326. Raina Telgemeier & Scott McCloud: The Cartoonists Club
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Release Date: 01/23/2026
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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334. David Guterson with Karen Maeda Allman: Evelyn in Transit
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Whether you know him from his award-winning and bestselling novel set in Puget Sound, Snow Falling on Cedars, or his columns in Pacific Northwest publications, Bainbridge writer David Guterson may be one of our region’s most well-known writers. He’s written a new novel, Evelyn in Transit, which explores what it means to live a righteous life, maybe even in spite of our imperfections. Guterson’s novel introduces Evelyn Bednarz, who is radically open-minded, formidably strong, and unusually clear-eyed about herself and others. Yet Evelyn has always been a misfit in society. She’s...
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If you’re into comics and graphic novels, you probably know of Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud. Telgemeier rose to “first-name-only status” among middle-grade readers with her adaptations of The Babysitters Club and award-winning autobiographical graphic novels including Smile and Guts. Scott McCloud is a leading comics theorist, having spoken and written about the art form since the 1980s. In fact, Telgemeier credits McCloud’s work for inspiring her when she was a teenager. Now these two leading artists come together to discuss the unique power of comics and their new graphic novel, The Cartoonists Club.
Their book centers around four characters: Makayla, who is bursting with ideas but doesn’t know how to make them into a story; Howard, who loves to draw but struggles to come up with ideas and his dad thinks comics are a waste of time; Lynda, who constantly draws in her sketchbook but keeps focusing on what she feels are mistakes; and Art, who simply loves being creative.
Throughout the book, Telgemeier and McCloud infuse how-to advice on comics creation that, they hope, will inspire a new wave of cartoonists. They both have seen renewed enthusiasm for the genre, especially among younger readers and are teaming up to provide an entertaining and practical guide to the magic of comics storytelling.
Raina Telgemeier is the #1 New York Times bestselling, multiple Eisner Award–winning creator of Smile, Sisters, and Guts, which are all graphic memoirs based on her childhood. She is also the creator of Drama and Ghosts, and is the adapter and illustrator of the first four Baby-sitters Club graphic novels. Facing Feelings: The Art of Raina Telgemeier is a companion catalog for an exhibition held at Ohio State University’s Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. Raina lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. To learn more, visit her online at goraina.com.
Scott McCloud is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art; Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga, and Graphic Novels; Zot!; and The Sculptor. He is a frequent lecturer on the power of visual communication, creator of the international 24-hour comic movement, and, in 2021, was inducted into the Will Eisner Awards Hall of Fame. His art and stories are available in more than 30 languages and on the web at scottmccloud.com
