The Women’s Resources and Research Center presents its quarterly book fair next week, offering books for less than $3 — with selections that include nonfiction, fiction, poetry and more.

Proceeds will be used to buy new books for the center’s Joy Fergoda Library.

Book fair hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Thursday (Jan. 30 through Feb. 2). The WRRC is in North Hall.

Author events

The UC Davis Store and the Hemispheric Institute on the Americas announced the following author events:

• Allison Coudert, the Paul A. and Marie Castelfranco Endowed Chair in the History of Christianity in the Religious Studies Program — Religion, Magic and Science in Early Modern Europe and America, a look at how seemingly incompatible forces came together in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries to form the foundations of modern culture. The publisher, Praeger, states the following: “It was a time when highly educated men believed witches flew to ‘Sabbaths’ on broomsticks and the backs of goats, had sex with the devil, and cooked and ate infant body parts. How did eminent artists, philosophers, and scientists pave the way for the modern age during a period of such outdated perceptions?” 1-2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, Bookstore Special Events Room (across from the post office in the Memorial Union’s east wing). Admission is free and open to the public.Wednesday, Feb. 1.

• Robert Newcomb, assistant professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese — Nossa and Nuestra América: Inter-American Dialogues, in which he argues for Brazil's vital role in Latin America, and for more vibrant cross-border dialogue between Brazilian and Spanish-speaking Latin American literary intellectuals. Noon Wednesday, Feb. 1, Hempispheric Institute on the Americas Conference Room, 1227 Social Sciences and Humanities Building.

• Michael Saler, professor of history — As If: Modern Enchantment and the Literary Prehistory of Virtual Reality. Here is a partial description from the publisher, Oxford University Press: “Beginning in the late 19th century, when Sherlock Holmes became the world's first ‘virtual reality’ character, readers began to colonize imaginary worlds, debating serious issues and viewing reality in provisional, ‘as if’ terms rather than through essentialist, ‘just so’ perspectives. From Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and Tolkien’s middle earth to the World of Warcraft and Second Life, As If provides a cultural history that reveals how we can remain enchanted but not deluded in an age where fantasy and reality increasingly intertwine.” 1-2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, Bookstore Special Events Room (across from the post office in the Memorial Union’s east wing).

New from Pam Houston

The Creative Writing Program director's new novel, Contents May Have Shifted, is due out Monday, Feb. 6. From the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company Inc.: “Stuck in a dead-end relationship, this fearless narrator leaves her metaphorical baggage behind and finds a comfort zone in the air, ‘feeling safest with one plane ticket in her hand and another in her underwear drawer.’ She flies around the world, finding reasons to love life in dozens of far-flung places from Alaska to Bhutan. Along the way she weathers unplanned losses of altitude, air pressure, and landing gear. With the help of a squad of loyal, funny, wise friends and massage therapists, she learns to sort truth from self-deception, self-involvement from self-possession.”

Listen to Houston on Capitol Public Radio's Insight (Jan. 25, 2012).

Read Al Pierleoni’s interview with Houston in The Sacramento Bee (Dec. 19, 2011)