Arts & Culture
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Happy Black History Month 2024: Celebrating African Americans and the Arts
Though we celebrate the accomplishments of the people of the African and Black Diaspora all year, every February provides an opportunity to focus on and highlight the history and contributions of African Americans. Black History Month has a different theme each year, and 2024’s theme is African Americans and the Arts. There is not enough… Continue reading
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“Art Saves Me Daily”: Path with Art Exhibit at the Central Library
An extraordinary new exhibit is lighting up the Central Library’s Level 8 gallery. “Winter Visions,” on view until March 17, features artists involved with Path with Art, an organization that creates space for individual and community healing and growing through art. “Winter Visions” features works in a variety of media by Path with Art participants and… Continue reading
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More Music Documentaries, Please!
Let’s continue our dive into music documentaries, snapshots of musical process and lasting impact from notable musicians. On deck today: Little Richard and 90s band Morphine. Little Richard: I amEverything is well-titled. Gay. Black. Visionary. Check. Check. Check. But was Richard the king of rock? More on that later. The film explores his career chronologically… Continue reading
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Thrills and Chills for Winter Movie Nights
When the sun goes down at 4pm and the weather report says ten solid days of rain, there is nothing I like more than a hot cup of tea, a blanket, a cat on my lap…and watching something scary. For horror fans, there is nothing better. Like listening to moody music when you’re feeling down,… Continue reading
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One Documentary, One Concert, One Night of Rapturous Viewing!
Get your toes tapping and your soul soaring with these music documentaries. Starting with the elephant in the room, The Elephant 6 Recording Co. documentary takes an inside look at the 90’s rock collective most famous for Neutral Milk Hotel’s mythically held greatest-album-of-its-decade: 1998’s In the Aeroplane over the Sea. But as Robert Schneider, creative/spiritual leader… Continue reading
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December 2023 Events: Harps, Tap Dance, Writers’ Showcase and More
The Seattle Public Library’s spaces will light up in December with a silent reading party, a “White Christmas” Show Talk from the Fifth Avenue Theatre, a showcase of our very talented writers in residence and more. All Library events are free and open to the public; registration is now required unless otherwise noted. Find information… Continue reading
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A Day With(out) Art
By the late 1980’s, the AIDS crisis had reached a fever pitch in the United States. Afflicting primarily (but not exclusively) the gay male population, tens of thousands of people were dying every year, with elected officials responding at a snail’s pace, if at all. To emphasize the impact this was having on the arts… Continue reading
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Watch in the Dark: Film Noir Picks for Your Dark and Stormy Nights
It’s getting darker, folks. Sad about shorter days? Why not fill your longer nights with movies! Once we truly inhabit Seattle’s usual noir state…tumbling into the unrelenting dark, opting against navigating rain-slicked streets, and becoming actually as well as metaphorically more internal, it becomes time to embrace rather than turn away from the darkness without… Continue reading
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Using Horror to Expose Truths About Race: Tananarive Due at the Central Library on Nov. 1
Halloween might be on Oct. 31, but the season continues at the Central Library on Wednesday, Nov. 1, when award-winning horror writer and Jordan Peele collaborator Tananarive Due appears to discuss her much-anticipated new novel “The Reformatory,” just one day after it’s released. The event, which runs from 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m., is free… Continue reading
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Now Showing in Blu-ray
Beginning this fall, patrons will have an additional way to view movies, TV series and documentaries when the Library begins offering Blu-ray format for filmed media titles that are only available as a Blu-ray disc. This means our collection of filmed media will offer access to: DVDs Combo Packs (Blu-ray disc + DVD disc) Blu-rays… Continue reading
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‘Black Activism in Print’ Exhibit Highlights Art and Community Activism
Black Activism in Print: Visual Art from the African American Collection, now on view at the Level 8 Gallery of the Central Library, is more than just an art exhibit. Though it features beautiful art prints by prominent artists and activists Charles White and Elizabeth Catlett, it is also a wonderful opportunity to learn about… Continue reading
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Come On Barbie, Let’s Go Read
If you’re like me and everyone I know, you can’t wait for the upcoming live action Barbie movie, out in theaters on July 21. Here are some book recommendations to get you in the mood to watch Barbie sparkle and shine! If you want to live in Barbie’s dream house with all of your gal… Continue reading
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July 2023 Author and Community Events at the Library
July is a great time to come to a Library program, outdoors and indoors. Wander a StoryWalk® featuring books by Indigenous authors in four locations around Magnolia; enjoy a night of spoken word, dance and choir with Path With Art at the Central Library; and listen to readings from award-winning authors including Karen Lord, Silvia… Continue reading
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It’s Queer To Be (Pioneer) Square!
It’s Pride season, which is a time that I always take to reflect not just on where the LGBTQ+ community is heading, but where it’s been. Librarians in the Central Library History department have been working with HistoryLink and local storyteller Rosette Royale to create opportunities for our community to join us in those reflections.… Continue reading
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May is Older Americans Month
It’s Older Americans Month! We want to celebrate and honor our elders and challenge the narrative on aging not just in May, but throughout the whole year. Our society tends to view aging in a negative light and it doesn’t have to be that way; aging is beautiful, and it’s an experience that all humans… Continue reading