"Greenscapes" renders a regional portrayal of landscape architect John Charles Olmsted. In the early 1900's, the meticulous, visionary protege brought the pastoral aesthetic of his famous stepfather, Frederick Law Olmsted, to premier park systems throughout the Pacific Northwest--designing verdant havens that still refresh urban souls in Portand, Seattle, and Spokane.

"A Conversation with Mark Morris and Peter Boal" precedes Seattle Theatre Group's presentation of the Mark Morris Dance Group in "Mozart Dances" at the Paramount Theatre with music performed by the Seattle Symphony.

Nazer tells her modern-day story of being captured as a child and enslaved for seven years in Khartoum and nearly a year in London. With the aid of southern Sudanese and human rights groups, Nazer escaped but initially was denied asylum on the basis that "slavery is not persecution," before finally winning her case. This event is part of Seattle Reads "My Jim," a program of the Washington Center for the Book at The Seattle Public Library.

In his first interview after winning the 2008 Presidential Election, Barack Obama revealed to 60 Minutes' Steve Kroft that "The Defining Moment" held a permanent place on his bedside table and that it would have a great influence over how he governed the country. The 2006 book was a national bestseller.

This event is part of Seattle Reads "My Jim," a program of the Washington Center for the Book at The Seattle Public Library. Nancy Rawles' novel re-imagines Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" from the slave's perspective.

Ricks uses hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with top officers in Iraq and on-the-ground reporting to document the inside story of the Iraq War since late 2005. Ricks is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, "Fiasco," and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and senior Pentagon correspondent for the Washington Post.

Nancy Rawles' novel re-imagines Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" from the slave's perspective. This event is part of Seattle Reads "My Jim," a program of the Washington Center for the Book at The Seattle Public Library designed to foster reading and discussion of works by authors of diverse cultures and ethnicities.

Smiley visited the Central Library as part of "The Accountable Tour," a series of town-hall-style meetings, to discuss issues raised in his latest book. Tavis Smiley is a nationally known intellectual, activist, political commentator, entrepreneur, and radio and television personality. He founded the historic State of the Black Union series and authored several best-selling books, including "The Covenant of Black America" and "The Covenant in Action."

North America plays host to 41 species of the owl and the woodpecker. The diversity of these two families of birds, and the ways in which they define and enrich the ecosystems they inhabit, are the subject of a new book by photographer and naturalist Paul Bannick. Paul Bannick is an award-winning photographer who specializes in natural history imagery. His work has appeared in numerous books and magazines, including The Seattle Times' Pacific Northwest Magazine and Sunset.

Sam Green read from "Vertebrae: Poems, 1978-1994" and "The Grace of Necessity" (winner of the 2008 Washington State Book Award in Poetry), as well as new poems. Kim Stafford read from "A Thousand Friends of Rain: New & Selected Poems," as well as recent poems. Green was named the first Poet Laureate for the State of Washington by Governor Chris Gregoire in December 2007. Stafford is the founding director of the Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis & Clark College in Oregon, where he has taught since 1979.