Ten years ago, "Reading Lolita in Tehran" told the story of how, against the backdrop of morality squads and executions, Nafisi taught "The Great Gatsby" and other classics to her eager students in Iran. In this follow-up, Nafisi writes an impassioned and original tribute to the vital importance of fiction in a democratic society. What “Reading Lolita in Tehran" was for Iran, "The Republic of Imagination "is for America.

Taking her cue from a challenge thrown to her in Seattle, where a skeptical reader told her that Americans don't care about books the way they did back in Iran, she energetically responds to those who say fiction has nothing to teach us. Blending memoir and polemic with close readings of her favorite American novels -- "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” “Babbitt,"and "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," among others -- she invites us to join her as citizens of her "Republic of Imagination," a country where the villains are conformity and orthodoxy and the only passport to entry is a free mind and a willingness to dream.

Azar Nafisi is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran "and" Things I've Been Silent About." A passionate advocate of books and reading, she appears regularly on major media, speaks to audiences around the world. Nafisi is a professor of aesthetics, culture, and literature, and teaches courses on the relation between culture and politics at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC.

Jenna Metcalf's mother, a scientist who studied elephants, disappeared more than a decade ago and Jenna has not stopped trying to search for her. Jenna uses all the tools available to her -- searching online, poring over her mother's journals -- until she realizes she needs help in the search.

In "Leaving Time," Picoult weaves her research on elephants into a story about love and loss. The novel examines family bonds, grief among elephants and a daughter trying to discover the truth about her mother's mysterious disappearance.

Liu asks, “What does it mean to be Chinese American in this moment of China and America?” In essays that range from the meaning of Confucius, to the role of Chinese Americans in shaping how we read the Constitution, to why he dislikes the hyphen in "Chinese-American," Liu pieces together a sense of the Chinese American identity in these auspicious years for both countries.

Eric Liu is the founder and CEO of Citizen University and the author of “The Accidental Asian,” “Guiding Lights” and “The Gardens of Democracy.” He served as a White House speechwriter and policy adviser for President Bill Clinton and as a trustee of The Seattle Public Library. Liu is a regular columnist for CNN.com and a correspondent for TheAtlantic.com.

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. "Behind the Curve" was published as part of the UW Press’ remarkable Weyerhauser Environmental Series.

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 years

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.

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.

"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.

In Dubai at the height of its self-invention as a futuristic Shangri-la, the protagonist struggles with his new position as the “family officer” of the Batros family. And he struggles, even more helplessly, with the “doghouse,” a seemingly inescapable condition of culpability in which he feels himself constantly trapped. “The Dog” has been longlisted for the Man Booker prize.

Joseph O’Neill is the author of five books, including “Netherland” (which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award, and was named one of the 10 Best Books of the Year for 2008 by The New York Times.

Featured readers include Robert Pinsky, Seattle poet Heather McHugh; filmmaker Lynn Shelton; and Aidan Lang, Seattle Opera's General Director. Hosted by KUOW's Marcie Sillman, the evening will also feature community members reading their chosen poems.

Initiated in 1999, Seattle's Favorite Poems was inspired by the Favorite Poem Project, Robert Pinsky's initiative as 39th Poet Laureate of the United States. It celebrates poetry's role in the lives of the people of Seattle.