My husband and I push a cart through Target. Bearing a list, he is purposeful: coffee, cat litter, TUMS®, toothpaste. I, along for the ride, am easily diverted. “I’ll catch up with you,” I say, trailing my fingers over a stack of jewel-toned velvet comforters. I test several pillows for firmness, search to see if …
The American Book Award-winning poet and member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation is the first Indigenous poet to assume the role. Humanities Washington and ArtsWA/The Washington State Arts Commission is excited to announce that poet Rena Priest has been appointed the sixth Washington State Poet Laureate by Governor Jay Inslee. Priest’s literary debut, Patriarchy Blues, was honored …
A group of Seattle-area independent booksellers are proud to invite to you to a special virtual event tonight, April 1, 2021 at 6:30 pm Pacific on Facebook. Beloved local authors Garth Stein (The Art of Racing in the Rain and more) and Jonathan Evison (The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving and more) are joining forces to …
Originally published for OLY ARTS by Molly Gilmore. Jonah Barrett wouldn’t be insulted if anyone said their first book was monstrous. That’s because Barrett’s short-story collection Moss Covered Claws, dropping March 18, is all about monsters. Barrett of Olympia, a filmmaker, fantasy writer, and OLY ARTS contributor, is launching the book with an online reading and talk at …
In The View from Cascade Head, Bruce Byers tells the fascinating story of Cascade Head in Oregon, and the people who have worked to protect it. Drawing from his lifelong relationship with the Oregon Coast and recent experience living and working at Cascade Head, Byers weaves together personal observations, ecological science, and the history and …
If your local booksellers seem a little more tired than usual this week, it could be because they’ve been shoveling paths to the store during the snowpocalypse, dealing with power and internet outages, and/or they’re attending a virtual conference for booksellers all around the country, which starts very early in the day for west coasters. …
On the livestreaming event celebrating the 2021 Pacific Northwest Book Award Winners, an audience member asked the authors for book recommendations. Here are some of the books that came up, some literally pulled from stacks near the authors for show and tell: Entangled Life (recommended by Silvia Morena-Garcia) The Gilded Ones (recommended by Kim Johnson. …
One silver lining from no travel and minimizing in-person contact is that event access is not geographically-dependent. This year, it means that the celebration of 2021 Pacific Northwest Book Award-winning the authors and books is online and open to all registered book lovers. The event will be presented as a Zoom webinar Wednesday, February 10 …
This Is My America released at the beginning of a reckoning that’s been long overdue—the untended roots of race in America. These origins draw parallels not only to slavery and mass incarceration but to open wounds festering below the surface. My novel was born from many early lessons on race as a Black girl growing …
My brother and I made our dad’s headstone ourselves. We bought a bag of Quikrete from Home Depot. We built a form, poured the cement, and carefully pressed metal letters in as the slab cured. We kept the words simple; Loyd’s name, relevant dates, and a fragment of his favorite poem. If you love something, …
