What does 'home' mean to us? I could dwell on any number of themes in this, our third check-in, from the role of women in this story to the end of childhood when the world is falling apart around youth. But what I want to talk most about today is the concept of “home.” Katie Campbell
Digital reading soars in Seattle, creating problems for local libraries The Seattle region loves to read. Clare McGrane Patricia Murphy
Jamie Ford is a heartbreaker Jamie Ford doesn’t need me to tell him he's an exceptional writer, but I sure would like to have a word with him about his talent for setting a pleasant mood – and killing it in brutal fashion. Katie Campbell
Report: Last year ended with a surge in book bans According to PEN America, 4,349 books were banned from schools between July and December 2023, more than the entire previous school year. More than 3,000 of those bans were in Florida. Elizabeth Blair
Time's role in 'Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet' by Jamie Ford As a writer, I always wonder how much authors reveal about themselves in their work – whether they know it or not. I found myself thinking about that as I read the first 13 chapters of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, emotionally charged as they were. Katie Campbell
Get to know the Pacific Northwest with KUOW’s new book club We’ve tapped into the well-read minds of our KUOW editors, the Seattle Public Library staff, and other friends of KUOW to bring you our new book club. Katie Campbell
National American Library Association report says book challenges soared in 2023 Overall, the number of individual titles challenged in both school and public libraries spiked by 65% — the highest level ever recorded by the ALA. Tovia Smith
Libraries in Western Washington confront the challenges of being open to all Libraries are taking on a new role as social service providers, hiring mental health professionals and in some cases building an entire in-house social services team to help people in crisis who come to the library because they have nowhere else to go. Libby Denkmann Stephen Howie Jason Burrows
In 'Thunder Song,' a Coast Salish punk creates her own form of medicine If you read her award winning memoir, you may know Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe as a "Coast Salish punk." Now, LaPointe is back with a new essay collection, titled "Thunder Song: Essays". In it, LaPointe takes a raw, unflinching look the complexities of indigenous identity, the punk scene, and the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. Libby Denkmann Noel Gasca
In 'Feeding Ghosts,' author, illustrator Tessa Hull recounts a healing journey across generations In her latest book, Tessa Hulls traces her maternal lineage across three generations – each haunted by the tragedies of the past; her Chinese grandmother, Sun Yi, a journalist and author who fled Shanghai after the Communist Revolution. Then, to her mother Rose, the daughter of a Swiss diplomat, and finally, to Tessa herself, who is trying to bring peace to her family ghosts. Shin Yu Pai Hans Anderson