The Seattle Public Library - Programs & Events

In his acclaimed new book, Shields begins with the facts of birth and childhood then expertly weaves in anecdotal information about himself and his father. Shields is the award-winning author of eight previous books, including "Black Planet: Facing Race During an NBA Season" and "Dead Languages: A Novel." His stories and essays have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Harper's, Salon, Slate, among others.

Thurman, widely regarded as the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism, explores just why His Holiness the Dalai Lama has earned the world's love and respect, and how restoring Tibet's autonomy within China is not only possible, but highly reasonable, and necessary for us to have a peaceful future as a global community. Thurman teaches at Columbia University and holds the first endowed chair in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in America.

Banks contemplates the questions of our American origins, values, heroes, conflicts and contradictions. Russell Banks is the author of 17 works of fiction. His work has been translated into 20 languages and has received numerous international prizes.

"The Other" tells a story of youth and idealism, adulthood and its compromises, and two powerfully different visions of what it means to live a good life. David Guterson is best known for "Snow Falling on Cedars," for which he won the PEN Faulkner Award in 1994. He is a longtime resident of Bainbridge Island, where he taught high school English for years.

Deeply personal and politically ferocious, "Rising, Falling, Hovering" addresses, as Wright has said elsewhere, "the commonly felt crises of [our] times"-from illegal immigration and the specific consequences of empire to the challenges of parenting and the honesty required of human relationships. C.D. Wright is the author of more than a dozen collections of poetry and prose. Among many honors, she is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship in 2004, and the Robert Creeley Prize in 2005.

Dumas tells her story of being a citizen of the world in her American, Iranian, Parisian family in "Laughing Without an Accent," a series of humorous autobiographical essays. Dumas is the author of the national bestseller, "Funny in Farsi," which was a finalist for the PEN/USA award in 2004 and an Audie Award in 2005 for best audio book.

Tan's debut epic novel, nominated for the Man Booker Prize, tells the story of a young man's perilous journey through the betrayals of war and into manhood. Tan was born in Penang and lived in various regions of Malaysia as a child. He studied law at the University of London, and later worked as an advocate and solicitor in one of Kuala Lumpur's most respected law firms.

Fuller tells the tragic story of a young man who fell to his death on an oil rig because the oil company failed to spend $2,000 on safety rails. Alexandra Fuller is the author of the award-winning bestseller, "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight" about a childhood growing up in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). She is also the author of "Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier."

Set in a poor neighborhood in Washington, D.C., Dinaw Mengestu's award-winning novel tells a story of the African immigrant experience through three main characters: narrator Sepha Stephanos, an Ethiopian immigrant, who runs a small corner grocery store, and his friends, Joseph, from the Congo, and Kenneth, from Kenya. The Washington Center for the Book at The Seattle Public Library invites everyone to take part in Seattle Reads "The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears," a project designed to foster reading and discussion of works by authors of diverse cultures and ethnicities.

Hoffman weaves a story that charts the lives of three women in love with the wrong men. At the heart of the novel is Lucy Green, who blames herself for a tragic accident she witnessed at the age of twelve, and who spends four decades searching for the Third Angel, the angel on earth who will renew her faith. Alice Hoffman is the author of 19 novels, including "Here on Earth" and "Practical Magic," two books of short stories, and eight books for children and young adults. Her work has been published in more than 20 translations and in more than 100 foreign editions.

Cody Walker's poems appear in Best American Poetry, Parnassus, Slate, Shenandoah, and Subtropics. His first book, "Shuffle and Breakdown," will be published by Waywiser Press in the fall of 2008. Walker teaches English at the University of Washington and poetry through Seattle Arts and Lectures "Writers in the Schools" program.

This program is part of a series commemorating Día de los niños/Día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day), an annual celebration of children, families, and reading founded by Pat Mora in 1996 and now celebrated in libraries and schools throughout the country. Pat Mora is the author of more than 30 books, many of which are published in both English and Spanish. Mora is an enthusiastic advocate for reading and language. "Quien habla dos lenguas, vale por dos," she says. ("If you speak two languages, your value is doubled.")

"Unaccustomed Earth" is eight stories that travel from Cambridge and Seattle to India and Thailand as they enter the lives of sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, friends and lovers. "Interpreter of Maladies," Lahiri's debut story collection, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and The New Yorker Debut of the Year. Her novel "The Namesake" was a New York Times Notable Book, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist, and was selected as one of the best books of the year by USA Today and Entertainment Weekly, among other publications.

"Change of Heart" is about a death row inmate who wants to donate his heart, post execution, to the sister of his victim. Picoult challenges readers to consider hard-to-answer questions about organized religion and the death penalty.

Olúfémi Táíwò, director, and Saheed Adejumobi, assistant professor of history, Global African Studies Program, Seattle University, gave an overview of African history and culture, colonialism and its impacts on Thursday, Mar. 6 at the Central Library. This program is part of Seattle Reads "The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears."