Literature Search
Laura Read, Maya Jewell Zeller
Sun May 26 at 3 pm.Reading
Read has written a poem titled "This Time We'll Go to Kentucky Fried Chicken." Zeller's "I Give You Ten Reasons Why We Can’t Use Roundup on Our Lawn" begins: "As a girl the black-branched plums/behind the far fence were mine because/a giant row of nettle and snowberry/blocked them from the cows." Free.
Max Andersson at the Seattle International Film Festival
Sun May 26 at 8 pm.Lecture
Max Andersson is a cartoonist whose dynamic new documentary/stop-motion-animated travel film, Tito on Ice, is screening at SIFF. This is a signing and a screening. Free.
Jack Skillingstead, Ted Kosmatka
Tues May 28 at 7 pm.Reading
Skillingstead's Seattle-based sci-fi novel is titled Life on the Preservation. Kosmatka's Prophet of Bones is a sci-fi novel about an archaeologist who discovers the world is more than six thousand years old. Free.
Matthew Simmons
Tues May 28 at 7 pm.Reading
If you’ve attended his readings, you know Matthew Simmons is one of Seattle’s best short-story writers. Problem is, his published output has been slim—just one excellent novella and a tiny chapbook of stories about one-man death metal bands—but today that all changes with the publication of a collection titled Happy Rock. Any chance to hear Simmons read his own funny, intelligent stories about awkward lonely people and the roadside attractions they love is cause for celebration, so this launch party for Happy Rock ought to be a goddamned citywide holiday. Free.
Ryan McIlvain
Tues May 28 at 7 pm.Reading
Elders is a novel about Mormons by an author who resigned the Mormon church. Free.
What's Going On
Wed May 29 at 8 pm.Reading
Nine poets were each assigned a song from Marvin Gaye's album What's Going On. Tonight, they'll perform new work in response to those songs. This is a neat idea for a reading. $5.
UW Science Now: Makrand Sinha: P vs. NP: The Limits of Computers AND Jingda Wu: NCQD: Print Your Own Solar Cells
Thurs May 30 at 6 pm.Reading
This is a discussion about complex problems and whether computers will ever be able to solve them, paired with a discussion about solar cells. $5.
Anchee Min
Thurs May 30 at 7 pm.Reading
Red Azalea was Min's breakout memoir. It's a book that is loved by many. Her followup memoir, The Cooked Seed, has a steep hill to climb. It's about her arrival in America and what happened after. Free.
Rebecca Hoogs
Thurs May 30 at 7 pm.Reading
Self-Storage is the first full-length collection of poetry from Hoogs, which seems kind of crazy, because she's been reading her very good poetry all around town forever. She's joined by fellow poets Kevin Craft, Rachel Kessler, Sierra Nelson, and Jason Whitmarsh to celebrate her publication. Free.
Jaron Lanier
Thurs May 30 at 7:30 pm.Reading
If you missed Jaron Lanier’s manifesto You Are Not a Gadget, you really have some catching up to do. The book, which imagines a more humane internet, was praised by people as diverse as engineers, software designers, Zadie Smith, and me. Now Lanier has returned with a new book titled Who Owns the Future?, and he’s giving a talk about how digital technology can save our economy. This one is not to be missed. $5.
Alice Walker
Fri May 31 at 7 pm.Signing
The documentary about Alice Walker that's screening at SIFF, Alice Walker: She Walks in Beauty, will be accompanied by a signing with Walker. All of her books will be on sale, including her new poetry collection, The World Will Follow Joy: Turning Madness into Flowers. Free.
BOOST: Poetry to Uplift Your Spirits (A Benefit for Tara Hardy)
Fri May 31 at 7 pm.Reading
Beloved local author Tara Hardy is suffering from a medical condition that requires "a rigorous two-year treatment, the cost of which, not covered by health insurance is $18,000 per year." So this fundraiser features local authors Cedar Adison Smith, Sara Brickman, Karen Finneyfrock, Dorothy Kent, Lisa Slater, and Casey Tonnelly, among others. If we had a single payer health plan in this country, we wouldn't need to throw events like this. But we don't, and so we do. $15 advance, $20 door, $100 reserved seat.
Interrupture Presents: Trope Opera
Fri May 31 at 7:30 pm.Reading
The fabulous experimental poetry group presents Trope Opera, which they describe as "the days of our lives as the world turns, as rendered by interpretations of Freud, pop psychology, and the republic of dreams." Sounds mimetic! Free.
James Arthur, Natalie Diaz, Tomas Q. Morin
Sat June 1 at 7:30 pm.Reading
Here's the beginning of a poem by Arthur: "I was there, and saw the half-ton rope/of human hair coiled like a python,/glinting." Diaz writes "Angels don't come to the reservation./Bats, maybe, or owls, boxy mottled things./Coyotes, too. They all mean the same thing—/death." And here's Morín: "It shouldn’t have surprised me while reading /Gorky’s remembrance of Tolstoy and/devouring chicken/on a blanket in view of the muddy waters/that I should see a parakeet misnamed/the Quaker parrot." Free.
Dick Falkenbury
Mon June 3 at 6 pm.Reading
Falkenbury is a former cab driver who wrote the initiative to create a monorail transit system in Seattle. Rise Above It All is his account of that process, which—spoiler alert—ultimately failed. $5.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Mon June 3 at 7 pm.Reading
Aidichie is a celebrated novelist whose previous book, Half of a Yellow Sun, was praised by many. Her new novel is titled Americanah, and it's already starting to get very good reviews. Free.
Daniel James Brown
Tues June 4 at 6:30 pm.Reading
"In 1936, University of Washington's eight-oar crew went to Berlin on a quest for Olympic gold," press materials tell us. This is the story of Brown's non-fiction book, The Boys in the Boat. This event will feature a multi-media presentation and descendants of the rowers who star in the book. Free.
Dan Kennedy
Tues June 4 at 7 pm.Reading
Kennedy is the brilliant man behind storytelling sensation The Moth. American Spirit is his novel. Free.
Ruth Ozeki, Karen Joy Fowler
Tues June 4 at 7 pm.Reading
Ozeki's newest book is A Tale for the Time Being and Fowler’s new book is titled We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. The writers are here to celebrate those books and the great local women's writing program Hedgebrook. Free.
Joan Didion
Wed June 5 at 7:30 pm.Reading
Do you really need me to tell you why you should attend a reading by Joan Didion? Come on. $15-$50.
Amber Dawn, Mattilda Sycamore Bernstein
Thurs June 6 at 6 pm.Reading
Dawn's new memoir is How Poetry Saved My Life: A Hustler’s Memoir. Bernstein Sycamore's memoir is titled The End of San Francisco. Gay City is a great place. Free.
Siren Songs: Fine Wine and Writing
Thurs June 6 at 7 pm.Reading
Readings from Stacey Levine, Nicole Hardy, Kevin Craft, and Kenyon Brown are paired with fine wines. $15/$10 for Hugo House members.
Story Chairs Live Reading
Fri June 7 at 7 pm.Reading
Artist Tina Hoggatt’s new installation features comfy chairs with concealed speakers that tell you stories when you sit on them. A small battalion of 32 musicians and authors wrote and recorded new work for this project, including Kathleen Alcalá, Levi Fuller, Alex Gallo-Brown, Moe Provencher, and Stranger Genius shortlister Ed Skoog. (Added bonus: Hoggatt designed the chairs with the help of Visual Art Genius Jeffrey Mitchell, who contributes a story to the project, too.) Free.
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A complete guide to Seattle's current art, film, dance, and theater season.
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