February 2023

  • A Peek at Peak Picks – March 2023

    10 titles are joining Peak Picks in March! In fiction, Rafael Frumkin introduces us to juvie-bound Ezra and Adonis-like Orson, unlikely friends (and sometimes lovers) who share a passion for scamming people in Confidence; Jeannette Walls (The Glass Castle) travels to Prohibition-era Virginia where Sallie Kincaid battles family and residents alike to be the best… Continue reading

  • Our Favorite Fantasy Fiction of 2022

    I’d say Fantasy Fiction is enjoying a “renaissance,” but it never went away, and has garnered massive mainstream interest since a certain boy wizard’s first day at Hogwart’s, or even since Bilbo left the Shire. That said, today’s fantasy readers can choose from an unprecedented diversity of subgenres, settings, voices and themes. We recently compiled… Continue reading

  • Local Heroes in Black History, Part Two

    Continuing on our tour of landmarks named for local Black heroes, here are just a few historical figures who should be household names in Seattle. Perhaps you’ve noticed new activity in the old fire station at 23rd and Yesler, across the street from the Douglass-Truth Branch Library. In 2020, the space was re-dedicated as the… Continue reading

  • A librarians’ guide to the best in recent genre fiction

    A librarians’ guide to the best in recent genre fiction

    Each year, groups of librarians from across the country meet to discuss and select the best books from the year before. The Notable Books List presents literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry; the Listen List is all about outstanding audiobooks; and the Reading List, which I want to tell you about today, highlights outstanding genre fiction… Continue reading

  • 81 Years of Remembrance

    February 19th marks the 81st anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing Executive Order 9066 in 1942, removing Japanese Americans from their homes, jobs, and taking away their freedom on the basis of race. The Seattle Public Library honors the legacy and deeply felt impact of this order that has echoed through generations of Japanese… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reads with Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry

    Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry, shares some books she’s loving. Garmus will be appearing in conversation with Nancy Pearl at the Central Library at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23. Set in 1960s California, Bonnie Garmus’ blockbuster debut novel follows Elizabeth Zott, a scientist whose career is shaped by the idea that a… Continue reading

  • More Levy-funded open hours and expanded Sunday schedules coming to the Library this spring!

    The Seattle Public Library will add open hours to most branches this March and April thanks to funding from the seven-year, $219.1 million 2019 Library Levy, which supplements city funding to support core Library services, including open hours, collections, technology services, children’s programming, building maintenance, and seismic retrofit projects at three Carnegie libraries. The Library… Continue reading

  • Teens in Love

    February is a great time to find new love, and new books to love.  Here are some fantastic new teen titles focusing on teen romance. In Blackout, six fabulous Black authors weave a romance in six different parts, all beginning with a citywide blackout. In the free-verse novel Only on the Weekends by Dean Atta,… Continue reading

  • New Fiction Roundup, February 2023

    Family dramas, mythological retellings and more await you in February! 2/7: Cold People by Tom Rob Smith Earth has fallen to an outside force, and the remnants of humanity will only be allowed on Antarctica. Those who make it there confront an urgent challenge: to what extremes are they willing to go to evolve quickly… Continue reading

  • Black History in Fiction

    Each February, many readers come to the library to check out the latest titles on Black history. Don’t read history books? No worries! Whether you enjoy historical or literary fiction, thrillers or fantasy, romance or mysteries, here are some recent books that immerse us in the lived experiences of Black Americans throughout our history. By… Continue reading

  • New Nonfiction Roundup – February 2023

    In current events, Malcolm Harris presents a true, unvarnished history of California, capitalism, and the world in Palo Alto while Barbara Rae-Venter profiles an amateur DNA sleuth who unmasked the Golden State Killer and changed crime fighting forever in I Know Who You Are. Will Sommer chronicles the rise of QAnon and the conspiracy that… Continue reading

  • Theater, Music and Film: February 2023 Events at The Seattle Public Library

    Theater, Music and Film: February 2023 Events at The Seattle Public Library

    We’ve got some amazing author programs and community events planned for February, from Lambda Award-winning novelist Annalee Newitz to Bonnie Garmus, author of the bestselling novel “Lessons in Chemistry”. The Fifth Avenue Theatre is also back with a Sondheim show talk and the South Park Branch is hosting a movie screening with former Washington State… Continue reading

  • Local Heroes in Black History (and the Landmarks Named for Them)

    Just as Black history is American history, the history of Black people in Seattle is local history. Here are several ways to learn more about the Black historical figures who helped make Seattle what it is today, and to remind ourselves that Black History Month can, and should, be observed every month. A great way… Continue reading