Seattle Area Author Readings

The Gardner Center hosts what should be a delightful program as noted translator and author (as Bill Porter) Red Pine discusses the recently released new edition of his translation of Lao-Tzu’s Taoteching (Copper Canyon Press). This translation features not only Lao-Tzu’s timeless poetic text, but translations of selected Chinese commentaries over the past 2,000 years. Free entry, with Seattle Art Museum admission.

Small Press Fest – Linden Ontjes, author of Muluc.

Small Press Fest – Sharon Alexander. Sharon Alexander is an interdisciplinary artist and writer living in Seattle. Her prose and poems have appeared in Fragments, Efflorescence in Non Sequitur, Splunk and A Big Wind. Her artwork spans her entire life and can be found in people’s homes and other mysterious places.

Novelist Chang-rae Lee reads from his fourth novel, The Surrendered.

We all recognize wisdom, but defining it is more elusive. (Possessing it? Harder still…) Writer Stephen S. Hall, author of Wisdom: From Philosophy to Neuroscience, explores the science of wisdom, from its earliest consideration in the fifth century B.C. to its modern manifestations in education, politics, and the workplace. Tickets are $5.

Judith Skillman’s twelfth book The Never is forthcoming in May, 2010 from Dream Horse Press. The recipient of an award from the Academy of American Poets for her book “Storm” (Blue Begonia Press, 1998), Skillman’s work has appeared in Poetry, FIELD, The Southern Review, The Midwest Quarterly, Seneca Review, and numerous other journals and anthologies. A writer, educator, and editor, Skillman holds an M.A. in English Literature from University of Maryland, and lives in Kennydale, Washington.

In his new book, The Routes of Man: How Roads are Changing the World and the Way We Live Today (Knopf), National Book Critics Circle Award-winning writer Ted Conover takes routes in use in the world today—and masterfully tells a big story of how we are connected—and separated—by the roads and routes we make to travel on, to transport goods, to make escapes, and also to control. Peru, the West Bank, the Himalayas, Nigeria, east Africa, and China: all figure vividly in this arresting, provocative book by the author of Newjack, Coyotes, and Rolling Nowhere.

In The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet, a Danish prince studying in Wittenberg University catches the eye of, and befriends a young man named Horatio. The prince is cast in a play directed by Horatio—in the role of a young woman—and then becomes the subject of a series of sonnets written for the smitten Horatio. But the prince—and one assumes you have guessed that his name is Hamlet—finds a new writer, one Will Shake-spear, and Horatio must work to stay in the prince’s good graces.

Heartland, the second novel of the Codex of Souls series further explores the occult world introduced in Lightbreaker. Mark Teppo’s vision of a magical underworld is a non-stop adventure that brings new light to the occult origins of history.

Beset by economic crisis and climate change, our wounded world could use a hero—or at least a role model. Could Europe save the day? Political writer Steven Hill, author of Europe’s Promise, says Europe has taken the lead in this make-or-break century with a bold new vision that is recrafting the rules for how a modern society should provide economic security, environmental sustainability, and global stability. Tickets are $5.

Cara Black signs Murder in the Palais Royale.

Small Press Fest – Join in a group reading of Kristen Kosmas’ book-script, Hello Failure (Ugly Duckling, 2009)

Danielle Trussoni received good attention for her 2006 memoir, Falling Through the Earth, including citation by the New York Times for being one of the ten best books of the year. She goes a whole other direction for her first novel, the radiantly absorbing Angelology (Viking).

In Erin Evans Forgotten Realms book—set in Ed Greenwood’s fantasy setting—a woman who claims to be a dragon in human form offers to help an aspiring wizard if she can help her return to her original form. But is the dragon lady who she says she is? Or a violent, insane criminal who kills all who fail her? In Rich Baker’s third and final book in the Blades of Moonsea trilogy, Geran hunts down the individual who hurt his family, and rallies the oppressed people of Hulburg. But to do so, he has to break laws, and for each law broken another enemy for Geran to contend with appears.

Set the stage for the Murder in the Palais Royal presentation from mystery author Cara Black. Celebrate French Cabaret music, joie de vivre and romance with this virtuosic, passionate ensemble.

The Uptight Seattleite, whose Seattle Weekly column offers tips on reaching one’s inner leftist, brings his savvy smugness to a larger audience with the book A Sensitive Liberal’s Guide to Life. Enjoy laughs from the pinnacle of political correctness.

Actor/producer Jeff Garlin has dedicated an entire season of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm to improving his lifestyle by reducing his waistline and his carbon footprint. His new book, My Footprint: Carrying the Weight of the World, chronicles his hysterical and eye-opening journey, including the temptations of on-set craft services, the seduction of Pilates, and the rewards of the Pritikin Longevity Center (“rehab for people who eat too much pizza”). Tickets are $5.

Small Press Fest – Matthew Simmons, author of A Jello Horse.

Peter Nathaniel Malae, award-winning Samoan author, reads from his book, What We Are.

The modern female hero is not the sidekick and the love interest of old—she is now as complicated, conflicted, and costumed as her male counterparts. Jennifer Stuller presents Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology, a comprehensive guide to modern women in cinema and comics.

Jennie’s newest novel When She Flew, explores the story of a female police officer who has always followed the rules and the letter of the law. When she discovers an Iraq vet and his young daughter living in the Oregon woods, she begins to wonder if she’s made the right choices in her life. Can the law bend in pursuit of happiness?

Poet and Hugo House writer-in-residence Karen Finneyfrock celebrates the release of her new collection of poetry, Ceremony for the Choking Ghost (Write Bloody Press, 2010). Tickets are $10.

Small Press Fest – Tenney Nathanson

House Rules goes on sale March 2. Purchase the book at Third Place to receive a ticket assuring a place in the signing line to have Jodi autograph it. No ticket is required to attend. We are pleased to welcome Jodi Picoult back to Third Place, as she introduces her 13th novel, this one a gripping story of a boy with Asperger’s accused of murder.

In The Dead Tossed Waves, the follow-up to Carrie Ryan’s post-apocalyptic, zombie-ridden debut The Forest of Hands and Teeth, a young girl named Gabry lives behind the Barrier in a town on the sea. But the Barrier can’t hold back every threat and, without warning, those threats lead to the death of half of Gabry’s generation, and the imprisonment of the other half. To save the future, Gabry must discover the secrets her mother left behind when she left the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

James Greer, writer and one-time bassist for the band Guided by Voices, has a new book called The Failure, which is about a robbery gone wrong. A straightforward narrative told in anything but a straightforward manner, it follows a narrator interested in getting rich without having to work hard and his dogwalking buddy as they search for a way to finance an impossibly ridiculous Internet application.

Mark Gluth hails from Bellingham, and is the author of the novella The Late Work of Margaret Kroftis, the newest book in Dennis Cooper’s Little House on the Bowery series. Told in brief, dream-like paragraphs, it follows the life of a writer living alone and coping with a personal tragedy.

Featuring brave new writing commissioned by Hugo House from essayist Phillip Lopate, poet Emily Warn and actress and solo performer Marya Sea Kaminski with new songs by Seattle rockers Happy Hour Hero, all responding to theme of Laws of Attraction. Cheapest tickets are $15.

Kelley Theron signs A Patient Enemy.

Bestselling author Jodi Picoult reads from her seventeenth novel, House Rules.

Funny person Chelsea Handler (she of the popular show Chelsea Lately and the book Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea) will stop by to sign copies of her latest book, Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, a collection of new essays. A signing ticket will be required to stand in the signing line. Signing tickets are available by purchasing Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang from University Book Store beginning March 9.

Please join us and author Suzi Prozanski for a reading of her latest book titled Fruit of the Sixties on Saturday, March 20th at 5pm! Fruit of the Sixties documents the Oregon Country Fair’s deep roots in the upheaval of the 1960s that generated waves of change throughout American society.

Small Press Fest – Kevin Sampsell, author of A Common Pornography.

Carrie Ryan promotes The Dead Tossed Waves. Gabry is surrounded by the ravenous undead, relatively happy inside the Barrier. But soon she must face the forest to save herself and the one she loves.

Small Press Fest – Reg Johanson & David Wolach

Small Press Fest – Dan Peters, author of Down the Road the Children Go.

Dolen Perkins-Valdez reads from her debut novel, Wench.

Small Press Fest – As part of Canarium Books‘ West Coast tour, Ish Klein, John Beer, and Paul Killebrew will be coming through with glasses raised.

We are thrilled to be hosting this much-anticipated visit by award-winning, internationally-renowned author, musician, songwriter, and economist Jo Nesbø. He is traveling the U.S. from his Oslo home for the newest of his noir novels featuring detective Harry Hole to be published in the U.S., The Devil’s Star (Harper, translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett).

At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the British set out to do what they had been trying to do for hundreds of years—find a Northwest Passage, a sea route to the Orient over Northern Canada. In 1835, that search culminated with the expedition of Sir John Franklin, who with his crew of 128 officers and men, vanished in the icy seas. Author Anthony Brandt presents The Man Who Ate His Boots, a narrative history of this search.

The 1910 avalanche that killed 96 people in the town of Wellington, Washington remains North America’s worst avalanche disaster. Burwash’s novel, Vis major : railroad men, an act of God– white death at Wellington, tells the tale from the perspective of the railroad men who battled the week-long blizzard leading up to the tragedy.

No longer a remote outpost, the Arctic stands center stage for a host of issues that will challenge and define our world in the next century: energy security and the struggle for natural resources, climate change, the remaking of global trade patterns. Geopolitics expert Charles Emmerson’s The Future History of the Arctic, tells the story of the Arctic through the stories of those who live there, those who study it, and those who will determine its destiny. Tickets are $5.

Jo Nesbø signs The Devil’s Star.

Small Press Fest – Joel Felix, author of Catch and Release.

A trio of poets, each of whom lives, works, and writes in the Pacific Northwest, share the stage tonight to read from recently published work. Derek Sheffield will read from his new chapbook, A Revised Account of the West (Iowa State University Press), the inaugural winner of the Hazel Lipa Environmental Chapbook Award. The 2007 writer-in-residence at the Bernheim Research Forest in Kentucky, he teaches at Wenatchee Valley College. Also tonight are Olympia-based teacher and poet Kevin Miller, whose Home & Away: The Old Town Poems (Pleasure Boat Studio) invites readers and listeners into a “home” of memories and dreams. Allen Braden, whose work has appeared in Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere, celebrates the publication of A Wreath of Down and Drops of Blood (VQR/University of Georgia Press).

Anna Pavord has written the A-Z of bulbs, covering more bulbs than most gardeners can grow in a lifetime. Pulishers Weekly says Pavord’s new book is “an astonishing bouqet of economic and cultural lore, grand historic trends and horticultural exotics.” In this talk she will introduce some of her favorites and suggest how they might be used in a garden. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

Local poet Sybil James’ eighth book, Pistols and Hearts, is based on her adventures in Mexico, and follows her works that include The Adventures of Stout Mama, and Ho Chi Minh’s Motorbike.

From an editor at National Geographic Society Press comes The Man Who Ate His Boots, the harrowing story of the British obsession with finding the Northwest Passage, starting in 1815 and ending with the disappearance of two ships and 145 men 30 years later.

Meredith Berlin, local author of The Ghost Light Kids Get Hooked, will stage a dramatic reading with improvisations based on her upcoming books.

Small Press Fest – Janée Baugher, author of Coördinates of Yes.

A writer whose work is popular in her home country of India, Indu Sundaresan has been doing that writing here in the Seattle area—and winning readers in the U.S. (and elsewhere), as well. She follows her recent book of present-day stories, In the Convent of Little Flowers, with a return to historically-set, Mughal-era novels that she is first known for. The Twentieth Wife, The Feast of Roses, and The Splendor of Silence, are now joined by her newest, Shadow Princess (Atria).

Christopher Moore was doing vampires when vampires weren’t cool. That’s right: the mid-’90s. Bite Me is the third in a trilogy of novels about bloodsucking freaks in San Francisco, California. This event is free and open to the public. A signing ticket guarantees a prioritized place in the signing line. Signing tickets available by purchasing Bite Me from University Book Store beginning March 23.

A group reading by Native American writers Marianne Broyles, of New Mexico; Tiffany Midge, of Idaho; and Erika Wurth, of Illinois. These poets/storytellers write about small town Indians, about community and family, about thieves, prostitutes, train stealers, drug dealers, loners, jerks, dreaming alcoholics and the ones who did everything but all of that. Admission is $1-5 sliding scale.

Mark Spragg returns to Ishawooa, Wyoming, and the characters from An Unfinished Life in his novel Bone Fire. The author of the award-winning Where Rivers Change Direction’s third novel resonates with his love of the West.

Claiming Ground is Laura Bell’s memoir of moving to Wyoming from Kentucky, seeking roots. It follows her through life as a sheep herder, wife, mother, and forest ranger, and is imbued with an appreciation for the beauty of the Western landscape.

Sustainability and environmental health expert Annie Leonard created an Internet sensation with her video The Story of Stuff and now book, a look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns that has drawn more than 7 million views. Leonard, a former coordinator of the Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption, says basic stuff is a necessity—but consumerism and overconsumption have hidden costs to our health, environment, and the lives of millions of people who live and work in dangerous, dehumanizing conditions to sustain a dysfunctional “take-make-waste” paradigm. Tickets are $5.

Small Press Fest – Yuko Enomoto, writer, translator and owner of Chin Music Press.

Author Jonathan Evison reads from his book All About Lulu.

Bite Me goes on sale March 23. Purchase the book at Third Place to receive a ticket assuring a place in the signing line to have Christopher autograph it. No ticket is required to attend. Love. Vampires. Chris Moore’s 12th novel, third in his Bloodsucking Fiend series. Don’t miss it.

Join us for the paperback release of Orangette blogger Molly Wizenberg’s wonderful book A Homemade Life. In it, a personal narrative is laced with favorite family recipes, and the way food and family meet is illuminated.

One of the finest dark comedians working in the novel form today will stop by to read from his latest, hilarious book. The Ask is about a failed painter named Milo who returns to his job at a mediocre university after a rich donor and former classmate makes a donation to the institution incumbent upon Milo’s service to him in a personal matter.

Author of six collections of poetry, most recently All of It Singing: New and Selected Poems, and winner of the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry. Cheapest tickets are $20.

Small Press Fest – Jenifer Browne-Lawrence, author of One Hundred Steps from Shore.

In New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison’s eighth Rachel Morgan urban fantasy, the charming bounty hunter and witch fights a deadly battle with elves, demons, and even a leprechaun.

Wyoming is the story with this visit by two excellent writers who call the state home. Mark Spragg, who has been this way before with his award-winning memoir, Where Rivers Change Directions, and his novels The Fruit of Stone and An Unfinished Life, is here tonight with a new novel, Bone Fire (Knopf). From Cody, Wyoming, comes Laura Bell with a remarkable nonfiction debut, Claiming Ground: A Memoir (Knopf).

From contaminated hamburger to livestock emissions, meat’s making headlines, stirring emotions, and spurring change. “Flextarians” eat meat but are concerned about its production and impact; multiplatinum-selling musician Moby takes that concern even further. A vegan for more than 15 years, Moby is also the editor (with Miyun Park) of Gristle: From Factory Farms to Food Safety, compiling writings by food experts who show how and why the overconsumption of industrially-produced meat harms agricultural workers, communities, the environment, and human health—as well as the animals. Tickets are $5.

Zachary Schomburg is the author of The Man Suit (Black Ocean 2007) and Scary, No Scary (Black Ocean 2009). A dvd collection of poem-films, Little Blind Thing, was recently published by Poor Claudia, and a collaborative chapbook with Emily Kendal Frey called Team Sad was recently published by Cinematheque Press. With Mathias Svalina, he co-edits Octopus Magazine and Octopus Books.

Frustrated with re-gaining half of the 188 pounds she’d dieted off, Frances Kuffell met four others on line who shared her moods, fears and hopes. Her memoir, Angry Fat Girls, tells how they found their best selves.

Melissa Febos co-curates and hosts New York City’s Mixer Reading and Music series, has an MFA from Sarah Lawrence, and teaches at both SUNY Purchase and the Gotham Writers’ Workshop. En route to all of this, she spent much of her younger adult life as a sex worker. She tells the story of her years as a drug addict and dominatrix (“one of the few high-paid acting gigs in the city”) in Whip Smart (Thomas Dunne Books).

Jennie’s newest novel When She Flew, explores the story of a female police officer who has always followed the rules and the letter of the law. When she discovers an Iraq vet and his young daughter living in the Oregon woods, she begins to wonder if she’s made the right choices in her life. Can the law bend in pursuit of happiness?

Small Press Fest – Doug Nufer, author of Never Again.

Small Press Fest – Sarah Mangold, poet and editor of Bird Dog.

Two translators and editors present some passages from The Red Room, a collection they put together of modern Korean fiction. To the Fulton’s, the central theme of the work of the Korean fiction writers presented is that of trauma—the witnessing of upheaval and wartime violence. The three authors in the collection have each approached trauma in personal ways, and produced tales of suffering that are, though dark, enlightening.

Arundhati Roy has written just one novel, but what a debut. The God of Small Things won the Booker Prize in 1997, and ever since, the Indian activist has concentrated her writing on political issues. Tonight, she’ll read from her latest book of political essays, Field Notes on Democracy, followed by a Q&A moderated by Anthony Arnove and a book signing. Tickets are $15.

Cornelia Read signs Invisible Boy.

Small Press Fest – Kim-An Lieberman, author of Breaking the Map.

This will be the last author reading at the old Elliott Bay Books prior to their move to Capitol Hill!

Renowned Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven, whose credits include Robocop, Basic Instinct, and The Black Book, is probably less well-known for his religious interests and pursuits. He is one of a very few non-theologians admitted into the Jesus Seminar, a group of eminent scholars working in theology, linguistics, philosophy, and biblical history, whose ranks include Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, among others. Paul Verhoeven’s book, Jesus of Nazareth (Seven Stories, translated by Susan Massotty), aspires to reveal the humanity of Jesus, “a true radical who brought humanity a few steps closer to an enlightened view of ourselves.”

Mercy Thompson, shape-shifting mechanic and heroine of her own series of urban fantasy adventures, wants to return a powerful Fae book, but finds the bookstore where she procured it locked up and closed down. What can she do to return it and keep it out of the wrong hands? And what’s up with her friend Samuel and his struggles with his wolf side? Find out in Silver Borne.

Using scientific evidence to weed out gardening myths from facts, NW garden writer Linda Chalker-Scott presents her second book, The Informed Gardener Blooms Again, to help urban gardeners determine the cheapest, greenest plant care.

Small Press Fest – Tao Lin, author of Shoplifting from American Apparel.

Sure, Seattle is a great place to live. Huge gardens, great coffee, good people. But now and then it can become difficult navigating the city’s left-leaning, environmentally conscious, cosmopolitan culture. Luckily, we have A Sensitive Liberal’s Guide to Life, from the Seattle Weekly’s Uptight Seattleite—a thinker, a writer, a seeker, and a columnist ready to help those in need of advice with his own brand of thoughtful, patronizing, politically correct counsel.

Join us for a reading by three distinct Arab American writers — Samar Abulhassan, Ghida Sinno, Maged Zaher — questioning what it means to be bilingual or immigrant by unraveling usual constructs of culture and language.

McCue returns home to celebrate the release of The Car That Brought You Here Still Runs on Wednesday, March 31, at 7.30 p.m. at Richard Hugo House. She’ll read from the book and tell stories about Northwest towns, traveling with Mary Randlett and imagining a dead poet back to life.

Nick Lantz’s book We Don’t Know We Don’t Know received the 2009 Bakeless Prize for Poetry and will be published by Graywolf Press in March 2010. His collection The Lightning That Strikes the Neighbors’ House received the Felix Pollak Prize and will be published by the University of Wisconsin Press this spring.

Lisa Lutz signs The Spellmans Strike Again.

With writers visiting from Texas, New York, and Hawaii, and a brand new venue for The Off Hours, the Spring Reading is one you won’t want to miss. Catch us on Friday, April 2nd at 7 PM in the back room of Spitfire. The reading will feature prose by Jonathan Crimmins and Scott Henkle, and poetry by Jaimie Gusman, Evan Nagle, and Kary Wayson. Sean Clemmons will be your host. $5 tickets are available at the door or through Brown Paper Tickets. The event space has a private bar, so drinks and food will be available during the show. Stick around afterward for more good times at the post-show reception. See you there!

Bestselling author Walter Mosley reads from Known to Evil.

Karen Joy Fowler is the critically acclaimed author of both novels and short story collections. A writer who traverses genres from SF/fantasy to mainstream fiction, Fowler explores the mysteries of history, feminism, love, and friendship. Her first novel, Sarah Canary, won the Commonwealth medal for best first novel by a Californian; her third novel, Sister Noon, was a finalist for the Pen Faulkner award. She’s won the Nebula and World Fantasy Award and hew New York Times bestselling novel, The Jane Austen Book Club, was released as a film by Sony Classic Pictures in 2007.