In "Behind the Curve," Joshua Howe explores the history of global warming from its roots as a scientific curiosity to its place at the center of international environmental politics.

The early immigrants came to be students, however, after the Ethiopian revolution of 1974, returning home meant persecution, exile, torture and even execution.Now exiled the stranded students led the way for new settlers to enter the Puget Sound and thus became pioneers who built a micro community in inner-city Seattle.This captivating book is a history of successes and failures—to be sure more successes than failures. It has new information about refugees, asylees, immigrants, and sojourners, and it will inform alike social scientists and the general public for years and yearsAfter the book reading, join us for a follow-up discussion with Dr. Joseph W. Scott!

How did Charles Darwin, a failed medical student and unpromising candidate for the priesthood, come to write “The Origin of Species,” one of the most influential books ever published?In this entertaining talk, Darwin himself (with some assistance from evolutionary biologist and lecturer Pepper Trail) will recount how his country childhood, his voyage on The Beagle, and his vibrant circle of friends and colleagues led him, sometimes reluctantly, to the insights that revolutionized our understanding of the world.Pepper Trail earned a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology and ornithology from Cornell University. He has had a decades-long fascination with Darwin, and primary sources for his talk are Darwin's own writings and the authoritative two-volume biography of Darwin by Janet Browne.This event is supported by The Seattle Public Library Foundation and media sponsor The Seattle Times.

The Washington Center for the Book invites everyone to celebrate the 2014 awards. The program in the Microsoft Auditorium will feature emcee Nancy Guppy, host and producer of the Seattle Channel’s “Art Zone with Nancy Guppy” and brief readings from the winning titles. A reception, book sales and signing will follow in the Central Library Living Room on Level 3, with entertainment by the Seattle7Writers and Jennie Shortridge’s cover band, The Rejections (and Trailing Spouses).The Washington State Book Awards recognize eight outstanding books published by Washington authors in 2013 in the categories of fiction, poetry, biography/memoir, and history/general nonfiction for adults. The Scandiuzzi Children’s Book Award honors a children’s picture book and one book each for early readers (ages 6 to 8), middle readers (ages 9-12), and young adults (ages 13 to 18).The authors of the award-winning books and the illustrator of the picture book will receive a $500 honorarium, thanks to generous support of The Seattle Public Library Foundation, Eulalie and Carlo Scandiuzzi, and Grace Nordhoff.This event is presented in partnership with the Elliott Bay Book Co. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

“Practicing Journalism” is about the varied reasons that journalists remain dedicated to reporting the news. At a time newspapers are under siege and laying off workers, many newspaper professionals soldier on. Why? At what point in their careers did the power and purpose of journalism captivate them? What happened, and what did they learn?Authors Paul Steinle and Sara Brown, Ph.D., decided to find out, interviewing editors and publishers, face-to-face, across America. Their book features profiles and first-person interviews -- stories of challenging authority, serving community, embracing empathy and influencing change. It includes testimonies from 91 journalists from The Seattle Times, The Tampa Bay Times, The Boston Globe, The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, The Garden Island, The Navajo Times, La Opinión and many more.Paul Steinle was a journalist for 29 years and has been a journalism teacher since 1991. A former president of UPI and Financial News Network and TV news director at KING-TV in Seattle, he is currently an adjunct professor teaching journalism at Quinnipiac University.Sara Brown, Ph.D., is a human resource professional, management trainer, columnist and educator in the newspaper business. Her columns have appeared in publications for the National Newspaper Association, and she has conducted workshops for the American Newspaper Publishers Association.This event is supported by The Seattle Public Library Foundation, author series sponsor Gary Kunis, and media sponsor The Seattle Times, and presented in partnership with The Seattle Times and The Elliott Bay Book Co.

Seattle authors Kevin Emerson, Karen Finneyfrock and Jennifer Longo discuss writing young adult fiction, finding your voice and reaching teen readers. There will be time for questions from the audience.Kevin Emerson is the author of 12 novels for teen and middle grade readers. His two most recent young adult novels are “Exile” and “The Far Dawn,” the third and final book in the Atlanteans series. Kevin is a former elementary science teacher and middle school writing teacher, and has taught for Seattle Arts and Lectures’ Writers in the Schools program. He is also a guitarist and drummer in two bands: Northern Allies and the Board of Education.Karen Finneyfrock is a poet, novelist, and writing teacher. Her two young adult novels are “Starbird Murphy and the World Outside” and “The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door.” She is a former Writer-in-Residence at Richard Hugo House in Seattle and teaches for Seattle Arts and Lectures’ Writers-in-the-Schools program. In 2010, Karen traveled to Nepal as a Cultural Envoy through the US Department of State to perform and teach poetry and, in 2011, she did a reading tour in Germany sponsored by the US Embassy.Jennifer Longo’s young adult novel “Six Feet Over It” is “an impressive debut novel – simultaneously hilarious, clever, and poignant,” according to School Library Journal. A California native, Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Arts in Acting from San Francisco State University and an MFA in Writing for Theatre from Humboldt State University. After years of acting, playwriting, working as a literary assistant and as an elementary school librarian, Jennifer decided to face her fear of prose.

About the Book:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICKMeet Elizabeth Zott: “a formidable, unapologetic and inspiring” (Parade) scientist in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show in this novel that is “irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel” (The New York Times Book Review) and “witty, sometimes hilarious…the Catch-22 of early feminism.” (Stephen King, via Twitter)Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, "Lessons in Chemistry" is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.About the Author:Bonnie Garmus is a copywriter and creative director who has worked widely in the fields of technology, medicine, and education. She’s an open-water swimmer, a rower, and mother to two pretty amazing daughters. Born in California and most recently from Seattle, she currently lives in London with her husband and her dog, 99.Nancy Pearl is a librarian, best-selling author, literary critic and the former Executive Director of the Washington Center for the Book at Seattle Public Library.She is the creator of the internationally recognized community reads program, which began in 1998 as “If All Seattle Read the Same Book”. She received the Librarian of the Year Award from Library Journal and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association in 2011; and the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community by the National Book Foundation in 2021. Nancy Pearl is the author of "George and Lizzie" (Touchstone Books), co-author of "The Writer’s Library: The Authors you Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives" (HarperOne,2020), and creator of the popular "Book Lust" series.Thanks to our partner Third Place Books.

This month’s online presentation welcomes Katy E. Ellis, Tamara Sellman, and Sandra Yannone.Katy E. Ellis grew up under fir trees and high-voltage power lines in Renton, Washington. Her debut mixed-genre collection "Home Water, Home Land" from Tolsun Press was recently published in September 2022. She is the author of three chapbooks: "Night Watch"—winner of the 2017 Floating Bridge Press chapbook competition—"Urban Animal Expeditions" and "Gravity", a single poem which was also nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her work appears in many literary journals in the US and Canada. For more information visit www.KatyEEllis.comTamara Sellman lives in the Pacific Northwest. Her first book, "Intention Tremor" (MoonPath Press, 2021) collects poetry and prose forms documenting life following her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 2013. Her collection of speculative fiction, "Trust Fall", will be released in print and e-book editions by MCR Press in late 2022. She is currently at work on two book manuscripts: a magical realist novel, "Eminent Domain", and a post-apocalyptic novel, "The Flare", both of which blend elements of the Pacific Northwest landscape with her background in healthcare and her experience as a person living with multiple sclerosis. Her work has been nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize and has earned other awards. She works as a sleep educator, healthcare writer, and MS advocate/columnist. In her spare time, she's an avid kitchen gardener.Sandra Yannone's debut collection "Boats for Women" was published by Salmon Poetry in 2019. Her second collection, "The Glass Studio", is forthcoming from Salmon Poetry. She currently hosts Cultivating Voices LIVE Poetry Sundays on Facebook via Zoom, and monthly for The Collectibles Lesbian Trading Card Reading Series with Headmistress Press. She earned her B.A. in writing and literature from Wheaton College (MA); an M.F.A. from Emerson College; and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Currently, she is a Member of the Faculty at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA.

Enjoy this panel discussion on financing (both traditional and alternative) and a roundtable on writers as entrepreneurs.This event was presented in person at the Columbia City Branch.It was presented in partnership with African American Writers’ Association, Business Impact Northwest, Hugo House, Indigenous People’s Institute, Langston Seattle, Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, Seattle City of Literature, Seattle Credit Union, Seattle Office of Economic Development, Seattle Urban Book Expo.This event is supported by The Seattle Public Library Foundation, the Gary and Connie Kunis Foundation, and 4Culture. Thanks to media sponsor The Seattle Times.

About the Speaker:"Seattle From the Margins: Exclusion, Erasure, and the Making of a Pacific Coast City" recognizes the marginalized communities who made Seattle what it is today.This is the first book by Megan Asaka, assistant professor of history at the University of California, Riverside.About the Book:From the origins of the city in the mid-nineteenth century to the beginning of World War II, Seattle's urban workforce consisted overwhelmingly of migrant laborers who powered the seasonal, extractive economy of the Pacific Northwest. Though the city benefitted from this mobile labor force that consisted largely of Indigenous peoples and Asian migrants, municipal authorities, elites, and reformers continually depicted these workers and the spaces they inhabited as troublesome and as impediments to urban progress. Today the physical landscape bears little evidence of their historical presence in the city. Tracing histories from unheralded sites such as labor camps, lumber towns, lodging houses, and so-called slums, “Seattle from the Margins” shows how migrant laborers worked alongside each other, competed over jobs, and forged unexpected alliances within the marine and coastal spaces of the Puget Sound. By uncovering the historical presence of marginalized groups and asserting their significance in the development of the city, Megan Asaka offers a deeper understanding of Seattle's complex past. –UW PressFollowing a presentation of the book, the author is joined by Naomi Ishisaka, assistant managing editor and social justice columnist at The Seattle Times, for a QandA with the audience.Thanks to our partners, The Seattle Times, University of Washington Press and Elliott Bay Book Company.