Library Events

  • Too much excitement for the library!?

    Generally in the public library setting we don’t really go in for thrills, chills and spills. A warm, well-lit space with people quietly reading, kids doing homework (or goofing around), strangers and friends discussing books: that’s about our speed. Except on the first and third Monday of each month at the Central Library, when we turn… Continue reading

  • Thrilling Chilling Winter Stories, Live!

    This Winter, Thrilling Tales (the Library’s storytime for grownups) has got some great tales of crime and suspense lined up by masterful storytellers of today and yesteryear. We’ll have arctic adventure, unspeakable terror, hitmen, con-men, stick-up artists and librarians! Yes, that’s right – on Monday January 28 we will be having a special storytime dedicated to libraries and librarians, and coinciding with the… Continue reading

  • Seattle’s Negro Repertory Program

    On Saturday, December 1st, the Douglass-Truth Branch will host a lecture and Q&A session on the Negro Repertory Company in Seattle. The program will be provided by Dr. Barry Witham, emeritus professor of Theatre at the University of Washington. A federally-funded theater program, the Negro Repertory Company was a project of the Works Progress Administration.… Continue reading

  • Jack Nisbet on Vasily Grossman’s Volga.

    Today’s post is by naturalist and author Jack Nisbet, whose latest book is David Douglas, A Naturalist at Work: An Illustrated Exploration Across Two Centuries in the Pacific Northwest. Nisbet, a Spokane resident and winner of the Washington State Book Award,  will be appearing at the Central Library on Tuesday, November 13. The Volga is the great river of… Continue reading

  • If You Like Daniel Silva… (he’s coming to the Library!)

    Come see #1 New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva in conversation with Warren Etheredge at the Central Library’s Microsoft Auditorium, at 7 p.m., Monday, July 23. I love July for the warmth and light to read a good book in the evening on the porch, and the sure and certain knowledge that I’ll have… Continue reading

  • Infinity Crisis

    Author Kate Wilhelm is in town, and will be appearing at the Central Library this Friday, June 29 on her way to the opening night of a new play based on her work, produced byThe Infinty Box Theatre Project. Artistic Director David Mills tells us about it: What happens when what you watch becomes what… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reads: Novelist Matt Ruff shares what he’s reading

    Local author Matt Ruff’s newest novel, The Mirage, comes out tomorrow. Ruff, whose other novels include Bad Monkeys and Set This House in Order (both winners of Washington State Book Awards), among others, will read on Saturday, February 11, at 1 p.m. at the Ballard Branch. We are excited that he’s our guest blogger for… Continue reading

  • A Thrilling Tale’s Best for Winter

    Actually, the quote – from Shakespeare – is “A sad tale’s best for Winter,” but I tend to disagree; I think we have plenty of S(easonal) A(ffective) D(isorder) around these parts already during the too-short days of Winter. So the stories I select for Thrilling Tales: the Storytime for Grown-Ups, our regular lunch hour story readings at the Central Library,… Continue reading

  • Let’s talk about “Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter”

    Beginning December 1, Book Chat (the Library’s virtual book discussion group) will discuss Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin, the story of a childhood friendship marred by misunderstanding and suspicion. Silas, the African-American child of a single mother barely making it, and Larry, the white son of a coarse, loud braggart, were close friends despite living… Continue reading

  • John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice: A Dad’s Appreciation

    As an avid science fiction and fantasy reader, and as a children’s librarian, I’ve read my share of wonderful and intriguing stories. But nothing I’ve read before has been as deeply satisfying as John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice series. For the young, or not so young, reader craving action Flanagan’s books are hard to beat. And… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reads: Matthew Amster-Burton

    When I’m sick, sad, or don’t know what to eat for lunch, I always turn to Asian food for comfort. Usually it’s some kind of spicy noodles, like pad Thai or the Tetsu Hell Fire dipping ramen at Samurai noodle, a dish you can’t eat without looking like a barbarian. Similarly, when I wander into… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reads: Greg Atkinson

    As a food writer, I use words and letters almost without thinking. Just as whisks, rolling pins, pots and pans are incidental to the actual foodstuffs with which they interface, so words and letters, paragraphs and sentences are just a means to an end. The end is whatever meaning I hope they will eventually convey… Continue reading

  • Wild and Green

    During the recession of my youth there was one summer when I ate a lot of wild greens gathered in what was then a very new Discovery Park. My favorite was miner’s lettuce in salads, which would probably be even tastier now that I can afford the EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) to dress it.… Continue reading

  • Poets at Play

    Did you know that, Langston Hughes has the distinction of being at the top of the list of the most popular historical poets? This little gem was discovered on the Academy of American Poets website, which keeps a list of the most popular contemporary and historical poets. Known for his poetry, Hughes wrote the celebrated… Continue reading

  • Five authors and one Smartypants in six days

    So many authors in town this week  — and something free going on every SINGLE night at the Central Library. Here’s a quick event round-up: Monday: Russell Banks reads from his newest novel Lost Memory of Skin, which a Booklist review described as “intrepidly inquisitive, magnificently compassionate, and darkly funny novel of private and societal… Continue reading

  • Ride your bike to work (and fix it too)!

    How did you get to work today? If you’re like the vast majority of Seattle residents, chances are good that you drove your car or took the bus. On your commute, you probably saw at least a few people riding bicycles: according to the most recent US Census data, 3.6 percent of Seattlites use bicycles as their primary mode of transportation… Continue reading

  • Ice Cream Story Time!

    If you felt a whole lotta’ shakin’ goin’ on you must have been at the Capitol Hill branch when it finished its summer story time series the end of August.  It was the perfect way to welcome the warm weather and to head off into the furlough.  Over a hundred and twenty-five kids and their… Continue reading

  • Keeping you in Suspense: Thrilling Tales for Autumn

    It seems like Summer was hardly here at all, but longer chillier Fall nights are waiting in the wings, and with them a fresh batch of chilling stories for the library’s Thrilling Tales: A Storytime for Grownups. Taking place in the Central Library’s Microsoft Auditorium on the first and thirdMonday each month from 12:05 –… Continue reading