The Seattle Public Library - Programs & Events

Discover the stories of Crawford Award-winning author Christopher Barzak in his new collection, "Before and Afterlives." These are tales of relationships with unearthly domesticity and eeriness: a woman falls in love with a haunted house; a beached mermaid is substituted for a lost missing daughter; the imaginary friend of a murdered young woman stalks the streets of her small town; a teenage boy is afflicted with a disease that causes him to vanish; a father exploits his daughter’s talent for calling ghosts to her; and a wife leaves her husband and children to fulfill her obligations to a world from which she escaped. Barzak is the author of the Crawford Fantasy Award winning novel, "One for Sorrow," which has been made into the Sundance feature film "Jamie Marks is Dead." His next novel, "Wonders of the Invisible World," will be published by Knopf in 2015. Currently he teaches fiction writing in the Northeast Ohio MFA program at Youngstown State University.

The groups' readings started in 1998, and last year they reached the concluding chapter -- Molly Bloom's soliloquy. This year, the cycle begins again. You'll hear the first and fourth chapters (known as Telemachus and Calypso), which are concurrent in the novel. There will be also be a brief introduction and explanation of the analogues to Homer's "Odyssey." The Wild Geese Players stage readings of Irish literature throughout the Seattle area. "Wild Geese" refers to the Irish diaspora, originally named after exiled Irish soldiers and their descendants who served in European armies in the 16th–18th centuries.

Love a good story? Come to the scene of the crime, the edge of adventure and timeless realms of wonder. Sit back, relax and escape from the everyday as we bring you gripping short stories expertly read -- and well-calculated to keep you in suspense

Panelists include Joshua Prince-Ramus, co-architect of the Central Library and principal of REX in New York City; former City Librarian Deborah L. Jacobs, now head of Global Libraries for the Gates Foundation; Sam Miller, partner at LMN Architects in Seattle; Gilbert W. Anderson, former Library Board member and emeritus member of the Library Foundation board of directors; City Librarian Marcellus Turner. Moderator is Eric Liu, former Library Board member and current member of the Library Foundation board of directors. Opened May 23, 2004, the Central Library has won numerous awards, including being named Time magazine’s “2004 Building of the Year” and being selected in 2005 by Condé Nast Traveler magazine as one of “the new seven wonders of the world.” The late New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp described the Central Library as “a blazing chandelier to swing your dreams upon” and “the most exciting new building it has been my honor to review” in more than 30 years of writing about architecture. In 2005, the Central Library was honored by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), and the American Library Association (ALA). In 2013, the Central Library hosted Library Journal’s 13th Design Institute to discuss the evolution of library design.

Dyer navigates the routines and protocols of "carrier-world," from the elaborate choreography of the flight deck through miles of walkways and hatches to kitchens serving meals for a crew of 5,000 to the deafening complexity of catapult and arresting gear. Meeting the Captain, the F-18 pilots and the dentists, experiencing everything from a man-overboard alert to the Steel Beach Party, Dyer records daily life on board the ship, revealing it to be a prism for understanding a society where discipline and conformity, dedication and optimism, become forms of self-expression. "Geoff Dyer has managed to do again what he does best: insert himself into an exotic and demanding environment (sometimes, his own flat, but here, the violent wonders of an aircraft carrier) and file a report that mixes empathetic appreciation with dips into brilliant comic deflation. Welcome aboard the edifying and sometimes hilarious ship Dyer." -- Billy Collins, author of "Aimless Love."

"Sam Chaltain has thought long and hard about what makes a good school, and how to solve that riddle for as many of our country's students as possible. In 'Our School,' he describes the year he spent at a traditional public school and a charter school in Washington, D.C. His aim is not to compare -- it’s to find the commonalities that make for success and deploy that wisdom to make school choice a plus for all students, rather than a new dividing line. It's the worthiest of goals, attained with mastery." - Emily Bazelon, senior editor at Slate Chaltain is a national educator and organizational change consultant based in Washington, DC. He was the National Director of the Forum for Education and Democracy and the founding director of the Five Freedoms Project. His writings have appeared in magazines and newspapers, including the Washington Post, Education Week and USA Today. A periodic contributor to CNN and Huffington Post, Chaltain is also the author or co-author of six previous books.

Eating fresh and local foods builds a more sustainable food community, and a better community through food. Meet John Sundstrom, a 2014 James Beard Award semifinalist chef and author of "Lark: Cooking Againist the Grain," along with a panel of local growers and farmers. They'll tell stories about growing, cooking and sharing food in the Puget Sound Region. Panelists will also include: - Jessica Roundy, landscape designer at Seattle Urban Farm Company - Gail Savino, executive director at City Fruits - Linda Neunzig, owner of Ninety Farms and agriculture coordinator for Snohomish County The Edible Garden Series includes events and presentations for all ages at Library branches around the city in April and May. Learn about edible gardening, food advocacy and sustainability in coordination with our local partner organizations.

Joshua Prince-Ramus grew up on Bainbridge Island and it was his mother who first learned about the Central Library project. She notified her son, then a partner at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture with Rem Koolhaas in the Netherlands. OMA and LMN Architects of Seattle were selected to design the Central Library. When they unveiled their initial ideas for the Library in late 1999 at Benaroya Hall, television monitors had to be set up outside the hall to accommodate the overflow crowd. Prince-Ramus now heads his own firm, REX, in New York City. REX recently completed the AT&T Performing Arts Center Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in Dallas, Texas, and the Vakko Fashion Center and Power Media Center in Istanbul, Turkey, which opened to critical acclaim.

The Washington Center for the Book at The Seattle Public Library invites everyone to participate in Seattle Reads "For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet's Journey," a project designed to deepen engagement in literature through reading and discussion. Author Richard Blanco visited Seattle April 26-29. Blanco tells of his experiences as 2013 inaugural poet, the fifth in history and the youngest, first immigrant, Latino, gay writer to hold the honor. He reveals the inspiration and challenges behind the creation of the poem, "One Today," and reflects on his life-changing role as a public voice after the inauguration.

Jack McNulty is an Irishman who lived through a great war and the subsequent peace, and who is haunted by his great love. He is a 'temporary gentleman,' whose commission in the British army in the Second World War was never permanent. In 1957, sitting in his lodgings in Accra, he urgently sets out to write his story. McNulty has worked and wandered around the world -- as a soldier, an engineer, a UN observer -- trying to follow his childhood ambition to better himself. He married and shared his life with Mai Kirwan, a great beauty of Sligo in the 1920s, an elusive figure who in time slipped away. Barry is the bestselling author of "The Secret Scripture" (winner of the Irish Book Awards Best Novel and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize). His novels also include "A Long Long Way," which was the Dublin: One City, One Book choice for 2007.

The Washington Center for the Book at The Seattle Public Library invites everyone to participate in Seattle Reads "For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet's Journey," a project designed to deepen engagement in literature through reading and discussion. Author Richard Blanco visited Seattle April 26-29. Blanco tells of his experiences as 2013 inaugural poet, the fifth in history and the youngest, first immigrant, Latino, gay writer to hold the honor. He reveals the inspiration and challenges behind the creation of the poem, "One Today," and reflects on his life-changing role as a public voice after the inauguration.

For the past 30 years, Samuel Green has lived off the grid on Waldron Island while pursuing themes that have obsessed him: fidelity to a long and abiding love, the obligations of living in a small community, the demands of right work, the nature of loss and mourning, close observation of the natural world, and the persistent demands of memory. "Stunning, deeply engaging poems [in "All That Might Be Done"] which not only enlarge a reader’s heart, but magically give us our own lives, and the lives we care about, back again." -- Naomi Shihab Nye "Step into Sally Green's crystalline poems and be immersed in long love, winter birds, summer blackberries, the passing of generation to generation. Her clear surfaces let us see deeply; memory, experience, and desire glint back bright as can be." -- Kathleen Flenniken, Washington State Poet Laureate (2012-2013). Samuel Green served as Washington State's first Poet Laureate (2008-2009). A distinguished poet and author of 10 poetry collections, including "The Grace of Necessity," winner of the Washington State Book Award, his work has appeared in numerous publications. He has been visiting poet and poetry teacher at Seattle University for several years. Sally Green runs a small printing press, Brooding Heron Press (previously Jawbone Press) together with her husband, Sam. Sally is the book designer and printer, and Sam is the editor and bookbinder.

The Washington Center for the Book at The Seattle Public Library invites everyone to participate in Seattle Reads "For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet's Journey," a project designed to deepen engagement in literature through reading and discussion. Author Richard Blanco visited Seattle April 26-29. Blanco tells of his experiences as 2013 inaugural poet, the fifth in history and the youngest, first immigrant, Latino, gay writer to hold the honor. He reveals the inspiration and challenges behind the creation of the poem, "One Today," and reflects on his life-changing role as a public voice after the inauguration.

Jennings will read from his upcoming release in the Junior Genius Guide series, "U.S. Presidents," and talk about his time on Jeopardy! Since Jeopardy!, Jennings has become a best-selling author. His books include "Brainiac," about the phenomenon of trivia in American culture, "Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac," the biggest American trivia book ever assembled, "Maphead," about his lifelong love of geography, and "Because I Said So!," debunking parenting cliches. Because of his enthusiasm for all things factual, Jennings now writes a new middle-grade series, "Ken Jennings’ Junior Genius Guides." With illustrations, quick tips and fun quizzes to test your knowledge, these guides will have you on your way to whiz kid status in no time. The first two Junior Genius Guides, "Greek Mythology" and "Maps and Geography," came out at the beginning of 2014. This event celebrates the release of the newest book, "U.S. Presidents."

Love a good story? Come to the scene of the crime, the edge of adventure and timeless realms of wonder. Sit back, relax and escape from the everyday as we bring you gripping short stories expertly read -- and well-calculated to keep you in suspense