WEDNESDAY, FEB Wednesday, Feb. 18 is a big night, ...

But the big one on Wednesday is the "2004 Gold Medal Tour" as it rolls into town all hopped up on self-importance?an "Evening with the Winners of the 2003 National Book Awards" speaking about "the writing life" at the Celeste Bartos Forum of the New York Public Library at 6:30. It's free.

On Thursday, Feb. 19, at Pete's Candy Store in Williamsburg, Drunken Boat will hold a launch party for its new issue. The poets do their thing starting at 7:30. The gig's free but the beer isn't. Also on Thursday, William Gibson discusses his latest novel, Pattern Recognition, at Barnes and Noble Union Square. Ask if he'll sign your book in binary code.

Friday, Feb. 20 sees a New York-centric literary indie press night, as Ben Greenman, author of Superbad and Soft Skull Press' Superworse (anyone else smell a one-trick pony?), reads from Superworse at Bluestockings Books at 7; Shawn Shiflett will also be on hand to read from his debut novel, Hidden Place, out of Akashic Books. Both are free.

Sit back and nurse that two-day Sunday hangover at the 92nd Street Y on Feb. 22 with the Biographers and Brunch series. It runs 30 clams, but you get to knock back a buffet brunch before listening to Sean Hemingway discuss his grandfather's life and legacy. It's a little early (11 a.m.), but what the hell? You think Papa nursed his hangovers by watching DirecTV? Later, get your neo-con on at 8 at the Y with Norman Podhoretz, who will discuss literature and politics with Terry Teachout.

Also on Sunday, at the Bowery Poetry Club at 8 is Robert Newman, author of the novel Fountain at the Center of the World, which the Times called "frisky" and said it "wouldn't be surprised, in fact, if The Fountain at the Center of the World became the talismanic Catch-22 of the antiglobalization protest movement?" Take that as you will.

To wrap up the week, on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m., novelist Suki Kim appears at Sulzberger Parlor, Barnard Hall, to read from her debut novel The Interpreter. Meanwhile, over at the hallowed KGB bar, Jen Vogel reads from her novel Flim-Flam Man: A True Family History, joined by Susan Shapiro, author of Five Men Who Broke My Heart: A Memoir (see review by Judy McGuire, at left).