Local lineup calendar

Several cool things to check out over the next few days:

Art Speigelman talks in Cambridge at the Brattle Theater about the republication of his book "Breakdowns," which I blogged about here. He moves on to an appearance in Amherst at Hampshire College on Friday Oct. 24.

Also on Thursday, the Boston Public Library has a reception and lecture by Robert Conway to mark the opening of an exhibit of the drawings of George Bellows, and MIT is holding a discussion on Comics and Social Conflict.

On Saturday, Oct. 25, urban sketch artists from around the world are taking to the streets, notebooks in hand, for the 20th anniversary Sketchcrawl. It's a group sketch-in that moves from spot to spot, recording the city landscape, its inhabitants and its customs. Participation is open to all. The closest local crawl will kick off at the Middle East restaurant in Cambridge at noon. Listings for events in other places are here.