Charles Mudede already told you about the Birkensnake reading happening at Vermillion tonight. It looks like it's going to be a really good time, with readings from Maged Zaher, Charles, Ezra Mark, Matt Briggs, and Robert Mittenthal. But it's not the only thing happening tonight, by a long shot. To start with, there's another group reading happening just down the street from Vermillion at the Hugo House. It's called "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two." It features local poets Kelly Davio, Nicelle Davis, Maggie MK Hess, Sierra Nelson, and Alexis Vergalla reading new work about Miller's Law, which says that we can only retain so much information in our memories. I like these kinds of theme readings, which are kind of like one-night-only anthologies.
But if you're looking for non-fiction, you should head north. At the W.H. Foege Building Auditorium in the U District, Tom Reh will give a lecture titled "Restoring Sight to the Blind: the Future Looks Bright" as part of the UW Graduate Program in Neurobiology & Behavior-sponsored NeuroTalks public lecture series. And at University Book Store, Daniel James Brown will be reading from The Boys in the Boat, which is subtitled Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It's about the UW rowing team that fought the Nazis, which makes it a very interesting piece of overlooked Seattle history.
You will never think of them as the Dark Ages again. Griffith's command of the era is worn lightly and delivered as a deeply engaging plot. Her insight into human nature and eye for telling detail is as keen as that of the extraordinary Hild herself. The novel resonates to many of the same chords as Beowulf, the legends of King Arthur, Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thronesâto the extent that Hild begins to feel like the classic on which those books are based.
When Neal Stephenson congratulates you on your historical fiction, you know you're doing something right. Find out more about everything else happening tonight in the readings calendar.
