Writer/producer David Simon ('The Wire,' 'Treme') is the featured speaker at the Mercantile Library's annual Harriet Beecher Stowe Lecture. This year's theme is "Writing to Change the World." A reception with Simon is at 7 p.m., followed by his lecture at 8.  

David Simon's 'The Wire' garnered nearly unprecedented critical praise — by the end of its five-season run on HBO, some were calling it the best show to ever grace television — but drew a fraction of the audience of the cable outlet's other series 'Sex and the City' and 'The Sopranos.' Yet HBO stood behind Simon (and continues to stand behind him, offering his 'Treme' miniseries), a television iconoclast who'd rather walk away than betray the authenticity of his subject matter. Simon answers a few CityBeat questions before his June 7 talk at the Mercantile Library.  

Just in time to rescue us from another week of safe, reheated Hollywood product (yes, I'm referring to you, 'Sex and the City 2'), Film Fringe is back featuring six films that will screen in conjunction with the theater-based Cincy Fringe Festival. The films will be screened June 6 and 10 at Media Bridges.  

Robert Olmstead's latest, 'Far Bright Star,' grabs one from the get-go via the novelist’s spare yet descriptive prose style. Olmstead, who is a professor at Ohio Wesleyan University when not cranking out visceral novels, reads from and discusses his new work at 7 p.m. Thursday at Joseph-Beth Booksellers.   

I’ve been complaining for years about Nicolas Cage’s slide from subversive, unpredictable actor (see Valley Girl or Vampire’s Kiss, among other ’80s gems) to the checkcashing Hollywood joke he appears to be today. An entire generation of moviegoers has essentially come of age thinking of Cage as the guy in big-budget mediocrities like The Rock and National Treasure movies.  

The first-ever CincItalia takes over Harvest Home Park in Cheviot this weekend. The three-day cultural celebration features food from local restaurants (Gabby’s Cafe, Noce's Pizzeria, LaRosa's, Pompilio's and Trattoria Roma), music (from national acts like Ray Massa's EuroRhythms to local mainstays The Remains), Bocce games, a heritage display and, of all things, an Italian motor-sports exhibition. Friday-Sunday.  

Organized by some grad students in the University of Cincinnati's English department, this impressively curated two-day smorgasbord kicks off Friday with a panel discussion and readings by four UC grads with freshly minted books of poetry. That's followed Friday and Saturday evenings by readings from Donald Ray Pollock, Margaret Luongo, Lee K. Abbott and Nancy Zafris.  

James Greer's just-published second work of fiction, 'The Failure,' is a fast and funny nonlinear riff on crime-noir novels that tells the story of Guy Forget, an L.A.-based twentysomething Dayton native who, along with his amusing buddy Billy, plans to rob a Korean check-cashing joint in order to fund a Web-based get-rich-quick scheme called Pandemonium. He reads at Joseph-Beth on Wednesday.  

James Greer has led a curious life. He first surfaced as an editor and writer at Spin during the magazine's early-'90s apex, a period that coincided with the so-called "Alternative Rock" revolution. His just-published second work of fiction, 'The Failure,' is a fast and funny nonlinear riff on crime-noir novels that tells the story of Guy Forget who plans to rob a Korean check-cashing joint in order to fund a Web-based get-rich-quick scheme.  

The presence of Maynard James Keenan, frontman for Art Metal bands Tool and A Perfect Circle, is no doubt the only reason for the existence of 'Blood Into Wine,' a documentary that looks at his deepening interest in the art of winemaking. Keenan is a notoriously private guy, thus his involvement is both a blessing (gives it a higher profile) and a curse (he's not the most charismatic interviewee). Grade: C-.