The winning story of Boston Review's 15th annual fiction contest is online; I think it's unpretentious and moving.

Advance Reading Copies are the new cute dogs -- they do all the romantic luring for you. (They also make excellent -- and free -- birthday presents.)

"Hey babe, I have a great idea for this weekend!" I can just picture the look so many boyfriends' faces

The Harvard Book Store has some lovely events and readings scheduled for early June -- the main one we're excited about is David Sedaris on June 6, though we just found out it was sold out! Oi. Obvs the HBS would have hosted the former Christmas elf at a larger venue -- like, say, the Orpheum?!? -- but due to the literary rock star's contractual obligations he can only read from his new book of pseduo-memoirish stories, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, in small locations.

From the inbox:

Tribute to poet Anne Sexton

Sunday, November 18th at 2 pm

Don't miss our 5th annual celebration of the life and legacy of Anne Sexton, featuring readings and reminiscences by four friends and colleagues

Join us for our annual tribute to Anne Sexton, who wrote fearlessly about family, sexuality, despair, and joy, pioneering a radical new poetry.

Editor DAVID FOSTER WALLACE lead a formidable group of contributors in a discussion of this year's answer to The Best American Essays. And tonight, Elaine Scarry, Jerald Walker, and Robert Atwan will bring their work to the reading stage. So if you've already puzzled over this week's "Modern Love," caught up on all your old New Yorkers, and let your Atlantic Monthly subscription accidentally expire, tonight is your night. That's at 7 pm at the Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St, Brookline | free | 617.566.6660.

From the inbox:

Pierre Menard Gallery on Arrow Street has offered space to Somerville-based Cervena Barva Press editor and publisher, Gloria Mindock, for a new series that will run monthly through April 2008. Mary Bonina is helping coordinate the series which will be held in the Pierre Menard Gallery above Lame Duck Books.

Tonight!

Steve Almond, Laura Dave, and editor Jenni Ferarri-Adler read from Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone. Twenty-six writers (including Nora Ephron, Ann Patchett, and Haruki Murakami) reflect on their passion for food and solitude. It's probably okay if you bring snacks to the Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St, Brookline | 7 pm | free | 617.566.6660.

A decade ago, Eve Bridburg started Grub Street, Inc., Boston's independent writing center. Eight thousand students later, Grub celebrates it's 10th anniversary tonight on Boston Common, across the street from Grub headquarters at 160 Boylston Street. Festivities start at 4 pm and go, according to the web site, "late, baby, late."

If our posting schedule seems irregular in the next week or so, it's because we're really busy listening to "Save Ginny Weasley" on repeat and blushing over novel-length Harry Potter fan fiction that involves...naughtiness:

"Please stay."

Heavy breathing. Then a sigh. "Why would I stay, Potter? I'm sweaty, I'm filthy, and we have classes tomorrow."

Having taken meticulous notes and planned the novel during his cross-country travels, JACK KEROUAC wrote the first draft of On the Road in a three-week burst of creativity, taping sheets of paper together so they could run through his typewriter uninterrupted. After a cross-country exhibition tour, the original scroll has returned to Lowell’s Boott Cotton Mills Museum, where its display will be part of "ON THE ROAD IN LOWELL,” a festival of readings, musical performances, and art exhibits (see www.

The lit buzz circulating around Brookline native RISHI REDDI reminds us of the hype that surrounded Jhumpa Lahiri back when The Interpreter of Maladies — a collection she began writing at Boston University’s Creative Writing program that went on to win the Pulitzer in 2000 — was published. Like Lahiri, Reddi uses her Indian background as a cultural setting.

From the inbox:

Dear friends of 826 Boston:

First, we apologize for being out of touch. We've been very busy this spring putting together all the nuts and bolts of the organization. We cannot wait to open our doors to the Boston community this summer and meet all of you!

Expect a more detailed newsletter soon, as well as the launch of our new and improved 826 Boston website, but for now, a brief update: