Archives of Portrait Gallery

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Sunday April 30th: 2017 Grand Slam

Did you know that Seattle is home to a lively open mic scene? It’s true. The viral poet behind “Revenge,” Elisa Chavez, is just one of the incredible talents to burst out of this scene in recent years. Tonight, the greatest readers at Seattle Poetry Slam compete for the right to represent Seattle at the 2017 National Poetry Slam in Denver.
Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Ave., 652-4255, townhallseattle.org. $15. All ages. 7:30 p.m.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Monday April 24th: Breaking the Bond Reading

The very fine Texas playwright Rupert Reyes brings a staged reading from his latest work-in-progress play, Breaking the Bond, to the U District’s own Jack Straw Gallery. Featuring local Spanish-speaking readers, this play discusses topics of deportation, anchor babies, and national identity. (Reyes has also acted in the film Office Space.)
Jack Straw Gallery, 4261 Roosevelt Way N.E., 634-0919, http://jackstraw.org . Free. All ages. 7:30 p.m.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Friday April 7th: Hugo Literary Series: Betrayal

The Hugo House brings three writers and a musician together to produce new work on a theme. The final event of the 2016-2017 season is “Betrayal.” Readers include poet Anis Mojgani, celebrated novliest Kaitlyn Greenidge, and poet Rick Barot, along with musician Maiah Manser.
Fred Wildlife Refuge, 128 Belmont Ave. E., 322-7030. http://www.hugohouse.org. $10-25. All ages. 7:30 p.m.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Tuesday April 4th: The Stone Heart Reading

Vancouver cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks celebrates the second book in her comic book fantasy trilogy for young readers, The Stone Heart, with a Seattle audience. Tonight, she’ll be interviewed onstage by Seattle writer G. Willow Wilson, who is possibly best known as the creator of breakout superhero sensation Ms. Marvel.
Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 10th Ave, 624-6600, http://elliottbaybook.com . Free. All ages. 7 p.m.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Friday March 24th: The Idiot Reading

New Yorker writer Elif Batuman has only one other book to her name: a non-fiction account of people who are obsessed with Russian novelists. But her debut novel, The Idiot—about a Harvard freshman in the mid-1990s who falls in with some questionable Eastern European types—is earning praise from all quarters.
Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 10th Ave, 624-6600, http://elliottbaybook.com . Free. All ages. 7 p.m.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Saturday March 18th: Exit West Reading

Mohsin Hamid writes novels about the world as it is now. His books are structurally adventurous and tuned to provocative issues like immigration, racism, and the War on Terror. His latest novel is about a young couple finding love in a world overrun with homeless refugees and fearful xenophobes.
Piggott Auditorium, 901 12th Ave., 624-6600, http://www.elliottbaybookcompany.com All ages. 2 p.m.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Tuesday March 14th: Ask the Oracle

The Hugo House’s ongoing divination/reading series, in which authors find answers to audience questions in randomly selected passages from their books, features memoirists Melissa Febos and Elissa Washuta and poet Quenton Baker. Washuta recently announced that she’s leaving Seattle this summer for a teaching position in Ohio, so go bask in her presence while you can.
Sorrento Hotel, 900 Madison St., 622-6400, hotelsorrento.com. Free. 21 and over. 7 p.m.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Today is the birthday of American illustrator, artist, author, cartoonist, and animator Dr. Seuss, born March 2, 1904.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Friday, February 24th
It Was Written book launch at Vermillion

This Friday, Minor Arcana invites local poets including Robert Lashley and Brian McGuigan to help launch It Was Written with a book party at Vermillion. They’ll be joined by other readers including Quenton Baker, a poet who got his start as a hip-hop artist. Because the party would feel really weird without some form of live music, self-described “beat scientist” WD4D will be running the turntables at the show.
Vermillion Art Gallery and Bar, 1508 11th Ave., 709-9797, http://vermillionseattle.com. Free. 21+. 7 p.m.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Monday, February 20th
International Harvester Reading

Mountain Goats lead singer John Darnielle’s debut novel, Wolf in White Van, was an incredibly affecting story of a wounded soul trying to come to terms with society. Darnielle’s second novel is about a video store clerk in 1990s Iowa who discovers a bizarre secret hidden on the films in his store.
Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Ave., 652-4255, http://townhallseattle.org. $5. All ages. 7:30 p.m.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Friday February 10th
Bushwick Book Club: Americanah

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah is one of the greatest novels to be published in the last five years. Actually, probably the last decade. Maybe the last 25 years? Seems likely. Tonight, Seattle musicians present new work based on the most recent Greatest American Novel. If they rise to the material, this will be a night to remember.
Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 10th Ave, 624-6600, elliottbaybook.com . $10. All ages. 7 p.m.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Saturday February 4th
Fire Safety and Other Stories

Author John Mullen is a graduate of a recent class of Jack Straw writers including big names like Jane Wong and Claudia Castro Luna. Barbra Earl Thomas is a painter who has been part of the fabric of Seattle for decades. Tonight they’ll tell stories, with music by Kate Farrell.
Royal Room, 5000 Rainier Ave., 906-9920, http://theroyalroomseattle.com. Free. All ages. 6 p.m.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

A celebration of some of the signs seen in Seattle and all over the world as people marched in protest on January 21, 2017.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Sunday January 22nd
Looking for Betty MacDonald Reading
Betty MacDonald’s 1945 memoir about life on the Olympic Peninsula, The Egg and I, is an underappreciated Northwest classic. Seattle-area historian Paula Becker celebrates the UW Press’s republication of three long out-of-print books by MacDonald with a reading from her book which celebrates MacDonald’s history and legacy.
Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 10th Ave, 624-6600, elliottbaybook.com . Free. All ages. 7 p.m.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Sunday January 15th
Writers Resist: A Celebration of Free Speech
It seems impossible that this week will bring both the annual celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Donald Trump’s inauguration. But here we are. To mentally prepare for the discord to come, why not attend this freedom-minded reading by writers from Bellingham (Robert Lashley) and Spokane (novelist Jess Walter, poet Tod Marshall) and Seattle (Elissa Washuta, Jane Wong, G. Willow Wilson)?
Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Ave., 652-4255, townhallseattle.org. $5. All ages. 7:30 p.m.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Shirley Jackson
Last month would have been Shirley Jackson's 100th birthday (b. December 14, 1916.)

Sunday January 8th:
Stories from the Saturday Evening Post
It seems likely that this year will bring with it even more magazine closures, and that’s a goddamn shame. This reading of popular Saturday Evening Post pieces — in which local performers read work by P.G. Wodehouse, Robert Heinlein, and Shirley Jackson — ought to demonstrate what magazines, at their very best, are capable of promoting.
Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Ave., 652-4255, http://townhallseattle.org. $10-13. All ages. 2 p.m.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Happy New Year!
May you always have a shelf full of good books to read.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Tuesday December 27th

Feminist Fight Club reading
Leaning in is so three years ago: Jessica Bennett says it’s time for working women to punch back. Her new book is a “guide to navigating subtle sexism at work, providing real-life career advice and humorous reinforcement for a new generation of professional women.” Let’s go crush the patriarchy.
Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Ave., 652-4255, townhallseattle.org. $5. All ages. 7:30 p.m.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Monday December 19th

The Beautiful Struggle
In a conversation facilitated by the good people at Seattle Public Library, Luzviminda Uruzi “Lulu” Carpenter leads Seattle-area LGBTQ leaders (including Dominique Stephens, Luis Fernando Ramirez, and Sonj Basha) in a conversation about surviving violence of all stripes (racism, transphobia) and building communities together.
Gay City, 517 E Pike St., 860-6969, http://spl.org. Free. All ages.

Each week, Christine Marie Larsen creates a new portrait of an author for us. Have any favorites you’d love to see immortalized? Let us know

Thursday December 8th EVENT CANCELLED DUE to WEATHER

Flight to Seattle was cancelled, all other flights delayed because of bad weather. I'm unable to do reading @ElliottBayBooks tonight. Sorry

— Rabih Alameddine (@rabihalameddine) December 8, 2016