The University Committee on Creative Writing is bringing in novelist and essayist Eleanor Henderson for a talk this upcoming week. Henderson will be reading and discussing her book Ten Thousand Saints, which was one of the books named in the top 10 books of 2011 by The New York Times and was recently made into a movie that debuted at Sundance this year. The book, which is set in 1987 New York, follows the coming-of-age of a young man after his friend dies of a drug overdose. Though Henderson has not written any novels since Ten Thousand Saints, she has recently published a collection of short stories from various women writers called Labor Day: True Birth Stories by Today’s Best Women Writers.

Tuesday, February 4, Logan Center for the Arts, Seminar Terrace 801, 6 p.m., free

Bollywood musicals are known to employ dubbing—lip-syncing to prerecorded music—for most of their soundtracks. This Saturday, you can see the opposite of that: south asian performers singing without any music to back them up. In other words, a cappella.  International House and the South Asian Students Association will be hosting two guest college a capella groups: UIUC’s Chai Town A Cappella and Loyola’s Raag.  Both groups have massive credentials; Raag was recently invited to participate in Gathe Rao, a national South Asian fusion a cappella concert, and Chai Town has been touring nationally almost since its founding in 2001.  So while you may have a little a cappella fatigue from the many groups that routinely populate modern college campuses, these groups should offer a refreshing change of pace.

Saturday, January 31, International House Assembly Hall, 7:30 p.m., $3 with UCID, $5 Non-UChicago University ID, $7 without ID and at the door

As part of an ongoing festival presented by the Spanish Film Club celebrating the new wave of Ibero-American Cinema, there will be a screening of 7 Cajas next Thursday along with a question and answer session with the directors. The story follows a wheelbarrow delivery boy who takes what seems like a simple transport job for $100 on a Friday night but soon finds himself being pursued in the night. Something inside the seven boxes he’s delivering seems to be highly desired, and the 17-year-old finds himself involved in a crime he knows nothing about. The post-film discussion will be lead by professor Carolina Sternberg of the Latin American and Latino studies department at DePaul University.

Thursday, February 5, Film Studies Center (Cobb 307), 5 p.m., free 

The documentary film buffs and aficionados out there will want to know this. The director Peter Davis will be present at the screening of his 1974 Academy Award –winning documentary film Hearts and Minds. Hosted by the Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture, the event will take place Monday at 6 p.m. in Cochrane-Woods Art Center.

The documentary explores the effects of the Vietnam War on Vietnamese people and features interviews with J. Edgar Hoover and General Westmoreland. While the screening and discussion with the director are presented by the course The Vietnam War in American Culture, the event is free and open to the public.

Monday, February 2, Cochrane-Woods Art Center 157, 6 p.m., free