Thanks to our world-renowned bookstores and head-of-the-class culinary scene, Portland has become one of the requisite stops on book tours for culinary tomes. Don’t miss these foodie events, coming to town in April:

On Saturday, April 7th, Pacific Pie Company will host a reading of Making Piece: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Pie by Beth Howard. Howard—a journalist, baker, and former Portland resident—shares stories of "pie evangelism" on her blog The World Needs More Pie, and will serve up her pie making technique and excerpts from her new memoir at this intimate reading. The book tells the story of how Howard found solace after the death of her husband in the story of American pie—a true comfort food—and features several Portland bakeries within its inspirational pages.

The reading and pie demo will take place from noon to 2 pm at 1520 Southeast 7th Avenue. For more information, email [email protected] or call 503-381-6157.

While we all can appreciate that comfort food is, well, comforting, the challenges of food professionals to stay healthy isn’t a story so often told. In Smart Chefs Stay Slim: Lessons in Eating and Living from America’s Best Chefs, journalist Allison Adato shares the healthy eating secrets of chefs—including some familiar Portland faces. Local culinary VIPs Naomi Pomeroy and Gregory Gourdet as well as celeb chefs Tom Colicchio, Cat Cora, Alexandra Guarnaschelli, Thomas Keller, Wolfgang Puck, and Marcus Samuelsson weighed in with their tips on staying trim when your job revolves around food (and are still relevant if you simply wish your job revolved around food).

Included in the tell-all handbook are tips for eating out, cooking at home, what to cut out to lose, and how to eat before a big event (like judging a food competition or tackling an Easter buffet).

On April 11 and 12, Adato will be stopping in Portland on her book tour and will host dinners at Departure with Gregory Gourdet and at Beast with Naomi Pomeroy. I’ll be sharing more details in next week’s Eat Beat Weekly Planner, so stay tuned!

In other local recipe news, top Portland pastry chef Kir Jensen will launch her new cookbook Sugar Cube: 50 Deliciously Twisted Treats from the Sweetest Little Food Cart on the Planet at The Cleaners at the Ace Hotel on Sunday, April 29th at 3 pm.

Jensen will be joined by co-author Danielle Centoni (editor of Mix magazine) at the free Powell’s-sponsored event that will almost certainly feature a sweet treat or two. Can’t wait? You can pre-order a signed copy of Sugar Cube from Powell’s here.