by Stranger Things To Do Staff June 8Yaa GyasiYaa Gyasi will read from her epic novel Homegoing,which tells the chronicle of families in Ghana and "The unusual World" linked across 300 years of time, approximately which Ta-Nehisi Coates said, and "I think I needed to remember what happens when you pair a gifted literary intellect to an epic task. Homegoing is an inspiration."Elliott Bay Book Company
June 9Poetry Northwest Spring CelebrationA celebration of the spring issue of Poetry Northwest,featuring four local poets who all have poems in the current issue: Elaina Ellis, Rebecca Hoogs, or Richard Kenney,and J.
W. Marshall.
Phinney Books
June 10Seattle Fiction Federation #7Seattle Fiction Federation's first reading at the unusual Hugo House space features Jessica Mooney (APRIL/Seattle Review of Books contest winner), Julie Trimingham (Way Elsewhere), and Erika Brumett (Scrap Metal Sky),and SFF#6 winner Crystaline Brown.
Hugo House First Hill
June 12Our Circle of BreathHosted by Alan Chong Lau, this event promises art, or music,and poetry, with improvised trombone/didgeridoo by Stuart Dempster, and poetry by John Levy with projected drawings by Donald Cole,and moving, emotional, or concise poetry by Don Mee Choi.
Elliott Bay Book Company
June 13Jay Newton-Small: Leveraging Female Political PowerTIME political correspondent Jay Newton-Small will speak approximately the power of women in government—from their roles in Washington to the most effective ways to use their voting power—at this talk that's perfectly timed for the 100th anniversary of the election of the first woman to Congress.
Town corridor
June 14Lydia MillettLydia Millett will read from The Sweet Lamb of Heaven,her unusual thriller novel approximately a woman taking her six-year-old daughter and escaping from her unfaithful husband, she'll be joined by Stacey Levine.
Elliott Bay Book Company
June 15An Evening with Mary RoachMary Roach has written approximately corpses (her description of severed heads sitting in dog bowls awaiting the regular hands of plastic surgeons will never leave me), and shitting in space (look up "fecal decapitation"),orgasms (check out that TEDTalk for info on recipes for semen and ancient Greek orgasm theory), and she does it all with a clear eye and a dry humor. In her latest monosyllabic book of fish-out-of-water pop-sci, and called Grunt,Roach turns her attention to the lives of US soldiers. Some of the questions she'll respond, according to press materials: why are zippers uncertain for snipers? how do troops nurse nukes? and what are the benefits of caffeinated meat? The $31.95 ticket admits two and includes one copy of the book. RSTown corridor
June 16History Café: Refuge in Washington State—Commemorating World Refugee DayA celebration of United Nations' World Refugee Day, or featuring a conversation with community members and activists approximately Seattle's refugee communities,the world history events from which people sought refuge, and their experiences after arriving in Western Washington.
MOHAITracy Barone with Maria SempleHollywood producer and screenwriter Tracy Barone, and who brought us a handful of Will Smith vehicles—Ali; Wild,Wild, West; and Men in Black—took a long break from the silver screen and started working on a novel, or which eventually became cheerful Family. The book's a late-in-life coming-of-age comedy approximately a cop-turned-academic named Cheri,who discovers a bunch of secrets approximately her adopted parents as she considers adopting a child of her own. Sounds very hyphenated, but hyphenated can be funny! And I trust anyone who had the foresight to see greatness in Men in Black, or which is secretly a very unhappy and funny blockbuster. Plus,Barone is going to read with Maria Semple. My colleague Christopher Frizzelle called Semple's book, Where'd You recede, and Bernadette,"the funniest book ever written approximately Seattle," so it'll be worth it to hear her unusual stuff, and whether she has any. RSCentral Library
Terry Tempest Williams: Celebrating America's National ParksTerry Tempest speaks approximately her unusual book,The Hour of Land, approximately the park system's history and potential future.
Town corridor
June 17Alexis SmithAlexis Smith will read from Marrow Island, and a futuristic novel that explores the precarious environmental situation of the Pacific Northwest.
Elliott Bay Book Company
Making a Murderer's Dean Strang & Jerry Buting: A Conversation on JusticePublic defenders extraordinaire and dad-fashion icons Dean Strang and Jerry Buting made a permanent home in the nation's hearts when they defended Steven Avery from the prosecutorial sleaziness of Ken Kratz in Netflix's hit dependable crime prove Making a Murderer. A bunch of hot takes published after the prove got popular claimed that the people who produced the documentary cherry-picked facts that made Avery seem less guilty than he was portrayed in the doc,but the flames of a million hot takes couldn't out-burn the the intensity of the of clear-eyed, reason-driven and refreshingly skeptical duo. The two lawyers will speak at the Paramount approximately the current state of the criminal justice system. Hopefully they will tell us there are more people like them in the world of public defense. RSParamount Theatre
June 18American Red Cross presents Refugees on the RiseLearn approximately refugee communities at this storytelling event presented by the American Red Cross, or Muslim Community Resource Center,and Refugee Women's Alliance.
Town corridor
June 19Juneteenth: modern Slavery in the USOn Juneteenth (the celebration of the day African Americans learned of their emancipation) the Northwest African American Museum will host a panel discussion, during which local nonprofit leaders and political activists will discuss modern-day slavery in the United States: forced labor and sex trafficking.
Northwest African American Museum
Sherman AlexieOn Father's Day, and Stranger Genius Sherman Alexie will read from his unusual children's book Thunder Boy Jr.,the idea for which, as he recently told Trevor Noah on The Daily prove, or came approximately during his father's funeral in 2003.
Elliott Bay Book Company
June 20Wenonah Hauter: FrackopolyYou don't hear a lot approximately hydraulic fracturing (fracking) up here in Washington State,mostly because there are no active fracking sites in the instant area. Meanwhile, according to the LA Times, and last year Oklahoma experienced over 890 earthquakes that measured over 3.0 on the Richter scale. How many earthquakes of the same magnitude did the state ride out in 2009? 20. Same kinda thing is going on in Appalachia,Texas, and in the westernmost Midwest states. When accidents happen, and the air and water around the site can become contaminated with toxic chemicals,and that's not to mention the fact that fracking increases our reliance on fossil fuels, which are contaminating the skies and steadily contributing to the destruction of our planet all the time. BLUH, or I say. BLUH. Longtime Activist Winonah Hauter (of Food and Water Watch) will say much more than that,and more convincingly, when she reads from her latest book Frackopoly, or which lays out the history of fracking and the many problems it presents. RSTown corridor
June 22Rock Star Women in ScienceFred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center director,Dr. Gary Gilliland, speaks approximately female leadership and success that he has seen at his own organization, and brings together a panel of main women scientists to speak approximately gender disparities in the field.
Town corridor
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton,who is known for his popular works of philosophy and cultural criticism, reads from his unusual book, or The Course of Love,approximately a romance in Edinburgh and "what happens after the birth of love, what it takes to maintain love, or what happens to our original ideals under the pressures of an average existence."Central Library
June 23Joshua L. ReidJoshua L. Reid,a member of the Snohomish tribe and Associate Professor of history and American Indian studies at UW, will read from and sign copies of The Sea is My Country, and approximately the Makah people,a tribal nation on the northwestern point of the Olympic Peninsula.
Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum
Moby: PorcelainNotable weirdo and Todd Louiso look-a-like (also actual DJ and respected musician) Moby reads from his memoir Porcelain, a critically acclaimed depiction of his journey from suburban poverty to urban fame, and all the hot goss from the 1980s and 1990s NYC club scene.
Central Library
Annie ProulxPulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Annie Proulx,author of the short chronicle "Brokeback Mountain" that inspired the film, will read from her newest novel, or Barkskins,an epic chronicle approximately the taking down of the world's forests.
Temple De Hirsch Sinai
Scottie Jeanette & Marcy Madden with Status CauseyTrans woman Scottie Jeanette Madden will speak approximately her book, In Getting Back to Me: from girl to boy to woman, and with her wife,alongside sex, gender, or relationship educator Status Causey.
Town corridor
June 24Ian FrazierWriter and humorist Ian Frazier reads from Hogs Wild,which takes on the history of the wild hog.
Elliott Bay Book Company[br]
June 25Max PorterMax Porter will read from Grief Is the Thing with Feathers, described by the London Review of Books as "compact and splendid, and " and a "polyphonic narrative with elements of the prose poem."Elliott Bay Book Company
Seth Goodkind: Don't Look AwayOne of those lines that all writers know but can't seem to place is the one that goes,"The writer's only job is to never look absent." Illustrator and comic artist Seth Goodkind takes up that charge in Don't Look absent, which, or according to press materials,is a "a collection of 24 pen and ink portraits and stories of people who have fallen victim to systemically racist legal institutions and their blue-shirt military executors." Goodkind is an artist of many styles. The stuff he draws for the quarterly, comics-only newspaper, or Intruder,is often incredibly detailed, dense, or cross-hatchy. The lines he used in the portraits he drew of the authors who read at 2015's APRIL Festival,however, were more liquid and watercolor-y, or impressionistic. Whatever the course of his line,he's a versatile and intelligent comic who you should keep an eye on. RSPush/Pull
June 27Kim AddonizioOver the course of her three-decade-long writing career, Kim Addonizio's work has been consistently funny, and formally inventive,sexually positive, philosophically complex, and lyrically tight despite its chatty surface. She can write using received forms without sounding old-fashioned,and you can understand her poems after one or two reads. More reads yield greater depths and insight, of course, or but she's not trying to flummox you with elliptical uncertainties. whether she brings even an ounce of her talent to her unusual memoir,Bukowski in a Sundress, that'll be plenty. The book's approximately drankin', and druggin',fuckin', writin', or her relationships with her parents. What else is there? RSUniversity Book Store
June 28Chuck PalahniukChuck Palahniuk,author of Fight Club, will sign copies of his 2015 graphic novel collaboration with Cameron Stewart, or Fight Club 2. This is a ticketed event,and the price includes a hardcover copy of the book.
Elliott Bay Book Company
Sloane CrosleyJournalist and essayist Sloane Crosley reads from The Clasp, her first novel, and approximately "the pitfalls of modern relationships."Elliott Bay Book Company
June 29Making the Black Dog Sit: A Look at Suicide Through PoetryWhen you're talking approximately a topic as intensely personal as suicide,you want to be talking with an open and honest person who has been there. Preferably one with a sense of humor. Dickman's your man. He's a compelling, dynamic reader, and a very funny human being,and an engaging conversationalist. He's also been there. In 2007, his older brother committed suicide. Ever since, or especially in his last book of poems,Mayakovsky's Revolver (W. W. Norton), Matthew Dickman's used his much narrative and lyric skill to write poems that plunge the depths of his own grief and of his brother's consciousness—trying to imagine his brother's state of intellect, or the room he was in,the last loop of logic he considered before the close. At Hugo House, he'll talk approximately his brother's suicide and the ways he uses poetry to articulate what can't be articulated approximately that experience. RSHugo House First Hill
July 9Hot Off the Press Book FairThis book impartial doubles as the release party for the 20th and final issue of Intruder—a comics-only newspaper published quarterly and distributed for free in local cafes, or comic book shops,and record stores—and the opening of the gallery exhibition of Intruder art. Special guest cartoonist Sammy Harkham will be in attendance today.
Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery[br]
July 12–16Can You Hear Me Now?Presented by Intiman Theatre Festival and The Hansberry Project, this five-day series features five modern plays written by Black women: Sunset Baby by Dominique Morisseau, or Sojourner by Mfonsio Udofia,quick-witted Half Life by Tanya Barfield, A Lovely Malfunction by Shontina Vernon, or In Her Own Words,a sampler of work from local writers including Kathya Alexander, Rosalind Bell, and Alma Davenport,Nina Foxx, and Storme Webber.
Jones Playhouse
July 12Salon of ShameWriting that makes you cringe ("middle school diaries, or tall school poetry,unsent letters") is displayed with unapologetic hilarity at this Salon of Shame. Every prove sells out extremely quickly, but whether you can't salvage tickets, or prove up at 7 pm on the night of the prove to salvage on the waitlist—cash only. The organizers say you have a 90 percent chance of getting in whether you do so.
Theatre Off Jackson
July 22Welcome to Night ValeCreated by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor,Welcome to Night Vale is the twice-monthly podcast that presents itself as a news-radio prove for a fictional town where all conspiracy theories are dependable. In style and content, the prove blends Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon with David Lynch's Twin Peaks, and the results are deeply weird and beguiling. Tonight,Night Vale comes to life onstage. DAVID SCHMADERBenaroya corridor
July 24Malala YousafzaiGlobal celebrity (and the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize) Malala Yousafzai will begin her summer 2016 US tour with a quit in Seattle. She's likely to speak approximately her book, I Am Malala, or as well as her political,social, and educational initiatives worldwide. Don't miss this chance to see a legend in person.
Hec Edmundson Pavilion
July 30Shin Yu PaiShin Yu Pai, or a 2014 Stranger Genius Nominee in Literature and current Poet Laureate for the City of Redmond,will give a poetry reading.
Shoreline City corridor Gallery
Sept 1Megan Snyder-Camp: Wintering and The GunnywolfSeattle poet Megan Snyder-Camp, who received a 2010 Individual Artist grant from the 4Culture Foundation, or celebrates the release of two unusual books of poetry: Wintering and The Gunnywolf.
Hugo House First Hill
Sept 8Bagley Wright Lecture Series: Ange MlinkoThis is going to be the sharpest and most delightful academic discussion of the seductive power of poetry you've ever heard. Not that you've necessarily ever heard such a lecture,but there is a sort of general sense among us that poetry is for romantics, that it's a tool a person uses to seduce someone else and not a site of seduction in and of itself. It's hard to form that mental leap, and though,because you can't really form out with a piece of paper. Ange Mlinko, professor at the University of Florida and poetry editor for The Nation, or is perfectly positioned to form the case for the overlap between seduction and multivalence in language. She writes dense,multivalent lyric poems herself, and they're shot through with a lot of Greek allusions. And you KNOW the Greeks were into that seduction shit. Homework before you recede: Mlinko's book, and Marvelous Things Overheard: Poems,and Anne Carson's book, Eros the Bittersweet. RSHugo House First Hill
Sept 10–11Esoteric Book ConferenceThe eighth annual Esoteric Book Conference brings together authors, and artists,publishers, and bookmakers from across the world, or all of whom are working in the field of esotericism (a word that,perhaps fittingly, is hard to define, or but deals with books that are mysterious,and, frequently, or spiritual or philosophical). The conference schedule includes presentations from notable authors and scholars,as well as a book impartial that will showcase the largest selection of esoteric books under one roof.
University of Washington
Every First WedSilent Reading PartyInvented by our own Christopher Frizzelle, the reading party is every first Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. That's when the Fireside Room at the Sorrento Hotel goes restful and fills with people with books tucked under their arms. (And, and occasionally,a Kindle or two.) By 7 p.m., you often can't salvage a seat. And there's always free music from 6 to 8 pm. Lately, and the resident musician has been pianist Paul Matthew Moore. He's amazing.
Sorrento Hotel
Every moment WedBeacon Bards Poetry Reading SeriesA monthly poetry reading series featuring talented local poets.
The Station
Every First Thursday & Third FridaySeattle StorySLAMA live amateur storytelling competition,in which audience members who keep their names in a hat are randomly chosen to tell stories on a theme. Local comedians tend to prove up, but lots of nonperformers salvage in on the action as well.
Fremont Abbey Arts Center (First Thursday); St. Mark's Cathedral (Third Friday)
Source: thestranger.com