By Laurie Hertzel

Wow, you could spend the first week of March just lurching from great author reading to great author reading. It all starts with Anne Fadiman, who wrote "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down," a book about the culture clash between American doctors and a Hmong family whose daughter suffers from epilepsy. I heard Fadiman tell the story behind that book a few years ago, and my jaw dropped at how lucky she was, how persistent she was, how hard she worked, and how when doors closed (the New Yorker, which had initially agreed to publish the piece, changed editors and turned it down) better doors opened (the New Yorker paid her for it anyway, and then she turned the manuscript into this remarkable book).

She's speaking at 6 p.m. March 2 at the University of Minnesota's Coffman Union. Free.

The next day, hike over to the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul to hear Susan Faludi, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of "Backlash," "Stiffed" and a new book, "The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post-9/11 America." She'll speak at 7 p.m. in O'Shaughnessy Auditorium. Free.

On March 4, Louise Glück, former U.S. poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner, will be at Coffman Union at 7:30 p.m. She'll read and discuss her poetry, including poems from "A Village Life," due this fall. Free.

And then on March 5 get thee to downtown St. Paul to hear Rita Dove, yet another former poet laureate and Pulitzer winner. Dove will be speaking over lunch -- you'll need sustenance, after such a busy week -- from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Riverfront Hotel. Cost is $25 to $45. Contact the College of St. Catherine to reserve a spot at 651-690-6819 or www.stkate.edu/ forum. If you miss her this time around, Dove will be back in May for Talking Volumes.

Also ...

• MaryJanice Davidson, Minnesota author of the bestselling "Undead and Unwed" series, has published "Seraph of Sorrow" with Berkley Books, fourth in the Jennifer Scales series. She wrote the book with her husband and writing partner, Anthony Alongi.

• "How to Make Gravy," a poem by Linda Ridlehuber, appears in the current issue of the literary journal Calyx. Ridlehuber, who has a master of fine arts degree from Minnesota State University at Mankato, is a nurse in Minneapolis.

• Elizabeth Weber will read from her recent collection of poetry, "Porthole Views of the World," published by Nodin Press, at 6 p.m. Saturday at Hennepin History Museum, 2303 3rd Av. S., Minneapolis. Watercolors by Hazel Stoeckeler, which illustrated the book, will be on display.