266. Hanif Abdurraqib: Reflections on Basketball, Life, and Home
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Release Date: 08/13/2024
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
What does it mean to bear witness to a city in flux, where the echoes of inequality, gentrification, and community resistance reverberate through its streets? Author and activist Reagan Jackson’s collection of essays, Still True, poses this question and chronicles her journey into the world of journalism. Equal parts personal testament, structural interrogation, and social criticism, Jackson offers a profound reflection on the evolving landscape of Seattle. By illuminating the struggles and triumphs of marginalized communities, Jackson reinforces our collective resolve in...
info_outline 272. Nicholas D. Kristof with Timothy Egan: A Journey Through JournalismTown Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Headlines from around the world flash on our television screens and appear on our newsfeeds, but we don’t always know what life is like for journalists who often risk their lives to deliver the news. New York Times columnist, Pulitzer Prize winner, and bestselling author Nicholas D. Kristof has penned a memoir, Chasing Hope: A Reporter’s Life about his four decades in and out of the newsroom — not only as a reporter but also as a foreign correspondent, bureau chief, and columnist. Since 1984, Kristof has worked almost continuously for the New York Times and has reported...
info_outline 271. Sebastian Junger: Musings on MortalityTown Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
When given the option, most people will go out of their way to avoid risking life and limb. However, the world is full of people who face untold dangers daily, by circumstance or by choice, and walk through life with a greater understanding of death than many possess. After a career as a war reporter and examiner of dangerous occupations, Sebastian Junger would’ve considered himself well-versed in the realities of dire consequences. Yet when a quiet afternoon at home resulted in a first-hand near fatality, he found himself ill-prepared to examine his experience. In his newest book, In...
info_outline 270. Miranda July with Laurie Frankel: A Novel of Alluring AdventureTown Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
You’re planning a road trip — you’ve got snacks, you’ve got directions from Los Angeles to New York, and you’ve got a deep sense of curiosity and longing as the home you know fades quickly into your rearview mirror. For the forty-five year old artist at the heart of Miranda July’s All Fours, the pull towards the unknown proves a little too tempting. She pulls off the highway a mere thirty minutes from home, but far enough away to dive headfirst into a journey of surprises, thrills, and the authentic absurdity of human connection. In her upcoming second novel, Miranda July...
info_outline 269. Julian Randall with Ally Ang: Past, Present, and PrevailTown Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Many of us have sought information about our family history, trying to solve those unanswered questions about our predecessors. In the quest for truths about others through examining their lives and lineage, we may also find truths about ourselves in the process. In his latest release and nonfiction debut, The Dead Don’t Need Reminding: In Search of Fugitives, Mississippi, and Black TV Nerd Shit, New York Times bestselling author Julian Randall braids past with present as he retraces the life of his grandfather, a white-passing patriarch driven from a town in Mississippi, all the way to...
info_outline 268. Ruth Dickey with Rebecca Hoogs: Our Hollowness Sings — Poetry Celebrating ResilienceTown Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Our Hollowness Sings by Ruth Dickey explores human brokenness, navigating themes of loss, grief, and the quest for healing. Through seasons of profound absence, particularly the loss of her mother, Dickey crafts a poetic journey tethered to the earth, transforming grief into affirmations and blessings. The collection celebrates the human spirit’s resilience, offering striking insights into everyday spaces and the complexities of life. With honesty, humor, and heartbreak, Dickey’s poems embrace the full spectrum of human experience, transcending pain to reach for joy and renewal. In...
info_outline 267. Alua Arthur with Rebecca Crichton: A Friend At the End of the WorldTown Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
When it comes to our own mortality, one big thing that we all share is that we absolutely have to face it and most of us have no idea how to begin. Through her work as a death doula, Alua Arthur has honed the skills to aid others in navigating these uncertain seas- from the many logistics within end-of-life care to the often unpredictable cravings for human connection and understanding. These vulnerable moments can be colored by many emotions—pain, confusion, joy, regret, and release. Arthur’s passion for her work shapeshifts to meet people where they are and guide them towards where they...
info_outline 266. Hanif Abdurraqib: Reflections on Basketball, Life, and HomeTown Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, in the 1990s, Hanif Abdurraqib witnessed a golden era of basketball, one in which legends like LeBron James were forged and countless others weren’t. In his new book, There’s Always This Year, Abdurraqib tells his story of a lifelong love of the game with a lyrical, historical, and emotionally rich exploration of who we think deserves success, the tension between excellence and expectation, and the very notion of role models, woven together with intimate, personal storytelling. “Here is where I would like to tell you about the form...
info_outline 265. Cory Richards with Marcus Harrison Green: A Climber's Quest for Heights and HealingTown Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Growing up in the mountains of Utah, Cory Richards was constantly surrounded by the outdoors and was taught how to ski, climb, mountaineer, and survive in the wild. Despite a seemingly idyllic childhood, the Richards home was fraught with violence, grief, and mental illness. After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and dropping out of high school, Richards subsumed himself in the worlds of photography and climbing, seeking out the farthest reaches of the world to escape the darkness. Then, in the midst of a wildly successful career in adventure photography, a catastrophic avalanche changed...
info_outline 264. Carissa Stanton with Rachael DeVaux: Seriously, So Good — A Culinary AdventureTown Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Get ready to tantalize your taste buds and elevate your cooking game. Embark on a culinary journey with Seriously, So Good, featuring recipes crafted with love by Carissa Stanton, the creative force behind the food blog . Originating from her passion for food and community, Carissa’s philosophy centers on enjoying meals without restrictions, embracing balance, and savoring every bite. With a focus on feeling good about what you eat, Stanton invites readers to explore a stress-free approach to cooking, empowering readers to create mouth-watering dishes that nourish both body and...
info_outlineGrowing up in Columbus, Ohio, in the 1990s, Hanif Abdurraqib witnessed a golden era of basketball, one in which legends like LeBron James were forged and countless others weren’t.
In his new book, There’s Always This Year, Abdurraqib tells his story of a lifelong love of the game with a lyrical, historical, and emotionally rich exploration of who we think deserves success, the tension between excellence and expectation, and the very notion of role models, woven together with intimate, personal storytelling.
“Here is where I would like to tell you about the form on my father’s jump shot,” Abdurraqib writes. “The truth, though, is that I saw my father shoot a basketball only one time.”
No matter the subject — whether it’s basketball, music, or performance — Hanif Abdurraqib sends out a clarion call to radically reimagine how we think about our culture, our country, and ourselves.
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio, and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” grant. His most recent book, A Little Devil in America, was the winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Gordon Burns Prize and a finalist for the National Book Award. His first collection of essays, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, was named one of the books of the year by NPR, Esquire, BuzzFeed, O: The Oprah Magazine, Pitchfork, and Chicago Tribune, among others. Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest was a New York Times bestseller and a National Book Critics Circle Award and Kirkus Prize finalist and was longlisted for the National Book Award. He is a graduate of Beechcroft High School.