2026.1.12. Ted Chiang and Eric Heisserer at Elliot Bay Books

1/12, Monday, 7pm at Elliot Bay Books. Ted Chiang in conversation with Eric Heisserer on Heisserer's debut novel Simultaneous. Heisserer is the screenwriter of Arrival which is adapted from Chiang's novela Story of Your Life.

I'm a little surprised that the event ran along mostly about Heisserer's book, even audience's questions. I, and I'm sure many others, came because of Chiang. I not only registered, but also showed up 5 minute before the schedule - very rare for me. The room was almost full. Chiang is a bit tongue-tied, even though it appears that he had prepared for event. A minute or 2 after he started speaking, it ran smoothly. Seems to me that he is composing his sentence in his mind. Heisserer is a much better talker, funny too. Tonight's event started by him reading a short passage of his book. It feels very movie-like, natural output of a screenwriter. They discussed time-travel, and how it may fall apart. Also how irrational the TV/movie studios work: time pressure, boss' taste, AI. Audience asked work+creative life balance (answer: none, need to alternate), how much magic can a fantasy story use (answer: 1).

Both authors are very down-to-earth, amicable. I really enjoyed it.

2025.12.6-7. Winter Fest 2025 + A Christmas Carol

Winter fest in Seattle Center is not limited to this weekend. The highlight is the elaborate train and village set, every year.

12/6, 12:30. Seattle Boys' Choir sang in Armory. This is just one group. Interesting that the age of the boys in the advanced group and middle group seem similar. The beginner group is definitely younger.

Every Saturday, an ice sculpture is carved outside of Armory. 12/6, Northwest Iceworks chipped this whole thing in under an hour.

12/6-7, Urban Craft Uprising at Exhibition Hall. Many small craft shop selling their products every year before holidays. Usually fun to check out. Here are a couple of funny ones. I made a snowflake tree ornament at a craft session using some quick-set resin and golde+silver flakes.

12/6, 12:00-14:30. Figgy Pudding Caroling. I was late, only saw the final award and performance of the 12 days of Christmas by Beaconnettes - my favorite.

12/6, 11:00-17:00. Birds Connect Seattle hosts an open house, with a falconer showcasing his 2 birds: Taita Falcon and Eurasian Eagle-Owl. Both non local, both raised from a baby, so they are quite domesticated. There's a table with a few preserved birds that you can touch. Questions and answers.

7pm, Elliot Bay Books. A staged reading of Dickens' A Christmas Carol by Elijah Pasco. He was very good, different voices for different characters. I really enjoyed it.

2025.11.21. Legendary Children at Seattle Art Museum

11/21, Friday. SAM hosts the 10 year anniversary of Legendary Children. I've attended two of those, both at Paccar Pavilion of the Olympic Sculpture Park. Both colorful and loud, some interesting and outrageous outfits. Never a lot of people, consider the non-binary population in the city.

Today is no different. I arrived late, missed some speeches. Same, because it's a flat venue, if you are not close to the stage, your view is block. Thanks to the stairs in the art museum, I could peek through these hanging clouds. This is the runway at the end of the event.

We were allowed to go see the exhibitions in the museum. I was eager to check out the new exhibition Farm to Table. Highly recommend. Most are on-loan (so come and see it now). Many French painters that I'm not aware of. I especially like Gilbert and his portrait of Les Halles food market and workers (see the photo on right). This painting of a shepard and his sheep with a heavy menacing sky by Jacque is huge, set right at the entrance of this exhibition. I also like this painting of selling rat for food during WWI by Chaillou. A large space is set as a dinning room with plastic fruits and placesets, for you to sit and chat with other visitors. Kinda interesting.

Before entering this special exhibition on the 4th floor, I found this giant wooden wolf. And as usual, I alwasy visit the porcelain room (my favorite space of Seattle Art Museum). Good that today is not busy, and I had it for myself for a few minutes.

Before that, I went to Elliot Bay Books to an author event by Travis Holp on his new book Are You There, Spirit? It’s Me, Travis: Life Lessons from the Other Side. Travis works as a medium between you and your deseased loved ones. His clients book in-person or zoom reading. He's kinda funny and approachable. At the end of book talk, he did reading for 2 audience members. The first one is a bit odd, other than "father" (of 2 sisters), the other signs didn't realize. The 2nd one is a mother of a lady on the 1st row, and everything he said turned out to be correct. I wonder if she's planted. Only about a dozen people in attendance.

2025.11.4. Ed Yong: Becoming a Birder

11/4, Tuesday, 6:30pm. An excellent talk hosted by UW Graduate School at Town Hall: Ed Yong speaks about Becoming a Birder. I found this recording on Youtube of the same talk he gave earlier this year. The talk is very well laid out, excellent photos by Yong himself, many moments of funny remarks. This photo is a wetland near his home where he first picked up birding. He talked about peace (meditative, quiet), community (other birders), reliability and surprises, amazing feats by some birds. The only one I still remembered is the non-stop migration pf Bar-tailed Godwit. During Q&A, he commented that his next book will be published early 2027, which he just finished. That's much longer than I expected.

Out in the lobby, there's a table to sign up on some bird club. A few flattened bird that we are allowed to touch. All their furs are very soft.

Update: I just ordered both of his books, even though I've already read one. I also bought a laminated leaflet of PNW birds when I went to a different book talk at Elliot Bay Books.

2025.9.30. Why Libraries Matter, TILE 2025 Symposium at Seattle University, School of Law

9/30 Tuesday. First time I attended Technology, Innovation Law, and Ethics (TILE) Institute's annual symposium: Why Libraries Matter Now More than Ever to Democracy: Legal Issues Affecting the Future of Public Knowledge

• Why the Library of Congress Matters
  Hope O’Keeffe - Senior Associate General Counsel, Library of Congress (ret)
  Nancy Weiss - Principal, CultureSQ Capitol Strategies and Senior Policy Fellow, American University Washington College of Law
• The Library of Congress Under Fire: Can Congress Create a New Legal Framework to Protect its Mission?
  Leslie Street - Director, Wolf Law Library Clinical Professor of Legal Research, William & Mary Law School
  Amanda Runyon - Associate Dean and Director, Biddle Law Library, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
• AI Politics and the Future of the U.S. Copyright Office
  Blake E. Reid - Associate Professor of Law, University of Colorado Law School, Faculty Director, Telecom and Platforms Initiative at the Silicon Flatirons Center
• The Licensed Library
  Aaron Perzanowski - Thomas W. Lacchia Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School
• Leveraging Technology and Copyright to Revolutionize Libraries in the Service of the Public Interest
  Michelle M. Wu - Associate Dean of Library Services, Director of Law Library, and Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center (ret)
  (My notes: 2 hyperthetical proposals: international digital depository; national lending library with digital copy of all public libraies).
• Keeper of the Commons: The Library of Congress and Its Unique Copyright Role
  David Hansen - Executive Director, Authors Alliance
  (My notes: contract vs fair-use right, license vs ownership.)

I was late, missed the first 2 speakers. I very much enjoyed Leslie and Amanda's talks. Learned the formation of library of congress, and various law cases. Also liked Michelle's 2 proposals.

When the symposium finished, we were invited to join a reception on the 2nd floor to honor Catherine Romero for her mentorship to latino law students. Speeches and food. 2 of her former students (both working for Microsoft) were here giving testimony. I happened to sit at the table with a bunch of law school librarians. Interesting to hear them talk.

2025.6.13. Jess Walter at Elliott Bay Book Co.

6/13, Friday. 7pm. Walked up to Elliott Bay Book for an author reading event. Jess Walter is in town promoting his new book So Far Gone. My bad of arriving late. Thankfully there were still a couple of seats left. I really enjoy listen to Jess Walter. During Q&A, he talked about arranging short stories into a collection, his growing up in rural WA, his father, his brother. He also mentioned that his books are more hopeful as he gets older and sees more ugly truths, or rather he tries to be more hopeful. This is the 3rd time (all in this year) I hear him talking. Will go again.

The stupid reason of being late, is that before the book talk, I went to an open house of COVE, a waterfront restaurant and bar. They do catering. Free food and drink (nothing extraordinary). Good view. I over-estimated my speed for eating and walking!

2025.6.4. Jim Donini speaks at Feathered Friends

6/4, Wednesday, 6pm. Jim Donini talked about his new book Survival is not assured and showed old photos at Feathered Friends. Books were also sold there, where Donini would sign it. However, no Q&A section, as Donini talked a lot. Many interesting ancedotes, photos from his climbs for the past 50 years, as early as early 70s. The endurance is remarkable. They would climb in snowy windy conditions. I only climb on perfect sunny days. I'm only displeased that I was late, missed half of his talk. It was a full house. Many climbers in audience.

2025.5.11. Seattle Art Book Fair

This weekend 5/10-11, is the annual Seattle Art Book Fair at Washington Hall. Vendor tables stacked side by side through two floors. This photo shows the 2nd+3rd floor. A letter press to print on your tote bag or T-shirt. On Saturday, you can print your own slogan starts with "Books ARE". Many young creators, even students learning book binding. Zines, posters, anything printed. Also service providers like open studio

I attended this talk by Carletta Carrington Wilson, Jane Carlin (Board of the Book Club of Washington and Puget Sound Book Artists), Jodee Fenton of Aubergine Atelier (chair of Northwest chapter of Guild of Book Workers), Bonnie Thompson Norman of The Windowpane Press, and Esther Ervin (a visual artist), ordered by seating in this photo (left to right). I very much enjoyed the thought that went into each project. After the talk, we were able to flip through the books that they talked about, and ask questions in person. They are all very easy to talk to.

At 2:30pm, Taha Ebrahimi (author of Street Trees of Seattle) led a walking tour of the Cherry Hill neighborhood. By the time I knew about this guided walk, the tickets were sold out. So, I just went to the starting point and waited. Not everyone showed up (as usual), so I got to go with the group. Very much enjoyed her walk. She's loud and clear, very enthusiastic about trees and Seattle history. She also made a zine of a map of our route! We stopped at some very large trees (all non-native except for the maple): Black Locust (fix nitrogen), a male palm tree full of flowers, Lawson Cypress (thick bark, resistent to fire), Western Red Cedar (not a cedar, funny looking seeds), Big Leave Maple, English Laurel, Horse Chestnut (the inside of the flowers turn from yellow to red after being pollinated), Incense Cedar (look at the young seed cones), Manna Ash in full bloom across the street from Hugo House, Golden Weeping Willow, Some of these are no longer allowed to plant, need permit Street Trees.

We also walked by the People Wall of the former Black Panther HQ, the restaurant where Martin Luther King ate, and the very first first Judo Club in US.

Walking back to downtown along Boren Ave. Saw a row of pink flowered horse chestnut trees on University Ave. The inside is also yellow and red. What an amazing detail that I never noticed.

2025.5.7. Viet Thanh Nguyen at Seattle Public Library

5/7, Wednesday. 7pm. A sold-out author event, Viet Thanh Nguyen and Shawn Wong discuss “To Save and Destroy”. I don't have a ticket. Arrived at 7pm to see if there was space, and yes there was. Very much enjoyed it.

Viet Thanh Nguyen had a shiny hair cut, a little flashy. First he talked about him being left in a library at a young age, picking up English from the books, as he grew away from his parents. A little bit about his sister who was left in Vietnam when his family fled when he was just 4 years old. At the discussion with Shawn, he talked about being "others", need to speak up for "others", not just for Vietnamese, or just for Asians, but for all the "others", those who don't conform, those whom were looked down and discriminated. At Q&A, he expressed the sadness of so many universities capitulated to Trump's threat of removal of funding. He is not shy of talking about money. Both are well spoken, sharp, and clear, critical.

I sat the 2nd last row. 4 students of Shawn were sitting in the last row. They said that they were reading Viet Thanh Nguyen's A Man of Two Faces in class.

2025.4.15. Enduring Spirit of Vietnam

4/15, Seattle Library hosts the first event of Enduring the Spirit of Vietnam in commemoration of the 50 years after the Fall of Saigon. The theme is how arts have played a powerful role in the healing/reconciliation and exposing problems, as well as in building bridges for future.

Author and poet Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai discussed her poems, news articles, intonation of the language.
Photographor Peter Steinhauer showed his amazing photos and talked about his history including his father who practiced medicine in Vietnam. He also tried to use his images to protect some historical buildings in the brink of destruction or clapsing. One anecdote of how he met his wife: she fell in love with one of his photos.

I arrived a little late. Very much enjoyed those photos and their talks.

2025.4.6. Dogear Festival - Bainbridge Island Museum of Art

4/6, Sunday. Expecting rain, went to Bainbridge Island Museum of Art for the last day of Dogear Festival, all about print/book making. This is in conjunction with the current Power of the Press exhibition. When we arrived, this flamboyant author was reading her book. The rickety chair she was in is made of real books. I like the artsy book exhibition. The variety is amazing.
Got a print of "The Mountains are OUT". We were not allowed to change letters.
There was an "edible book" contest. Only ~6 contesters.
At 1pm, there was a lecture by Cassandra George and Joey Holmes of the Suquamish Tribe’s Cultural Resources Department’s Lushootseed Language Program. They talked about the Lushootseed (Puget Sound Salish) Alphabet and its role in Lushootseed Revitalization, Lushootseed Books, and Traditional Narratives. Quite interesting. They are both good speakers. 43 letters, representing distinct sounds.

It's a nice walk along the waterfront over the Overlook Walk to the ferry. The new boardwalk is almost complete. Swings are still locked. The new waterfront is coming along nicely. Riding on the ferry is always pleasant. We took the 10:40am ferry to, and 3pm ferry back. $10.25 - a good deal. I remember paying $7 about 20 years ago. It was pouring when we left the museum.

2025.3.26. Seattle Reads 2025 kickoff

Seattle Reads this year chose a poetry collection: You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World.

Today is the launch party, featuring Laura Da’, Claudia Castro Luna and José Luis “Pepe” Montero. Each shared a poem in this book and talked why they liked it.

We were given a book. Surprised to see snacks.

2025.2.21, 3.10, 17, 24, NEA Big Read "The Cold Millions" by Jess Walter

Folio at Pike Place Market hosted a series talks about this year's NEA's Big Read: The Cold Millions.

2/21, I went to Folio, received a paperback of "The Cold Millions". I didn't know that the author Jess Walter was present. He's one of my favorite local authors. Not too local. He's based in Spokane. I read 4 books of his, but not yet this one. I lined up for him to sign my newly acquired copy. I told him that his books are often too "sad".

3/10, Labor Connections Between Seattle and Spokane in the Early 20th Century" by Dr. Betsy Pingree. She talked about temp labor, the so-called hobo, bum, tramp. Fun to know about songs like Hallelujah, I'm a Bum, and The Big Rock Candy Mountains.

3/17, Radicals in the Community: Wobblies in the Pacific Northwest by Dr. Aaron Goings. He talked about the labor movement in the early days, the IWW, especially in Grays Harbor The helpful and mostly the swindling job agents between the labor and the employers. The lady in the photo is Jannie Sipo, a union organizer.

3/24, Jess Walter talked about this book. He mentioned that a class of the community college near his home decided to use his book as a teaching material. Later the same class would do a mock court trying. I brought my old copy of Beautiful Ruins to have him sign it. He recognized me. Maybe because I complained that his books are too sad!

2025.3.19. Author talk - The Inner Clock

3/19, Wednesday. 6:30pm. Seattle AWIS hosted a book talk by a local science writer Lynne Peeples on her new book: The Inner Clock - Living in Sync with Our Circadian Rhythms. Some takeaways:

• make day brighter (bluer light), and night darker (redder light)
• eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper
• make the time of sleep, eat, excerce more regular per day
• restricting food intake to daylight (reduce the time difference between the first and the last meal of the day)
• to reduce jet lag, stimulate with light more towards waking up, rather than closer to going to sleep

Not too many people came. Some were on Zoom. Not all women either. Those who came are very nice. I ended up chatting with an old guy who biked around world ~40 years ago. The president of AWIS, Tracy E. Popowics, gave a short speech. She's not a good speaker. I find the treasurer - Reitha Weeks very nice and she speaks well.