The Howard Heinz Endowments has awarded a $100,000 grant to the Frick Art & Historical Center in Point Breeze. The money will be used to hire a museum architectural and planning firm to better engage visitors in the art, history, architecture and culture of the late 19th and 20th century. Planning will begin in July and should be complete by the end of this year.

"We are a single museum with different kinds of collections," said Bill Bodine, director of the Frick. "We get to use all our collections to tell our entire story to get people to fully engage with the institution."

(Marylynn Pitz)

Town Talkers

Today: Anchee Min promotes the paperback release of her latest novel, "Empress Orchid," with a stop at Joseph-Beth Booksellers, 2705 E. Carson St., South Side, at 7 p.m.

Tomorrow: Les Stanford will discuss his book, "Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick and the Bittersweet Partnership That Transformed America." Frick Art Museum Auditorium, Point Breeze, 7:30 p.m. $10, $8 members. 412-371-0600.

Tuesday: Nine poets, all students of Michael Wurster of the Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange, are on the bill for Hemingway's Summer Series in the cafe's backroom at 3911 Forbes Ave., Oakland. The reading starts at 8 p.m.

Thursday: Jim Wudarczyk, historian, "The Allegheny Arsenal: A Historical Overview." Lawrenceville Historical Society Lectures, Canterbury Place, McVay Auditorium, Lawrenceville. 7 p.m., free. 412-683-1515.

Friday: The Choice Cuts Reading Series will feature poet Steve Healey and fiction writer Kirsten Gay. Both will read from their own works. Slaughterhouse Gallery and Studio, Lawrenceville. 7:30 p.m. $2. 412-687-7311.

Friday: Novelist Joseph Kanon ("Los Alamos," "The Good German") visits Mystery Lovers Bookshop, 514 Allegheny River Blvd., Oakmont, to promote his latest suspense tale, "Alibi," at 6:30 p.m. The visit includes an Italian-style dinner (tickets are $18.95). Call 412-828-4877 for reservations. A signing and talk follow.

Sunday: "Hugo J. Parente: The Mayor of Monessen," Italians in Monessen Lecture Series. Monessen Heritage Museum, Monessen. 1 p.m., free. 724-684-8460.

If you have an interesting speaker you would like to tell us about, send us a fax at 412-263-1313 or e-mail us magazine@post-gazette.com.

2 Do 2 Day

A glance at events in and around town.

Bruce Eisenbeil Trio at the Frick Fine Arts Building and Auditorium at 8 p.m. Tickets: $10; 412-361-2262.

Summer Lecture Series features Ginny Ruffner at the Pittsburgh Glass Center at 6 p.m. Tickets: free; 412-365-2145.