It’s a homecoming for Theanna Bischoff this week, as she launches her debut novel, Cleavage, which began as a short story in a creative writing class at the University of Calgary. “I was on vacation with my boyfriend and we had a giant fight, and this terrible seven-hour drive home,” says Bischoff. “I remember thinking that, if we had broken up, that drive would have been so much worse... so I turned it into a short story.”

At the time, Bischoff was completing a BA honours degree in psychology, writing a thesis about women’s experiences with ovarian cancer diagnoses. “There’s a specific type of support group that explores what it’s like to die, and the feelings that surround an impending death,” says Bischoff. “It’s been criticized for being negative, but I was trying to say the opposite. There’s a rhetoric of cancer, where everybody pushes patients to be positive and focus on triumph, how this experience will change their lives for the better — and that’s good, but they also need a safe place to express fears, doubts and worries.”

Cleavage, inspired in part by this research, is not a happy book. Leah, a 24-year-old test-writing supervisor, is diagnosed with breast cancer. “A twentysomething life is complicated enough, with job stress, relationship stress, family stress,” says Bischoff. “Throw cancer into the mix, and everything changes.”

Bischoff launches Cleavage at the Auburn Saloon on May 3, 7 p.m. Part of the proceeds from book sales benefit the Alberta Cancer Foundation.

Derek beaulieu launches his latest visual poetry collection, CHAINS, this week — with a twist. Each poem is a visual creation composed of Lettraset (old-school dry transfer graphics and lettering used by designers and artists). The book launch also marks the gallery opening for a month-long exhibition of the original poems. Amidst the wild energy of First Thursday at Art Central, check out the launch of CHAINS at the UPPERCASE gallery (second floor, 100 7 Ave. S.W.) on May 1, 5 p.m.

To celebrate the latest issue of Freefall Magazine, local authors Nick Fuller, Judy Galbraith, Vicki Goodfellow, Barbara Green and Sandra Savage present their work at Pages Books (1135 Kensington Rd. N.W.) on May 1, 7:30 p.m.

At the tail end of National Poetry Month, the League of Canadian Poets’ Western Swing hits Calgary. Featuring Western Canadian poets Allan Boss, Jenna Butler, Wendy McGrath, rob mclennan, Andy Michaelson, Bob Stallworthy, Stuart Ian McKay and Dymphny Dronyk, the action hits Pages Books on May 2, 6:30 p.m.

After a jam-packed month of poetic excellence, the fifth annual Calgary International Spoken Word Festival comes to a close with the Talon Books Launch. Hosted by Aritha Van Herk, the event celebrates new books by Colin Browne, Weyman Chan, Stephen Collis, Sachiko Murakami and Fred Wah at the Art Gallery of Calgary (117 8 Ave. S.W.) on May 2, 8 p.m., $10 admission.

Every year, an outstanding Calgary author receives the W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. This year’s shortlisted nominees, Glen Dresser, Diane Guichon and Roberta Rees, read from their books at McNally Robinson on May 3, 10:30 a.m.

The Clan of the Dung-Sniffers — now there’s a daring title. Lee Danielle Hubbard’s debut novel is a sci-fi thriller that kicks off with the theft of the Radiance from the Marble Tower. Eight conspirators, including a mystic, a cross-dresser and a cobbler, vow to repair and return the Radiance. Hubbard reads at McNally Robinson on May 6, 5:30 p.m.

Kleptomaniacs, nursing homes, frozen meals and ghosts populate the short stories in Betty Jane Hegerat’s new collection, A Crack in the Wall. For a voyeuristic journey through everyday lives, head to Memorial Park Library (1221 2 St. S.W.) on May 7, 7 p.m.

Soon after Johnny Cash sang to Alexandra Wiwcharuk in her hometown, she was found murdered on the banks of the Saskatchewan River. Forty years later, her high school friend Sharon Butala returns to the brutal episode in a new book, The Girl from Saskatoon, which she launches at Pages Books on May 8, 7:30 p.m.

Take a peek inside The Banff Centre’s Writing Studio with readings by two of its award-winning authors, Edna Alford and Greg Hollingshead. They present their work at the Bentley Chamber Music Studio (The Banff Centre) on May 8, 7:30 p.m.