MONDAY:
Freelance journalist and award-winning author Kieran Doherty will be at Olsson's in Old Town Alexandria to discuss her latest book, Sea Venture: Shipwreck, Survival, and the Salvation of the First English Colony in the New World, which chronicles the ship that went on to rescue Jamestown, even after most of the crew almost died in a hurricane. 7 p.m.

Chasing Che author Patrick Symmes decided to go chasing Fidel Castro's former classmates when he wrote his newest book The Boys from Dolores. He'll be at Politics and Prose to tell you why. 7 p.m.

TUESDAY:
Left-of-center sports writer Dave Zirin will be at Politics and Prose to discuss his book Welcome to the Terrordome, which tackles the topics of race, class, politics and identity and how they play in the mainstream media's coverage of athletes. 7 p.m.

Coming from a name like Sunshine O’Donnell, you wouldn't expect a book about professional mourners — women paid to attend the funerals of strangers. But then again, O'Donnell also teaches experiential workshops in creative writing, visual art and quantum physics to underserved children in poverty-stricken Pennsylvania schools. Quantum physics? O’Donnell will be at Olsson's Books & Records in Dupont Circle to discuss Open Me and, if we're lucky, string theory. 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY:
Robert Novak is a man who needs no introduction. He'll be at Politics and Prose to discuss his new memoir The Prince of Darkness, which also happens to be the name of a 1987 John Carpenter film in which Satan tries to return to Earth. We're just pointing out the similarities. You can read into that however you want. 7 p.m.

The old debate of science versus God rears its head in Francis Collin's The Language of God, except Collins believes that science supports God, not disproves it/him/her. We'll let Collins, longtime head of the Human Genome Project, sort it out, when he appears at Olsson's Arlington/Courthouse. 7 p.m.

THURSDAY:
Newly appointed Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson will be at Politics and Prose to discuss his new book about hip-hop, Know What I Mean?. 7 p.m.

FRIDAY:
Michael Jacoby Brown will be at Busboys and Poets to read and sign copies of Building Powerful Community Organizations: A Personal Guide To Creating Groups That Can Solve Problems and Change the World. 6:30 p.m.

SATURDAY:
The world will soon find out what happens to the famous boy wizard Harry Potter as J.K. Rowling's final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, goes on sale at midnight at practically every single book store in the Washington, D.C., area. What do we think is going to happen? We're guessing Lord Voldemort is going to be stripped of his powers, after which he'll move to the states and begin a career in politics. Check your local book store for details.