KUOW Book Club's April pick: A poetry anthology exploring our connection to nature

In partnership with the Seattle Public Library, the KUOW Book Club will read "You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World" this month.

In case you missed our previous announcement, "You Are Here" is this year's Seattle Reads pick. The poetry anthology was edited by 24th U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón and features 50 American poets who were invited "to observe and reflect on their local landscape." Among them are Seattle-area poets Laura Da' and Cedar Sigo.

RELATED: Seattle Reads + KUOW Book Club: Celebrating National Poetry Month with local voices

Da' and Sigo will join me (Book Club curator Katie Campbell) at the Central Library on April 24 to talk about their poems, the collection, and what it means to them to reflect on the world around us through poetry. I got a little sneak peak at the Seattle Reads kickoff party last week, when I moderated a panel that Da' was on, and I cannot wait to dig in even deeper with her and Sigo later this month.

Our conversation will be free to attend. Register here.

Because the book is a little different from our usual, I'm mixing up the reading schedule a bit. Here's what I propose:

• Get involved! Try writing a poem of your own about the natural world. Send me your work before April 14 to be included in my first write-up, when I'll also share my own poem.
• Finish the collection by April 24. Come out to our talk at the Central Library that night, and bring your poems for a chance to share them with the audience.
• I'll share my final thoughts on April 28.

RELATED: Subscribe to the KUOW Book Club newsletter here

SPL is also offering an assortment of opportunities to talk about "You Are Here" with your community in April and May. You can find more information about the book, book groups, and events planned to celebrate the collection here.

In addition to the KUOW Book Club event on April 24, mark your calendars on May 16 and 17. Ada Limón herself will be in town at three library branches to talk about her work, so you'll have a chance to ask her all about the inspiration behind "You Are Here." Limón's work also includes the book "Bright Dead Things," which was nominated for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Her most recent book of poetry, "The Hurting Kind," was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize. She is also the author of two children’s books, "In Praise of Mystery" and "And, Too, The Fox," which will be released this year.

Find an event with Limón at your local library branch:

• Central Library on May 16 at 7 p.m.
• Green Lake Branch on May 17 at 11 a.m.
• Columbia Branch on May 17 at 3 p.m.

Subscribe to the book club newsletter here and join the conversation by emailing me directly at kcampbell@kuow.org.

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Spoiler alert: For those of you who like to plan ahead, our May pick is "The Return of Ellie Black" by Emiko Jean. It's Jean's debut thriller novel, full of suspense that even had Stephen King on edge as he read.

Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. Then, her life is turned upside down when local teenager Ellie Black is found alive in the woods of Washington state — two years after she disappeared without a trace.

"The Return of Ellie Black" made the 2024 NPR "Books We Love" list, which I'd say bodes well for us readers — but maybe not so well for the characters at Jean's mercy.

RELATED: NPR's 'Books We Love' returns. 5 books for your Pacific Northwest reading list