We've got a packed week of awesome events for you, so start tonight (5/10) at McNally Robinson NYC to catch Welsh author Niall Griffiths in a rare U.S. appearance, reading from his latest, Wreckage, starting at 7PM.

2006_05_arts_roundup2.jpgTomorrow night (5/11), head over to the 92nd Street Y to catch former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright discuss religion and world politics with James Hoge - it's the subject of her latest book, The Mighty and the Almighty. It starts at 7:30PM and costs $25 - buy the tickets online in case it sells out.

Take Friday off and celebrate the mothers in your life on Saturday (5/13) down at Coliseum Books with Mamapalooza, a literary reading with Jamie Cat Callen, Andrea J. Buchanan, and others. It starts at 2PM. To round out your weekend, head down to KGB Bar on Sunday (5/14) to hear Peter Carey and Wesley Stace read from new works (for those of you who can never get enough of author scandals, Carey's got his own truth/fiction problems). The reading starts at 7PM and is free.

And finally, on Monday night (5/15), Housing Works' Used Book Cafe is holding a reading for Before the Mortgage: Real Stories of Brazen Loves, Broken Leases, and the Perplexing Pursuit of Adulthood - the very-long-titled collection of works edited by Christina Amini and Rachel Hutton. Both editors and the contributors to the collection will be reading, starting at 7PM.

And if that full roster of literary stars doesn't satisfy your bookish cravings, next week is even more packed.