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Author Readings & Library Events Podcasts

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Each year the Library hosts readings, lectures, and discussions by authors and other public figures. You may listen to many of these programs by subscribing to the Library's authors & events podcast or by downloading one of the audio programs listed below.


See the Calendar of Events & Classes for a complete list of upcoming programs.


Stones and Bones

'Stones & Bones: Discovering Secrets in King County's Oldest Cemeteries'

Gwynneth Anderson presented "Stones & Bones," a photodocumentary on historic King County cemeteries, on Oct. 31, 2009 at The Seattle Public Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 53 minutes /file size: 24 MB]
 

Greil Marcus

Greil Marcus: 'A New Literary History of America'

Journalist and cultural critic Greil Marcus read from "A New Literary History of America," co-edited with Werner Sollors, on Oct. 29, 2009 at The Seattle Public Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 15 minutes /file size: 34 MB]
 

Barbara Ehrenreich

Barbara Ehrenreich: 'Bright-Sided'

Barbara Ehrenreich discussed her latest book, "Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America," on Oct. 21, 2009 at The Seattle Public Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 48 minutes /file size: 44 MB]
 

Captain Bogg and Salty

Halloween Concert with Captain Bogg & Salty

Ahoy jolly sea-rollers and land-locked lubbers alike! Join the roughest swaggerin' scallywags that ever sailed the seven seas. Captain Bogg & Salty played a Halloween concert on Oct. 31, 2009 at The Seattle Public Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 5 minutes /file size: 30 MB]
 

Washington State Book Awards 2009

2009 Washington State Book Awards ceremony

The Washington Center for the Book at The Seattle Public Library presented the 43rd annual Washington State Book Awards ceremony, recognizing six outstanding books published by Washington authors in 2008, on Oct. 14, 2009.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 26 minutes /file size: 40 MB]
 

Nick Hornby book cover

Nick Hornby: 'Juliet, Naked'

Nick Hornby, the best-selling author of "High Fidelity" and "About a Boy," read from his newest novel, "Juliet, Naked," on Oct. 9, 2009 at The Seattle Public Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 58 minutes /file size: 26 MB]
 

William Kamkwamba

William Kamkwamba and Brian Mealer: 'The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope'

William Kamkwamba and co-author/journalist Brian Mealer showed images and read from "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope" on Oct. 4, 2009 at The Seattle Public Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 2 minutes /file size: 28 MB]
 

Medical Lecture Series

Medical Lecture Series IV: 'Does Caffeine Reduce the Risk of Skin Cancer?'

Dr. Paul Nghiem presented research suggesting that consuming caffeine in coffee and other beverages may lower the risk of skin cancer on Oct. 7, 2009 at The Seattle Public Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 58 minutes /file size: 26 MB]
 

Arthur Sze

Arthur Sze: 'The Ginkgo Light'

Arthur Sze read from "The Ginkgo Light," his latest poetry collection, on Oct. 6, 2009 at The Seattle Public Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 50 minutes /file size: 23 MB]
 

Kate DiCamillo

Kate DiCamillo: 'The Magician's Elephant'

Kate DiCamillo read from "The Magician's Elephant" on Oct. 3, 2009 at The Seattle Public Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 45 minutes /file size: 20 MB]
 

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Seattle City Council Candidates Debate

Seattle City Council candidates engaged in a debate moderated by Ryan Blethen, The Seattle Times, and C.R. Douglas, The Seattle Channel, on Oct. 13 at The Seattle Public Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 25 minutes /file size: 39 MB]
 

Trash Track

SENSEable City Lab Trash Track exhibit

The Seattle Public Library and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) teamed up for a SENSEable City Lab Trash Track exhibit. This event on Sept. 19, 2009 at the Central Library launched the exhibit and helped people find out where trash goes.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 18 minutes /file size: 36 MB]
 

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Seattle Mayoral Candidates Debate

Seattle Mayoral candidates Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan engaged in a debate moderated by Joni Balter, The Seattle Times, and Dave Ross, KIRO Radio, on Oct. 5, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 27 minutes /file size: 40 MB]
 

Curtis Ebbesmeyer

Curtis Ebbesmeyer: 'Flotsametrics and the Floating World'

Curtis Ebbesmeyer showed images and talked about his recent book co-authored with Seattle author Eric Scigliano, "Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man's Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science" on Sept. 26, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 4 minutes /file size: 30 MB]
 

Red Pine Book Cover

Red Pine (a.k.a. Bill Porter): 'In Such Hard Times: The Poetry of Wei Ying-wu'

Acclaimed translator Red Pine (a.k.a. Bill Porter) presented bilingual readings in English and Chinese from "In Such Hard Times: The Poetry of Wei Ying-wu" on Sept. 22, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 6 minutes /file size: 31 MB]
 

Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor

Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor: 'Traveling with Pomegranates'

Sue Monk Kidd, bestselling author of the "The Secret Life of Bees" and "The Mermaid Chair," and Ann Kidd Taylor read from "Traveling with Pomegranates" on Sept. 16, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 48 minutes /file size: 22 MB]
 

Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor: 'Education: A Big Idea in Today's America'

Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor spoke on "Education: A Big Idea in Today's America" on Sept. 14, 2009 at Town Hall.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 48 minutes /file size: 22 MB]
 

JT Stewart

Cultural Collisions: Women Poets and Their Craft

Calling themselves La Jefa ("The Boss" in Spanish and Portuguese), four Seattle women writers, who collectively represent at least 16 cultures, presented a workshop and read from their work on June 27, 2009 at the Beacon Hill Branch.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 18 minutes /file size: 36 MB]
 

Douglas Brinkley book cover

Douglas Brinkley: 'The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America'

Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley discussed "The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America" on Aug. 6, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour /file size: 27 MB]
 

Rebecca Wells

Rebecca Wells: 'The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder'

Rebecca Wells read from "The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder" on July 10, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 9 minutes /file size: 32 MB]
 

Colum McCann

Colum McCann: 'Let the Great World Spin'

Award-winning Irish novelist Colum McCann read from "Let the Great World Spin" on July 13, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 1 minute /file size: 28 MB]
 

Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Carlos Ruiz Zafón: 'The Angel's Game'

Carlos Ruiz Zafón discussed his latest novel, "The Angel's Game," on June 26, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 57 minutes /file size: 26 MB]
 

William O'Daly

Bill O'Daly and Kisha Xiomara Palmer: Translations of Pablo Neruda

Bill O'Daly and Kisha Xiomara Palmer read from "World's End", O'Daly's ninth translated work of Chilean Nobel Prize poet Pablo Neruda on June 20, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 54 minutes /file size: 25 MB]
 

Lisa See

Lisa See: 'Shanghai Girls'

Lisa See discussed "Shanghai Girls" on June 16, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 58 minutes /file size: 26 MB]
 

Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition

Alan J. Stein and Paula Becker: Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition: Washington's First World's Fair

HistoryLink.org authors Alan J. Stein and Paula Becker shared photographs and stories from their new book, "Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition: Washington's First World's Fair," on June 13, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 10 minutes /file size: 64 MB]
 

Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton: 'The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work'

Alain de Botton discussed "The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work" on June 10, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 56 minutes /file size: 51 MB]
 

Lee Child

Lee Child: 'Gone Tomorrow'

Bestselling author Lee Child read from "Gone Tomorrow," his thirteenth novel featuring Jack Reacher, a character known by millions as a thinking person's action hero, on June 9, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 10 minutes /file size: 64 MB]
 

Diane Wei Liang

Diane Wei Liang: 'Lake With No Name: A True Story of Love and Conflict in Modern China'

Beijing-born mystery writer Diane Wei Liang read from her memoir, "Lake With No Name: A True Story of Love and Conflict in Modern China," on June 7, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 44 minutes /file size: 40 MB]
 

Seattle Noir

'Seattle Noir'

A panel of local writers read from and discussed "Seattle Noir," a new anthology of original crime fiction set in our city's sinful, soggy streets, on June 2, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 3 minutes /file size: 57 MB]
 

Crawlspace

Poets Daniel Comiskey and Chris Putnam: 'Crawlspace'

Seattle poets Daniel Comiskey and Chris Putnam read from their book "Crawlspace" on May 28, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 36 minutes /file size: 33 MB]
 

Nancy Rawles

Seattle Reads 'My Jim': Main Event with Nancy Rawles

Nancy Rawles spoke on "Living with Passion" for the main event of Seattle Reads "My Jim" on May 22, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 18 minutes /file size: 72 MB]
 

Lynda Mapes book cover

Lynda Mapes: 'Breaking Ground: The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and the Unearthing of Tse-whit-zen Village'

Lynda Mapes presented a program about the excavation of the Tse-whit-zen Village of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe in Port Angeles, one of the largest and oldest Indian village sites ever found in this region, on May 17, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 8 minutes /file size: 62 MB]
 

Attica Locke

Seattle Reads 'My Jim': Contemporary African-American Writing

Two authors, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Attica Locke, discussed contemporary African-American writing on May 15, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 15 minutes /file size: 69 MB]
 

Joan Hockaday

Joan Hockaday: 'Greenscapes: Olmsted's Pacific Northwest'

Joan Hockaday read from "Greenscapes: Olmsted's Pacific Northwest," a book about Olmsted's park system designs throughout the Pacific Northwest on May 2, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 57 minutes /file size: 52 MB]
 

Mark Morris

A Conversation with Mark Morris and Peter Boal

Peter Boal, Pacific Northwest Ballet Artistic Director, engaged in a lively discussion with director and choreographer Mark Morris on April 28, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 52 minutes /file size: 48 MB]
 

Mende Nazer

Mende Nazer: 'Slave: My True Story'

Mende Nazer discussesed her memoir, "Slave: My True Story" on April 26, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 2 minutes /file size: 57 MB]
 

Jonathan Alter

Jonathan Alter: The Seattle Public Library's 2009 A. Scott Bullitt Lecture in American History

Jonathan Alter, Newsweek senior editor and NBC News correspondent, discussed "The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope" on stage with Eric Liu on March 23, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour /file size: 55 MB]
 

Seattle Reads: 'My Jim'

Seattle Reads 'My Jim': Huck Finn: In or Out of School?

Two teachers, two students, and a parent discussed the merits and challenges of teaching "Huckleberry Finn" in the schools on April 11, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 17 minutes /file size: 71 MB]
 

Thomas Ricks

Thomas Ricks: 'The Gamble: General Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008'

Thomas Ricks discussed "The Gamble: General Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008" on April 9, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 52 minutes /file size: 48 MB]
 

The Hansberry Project reading of 'My Jim'

Seattle Reads 'My Jim': The Hansberry Project staged readings

The Hansberry Project, directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton, kicked off Seattle Reads 'My Jim' with staged readings on March 15, 2009, at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 3 minutes /file size: 57 MB]
 

Tavis Smiley

Tavis Smiley: 'Accountable: Making America as Good as Its Promise'

Tavis Smiley, national television and radio talk show host, discussed "Accountable: Making America as Good as Its Promise" on March 12, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 18 minutes /file size: 72 MB]
 

Paul Bannick

Paul Bannick: 'The Owl and the Woodpecker'

Seattle photographer, author, educator, and naturalist Paul Bannick presented "The Owl and the Woodpecker: Encounters with North America's Most Iconic Birds" on March 11, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 3 minutes /file size: 58 MB]
 

Sam Green

Samuel Green, Washington State Poet Laureate, and Kim Stafford: Poetry Reading

Sam Green and Kim Stafford, longtime friends and admirers of each other's work, read poetry on March 3, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 6 minutes /file size: 61 MB]
 

Val McDermid book cover

Val McDermid: 'A Darker Domain'

The bestselling author of Scottish police mysteries read from her latest novel, "A Darker Domain," on Feb. 15, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 37 minutes /file size: 34 MB]
 

Bruce Barcott

Bruce Barcott: 'The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw'

Award-winning author Bruce Barcott read from "The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman's Fight to Save the World's Most Beautiful Bird" on Feb. 28, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 5 minutes /file size: 60 MB]
 

Mike Hickey

Inauguration of new Poet Populist Mike Hickey

Jack Hirschman helped celebrate the inauguration of new Poet Populist Mike Hickey on Jan. 25, 2009 at the Central Library.
 

Inauguration of new Poet Populist - Part 1: Mike Hickey, Cody Walker and other guests

Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 2 minutes /file size: 57 MB]


Inauguration of new Poet Populist - Part 2: Jack Hirschman

Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 53 minutes /file size: 48 MB]


 

Barry Unsworth

Barry Unsworth: 'Land of Marvels'

Barry Unsworth read from his latest historical novel, "Land of Marvels," on Jan. 24, 2009 at the Central Library. In "Land of Marvels," a thriller set in 1914, Unsworth brings to life the schemes and double-dealings of Western nations grappling for a foothold in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 45 minutes /file size: 41 MB]
 

Azar Nafisi

Azar Nafisi: 'Things I've Been Silent About: Memories'

Azar Nafisi discussed "Things I've Been Silent About: Memories" on Jan. 16, 2009 at the Central Library. Nafisi is the author of the international bestseller, "Reading Lolita in Tehran," and a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 9 minutes /file size: 63 MB]
 

Elections Director

King County Elections Director Debate

King County Elections Director candidates debated on Jan. 15, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 24 minutes /file size: 77 MB]
 

Mo Yan

Mo Yan: The Re-emergence of Literary Voice in Contemporary China

Mo Yan read from and discussed his works with Christopher Lupke, associate professor of Chinese, Washington State University, and other panelists on Jan. 5, 2009 at the Central Library.
 
Download Audio (mp3) [play time: 1 hour 14 minutes /file size: 68 MB]
 



Audio Archive

2008 - Author Readings and Library Events


2007 - Author Readings and Library Events


2006 - Author Readings and Library Events