Events
| Mon | ||
|---|---|---|
Start: 7:00 pm
We are delighted to help celebrate publication, and welcome into the world, Seattle journalist Sam Howe Verhovek's chronicle of a heyday in local and aviation history, Jet Age: The Comet, the 707, and the Race to Shrink the World (Avery). This bracing story tells of the race to develop the first passenger jetliner that would be able to provide trans-oceanic service—this within fifty years of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk. The executives, the engineers, and the test pilots all played key roles—these and more are vividly drawn by Sam Howe Verhovek, a former national correspondent for The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. "In this marvel of a tale, Sam Howe Verhovek reveals the most astounding miracle in modern life, and it's been hiding in plain sight. Forget computers and television, Facebook, and Google. The Jet Age has shrunk our planet, obliterated borders, and changed virtually every aspect of life on earth. At its heart is the gripping story of two extraordinary, larger-than-life men whose race to unlock the secret of jet travel transformed our world." - William Broyles, Jr.
Start: 7:00 pm
Co-presented with the WASHINGTON CENTER FOR THE BOOK AT THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY. Born in Addis Ababa and now living in Paris, Dinaw Mengestu returns to a Seattle that was one of the first cities to embrace his award-winning debut novel, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears. From a well-attended reading at Elliott Bay early in the book's life to its choice as a Seattle Reads selection by The Seattle Public Library, Seattle readers chorused this book's praises, as did The Guardian (Guardian First Book Prize), the Los Angeles Times (Art Seidenbaum Award), and others. He was also a recent "20 Under 40" selection of The New Yorker. All of this is prelude for his being here tonight—with a luminous new novel, How to Read the Air (Riverhead). "Mengestu stunningly illustrates the immigrant experience across two generations ... Mengestu draws a haunting psychological portrait of recent immigrants to America, insecure and alienated, striving to fit in while mourning the loss of their cultural heritage and social status. Mengestu's precise and nuanced prose evokes characters, scenes, and emotions with an invigorating and unparalleled clarity." - Publishers Weekly. Free admission is on a first-come, first serve basis. Seattle Public Central Library is at 1000 Fourth Avenue (between Madison & Spring). For more information, please call Elliott Bay at (206) 624-6600, The Seattle Public Library at (206) 386-4636, or see www.spl.org.
| ||
