Sunday in San Francisco: Dirty Words: Litquake’s Tribute to Smut, “a giddy homage to titillation and obscenity … a fundraiser starring a who’s who of Bay Area writers.” Details.

Congratulations to Heyday Books founder Malcolm Margolin on his San Francisco Foundation’s Community Leadership Award. From the Heyday newsletter: “The Helen Crocker Russell Award recognizes individuals and organizations whose leadership has made a significant impact in their particular Bay Area communities. ‘We honor you for successfully promoting California’s diverse cultures for more than thirty years through your direction of Heyday Books,’ the congratulatory letter stated. Previous recipients have included Alice Waters, Eva Paterson, Ruth Asawa, and Belva Davis. This year’s recipients are Van Jones, co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights; writer, educator, and organizer Elizabeth Martinez; and the Asian Women’s Shelter.”

Library squeeze in the LBC: The mayor of Long Beach released a proposed 2009 budget Friday that calls for closing the city’s main library. [Press-Telegram] Library supporters got mad — and then they got blogging.

Bookshop Santa Cruz is doing a little fundraising with its own Countdown to President Obama Hope Clock. From the shop: “The clock counts down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.” 10% of the profits go to the Obama for President campaign. Get yours at Bookshop Santa Cruz.

To celebrate the Saroyan centennial, this week Heyday released He Flies Through the Air With the Greatest of Ease: A William Saroyan Reader, edited by William Justice, with a forward by Herbert Gold, the San Francisco author of Still Alive: A Temporary Condition. On Friday, in the San Francisco Chronicle, Gold offered up a deliciously readable and affectionate essay on is own relationship with Saroyan in 60s San Francisco, Paris and Fresno. My favorite line: “Passionate living is not easy living.” Read the essay at SF Gate.

Sell it Sam: “The evisceration of The Los Angeles Times is a crime against our city,” Rob Eshman writes in the Jewish Journal.

Who Killed Chandra Levy? A Washington Post team revisits the 2001 murder of the USC grad student who got involved with a California congressman — in twelve page-turner chapters.

In case you missed it: Some of the doings at Comic Con from comicsreporter.