Appearing locally in a special partnership between the Davenport Public Library and Rock Island Public Library, National Book Award finalist Jason Reynolds – the award-winning author of works including 2017's Marvel Comics novel Miles Morales: Spider-Man – will read from and deliver presentations on his literary output in a trio of special area engagements at the Davenport Main Library on May 2 and Rock Island High School on May 3.

An eagerly awaited annual event rides, jumps, and spins into Moline's TaxSlayer Center on April 27 and 28 as the Moline venue hosts Monster Jam 2019, bringing a new level of high-flying, four-wheel excitement to the entire family with racing, two-wheel skills, donuts, and freestyle competitions.

Described by TheBroadwayBlog.com as a “groundbreaking combination of storytelling, music, and technology” and Theaterlife as “an electrifying visual delight,” the dance-fusion ensemble iLuminate will light up the Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center on April 19 and 20, demonstrating why, in 2011, this singular sensation became a national obsession during its run on TV's America's Got Talent.

Court-ing fans in their annual visit to Moline, the electrifying athletes of the Harlem Globetrotters bring their spectacular touring event to the TaxSlayer Center on April 13, thrilling the crowd with phenomenal basketball action and comic high jinks courtesy of a star-studded roster featuring Big Easy Lofton, Ant Atkinson, Hi-Lite Bruton, Thunder Law, Bull Bullard, and Cheese Chisholm.

For the second year in a row, the Quad Cities' NPR station WVIK hosts a special panel discussion and keynote address in its “Intelligent Conversation” series, with this year's April 11 program A Path Appears: An Intelligent Conversation About Real People Working to Change the World taking place at Davenport's RiverCenter and boasting two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times' very first blogger and subject of Ben Affleck's HBO documentary Reporter.

Offering brand-new handyman projects, advice to married guys and teenage boys, tips on getting old, and an apology to the world on behalf of all baby boomers, Red Green – the alter ego of Canadian writer and comedian Steven Smith Jr. – brings his night of laughs to Davenport's Adler Theatre on April 13, arriving in his trademark flannel and eliciting gales of laughter in the star's “This Could Be It Tour.”

With his 2018 book Bad Stories: What the Hell Just Happened to This Country? described by the Washington Post as “lively, stimulating, and pleasantly discursive,” author, pundit, and podcaster Steve Almond serves as the latest guest in Augustana College's River Readings series, his April 9 presentation demonstrating the talents that have won Almond the Blue Mesa Review's Poetry Prize, the New Delta Review's Editors' Choice Prize, and the 2017 Poetry International Prize.

Classical composers, iconic characters, and an assemblage of phenomenal dancers and musicians will combine in the latest presentation by the area talents of Ballet Quad Cities and Orchestra Iowa: Peter & the Wolf, Mother Goose, & Other Tales, which will enjoy two March 30 performances at Davenport's Adler Theatre and unite crowds in appreciation of the joys, terrors, and wonders of children's stories and fairytales.

More than a dozen local, regional, and national speakers will deliver live and video presentations in the March 27 TEDxDavenport conference at the Figge Art Museum, a networking event themed “Limitless” that will join open-minded idea-seekers in a half-day exploration of unique experiences designed to inspire, inform, and challenge.

Anti-comedy legend and parodic crooner misfit Neil Hamburger visits the Triple Crown Whiskey Bar & Raccoon Motel on March 17.

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