Book News Roundup: Book bingo, diversity training, a guest for Short Run, and an award for Jess Walter

  • Does your organization need diversity training? If you're an arts organization in Seattle, the answer is probably yes. This Saturday in the 2100 Building at 1:30 p.m., two local artists with lots of experience in the topic are hosting a "public discussion about the pros and cons of working with professionals, consultants, and hands-on-experts to facilitate an anti-racist work environment." Entry fees range from $5 to $20, though nobody will be turned away for lack of funds. You can confirm for the event on Facebook.

  • Short Run has announced a new special guest for their November festival: cartoonist Julia Wertz. You should be excited about this news: Wertz is a spectacular comics memoirist (you should read Drinking at the Movies) who is moving into a new phase of her career with illustrations of American city streets, many of which will be collected in a book this fall titled Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City. Wertz has gone from the creator and star of an online strip called The Fart Party to a regularly published cartoonist at the New Yorker. The Short Run Festival happens at Seattle Center this year on Saturday, November 4th.

  • Spokane novelist Jess Walter will be given the Humanities Washington Award this October for his "commitment to nurturing creativity" and his lifelong dedication to the humanities.

  • It's Summer Book Bingo time again at Seattle Public Library! Here's how it works: download a bingo card from their website or pick one up at your neighborhood library. Then, read books that meet the criteria on the bingo card (categories include "adapted into a movie," "published the year one of your parents was born," and much more). Check those books off on your card. If you fill your card and turn it in, you could win a collection of books from authors who are coming to town for Seattle Arts & Lectures' 2017-2018 season, along with tickets for every one of SAL's upcoming shows.

  • The Seattle Globalist is looking for a summer intern.