Authors, poets and lectures are all over town on Thursday, so it's a good chance to up your intellect before dooming your short-term memory over the weekend.---

One of the highlights is poet Jacqueline Osherow, reading from her new book of poetry, Whitehorn, at the Jewish Community Center at 7 p.m. Osherow, writing from what she calls the Jewish tradition, has degrees from Radcliffe College, Harvard University and Princeton University, and now serves as the distinguished professor of English at the University of Utah. Her six collections of poetry—including Whitethorn—have always philosophically explored the world with a surprisingly approachable pen.

Over at The King's English at 7 p.m., author Jonathan Evison (pictured) will be reading from his new tome, West of Here, a novel that explores the mythology of the American West, and what happens when that mythology collides with reality.

At Ogden's Dragonfly Foods at 7 p.m., author and researcher Freddy Silva, a veteran of projects for BBC, the Discovery Channel and the History Channel, will be delivering two lectures Thursday. In the first, “The Location of Paradise and How Temples Transform the Soul,” Silva will present a slideshow featuring sacred sites of ancient civilizations and discuss how the peoples that built these monuments believed they provided a link to paradise and human divinity. And the second, “Coding the Earth,” will focus on ancient sites of power.

Looking for tunes? The Genitorturers and Hanzel und Gretyl play Club Vegas Thursday, while the Salt Lake Alternative Jazz Orchestra hosts a CD release party at The Urban Lounge; Joshua Payne Orchestra is also on that bill. Over at The Complex, you can bang your head to some Whitechapel, along with four other hard-hitting crews.