Books
Elle Luna She discusses her new book, The Crossroads of Should and Must: Find and Follow Your Passion. Elliott Bay Book Co., 1521 10th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 Free Sunday, May 17, 2015, 3pm
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Duff McKagan & Krist Novoselic This is an evening of bro talk, not a musical event, featuring two of our favorite former columnists and SW cover boys. McKagan, erstwhile bassist of Guns N’ Roses, is the one with a second new memoir out, How to Be a Man (Da Capo, $26), and a documentary premiering at SIFF, It’s So Easy and Other Lies (screening May 28 and June 4 at SIFF Cinema Egyptian). His writing topics for us were by no means limited to music; other subjects included hiking, parenthood, and even dating advice. Such wide-ranging interests belie the callow rock-star stereotype-though, of course, those old stories of backstage debauchery have informed his self-reinvention and sobriety.
Novoselic, of Nirvana, was by contrast an almost purely political writer for us. He’s passionately committed to a fair and just democratic process, a gentle, thoughtful soul who becomes outraged only by barriers to voting and free speech. Fame came to both men in wildly disparate musical acts, yet they’re generational peers now juggling music, family, and the new pressures of midlife. As Gen-X uneasily confronts its graying, McKagan and Novoselic have become elder spokesmen for the cool-dad demo-role models for former clubgoers who still fit into their old jeans, even when carpooling the kids to school. BRIAN MILLER The Neptune, 1303 N.E. 45th St., Seattle, WA 98105 $10 Sunday, May 17, 2015, 7pm
Heather Lende
Find the Good is a new book from a former obituary writer. University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105 Free Monday, May 18, 2015, 7pm
Jessica Hopper Despite its title, The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic (Featherproof, $17.95) is not the first book of its kind, a fact Hopper clarifies in her preface, citing the anthology Rock She Wrote and critics Ellen Willis, Lillian Roxon, and Caroline Coon. But as Hopper also notes, she should be able to list dozens more such names. Editor-in-chief of The Pitchfork Review and senior editor at Pitchfork, Hopper knows she’s not the first female critic to dream of publishing a collection, but she acknowledges the lack of precedents. This volume is drawn from two decades of her writing career: beginning as a teenager contributing to zines and leading to recent work for GQ, Rolling Stone, and The Village Voice. Her subjects range from Chance the Rapper, the grunge years, our own EMP Pop Conference, Coachella and other festivals, and album reviews (Miley Cyrus, Tyler the Creator, M.I.A., etc.) Perhaps The First Collection will inspire a new generation of female critics to start indexing their own archives. Azaria C. Podplesky Elliott Bay Book Co., 1521 10th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 Free Monday, May 18, 2015, 7pm
Robin Ladue and Mary Kay Voss The authors explore Native American history and culture in the aftermath of 9/11 in their new book Totems of September. University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105 Free Monday, May 18, 2015, 7pm
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The Minimalists Authors of the site TheMinimalists.com, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus read and are accompanied by other talented authors (Colin Write, Josh Wagner, Shawn Mihalik) and violinist Skye Steele for a night of words, music, and Q&As. Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way N.E., Seattle, 98115 Free Monday, May 18, 2015, 7pm
Neal Stephenson The Zodiac author presents his latest novel, Seveneves. First Baptist Church, 1111 Harvard Ave. $35 Monday, May 18, 2015, 7:30pm
David Gessner
All the Wild That Remains is the latest book from the North Carolina nature writer. (Also at Third Place Books, 7 p.m. Thurs., May 21). Elliott Bay Book Co., 1521 10th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 Free Tuesday, May 19, 2015, 7pm
Greg Proops The Whose Line Is It Anyway? comedian discusses The Smartest Book in the World, a collection of essays, trivia, and lists. University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105 Free Tuesday, May 19, 2015, 7pm
Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett She discusses her new book, Carolina Israelite: How Harry Golden Made Us Care about Jews, the South, and Civil Rights. University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105 Free Tuesday, May 19, 2015, 7pm
Seattle Poetry Slam Local poets share their verse and spoken word compositions. 21 and over. Rebar, 1114 Howell StreetSeattle, WA $5 Tuesday, May 19, 2015, 8 – 11:30pm
Christopher Robinson and Gavin Kovite The two Seattle writers discuss their new book on the Iraq war, War of the Encyclopaedists. Elliott Bay Book Co., 1521 10th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 Free Wednesday, May 20, 2015, 7pm
David Barsamian He gives a discussion that coincides with the release of a new edition of his book, Propaganda and the Public Mind. Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., Seattle, WA 98101 $5 Wednesday, May 20, 2015, 7pm
Lucas Mann
Lord Fear: A Memoir is about the life and death of his brother. Seattle Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave., Seattle, WA 98104 Free Wednesday, May 20, 2015, 7pm
Melissa Cistaro She explores family and abandonment in her memoir, Pieces of My Mother.
ParkPlace Books, 348 Parkplace Center
Kirkland, WA 98033 Free Wednesday, May 20, 2015, 7pm
Sue Monk Kidd Her new book, The Invention of Wings, is based on the real life of Sarah Grimke an abolishionist and women’s rights activist who came from a wealthy slave-owning family. University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105 Free Wednesday, May 20, 2015, 7pm
Mona Eltahawy
Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution is a new book from the writer and activist. Elliott Bay Book Co., 1521 10th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 Free Thursday, May 21, 2015, 7pm
Martin Ford He discusses a technological takeover in the workforce in Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future. Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., Seattle, WA 98101 $5 Thursday, May 21, 2015, 7:30pm
Benjamin Schmidt The UW history professor discusses his book, Inventing Exoticism: Geography, Globalism, and Europe’s Early Modern World. University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105 Free Friday, May 22, 2015, 7pm
Jay Rubin Haruki Murakami’s primary English translator discusses his own, The Sun Gods, set in Seattle on the eve of WWII with UW professor Dr. Davinder Bhowmik. University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105 Free Saturday, May 23, 2015, 6pm
Ginny Gilder and Daniel James Brown The authors discuss Course Correction: A Story of Rowing and Resistance in the Wake of Title IX and Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Elliott Bay Book Co., 1521 10th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 Free Saturday, May 23, 2015, 7pm
Dana Simpson
Unicorn on a Roll is the latest comic strip about an awkward fourth grade girl from the local cartoonist. University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105 Free Tuesday, May 26, 2015, 7pm
Jan Ellison
A Small Indiscretion is her debut novel about a woman who grows uncomfortable with the life she’s built. Elliott Bay Book Co., 1521 10th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 Free Tuesday, May 26, 2015, 7pm
Peter Orullian
Trial of Intentions is the second in his series about science, evil, and magic. University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105 Free Tuesday, May 26, 2015, 7pm
Seattle Poetry Slam Local poets share their verse and spoken word compositions. 21 and over. Rebar, 1114 Howell StreetSeattle, WA $5 Tuesday, May 26, 2015, 8 – 11:30pm
Bob Santos and Larry Gossett The two surviving members of Seattle’s “Gang of Four” discuss their experiences and The Gang of Four: Four Communities, Four Leaders, One Friendship.
Elliott Bay Book Co., 1521 10th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 Free Wednesday, May 27, 2015, 7pm
Richard Thaler President of the American Economic Association and author of the new Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics appears in conversation with Nathan Myhrvold, the co-founder of Intellectual Ventures.. $5 Thursday, May 28, 2015, 6:30pm
Taso G. Lagos The foreign studies director for Hellenic Studies at the University of Washington provides a look at the crisis in Greece from an insider’s perspective in 86 Days in Greece. University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105 Free Thursday, May 28, 2015, 6:30pm
Aleksandar Hemon Author of The Question of Bruno, Nowhere Man, The Lazarus Project, Love and Obstacles, and The Book of My Lives releases his new The Making of Zombie Wars. Elliott Bay Book Co., 1521 10th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 Free Thursday, May 28, 2015, 7pm
Jamie Tworkowski The founder of the nonprofit movement To Write Love on Her Arms discusses If You Feel Too Much: Thoughts on Things Found and Lost and Hoped For. University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105 Free Friday, May 29, 2015, 7pm
Jerome Gold He reads from his new In the Spider’s Web: a Nonfiction Novel and The Divers and Other Mysteries of Seattle. Elliott Bay Book Co., 1521 10th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 Free Friday, May 29, 2015, 7pm
Martha M. Ertman The law professor drew from her own experience raising her son as one of three gay parents to write Love’s Promises: How Formal and Informal Contracts Shape All Kinds of Families. University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105 Free Saturday, May 30, 2015, 6pm
Lori Horvitz and Carol Guess Horvitz discusses her memoir The Girls of Usually, while WWU professor Guess discusses Darling Endangered and How to Feel Confident with Your Special Talents. Elliott Bay Book Co., 1521 10th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 Free Saturday, May 30, 2015, 7pm
Seattle Poetry Slam Local poets share their verse and spoken word compositions. 21 and over. Rebar, 1114 Howell StreetSeattle, WA $5 Tuesday, June 2, 2015, 8 – 11:30pm
Seattle Poetry Slam Local poets share their verse and spoken word compositions. 21 and over. Rebar, 1114 Howell StreetSeattle, WA $5 Tuesday, June 9, 2015, 8 – 11:30pm
Seattle Poetry Slam Local poets share their verse and spoken word compositions. 21 and over. Rebar, 1114 Howell StreetSeattle, WA $5 Tuesday, June 16, 2015, 8 – 11:30pm
Seattle Poetry Slam Local poets share their verse and spoken word compositions. 21 and over. Rebar, 1114 Howell StreetSeattle, WA $5 Tuesday, June 23, 2015, 8 – 11:30pm
