Edwin Torres: Oct. 23, 7 p.m. at Westminster College's Vieve Gore Concert Hall; Oct. 24, 4:30 p.m. performance workshop with teens at Main City Library, Level 4.

If conventional poetry readings bore you to tears, then Torres is your kind of poet. A Puerto Rican-American raised in Brooklyn, Torres cut his teeth in that borough's Nuyorican Poets Cafe. His key contribution to contemporary poetry is the "Interactive Eclectricism" school he helped form. A sometimes heady mix of music, dance and spoken word, it later gained enough momentum to put him on MTV's "Spoken Word Unplugged." Think of scat Latino verse recited over the coda of Steely Dan's "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," and you're halfway there.

Gary Soto, with Joel Long, Oct. 24, 10:30 a.m. at the Main City Library

Long before the vogue of "marginalized voices" stormed English departments nationwide, Fresno, Calif.-native and poet Gary Soto was turning out small, free-verse masterpieces centered around Mexican-American life. Writer Joyce Carol Oates called them, "Polaroid love letters, or snatches of music heard out of a passing car." The scale of his most famous poems, such as "Oranges," may be small, but the results have been big enough to warrant a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry and finalist status for the National Book Award.

Michael Cunningham, Oct. 24, noon with Doug Fabrizio in the Main City Library auditorium, with a 6 p.m. screening of "The Hours" with Robert Newman, also in the Main City Library auditorium

If you saw the film version of "The Hours" before you read the book, then you know how Michael Cunningham's reputation precedes him. If you read his break-out short story "White Angel" before either the book or film, then you're the sort of literary aficionado who won't miss Cunningham's appearance with KUER "Radio West" host Doug Fabrizio. Either way, you get close proximity to the golden touch of this Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

Carlotta Walls LaNier, one of the original "Little Rock Nine," with Calvary Baptist Church Pastor France A. Davis

This is a rare chance to hear the voice of history, and a brave woman who lived it. Three years after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down segregation in public schools with Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, Carlotta Walls Lanier was the youngest of eight African-American students to usher in America's civil rights era. Walking into Little Rock's Central High School under escort of the National Guard was only the first step in her journey of perseverance. Published this August, "A Mighty Long Way" tells her story.

Jimmy Santiago Baca, Oct. 24, 3 p.m. in the Main City Library Auditorium

Don't let stories of how Jimmy Santiago Baca traded poems for cigarettes in prison intimidate you. It's only proof how down-to-earth the man's prose can be. A native of New Mexico who grew up in a school so full of hard knocks it included a stint in an orphanage, Baca embraces the sometimes clichéd label of "people's poet." Baca has filled his career with follow-through deserving of the title, hosting readings in community centers, reservations, ghettos and schools. While in Salt Lake City, he'll also read at the Neighborhood House, 1050 W. 500 South, at 12:30 p.m. Oct. 24.