Stahl’s Los Angeles

The latest installment in the Philosophical Research Society’s lecture series, “Los Angeles Stories: Interpreting the City of Angels,” tackles writer Jerry Stahl’s vision of the metropolis, as depicted in his 1995 memoir of drugs and soul-sucking TV writing jobs, “Permanent Midnight.” Society President Greg Salyer will lead the audience through Stahl’s black-humored depiction of his 20-year-plus drug habit that led him into the bleakest corners of Los Angeles (and his soul) in search of his fix.

7 p.m. Tuesday. Philosophical Research Society, 3910 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles. Free.

Ground Control to Duncan Jones

In 2009, director Duncan Jones released “Moon,” a science-fiction film featuring Sam Rockwell meeting his clone while completing a three-year stint on the moon mining helium-3. The film went on to gain a cult following; fans praised it for its realism and intelligence. Duncan will sign copies of “Making Moon: A British Sci-Fi Cult Classic,” which shares behind-the-scenes images, as well as interviews with key creatives and portions of the original shooting script.

7 p.m. Thursday. Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood. Free.