Essays, historical fiction, memoirs, translations, thrillers and deep investigations by out-of-town and California writers are in the lineup this month. Also in October: The huge literary festival Litquake, happening in San Francisco and the East Bay. and culminates on Oct. 25 with Lit Crawl in San Francisco’s Mission, billed as the world’s largest literary pop-up event. [6 p.m., San Francisco Columbarium, 1 Loraine Court. [7 p.m., City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Ave., San Francisco]