Nonfiction

  • Upcoming Author Events for January

    Check out these upcoming events with Native storyteller Roger Fernandes, Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, novelist Peter Curtis, and two open mic readings at Ballard and Columbia branches. The free programs listed below are held at a variety of library locations in January; please check our online Author and Books Events calendar for complete details on these… Continue reading

  • New Nonfiction RoundUp – January 2020

    January offers a wide variety of nonfiction on topics ranging from aging, astrology, parenting, economics and much more. Happy New Year! American Oligarchs. Andrea Bernstein examines the sources of wealth for the Trump and Kushner families. Arguing with Zombies. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman’s latest essay collection champions progressive policies. The Art of Resistance. Justus Rosenberg, 98, looks… Continue reading

  • Who needs Disney+ when you have the library?

    Sure Disney+ has new TV shows and movies to watch, but the library has the classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and lot of other great Disney resources too! Whether you want to start at the beginning and learn about the man who dreamed up Disney with the book Walt Disney: The Triumph… Continue reading

  • Upcoming Author Events for December

    Laureen Nussbaum, Terry Tempest, Local broadcaster and historian Feliks Banel, and two open mic readings at Ballard and Columbia branches are in store this month. The free programs listed below are held at a variety of locations in December; please check our online Author and Books Events calendar for complete details on these featured December… Continue reading

  • New Nonfiction Roundup – December 2019

    The diet starts today! Get a head start on your New Year’s resolution or take it easy this holiday season these books, starting with Dan Buettner’s Blue Zones Kitchen featuring 100 recipes from the healthiest places in the world; it’s also a Peak Pick! Reclaim your health with Molly Carmel’s Breaking Up with Sugar or embark… Continue reading

  • Indigenous Wisdom

    November is Native American Heritage Month and in exploring our American story in the Pacific Northwest I asked myself what relationship I’ve had with Indigenous peoples in my own region. At a young age I knew of the Duwamish tribe because of my grandmother’s relationship with Cecile Hansen. “For over 30 years, Cecile Hansen has… Continue reading

  • Millennial Thanksgiving

    Thanksgiving in my family has always been big and loud and so much leftovers you’d eat for weeks afterwards. But as families move farther away whether they are retiring or falling in love or discovering a new career…or as the case with a lot of my cousins and I moving farther out so we can… Continue reading

  • Be the Change: Race and Social Justice

    Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. – James Baldwin Recently on a streaming service, I watched a documentary on White Privilege.  At the beginning of the documentary, which was hosted by a white women, there was a room full of people of color and… Continue reading

  • New Nonfiction Roundup – November 2019

    November brings lots of incisive analyses of the current state of affairs, including an anonymous Trump administration official and a teenage environmental activist. Nonfiction debuts from Carmen Maria Machado and Elena Ferrante will surely pique interest. And cookbooks galore – including a classic cookbook revised for the first time in 45 years – will inspire… Continue reading

  • Local Graphic Novels to Gear Up for Short Run

    Graphic novels are doing particularly well in the Pacific Northwest, with Short Run Comix & Arts Festival coming up I like to prepare for the small press and independent level of creators by focusing on local creators. From mainstream on down to independent, Seattle has every genre being created right here. Here are a few… Continue reading

  • Ready, Set, Holidays!

    The holidays are nearly upon us. For many of us, it’s time to start thinking about making a Halloween costume, what dish to make for Thanksgiving, or what gifts to make for friends and family. Now is the time to start planning! Here are some books to guide you as the season approaches. In The… Continue reading

  • Library Reads for November 2019

    Librarians across the country have chosen the ten books coming out in November that they’re most excited about. The Starless Sea  by Erin Morgenstern A moving labyrinth of a story, ever changing and evolving. What begins as a mysterious thread in a book, an opportunity taken or missed and the consequences of the choice, evolves… Continue reading

  • Donald Schmechel Oral History Collection

    October is American Archives Month and we are celebrating with the completion of a new digital collection: the Donald Schmechel Oral History Collection. Donald Schmechel was a Seattle Public Library board member who, in the 1980s, created a project to interview prominent figures in Pacific Northwest History. Schmechel raised funding for the project, volunteered his… Continue reading

  • The Space Needle: A 21st Century View

    How many times have you gauged your location or some necessary distance by that 605 foot spinning top of a landmark? Long after March 1962, the centerpiece of Seattle Center has evolved just as the campus it towers over continues to morph and change with the ever-growing city surrounding it. The future is here! Built… Continue reading

  • Queer Comics for LGBT History Month

    October is LGBT History Month! Let us celebrate and read some recently published comics and graphic novels by queer creators and about queer characters and stories! Continue reading

  • Music Memoirs, Meditations, and More

    This fall, there is an embarrassment of riches for music fans and aficionados of all stripes. Here are some of the most anticipated books to look forward to over the next few months. Continue reading

  • New Nonfiction Roundup – October 2019

    PEAK PICKS. Two  memoirs from titans in the music industry join Peak Picks this “Rocktober”: The Beautiful Ones by Prince and Me by Elton John. Bill Bryson’s latest, a guide to The Body and comedian Ali Wong’s first book,  Dear Girls, will delight readers, while Rachel Maddow will infuriate news junkies with an expose on Big… Continue reading

  • Anna Deavere Smith’s Living Theater

    Life and literature reflect each other in interesting ways. As the trial begins for Amber Guyger (the Dallas police officer charged with killing Botham Jean in his own apartment last September), I have been led to read books about the aftermath of previous trials and grand jury decisions involving police officers, and how they affected… Continue reading