325. Joe Hill: King Sorrow: A Novel
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Release Date: 01/15/2026
345. Lauren Groff with Amber Flame: Brawler: Short Stories
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Whether you know her from her short stories in The New Yorker or The Atlantic or from one of her bestselling novels, Lauren Groff is arguably one of the leading literary voices in the U.S. Groff will share from her new collection of short stories, Brawler, which reflects upon humanity’s ceaseless battle between our dark and light angels. Ranging from the 1950s to the present day and moving across age, class, and region––from New England to Florida to California––the nine stories in Groff’s newest collection dive into the animal and the divine within us...
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344. Andrew Yang with Jonathan Sposato: Hey Yang, Where’s My Thousand Bucks?
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Remember that one time in 2019 when presidential candidate Andrew Yang promised a thousand dollars a month for a whole year to ten U.S. families if they donated to his campaign? Yang would like to address this. Pulling from his latest book titled Hey Yang, Where’s My Thousand Bucks?, Yang shares stories from his remarkable life so far, including this viral moment during a live presidential debate. Beyond championing universal basic income, Yang would like to bring a little humor into the world. In his candid and playful accounts, Yang examines where the U.S. sits today through the lens...
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343. Judith Enck with Bellamy Pailthorp: The Problem with Plastic
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
In less than 100 years, plastic has gone from a novel invention to a ubiquitous feature across the globe. Plastic is now found in everything from household objects to industrial mechanisms to inside human bodies themselves. Once a marvel of modern science, plastic has become so inextricably woven into our lives that imagining a world without it can seem impossible. Backed by years of research and reflections taking place in real time with changing technology and environmental awareness, The Problem with Plastic critically examines the paradox of this material and how swiftly its...
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342. John Patrick Green with Ben Clanton: InvestiGators: Agents of S.U.I.T.: Sew Much Trouble
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
When something wacky is going on in the Gatorverse, the Special Undercover Investigation Teams know that it’s time to S.U.I.T. up! Join the team at S.U.I.T. headquarters with the newest book in John Patrick Green’s InvestiGators spinoff series– Agents of S.U.I.T.: Sew Much Trouble. Someone has stolen the Notorious P.I.G. food truck, and with it, Piggy Smalls’ special BBQ sauce! But before super-spy Badgers Bongo and Marsha can solve the case, they need to solve the problems they’re having with each other. To help them realize what a great team they truly are, General Inspector...
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341. Kate Quinn with Elise Hooper: Astral Library: A Novel
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Have you ever wished you could go inside of a book? You could travel to a new place, see new sights, potentially live a different life altogether — all from the page. From New York Times bestselling author Kate Quinn comes Astral Library, a fantastical novel where books are not merely objects, but doors to different worlds, different adventures, and different futures. After growing up in the foster care system, protagonist Alix Watson came to believe one thing: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and letting her dreams...
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340. Thomas Mallon with Katie Campbell: Opera Talk: Fellow Travelers
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Hear from acclaimed author, essayist, and critic Thomas Mallon, whose novel Fellow Travelers (2007) inspired an opera and a SHOWTIME® miniseries. With exacting attention to historical detail, Mallon’s novel brings to life the shameful era in the early 1950s known as the Lavender Scare, during which gay and lesbian federal employees were systematically expelled from government service. More recently, Mallon also published The Very Heart of It (2025), a collection of journal entries during his literary coming-of-age during the AIDS crisis in New York City. Reporter Katie...
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339. Chuck Klosterman:The Football Phenomenon
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
For many Americans, football is more than just a sport — it is a way of life. Year after year, it remains the most watched sport in the country, captivating millions every season. A recent study showed that 93 of the 100 most-watched programs on U.S. television were NFL football games. Football, whether we like it or not, is inescapable. Chuck Klosterman, New York Times bestselling author, journalist, and critic, visits Town Hall just after Super Bowl Weekend to discuss his newest book, Football. Here, Klosterman dissects the question of natural greatness, looks at football through...
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338. Letters Aloud: Love Me or Leave Me: Letters of Loving, Longing, and Leaving
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Get ready to laugh, swoon, and maybe cringe just a little—Love Me or Leave Me from Letters Aloud unleashes the wild side of romance in a whirlwind show packed with real letters from history’s most lovelorn (and love-scorned) souls. With a cast of spirited actors, comedy crackles from every confession, break-up, and “did-they-really-write-that?” misadventure, all paired with lively music that sets hearts and funny bones tingling. It’s an unfiltered anthology of grand gestures, awkward flirtations, ridiculous rejections, and letters so sincere (or spectacularly misguided) you can’t...
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337. Vivian Tu with Tori Dunlap: Well Endowed: The Secrets to Strategic Spending
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
For most people, trying to be smart with money is a hurdle that isn’t going away anytime soon. And once you have a handle on the usual demands like bills, loans, and maybe even savings – what about the future? Long-term financial choices can be daunting and confusing, and isn’t wealth management advice for the already wealthy? How do everyday people balance today’s dreams and realities with tomorrow’s security? Tailoring her years of expertise for modern generations, bestselling author and CEO Vivian Tu wants to deconstruct the traditional framework of financial literacy and show...
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336. Jackson Cooper with Dr. Laura Marie Rivera: A Kids Book About Kindness
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
How can we be kind in today’s fast-moving, intense world? Kindness is a choice we make every day, but it’s also your superpower. Local author and educator Jackson Cooper, author of A Kids Book About Kindness (DK Kids, 2025), shares his insights on teaching the essential tools for kindness to families, parents, and the next generation of leaders. A Kids Book About Kindness is an accessible, family-friendly introduction for children and their caregivers to learn the tools of being kind. Using a “Kindness Toolkit”, author Jackson Cooper teaches readers the easy ways...
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Arthur Oakes spends his days in a picturesque tableau of scholastic life – reading in the exceptional Rackham College library, dreaming against scenic Maine backdrops, entertaining a burgeoning romance with bold and brainy Gwen Underfoot. What more could a studious kid want? Surely not to be roped into a criminal endeavor by a local drug dealer and her partner, bent on committing a truly atrocious crime against the law and academia itself – stealing rare books from the college library. In his attempts to escape the dangers stacked against him, Arthur turns down a dark and unforeseen path into extraordinary loopholes and treacherous trickery.
In his newest novel King Sorrow, author Joe Hill brings together an eclectic group of Arthur’s closest friends to scheme their way out of the peril breathing down their necks. Irrepressible moneybags Colin Wren, brave and beautiful Alison Shiner, the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride, and with dear Gwen in the mix, they should absolutely be able to get Arthur out of this bind. Should be simple really – grab an ominous tome bound in the skin of its author, warp the very reality of the world around them, summon a dragon to do their bidding.
But turns out there’s nothing simple about dealing with dragons, and this crew soon learns that supernatural deals with immensely powerful beasts should perhaps not be made so lightly. King Sorrow follows this group on their winding paths through both human and fantastical villainy, biting off more than they bargained for and facing a terrifying pattern to uphold. A new sacrifice must be chosen every year, or risk becoming King Sorrow’s next meal.
Joe Hill is a best-selling author of novels, novellas, short stories, and comics exploring genres of horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction. His previous published works include the award-winning novels Heart-Shaped Box, NOS4A2, and The Fireman as well as the shorts collections Strange Weather, 20th Century Ghosts, and Full Throttle. He is also the co-creator of the long-running comic series Locke & Key, which was later adapted into a Netflix TV series.
