Baltimorean author Laura Lippman will be at Politics and Prose on Tuesday.

DCist’s guide to lectures and discussions in the D.C. area

Monday:
>> The 14th Street Busboys has an evening of Welsh poetry and song tonight starting at 6 p.m., including work from Welsh writers Catrin Dafydd, Owen Sheers, Fflur Dafydd, Tom Anderson and Eurig Salisbury as well as D.C. poets Ethelbert Miller, Kyle Dargan and Fred Joiner.

Tuesday:
>> Tonight at 7 p.m. is the first in the American Art Museum’s three-part series of Collector’s Roundtable lectures on collecting. Each lecture costs $20, and tonight’s features Keith Davis, the curator of photography for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

>> Politics and Prose hosts Baltimorean mystery writer Laura Lippman at 7 p.m. for a book signing of Life Sentences.

Wednesday:
>> Fans of German Expressionism should head to the Goethe Institute at 6:45 p.m. for an illustrated lecture on painter Max Beckman, led by the National Gallery’s Christopher With.

>> Or if astronomy’s more your thing, head to the Air and Space Museum at 6 p.m. for Why is Astronomy so Popular? The lecture doesn’t start until 7:30 p.m., but get there early for some pre-lecture activities.

Thursday:
>> Your second astronomy option this week is at 6:45 p.m. at the Carnegie Institution. Astronomer Alan Boss will be lecturing on The Search for Living Planets and signing his book. $25.

>> Or, there are two visual art options. First, at 7 p.m., the American Art Museum has media artist Raphael M. Ortiz. Or, at 8 p.m., head to the Hirshhorn for an evening with Israeli illustrator and animator David Polonsky.