Alexander Chee’s guide to writing, becoming, love and loss
There’s a thing at talks around Seattle. Often enough, you can feel it when the crowd gets restless if the event goes to a certain length. You can see the people looking for a chance to exit. One...
View ArticleWashington state schools grapple with #EducationSoWhite
Last year, a hashtag became an event in Seattle: #EducationSoWhite 2017 gave voice to and started a conversation about the lack of diversity among teachers in our schools. Ninety percent of Washington...
View ArticleMadeleine Albright sounds the alarm on fascism in new book
The work of diplomacy is subtle, but the actions of world leaders are sometimes the opposite. Famed American diplomat Madeleine Albright confronts the dangers of undiplomatic and undemocratic political...
View ArticleSen. Patty Murray and Gary Locke break down current politics
The Civic Cocktail series brings political, business and community leaders to Seattle for a drink and a line of questioning from reporters and attendees. The most recent session featured Senator Patty...
View ArticleBarbara Ehrenreich explores modern mortality, what we get wrong about living...
It sometimes seems as if author Barbara Ehrenreich has seen it all and done it all. From “Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers” to “Living with a Wild God: A Nonbeliever's Search...
View ArticleNomi Prins condemns government, banks in 'Collusion'
Author Nomi Prins used to be a Wall Street banker. Now she writes with a critical eye about how banks and economies work. One example: how in 2017, U.S. banks used 99 percent of their earnings to buy...
View ArticleAuthor Leslie Jamison distills recovery from ‘the whiskey-and-ink mythology’
On her website, Leslie Jamison writes: “I've worked as a baker, an office temp, an innkeeper, a tutor, and a medical actor. Every one of these was a world; they're still in me.” On her way through...
View ArticleFrom refugee to celebrated storyteller: Viet Thanh Nguyen’s American journey
Viet Thanh Nguyen is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. He was awarded that honor in 2016 for his debut novel “The Sympathizer.” Then he received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2017.
View ArticleFrom pooing in public to the Seattle Superman: Ignite Seattle aims to surprise
Ignite Seattle is an unusual event. The organizers like to surprise the audience when they can — like that time a couple got married on stage. Thrills like that aside, there’s something thoughtful and...
View ArticleTake psychedelics (not too many), change your mind
Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the author of “The Botany of Desire” chose to experiment with and write about psychedelic drugs. They are edible after all. Still, like many people, Michael...
View ArticleThe rise and fall of a Seattle megachurch through the eyes of an anthropologist
What happened during the creation and growth of Mars Hill Church made waves in Seattle and beyond. A charismatic minister, Mark Driscoll, preached in a daring, new way. He sought to make his ministry...
View Article3 fascinating orca facts we didn't know before
In honor of Orca Awareness Month in Washington state, here are three facts about orcas we didn't know before, courtesy of a talk by Prof. Jason Colby of the University of Victoria.
View ArticleRoxane Gay: Men need to read these dispatches from rape culture
Recent polling shows that almost half of American women say they’ve been sexually assaulted. With that startling statistic in mind, KUOW presents this talk with author Roxane Gay, who compiled a...
View ArticleSeahawks' Michael Bennett: 'I'll be black forever'
Michael Bennett is a man who needs little introduction. He is famous as a professional football player, a philanthropist and an activist. Now, add author to the list. Bennett’s first book, written with...
View Article‘We caught this kind of lightning in a bottle’: An Obama White House memoir
Ben Rhodes was a 24-year-old aspiring writer living in New York on 9/11. What happened that day made him want to be part of the response. As you’ll hear in this talk, when his visit to an Army...
View ArticleRobin DiAngelo: 'I think you’re racist. I think I am, too.'
The term “white fragility” was coined by the Seattle-based educator and author Robin DiAngelo. She defines it as “a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering...
View ArticleIt took a village, and a pediatrician, to expose the Flint water crisis
The city of Flint, Michigan represents the height of American ingenuity, productivity and economic progress — and also the mirror opposite.
View ArticleA sailor's poetic primer on the science of tides
Before you listen to this talk by Jonathan White , you might want to be somewhere by the sea as the moon rises or sets. That would be ideal. If not that, be somewhere where you can search maps of all...
View ArticleBees: The 'hippie wasps' we all need
It seems there’s a "how things work" theme on Speakers Forum recently. Last week it was tides , this week, bees. Our guide is Thor Hanson, an uber-biologist who seems to really love what he does. He’s...
View ArticleA novel idea from an environmental activist: Secession
Northwesterners and people around the world have been inspired by Bill McKibben’s prolific environmental activism. McKibben took some time off from his global warming work recently to write his first...
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