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Spring does not officially begin until March 20, but already I feel it. For me spring has sprung, and that means it's book festival time.

My spring calendar is already brimming with exciting festivals, readings and lectures, and I'm most excited about going to see Gloria Steinem and Salman Rushdie when they come to New Orleans.

Steinem is giving a free lecture at 7 p.m. March 6 at the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life in the Kendall Cram Lecture Hall at Tulane University. And Rushdie is will present a lecture, "Public Events, Private Lives: Literature and Politics in the Modern World" at 7 p.m. April 7 in the Dixon Auditorium at Tulane University.

I'm so giddy. Rushdie is speaking as part of the Great Writers series, which hosted Toni Morrison last spring, and I had to miss it unfortunately for my sister's rehearsal dinner.

Other exciting happenings coming up that you should be aware of are the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival March 26-30 at various locations across the French Quarter. Special guests include journalist Linda Ellerbee and critic Rex Reed among many others.

The fifth-annual Jubilee Jambalaya Writers' Conference and Book Fair is April 5 at the Terrebonne Parish Main Library. Speakers include Emily Toth, Ken Wells, Heather Graham, Joshua Clark and many others.

The Saints and Sinners Literary Festival May 8-11 in the French Quarter is an annual event for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender literary community.

There are also a number of book signings coming to the New Orleans area. Here are some of my favorites:

March 14

Laura Joh Rowland, The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte

Octavia Books

6 p.m.

March 18

Cindy Guidry, The Last Single Woman in America

Octavia Books

6 p.m.

April 3

Jon Clinch, Finn

Garden District Book Shop

5:30 p.m.

April 23

Alton Brown, Feasting on Asphalt: The River Run

Octavia Books

5 p.m.