Friday
April 10
Guest star
Octavia Spencer — you know her as an Oscar-winning film star, but your kids know her as the author of the “Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective” series, which chronicle the adventures of an ass-kicking, mystery-solving teen girl. Spencer is headed to the BookMark Shoppe in Bay Ridge to sign copies of her latest installment, “The Sweetest Heist in History,” which is set right here in Brooklyn.
7 pm at the BookMark Shoppe [8415 Third Ave. between 84th and 85th streets in Bay Ridge, (718) 833–5115, www.bookm
Saturday
April 11
Known pleasures
Videology will transform into the Hacienda for one night, when repertory cinema series Cinema Under the Influence celebrates the music of legendary Manchester record label Factory Records — home of Joy Division, New Order, and the Happy Mondays. The evening includes screenings of live show footage and the Ian Curtis biopic “Control” plus a raffle. Afterwards, a disc jockey will spin Factory Records tunes at nearby Passenger Bar.
6 pm at Videology [308 Bedford Ave. at S. First Street in Williamsburg, (718) 782–3468, www.video
sunday
April 12
Foreign correspondents
What can a bunch of Queensites tell us about Brooklyn history? Find out when the Greater Astoria Historical Society brings its Forgotten New York tour series to Coney Island. Our northern neighbors will offer their outsider’s perspective on a three-hour tour of lost landmarks, then partake in a regional delicacy — by which we mean eating Nathan’s hot dogs.
Noon at Coney Island subway terminal [Surf and Stillwell avenues in Coney Island, www.forgo
MondaY
April 13
Sequel
The famed Franklin Park Reading Series is back for its seventh season, bringing more big-name authors to the Crown Heights bar. Kick back with a beer and hear essayist Colson Whitehead, novelist Amelia Gray, memoirist Wendy C. Ortiz, poet Natalie Eilbert, and writer and critic Tobias Carroll read from their latest works, then win copies to take home in the raffle.
8 pm at Franklin Park (618 Saint John’s Pl. between Franklin and Classon in Crown Heights, www.frank
Thursday
April 16
Trivia kings
Know your Kings Theater from your Kings Plaza? Put your many years of devouring The Brooklyn Paper to good use at “Extreme Brooklyn Trivia.” Borough buffs from the Brooklyn Public Library and Brooklyn Historical Society are devising the questions, so you know they’re going to be tough — and nerdy.
8:30 pm at the Brooklyn Historical Society [128 Pierrpont St. at Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights, (718) 222–4111, www.brook
