I have loved Kalynn Bayron’s work since she published Cinderella is Dead. Recently she moved to middle grade fiction with the Vanquishers series about a new breed of vampire hunters. Now Bayron has turned the page again and we have Olive Oakes, detective extraordinaire. Olive is looking for mysteries in every part of her life, …
Language as Liberation: Reflections on the American Canon by Toni Morrison is a masterclass lecture collection from her tenure as a professor at Princeton University. She interrogates America’s most famous works and authors, and the way their black characters shaped the nation’s collective unconscious, and helped manufacturer American racial identity. A timely read for Black History …
Congratulations to PNW authors Renée Watson and Idris Goodwin on their Walter Dean Meyers Honors from We Need Diverse Books! Announcing the 2026 Walter Dean Myers Awards and Honor Books The We Need Diverse Books Walter Awards Judging Committee has selected the Winners and Honorees for the eleventh annual Walter Dean Myers Awards for Outstanding …
Palaver centers on the relationship between a queer Black man living in Japan and his mother, who unexpectedly visits from the US. The book explores the hurt we accumulate and carry with us as adults. It looks at the difficulties of tending to that hurt while living our day-to-day lives and the hard work of …
Two Face Outs/ “walk me to the shelf” recs for Brian Juenemann, the Executive Director of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, from India at Spoke & Word Books in Milwaukie, OR: Klan members are turning into nasty little monsters (their outsides matching their insides) called ku kluxes. Our trio of badasses is unaliving them in …
A history of humanity in picture book form. This book is poetry and art – it is stunning and incredibly moving. More than all that, it’s also a book that seeks to remind us that we are a “we” – that we have more in common than we often think. It’s a celebration of humanity. …
Happy New Year! Do you have a new year’s reading resolution? Why not resolve to treat yourself to books that bring you joy? Grow your reading habit and increase your quality of life with books from independent bookstores. About There’s Always Next Year by Leah Johnson and George M. Johnson: “A snow-kissed, warmhearted ode to …
OMG– be prepared for the turning of heads as everyone watches while you LOL! I dare you to read Irby on silent– you’ll find it impossible. From writing the iconic character of Carrie Bradshaw to mishaps at QVC you’ll fall in love with Samantha’s wit and charm! –Powell’s on Hawthorne, Portland, OR Whatever you thought …
From Secret Garden Books in Seattle, WA: Describe your book [The Tiny Things Are Heavier] in 3 words. Seeking. Hoping. Loving. What element of this book (character/scene/setting) came to you first? Sommy, the novel’s protagonist, came first. What inspired you to write about class in Nigeria? I come from a lineage of postcolonial writers—Achebe, Emecheta, …
From Third Place Books in Seattle: June 22nd marks the 78th birthday of former Lake Forest Park resident Octavia Butler, the trailblazing author of The Parable of the Sower and the first Black woman to consistently write and publish in the field of science fiction. Butler lived in the neighborhood of Lake Forest Park from 1996 until …
