As the Guardian observes, this morning marks the beginning of the COP18 talks in Doha. Three years after the failures at Copenhagen, it’s hard to reconcile how much time we’ve lost — but let’s hope that, through whatever mechanisms possible, we see more progress this time around than last (at the very least, more than we saw at Rio in June). It’s a small hope, but worth holding onto.

Christy Lorio — good friend, fellow Oxford American contributor, and current columnist at UptownMessenger.com — writes in her column today about this weekend’s New Orleans Book Fair and Media Expo, taking place all day tomorrow (Saturday) in the CBD. Last year’s, which I was privileged to attend with Forest Publications co-conspirator Magda Boreszya, was more fun than should be allowed. This year, “With over 70 vendors participating from as far as Kansas,” Lorio writes,”the roster is diverse.”

There’s self publishers, small printing houses, outreach groups, and artists, not to mention t-shirt designers and jewelry makers. Leo McGovern ran the Alternative Media Expo from 2003-2010, and was asked to combine forces with the New Orleans Bookfair this year. The merge made sense, given the events had similar goals of helping “put people who are fans of cool things together”.  McGovern promises “the same vibe that the bookfair has always had”, with a casual, comic book convention type of atmosphere.

Oh, to be in two places at once. But for those in Edinburgh, fear not: there’s fiddles!

After a lovely launch at the flagship book shop this weekend, the West Port Book Festival has released its programme for the 2012 festival. Running from 23-26 November, it looks to be a fantastic weekend – with new and established voices alike, there’s something on to suit all tastes. Details, and the full programme, are available here.

I’m delighted to say that after the upheaval from Hurricane Isaac, and a few other tasks besides, I’ve returned to Edinburgh for the next month to finish up work at IASH. For those in the Edinburgh area, the Institute maintains an ongoing bulletin board of events in and around the university, a list which rarely receives the patronage it deserves — there is always, always something interesting to be found.

As WordPress seems to be acting up, the list is available here:

http://www.iash.ed.ac.uk/bullbrd.html

The 17 Poets reading series continues tonight, featuring poets Ben Kopel and Carrie Chappell. With two talented performers and an always-lively open-mic, it should be a great evening. Starting at 8pm — 8.30pm, New Orleans time — more information is available here.