Authors & Books

  • Election Resources and Accessible Voting at SPL

    Election Resources and Accessible Voting at SPL

    With less than three weeks to go before Election Day on November 5, 2024, the Library has registration events, booklists, and other informational resources to help inform you on the voting process. Don’t forget to check out this list of Election Resources on the library website for ballot box locations, lists of elected officials, and… Continue reading

  • Highways and Byways

    Roads are infrastructure so ubiquitous they almost resist noticing – until a pothole takes out your axle, or a landslide prevents you from getting to your vacation cabin. But their very existence – from placement, to number of lanes, and more – is also deeply political with profound local impacts. Two recent books look at… Continue reading

  • Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with Horror!

    Autumn is Autumning, bringing with it moody, creepy vibes – in other words, the perfect time to read horror! And since it’s Hispanic Heritage Month, check out these three titles for a taste of Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Argentinian horror. House of Bone and Rain: A Barrio Noir by Gabino Iglesias “Todas las historias son… Continue reading

  • Fall Arts Events: Angela Garbes, Lindy West, Rachel Kushner and More!!

    Fall Arts Events: Angela Garbes, Lindy West, Rachel Kushner and More!!

    As fall weather sets in, it’s a good time to mark your calendar with a few of The Seattle Public Library’s exceptional arts and author events in the next couple of months. Gear up for the election with a live “Text Me Back” podcast taping with Lindy West, learn about the connection between homelessness and… Continue reading

  • Grungecore – Three Variations on an Aesthetic

    Grungecore – Three Variations on an Aesthetic

    Would the founding members of grunge music rail against being considered a popularized aesthetic core? Undoubtedly, and for that we apologize, but no one can deny that when grunge music emerged in the 80s and then exploded in the 90s, those shock waves were felt far and wide across the social and cultural spectrum. Out… Continue reading

  • New Fiction Roundup, October 2024

    From spooky tales to epic fantasy and much more, October new releases have you covered as the nights get darker and cooler. 10/1: The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister The Haddesley family has long maintained a supernatural bargain – their family tends the cranberry bog and the bog sustains them, with each generation sacrificing their… Continue reading

  • New Nonfiction Roundup – October 2024

    It’s peak publishing season and October’s nonfiction releases will be in demand. Check out these top picks for the month. In biography and memoir, the wilds of Graceland are the setting for Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir From Here to the Great Unknown (completed by her daughter Riley Keough following Presley’s death in 2023). Stanley Tucci… Continue reading

  • A Peek at Peak Picks – October 2024

    We’re adding fourteen new Peak Picks in October! In fiction, Hugo Award-winning author Nghi Vo introduces a beguiling fantasy city in the tradition of Calvino, Mieville, and Le Guin in the new standalone novel The City in Glass;  legendary storyteller Alan Moore introduces the first book in an enthralling new fantasy series about murder, magic, and madness in post-WWII… Continue reading

  • Get Cozy With It

    With one weekend of rain underway, I’m ready to be on the couch, mug of tea in hand, reading a book that matches my mood. I’m looking for maximum coziness and though you can find cozy fantasy, cozy mystery, and even cozy horror, I’ve been diving into translated Japanese and Korean cozies, with a distinctly… Continue reading

  • Books to Check Out for Hispanic Heritage Month

    Hispanic Heritage Month honors the contributions and influence of Hispanic and Latine Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States. It is celebrated from September 15 to October 15 annually. Check out one of these recent fiction reads by Hispanic/Latine authors to kick off the month! I describe The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden… Continue reading

  • Banned Books for Teens – September 2024

    Banned Books for Teens – September 2024

    In 2023, censors around the nation challenged over 4200 titles in school and public libraries. Here you can see some of the most challenged books and still read them freely, if you wish.  Most of these titles were written for a teen audience, and you can, of course, find them at The Seattle Public Library… Continue reading

  • New Fiction Roundup, September 2024

    September kicks off a busy Fall publication season, with many books by returning favorite authors and much more. Get ready to cozy up to darker and chillier nights with one of the books below! 9/3: Colored Television by Danzy Senna On sabbatical and house-sitting in Los Angeles, Jane works on her second novel, but also… Continue reading

  • New Nonfiction Roundup – September 2024

    We’re back! We took the summer off but are ready to resume our list of notable nonfiction books arriving in September – in addition to our stellar line-up of Peak Picks. We’re kicking it off with cookbooks, including two from celebrities: Dolly Parton teams up with her sister Rachel for a year of meals, friends… Continue reading

  • September Author Events: Fantasy, Reproductive Health, Banned Books Letterpress

    We’re kicking off this energetic month with an amazing lineup of author and community events, including New York Times bestselling author Aiden Thomas (“Celestial Monsters”), Lambda finalist Garth Greenwell (“Small Rain”) and reproductive health expert Dr. Karen Tang (“It’s Not Hysteria”) in conversation with Tik Tok sensation Jane Park. You’ll also get a chance to… Continue reading

  • From Horror to Romance, Round out Summer With These 4 Beach Reads

    Ready for a new twist on the beach read? Although “beach read” often conjures up images of breezy romances or gripping thrillers, we would argue that the classic summer novel is less about the content and more about the experience: something you read only for pleasure and that immerses you entirely in the story. Here… Continue reading

  • August is Women in Translation Month

    August is coming to a close, but there’s still time to celebrate Women in Translation Month by reading a book written by a woman writing in a language other than English! Choose from the titles below; from this list of select 2024 titles; or strike out on your own. Elevator in Saì Gòn by Thuận,… Continue reading

  • Book Bingo NW 2024: LGBTQIA+ Poetry/Essays

    Colleen Lindsay, Bookseller at Charlie’s Queer Books, offers suggestions to fill your “LGBQTIA+ Poetry/Essays” AND “Suggested by an Independent Bookseller” squares for Book Bingo NW 2024. Since we’re headed toward the last weeks of Book Bingo, I thought I’d share a few suggestions for a category that sometimes intimidates readers: queer poetry and essays. Don’t… Continue reading

  • A Peek at Peak Picks – August and September 2024

    We’re adding fourteen new titles to Peak Picks over the next several weeks! In fiction, In fiction, Danzy Senza delivers a brilliant dark comedy with Colored Television, about love and ambition, failure and reinvention, and the racial- identity-industrial complex; from Rachel Kushner comes Creation Lake, about a seductive and cunning American woman who infiltrates an… Continue reading