Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series

In her new memoir,  Adult Braces,  Lindy West brings readers along on an uproarious cross-country road trip as she unpacks her last few tumultuous years, rediscovers herself, and reinvents her marriage. Through  Shrill —the book and then the Hulu series—Lindy West became an inspiration. To this day, she is stopped on the street and hailed as a beacon of empowerment by women who felt badly for not...

Layering classic tropes of the mystery genre with a clever modern satire of the publishing industry,  The Ending Writes Itself  is the debut novel of "Evelyn Clarke," a new writing collaboration between best-selling authors V.E. Schwab and Cat Clarke. Joined in conversation by local author and journalist Moira Macdonald, Schwab and Clarke explore their co-authoring venture and the twists and turns...

Although the present ubiquity of Apple is well-known, how much do you know about its past? Just in time for Apple's 50th anniversary, author and CBS correspondent David Pogue tells the history of the iconic company: how it was born, nearly died, and was revived under the legendary Steve Jobs, and how it later became the most iconic brand   in the world. On April 1, 1976, two men in their 20s, both...

From the mind of Brett Hamil, the cartoonist behind  Doom Loop and co-producer of Joketellers Union, comes an utterly unique talk show. Starring Hamil's wistful handyman alter ego Burl Dirkman, Power Thru It! with Burl Dirkman will take the audience on a comedic journey of self-discovery, featuring interviews with local luminaries J. Kenji López-Alt and Tomo Nakayama, and cathartic activities desi...

Whether you know her from her short stories in  The New Yorker  or  The Atlantic  or from one of her bestselling novels, Lauren Groff is arguably one of the leading literary voices in the U.S. Groff will share from her new collection of short stories,  Brawler , which reflects upon humanity's ceaseless battle between our dark and light angels. Ranging from the 1950s to the present day and moving a...

Remember that one time in 2019 when presidential candidate Andrew Yang promised a thousand dollars a month for a whole year to ten U.S. families if they donated to his campaign? Yang would like to address this. Pulling from his latest book titled  Hey Yang, Where's My Thousand Bucks? , Yang shares stories from his remarkable life so far, including this viral moment during a live presidential debat...

In less than 100 years, plastic has gone from a novel invention to a ubiquitous feature across the globe. Plastic is now found in everything from household objects to industrial mechanisms to inside human bodies themselves. Once a marvel of modern science, plastic has become so inextricably woven into our lives that imagining a world without it can seem impossible. Backed by years of research and...

When something wacky is going on in the Gatorverse, the Special Undercover Investigation Teams know that it's time to S.U.I.T. up! Join the team at S.U.I.T. headquarters with the newest book in John Patrick Green's InvestiGators spinoff series–  Agents of S.U.I.T.: Sew Much Trouble. Someone has stolen the Notorious P.I.G. food truck, and with it, Piggy Smalls' special BBQ sauce! But before super-s...

Have you ever wished you could go inside of a book? You could travel to a new place, see new sights, potentially live a different life altogether — all from the page. From  New York Times  bestselling author Kate Quinn comes  Astral Library , a fantastical novel where books are not merely objects, but doors to different worlds, different adventures, and different futures. After growing up in the f...

Hear from acclaimed author, essayist, and critic Thomas Mallon, whose novel  Fellow Travelers  (2007) inspired an opera and a SHOWTIME® miniseries. With exacting attention to historical detail, Mallon's novel brings to life the shameful era in the early 1950s known as the Lavender Scare, during which gay and lesbian federal employees were systematically expelled from government service. More recen...

For many Americans, football is more than just a sport — it is a way of life. Year after year, it remains the most watched sport in the country, captivating millions every season. A recent study showed that 93 of the 100 most-watched programs on U.S. television were NFL football games. Football, whether we like it or not, is inescapable. Chuck Klosterman,  New York Times bestselling author, journa...

Get ready to laugh, swoon, and maybe cringe just a little— Love Me or Leave Me from Letters Aloud unleashes the wild side of romance in a whirlwind show packed with real letters from history's most lovelorn (and love-scorned) souls. With a cast of spirited actors, comedy crackles from every confession, break-up, and "did-they-really-write-that?" misadventure, all paired with lively music that sets...

For most people, trying to be smart with money is a hurdle that isn't going away anytime soon. And once you have a handle on the usual demands like bills, loans, and maybe even savings – what about the future? Long-term financial choices can be daunting and confusing, and isn't wealth management advice for the already wealthy? How do everyday people balance today's dreams and realities with tomorr...

How can we be kind in today's fast-moving, intense world? Kindness is a choice we make every day, but it's also your superpower. Local author and educator Jackson Cooper, author of  A Kids Book About Kindness  (DK Kids, 2025), shares his insights on teaching the essential tools for kindness to families, parents, and the next generation of leaders. A Kids Book About Kindness  is an accessible, fami...

Whether you know him from his award-winning and bestselling novel set in Puget Sound, Snow Falling on Cedars , or his columns in Pacific Northwest publications, Bainbridge writer David Guterson may be one of our region's most well-known writers. He's written a new novel,  Evelyn in Transit , which explores what it means to live a righteous life, maybe even in spite of our imperfections. Guterson's...

Ever feel unenthused staring into the fridge night after night? Overwhelmed and over budget at the grocery store, yet somehow you still came home without what you need for the week? Been meaning to reorganize your pantry for months and don't even know where to start? Avid cook and recipe developer Jenn Lueke has been there herself, and she wants to help pull home cooks out of the fog of decision f...

How far would you go to achieve your deepest dreams? That's the question author Karl Ove Knausgård explores in his latest novel,  The School of Night . Internationally acclaimed and award-winning Norwegian author Knausgård is known for blending everyday characters with transcendent perceptions of reality, and this new installment of  The Morning Star  series continues this thread while examining t...

When  Shogun  was released last year on Hulu, it featured a great cast, spectacular visuals, and a gripping story. It was a commercial and critical success on release, and again when awards season came around. So of course, academic historians fretted. Were they concerned that it painted sixteenth-century Japan as another  Game of Thrones  (with more ninjas and fewer dragons)? Maybe a little. But...

In the decades since his untimely passing at the age of thirty-two, Bruce Lee's body of work has grown to an undeniably lasting legacy. He went on to become globally recognized after his death, his influence acting as a cultural bridge between the East and West – popularizing martial arts and providing inspiration and momentum for a new arena of Western martial arts films. While the impact of his...

Elyse Myers is known to her 12 million followers as "The Internet's Best Friend," sharing relatable stories and comedic sketches while serving as an advocate for topics such as neurodiversity, impostor syndrome, body image, and more. Whether she's making people laugh with tales of disastrous dates or giving a voice to that awkward internal monologue many of us have, she has three simple goals behi...

"Our cuisine, with its grits and black-eyed peas, crab cakes, red rice, and endless variations on the staple foods of the region, casts a spell that, if you're lucky, gets passed down with snapping string beans at the table and chewing cane on the back porch." – Michael W. Twitty Cooking is more than just ingredients and instructions, and a big pot on the stove can act as a vessel for connection a...

Have you ever heard the phrase "healthy competition?" Competing is often viewed as a positive: we are told that it motivates us, drives innovation, and helps us excel. But what if this approach were mistaken, and competition actually causes more harm than good? In this panel discussion, author Ruchika T. Malhotra will be joined by Ijeoma Oluo, Ekin Yasin, and La'Kita Williams to explore the centra...

In his debut book  We Survived the Night, artist and writer Julian Brave NoiseCat takes readers on a complex journey of Indigenous experience stemming from a childhood rich with culture and contradictions. Reeling from his father — a Secwépemc and St'at'imc artist haunted by a troubled past — abandoning his family, NoiseCat and his non-Native mother found themselves embraced and invigorated by the...

If you're into comics and graphic novels, you probably know of Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud. Telgemeier rose to "first-name-only status" among middle-grade readers with her adaptations of  The Babysitters Club  and award-winning autobiographical graphic novels including  Smile  and  Guts . Scott McCloud is a leading comics theorist, having spoken and written about the art form since the 1980...

Arthur Oakes spends his days in a picturesque tableau of scholastic life – reading in the exceptional Rackham College library, dreaming against scenic Maine backdrops, entertaining a burgeoning romance with bold and brainy Gwen Underfoot. What more could a studious kid want? Surely not to be roped into a criminal endeavor by a local drug dealer and her partner, bent on committing a truly atrocious...