Iranian author Azar Nafisi first became known to American audiences in 2003, when she published Reading Lolita in Tehran, a memoir about the book group she led for seven female students after leaving her job as an English professor at the University of Tehran. While the author’s earlier work explored the teaching of fiction through the lens of censorship in post-revolutionary Iran, her follow-up, The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books, uses novels to help readers understand and critique their own society. Read more >>> Azar Nafisi reads at 7 p.m. at Politics & Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Free. (202) 364-1919. politics-prose.com. (Weenta Girmay)

EAT THIS

Following in the footsteps of Mason Dixie Biscuit Company, another biscuit pop-up is making its debut in D.C. this weekend. Biscuit Lab Baking Co. will offer biscuit sandwiches and drop biscuits at Lyman’s Tavern from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. The menu will include basic buttermilk biscuits plus egg and cheese sandwiches with bacon, ham, or sausage. There will also be one “fancy thing” like the “Red Neck Benedict,” an open-face biscuit with ham, slow-poached egg, and red eye sausage gravy. In addition, drop biscuits will come in flavors like pumpkin spice with maple icing, black pepper with honey butter cream, and apricot with aged gouda. The pop-up will continue every Sunday, possibly expanding into Saturdays, over at least the next six weeks. Read more on Young & Hungry. Lyman’s Tavern, 3720 14th St. NW. twitter.com/biscuitlabdc. (Jessica Sidman)

OH AND ALSO

Friday: Come to our music showcase featuring Laughing Man and Furniteur at the Luce Foundation at the Smithsonian American Art Museum! There will be free beer tastings from Atlas Brew Works, beautiful people, and rad tunes. 6 p.m. at 8th & F streets NW. Free.

Friday: Members of local art collective DDAY display a variety of new works at Pleasant Plains Workshop. The exhibition kicks off with an opening party tonight. 6 p.m. at 2608 Georgia Ave. NW. Free.

Friday: Indie folk act the Milk Carton Kids take the stage at the Lincoln Theatre with singer and mandolin player Sarah Jarosz. 8 p.m. at 1215 U St. NW. $35.

Friday: The National Gallery of Art and American University present a screening of Ghost Town, a Chinese documentary about a remote village inhabited by local minorities. 7 p.m. at 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Free.

Saturday: Make a bold move this weekend and take your partner—permanent or potential—to a ballet with “orgasm” in the title. In French. Subtle! Petite Mort, or “little death,” is the Gallic expression for inexplicable pleasure, and the title of the Washington Ballet’s season-opening series of performances. The ballet “Petite Mort” is a contemporary classic by the Czech choreographer Jiří Kylián. As it opens, a stage full of shirtless men play around with swords. Ladies soon join them to artfully cross and uncross their legs. Read more >>> The Washington Ballet performs Oct. 22 to 26 at Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW. $37–$132. (202) 362-3606. washingtonballet.org. (Rebecca J. Ritzel)

Saturday: Psychedelic performer Ruby Fray plays Comet Ping Pong with local dream pop artist Janel Leppin and electronic act Den-Mate. 10 p.m. at 5037 Connecticut Ave. NW. $12.

Saturday: Visit the Phillips Collection to see its latest exhibition, “No/Escape,” a series of six human sculptures by artist Bernardi Roig displayed throughout the museum’s interior and exterior spaces. 10 a.m. at 1600 21st St. NW. $10–$12.

Sunday: In Portland, Ore., the adopted hometown of actress and vocalist Storm Large, the local newspaper describes her as a “6-foot sensual goddess of raunch-rock.” Large is out on the road supporting her first full-length studio album in nine years. It’s called Le Bonheur, and if your poor French has that phrase coming out more like “boner,” that’s just what the artist intended. The album’s name may be giggle-worthy, but that track listing is not. Read more >>> Storm Large performs with Tiffany Thompson at 7:30 p.m. at the Hamilton, 600 14th St. NW. $20–$25. (202) 787-1000. thehamiltondc.com. (Rebecca J. Ritzel)

Sunday: British punk act the Damned bring their dark tunes to the Black Cat as Halloween nears. T.S.O.L. and the Briefs open the show. 7:30 p.m. at 1811 14th St. NW. $25–$28.