This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Sinclair Lewis Writers' conference in Sauk Centre, Minn. The conference is Saturday, but they'll celebrate Friday evening with a gathering at Sauk Centre High School. Poets Robert Bly and Freya Manfred will read, and songwriters John Gorka, Meg Hutchinson, John Hermanson and Mother Banjo (Ellen Stanley) will perform. Radio personality Dale Connelly will host the event. It begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday and is open to the public for $10.

The Saturday conference features keynote speaker Kevin Kling. Panel discussions include Thomas R. Smith talking about how poetry can get us through hard times, Ellen Stanley talking about how to write songs, and David Simpkins discussing the writing habits of Lewis. Cost is $60. See www.saukherald.com/ftp/writers for more information.

Also ...

•Motionpoems is back -- free beer and popcorn, and 12 lovely poems by Robert Bly, Alex Lemon, Todd Boss and others, animated and beamed onto the big screen. These animated shorts are "like a free mini poetry film festival," Boss says. The showing is at 7 p.m. Friday at Open Book, 1011 Washington Av. S., Mpls.

•"The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics: A Math-Free Exploration of the Science that Made Our World," by James Kakalios, has been published by Gotham Books. Kakalios is a physics professor at the University of Minnesota and the author of "The Physics of Superheroes." He'll be signing books at 10 a.m. Oct. 16 at the Twin Cities Book Festival, Metropolitan Community College; at 7 p.m. Oct. 19 at Borders Bookstore, Roseville Center; and at 7 p.m. Oct. 26 in the Tate Lab of Physics, Room 150, 116 SE. Church St., on the University of Minnesota's Minneapolis campus.

•"The Ottoman Age of Exploration" by Giancarlo Casale has been long-listed for the Cundill Prize in History at McGill University, worth $75,000. Casale teaches history at the University of Minnesota. The Cundill Prize is the world's largest nonfiction historical literature prize. The short list will be announced Thursday and the winner will be announced Nov. 14.