7:00 PM – John Crowley: Fantastic Fiction Salon
Richard Hugo House
“Three-time World Fantasy Award winner and recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, John Crowley is the author of eleven novels, including the classic “Little, Big.” Crowley will read from and sign his new novel, “Four Freedoms.”" – RHH
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Lesley Hazelton: After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia – Sunni Split in Islam
University Temple Church
“…Americans in general, and our politicians in particular, often can’t tell Sunni from Shi’ites. With the publication of this outstanding book, we no longer have any excuse. Hazleton (Jezebel) ties today’s events to their ancient roots, resurrecting seventh century Arabia with reverence and vivid immediacy … The battle to name Muhammad’s successor is gripping—but it is Hazleton’s ability to link the past and present that distinguishes this book … anyone with an interest in the Middle East, U.S. – international relations or a profound story masterfully told will be well served by this exceptional book.” – Publishers Weekly
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Nicolette Bromberg: Picturing the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition: The Photographs of Frank H. Nowell
University Bookstore U-District
ENOUGH ON THE EXPOSITION, ALREADY! [LINK]

7:30 PM – Janet O. Dallett: Listening to the Rhino: Violence and Healing in a Scientific Age
Elliott Bay Book Co.
“Dr. Dallett brings to bear science and intuition, weaving a tapestry of both theory and living examples to instruct as well as emotionally involve the reader. As an analyst, I always find her books provocative and illuminating. She is no ungrounded Pollyanna, but rather a shamaness who offers compassionate guidance into the dark forest—and knows when she must let us find our own way.” – Nicholas French, Ph.D
[LINK]

Saturday , September 18, 2009
7:00 PM – Shifting Words: Poetry Reading
Dunshee House
Shift hosts the fourth installment of this spoken word event. Part of National Recovery Month.
[LINK]

Sunday, September 19, 2009
4:00 PM – Kenneth A. Burr: Coming Out, Coming Home: Making Room for Gay Spirituality in Therapy
Elliott Bay Book Co.
“Gays, Guns, and God” takes on a creepy subtext with this book, which purports to “provide readers a rare opportunity to enlarge their belief systems, and interpretation of Scriptures so they can make room for spirituality that includes homosexuals.” I found this book problematic on many, many levels, not the least being the smarmy “see how enlightened we are? We don’t hate all teh gays… only those that don’t love Jesus!” tone. Excuse me while I gouge out my eyes with a spork.
[LINK]

12:00 PM – Wendy Hornsby: In the Guise of Mercy
Seattle Mystery Bookshop
6th book in a series that hasn’t been updated in over a decade.
[LINK]

6:30 PM – Heather Davis: Never Cry Werewolf
Queen Anne Books
The author presents her first YA novel.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Stephen Elliott: The Adderall Diaries: A Memoir of Moods, Masochism, and Murder
Elliott Bay Book Co.
“The Adderall Diaries begins like the ocean, seemingly able to take in everything—prize fights to Paris Hilton—until the ocean forms into a river, making its way through unmapped territories—a murder, an absent father—and finally this river is stilled into one precious teardrop. Stephen Elliott is one of those ‘people who keep searching when everything is dark’ – I don’t know a more hauntingly fearless writer, and this is an immediate, visceral, and ultimately beautiful book.” – Nick Flynn. “You don’t just read The Adderall Diaries, you fall right into them … It’s a brilliant book.” – Roddy Doyle
[LINK]

12:00 PM – Jon Katz: The Soul of a Dog: Reflections on the Spirits of the Animals of Bedlam Farm
Elliott Bay Book Co.
“Jon Katz understands dogs as few others do, intuitively and unburdened by sentimentality. His keen insights cut to the heart of the human-pet relationship—its immense joys and painful sorrows. With wisdom and grace, he unlocks the canine soul and the complicated wonders that lie within, and offers powerful insights to anyone who has ever struggled with, and loved, a troubled animal.” – John Grogan
[LINK]

5:00 PM – Tod Davies: Jam Today: A Diary of Cooking with What You’ve Got Pilot Books “A diary of cooking with what you’ve got.” Doesn’t The Splendid Table do a weekly segment like this: “Hi Lynn, I’ve got moldy goat cheese, peanut butter, a head of cabbage, orange juice concentrate, and ground lamb…”
[LINK]

6:00 PM – Miz Floes & the Carmel Latte Duo: Rhythmic Rhyme Spoken Word
Northwest African American Museum
All ages open mic!
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Front Porch Theatre: Abe Lincoln in Illinois
University Bookstore U-District
Community reading and discussion.
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Joann Green Byrd: Calamity: The Heppner Flood of 1903
Fremont Place Books
A disastrous flood did not quite wipe out Eastern Oregon. What a shame.
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Mattox Roesch w/ ULGM & Matthew Simmons: Sometimes We’re Always Real Same-Same
Neptune Coffee
Roesch will read and sign from his debut. ULGM will play music. Simmons will be charmingly self-deprecating. Good times!
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Edward Espe Brown: The Complete Tassajara Cookbook: Recipes, Techniques, and Reflections from the Famed Zen Kitchen
Elliott Bay Book Co.
“With profound-yet-playful regard for his subject matter, Ed Brown has consistently graced us with the practical poetry of his delicious cooking … In our modern era of rapid media images and flashing-light information, The Complete Tassajara Cookbook will provide a glowing sense of calm—hefty with substance, light with spirit, and rich with the experience of a master.” – Mollie Katzen
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Lesley Hazelton: After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia – Sunni Split in Islam
Town Hall Seattle
“…Americans in general, and our politicians in particular, often can’t tell Sunni from Shi’ites. With the publication of this outstanding book, we no longer have any excuse. Hazleton (Jezebel) ties today’s events to their ancient roots, resurrecting seventh century Arabia with reverence and vivid immediacy … The battle to name Muhammad’s successor is gripping—but it is Hazleton’s ability to link the past and present that distinguishes this book … anyone with an interest in the Middle East, U.S. – international relations or a profound story masterfully told will be well served by this exceptional book.” – Publishers Weekly
[LINK]

7:30 PM – SAM Word: Reading
Richard Hugo House
Work from poets Nicole Hardy and Peter Pereira in response to the SAM exhibition, Everything Under the Sun: Photographs by Imogen Cunningham.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Book-It Theatre: A Confederacy of Dunces
Book-It Reperatory Theatre
Book-It does the cult classic.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Tess Gallagher & Fred Marchant: Reading
Elliott Bay Book Co.
Gallagher will read from her third fiction collection, The Man from Kinvara: Selected Stories. Marchant will read from The Looking House, his latest collection of poems.
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Tod Davies: Jam Today: A Diary of Cooking with What You’ve Got
University Bookstore U-District
“Here are my secrets for cooking without recipes. Know what you want to eat. Keep it simple. Enjoy yourself.” In my household, this technique is known as “run for your life!”
[LINK]

7:00 PM – AJ Jacobs: The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment
University Bookstore U-District
The man behind Living Biblically is in town to talk about his latest, the story behind the story. Excellent!
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Ben & Linda Marra: Faces from the Land: Twenty Years of Pow Wow Tradition
Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
The Marras present their second collection of really pretty pictures.
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Donald McKenzie, Jamal Rahman, & Ted Falcon: Getting to the Heart of Interfaith: The Eye-Opening, Hope-Filled Friendship of a Rabbi, Pastor and Sheikh!
University Temple Church
Have I ever told you the joke about the priest and the rabbi who were in a plane crash?
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Jesse Minkert & Jacob Jans
Pilot Books
No idea. Website had not been updated at the time of this writing. Feel free to click the link, below.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Carol Yoon: Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science
Town Hall Seattle
“…the story of the rise of a science, the science of taxonomy or the classification of all life…” Deep.
[LINK]

6:30 PM – Robert Cumbow: The Northwest Independent Editors Guild
Richard Hugo House
The IP attorney will discuss IP issues as they pertain to editors. Seeing as how editors make their living from other folk’s intellectual property and all. Yes.
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Frank Portman: Andromeda Klein
Secret Garden Bookshop Book signing party for the author’s sophomore release. “High school sophomore Andromeda, an outcast because she studies the occult and has a hearing impairment and other disabilities, overcomes grief over terrible losses by enlisting others’ help in her plan to save library books–and finds a kindred spirit along the way.” –Publisher’s summary
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Hugo Works in Progress: Open Mic
Richard Hugo House
“A monthly open mic designed to give writers a chance to read in front of fellow writers and share what they have been working on.” (RHH) [LINK]

7:00 PM – Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (Ret.): Education: A Big Idea in Today’s America
Town Hall Seattle
This event is sold out, but if you know someone, ask them to sneak you in, in their backpack. Justice O’Connor will be discussing “Education: A Big Idea in Today’s America,” but Elliott Bay will be selling Justice O’Connor’s books: Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest & Finding Susie, among others (one hopes). Oh, and if you want to be my good fairy and give me a ticket, well… I’ll say thank you, very sincerely. How’s that?
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Paula Becker & Alan Stein: Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition: A Timeline History
University Bookstore U-District
Washington’s first World’s Fair continues to fascinate history geeks celebrating the Centennial.
[LINK]

2:00 PM – Band of Poets: Mexico City Blues
Richard Hugo House
John Burgess, Jed Myers, Paul Nelson, Raul Sanchez, Amanda D’pair and Sergey Feldman will read selections from Kerouac’s 242 choruses backed by musicians on guitar, harmonica, bass, drums and horn.
[LINK]

3:00 PM – Craven Rock & Alexis Wolf: Eaves of Ass #7
Pilot Books
Zine release party. Great title, but I can’t believe that their parents gave them those names.
[LINK]

6:00 PM – Mark Kraushaar w/ Aaron Silverberg & Janette Rosebrook: Poetry Reading
Fremont Place Books
Kraushaar is the winner of the Felix Pollak Prize. He’ll be reading from his latest Falling Brick Kills Local Man. Love the title, looking forward to the reading.
[LINK]

11:00 AM – Storytelling at NAAM
Northwest African American Museum
Children of all ages are invited to experience the art of storytelling and the power of stories with a featured guest.
[LINK]

12:00 PM – Rachael Brownell: Mommy Doesn’t Drink Here Anymore: Getting Through the First Year of Sobriety
Elliott Bay Book Co.
“Brownell has an easy, readable style and a simple message. There is no glowing happy ending, just the reality that life must be faced one day at a time. This work will appeal to readers who like memoirs about ordinary people overcoming difficult life problems; individuals who find 12-step and recovery literature helpful will also be interested in this personal journey.”—Crystal Renfro for Reed Business Information
[LINK]

12:30 PM – Jane Goodall: Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink
Theo Chocolate
Legendary activist, scientist, and UN representative Dr. Jane Goodall will be in Seattle to share her new book. Tickets are $50, and include a copy of the book, Theo chocolate, and a $10 donation to the Jane Goodall Institute.
[LINK]

5:00 PM – Cecile Andrews & John DeGraaf: Less is More: Embracing Simplicity for a Healthy Planet, a Caring Economy, and Lasting Happiness
Elliott Bay Book Co.
“We’re destroying the planet, undermining happiness, and clinging to an unsustainable economy. Our obsessive pursuit of wealth isn’t working. But there’s another way. Less can be More. Throughout history wise people have argued that we need to live more simply – that only by limiting outer wealth can we have inner wealth.With Less is More, editors Cecile Andrews and Wanda Urbanska have compiled a compelling collection of works by people who have been writing about Simplicity for decades, including:… and many more. These thinkers bring us a new vision of Less: less stuff, less work, less stress, less debt. A life with Less becomes a life of More: more time, more satisfaction, more balance, more security. When we have too much, we savor nothing. When we choose less, we regain our life and can think and feel deeply. Ultimately, a life of less connects us with one true source of happiness: being part of a caring community.” –Book jacket
[LINK]

7:30 AM – Mark Tye Turner: Notes from a 12 Man: A Truly Biased History of the Seattle Seahawks
Elliott Bay Book Co.
“The Seattle Seahawks retired number 12 in honor of the “Twelfth Man” — those fans who remained devoted no matter what. Written as a series of small essays and lists, with the same sly humor author Mark Turner brought to his scripts for “Talk Soup” and “Blind Date, ” this passionate “fan-oir” covers the team’s highlights, lowlights, and everything in between. Themed sections include “In the Beginning,” “Pop Goes the Culture,” “Transitions,” and recurring chapters that offer play-by-play reportage and analysis of notable victories and notorious losses.” – Publisher’s summary
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Lorrie More: A Gate at the Stairs
SPL Central Library Microsoft Auditorium
“Moore knits together the shadow of 9/11 and a young girl’s bumpy coming-of-age in this luminous, heart-wrenchingly wry novel—the author’s first in 15 years. Tassie Keltjin, 20, a smalltown girl weathering a clumsy college year in ‘the Athens of the Midwest,’ is taken on as prospective nanny … In a parallel tale, Tassie lands a lover … Moore’s graceful prose considers serious emotional and political issues with low-key clarity and poignancy, while generous flashes of wit … endow this stellar novel with great heart.” – Publishers Weekly
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Ted Falcon, Don MacKenzie, Jamal Rahman: Getting to the Heart of Interfaith: The Eye-Opening, Hope-Filled Friendship of a Rabbi, Pastor and Sheikh!
Barnes & Noble University Village
Exactly what it sounds like.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Staged Reading : Roses in the Water
Richard Hugo House
Staged reading of the play by La’Chris Jordan.
[LINK]