Third Place Books Presents: David B. Williams and Jennifer Ott discussing "Seattle's Locks and Ship Canal"
Third Place Books welcomes Jennifer Ott and David B. Williams for a conversation about Seattle's Locks and Ship Canal: A History and Guide. Exploring the history and present of the Lake Washington Ship Canal and the Ballard Locks, this guide is an informative primer on our city's waterways.
Jennifer Ott is executive director at HistoryLink.org and an environmental historian. Her works include Olmsted in Seattle: Creating a Park System for a Modern City and Where the City Meets the Sound: The Story of Seattle’s Waterfront. David B. Williams is a naturalist, author, and educator. His many books include Seattle Walks: Discovering History and Nature in the City, Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound, and Wild in Seattle: Stories at the Crossroads of People and Nature, a collection from his free weekly newsletter, Street Smart Naturalist. (Photo credit: Andrew Croneberger)
This event is free and open to the public. For important updates, RSVP is highly recommended in advance. This event will…
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: events@thirdplacebooks.com. Event Types: Special Events.
Wednesday, April 22, 2026, 7:00 PM.
Third Place Books Lake Forest Park.
For more info visit www.thirdplacebooks.com. Third Place Books and North Cascades Institute Present: Eric Wagner discussing "Seabirds as Sentinels"
Third Place Books welcomes Puget Sound Institute staff writer Eric Wagner to the Lake Forest Park store for a conversation about his new book, Seabirds as Sentinels: Auklets, Puffins, Shearwaters, and the View from Destruction Island. Interspersing accounts of research expeditions with inspired science writing, Wagner shows how the health of seabird populations forecasts the health of the Pacific Ocean as a whole.
This event is co-sponsored by the North Cascades Institute, a nonprofit conservation organization working to inspire environmental stewardship through transformative learning experiences in nature. Learn more at ncascades.org.
Tickets are free. For important updates, RSVP is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Help sustain Third Place Books' author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book through the bookstore.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: events@thirdplacebooks.com. Event Types: Special Events.
Thursday, April 23, 2026, 7:00 PM.
Third Place Books Lake Forest Park.
For more info visit www.thirdplacebooks.com. Tacoma Public Library and Write253 Present: Tamiko Nimura discussing "A Place for What We Lose"
Join Tamiko Nimura for the launch of her book A Place for What We Lose: A Daughter's Return to Tule Lake with Write253 in partnership with the Tacoma Public Library.
In a moving conversation with the past, Tamiko Nimura explores her late father’s life and her family’s wartime history at Tule Lake. The typewritten pages of her father’s unpublished memoir—written decades earlier about his childhood behind barbed wire—spark a reckoning with the long shadow of parental loss and the unresolved legacy of incarceration.
Following an innovative structure, Nimura interlaces her father’s vivid recollections with her own: scenes of camp life, family separation, and resistance alongside her present-day journey as a mother, writer, and descendant. Joining a community pilgrimage to Tule Lake transforms inherited pain into collective remembrance.
With honesty and lyrical precision, Nimura shows how intergenerational trauma and silence are transmitted, and how confronting them can foster healing. Part memoir, part…
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: Ted Williams, twilliams@tacomalibrary.org. Event Types: Special Events.
Tuesday, April 28, 2026, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
Tacoma Public Library, Main Branch.
For more info visit tacoma.bibliocommons.com. Browsers Bookshop Presents: Tamiko Nimura discussing "A Place for What We Lose"
Browsers welcomes author Tamiko Nimura to discuss her latest book A Place for What We Lose on Thursday, April 30 at 6:00 PM. The event will be held upstairs and copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.
A deeply affecting memoir of reckoning with a father’s death and the Japanese American incarceration
In a moving conversation with the past, Tamiko Nimura explores her late father’s life and her family’s wartime history at Tule Lake. The typewritten pages of her father’s unpublished memoir—written decades earlier about his childhood behind barbed wire—spark a reckoning with the long shadow of parental loss and the unresolved legacy of incarceration.
Following an innovative structure, Nimura interlaces her father’s vivid recollections with her own: scenes of camp life, family separation, and resistance alongside her present-day journey as a mother, writer, and descendant. Joining a community pilgrimage to Tule Lake transforms inherited pain into collective remembrance.
Tamiko Nimura…
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: browsersbooksolympia@gmail.com. Event Types: Special Events.
Thursday, April 30, 2026, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM.
Browsers Bookshop.
For more info visit www.browsersolympia.com. Seattle Public Library Presents: Tamiko Nimura discussing "A Place for What We Lose"
Join us for a conversation about Tamiko Nimura's memoir, A Place for What We Lose: A Daughter's Return to Tule Lake, a reckoning with her father’s death and the Japanese American incarceration.
Tamiko Nimura will appear in conversation with Caitlin Oiye Coon and Shawn Wong.
About the Book
In a moving conversation with the past, Tamiko Nimura explores her late father’s life and her family’s wartime history at Tule Lake. The typewritten pages of her father’s unpublished memoir—written decades earlier about his childhood behind barbed wire—spark a reckoning with the long shadow of parental loss and the unresolved legacy of incarceration.
Following an innovative structure, Nimura interlaces her father’s vivid recollections with her own: scenes of camp life, family separation, and resistance alongside her present-day journey as a mother, writer, and descendant. Joining a community pilgrimage to Tule Lake transforms inherited pain into collective remembrance.
With honesty and lyrical precision, Nimura shows…
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: leap@spl.org. Event Types: Special Events.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM.
Seattle Public Library, Central Library.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. The Burke Presents: How to Tell a Seabird's Tale with Eric Wagner, author of "Seabirds as Sentinels"
How do science writers and illustrators collect the data, information, and stories that inform their art? Join three Pacific Northwest artists—two writers and one illustrator—to learn how they distill their research on our local seabirds into engaging stories and compelling illustrations.
You’ll hear stories from Madison Mayfield, a science illustrator, taxidermist, and Assistant Collections Manager of the Burke Museum’s ornithology collection. You’ll find out how author and community scientist, Maria Mudd Ruth, turned data—and a lack of data—into her new book on the Pigeon Guillemot, The Bird with Flaming Red Feet. Eric Wagner, author and professional scientist, will share secrets for collecting and interpreting data on nocturnal Rhinoceros Auklets for his new book, Seabirds as Sentinels.
Join Maria Mudd Ruth, Eric Wagner, and Madison Mayfield for a succinct illustrated presentation followed by lively conversation moderated by science journalist Sarah DeWeert. Guillemots, auklets, and other seabird…
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: burkevis@uw.edu. Event Types: Special Events.
Wednesday, May 6, 2026, 6:30 PM.
Burke Museum.
For more info visit www.burkemuseum.org. Ballard Locks Presents: David B. Williams and Jennifer Ott discussing "Seattle's Locks and Ship Canal"
Join local historians David B. Williams and Jennifer Ott for a conversation about their newly released book, Seattle’s Locks and Ship Canal: A History and Guide, copublished by HistoryLink and the University of Washington Press. Through an engaging discussion and visually rich presentation, you’ll learn how this engineering marvel fits into the natural and cultural history of the city. Book signing to follow.
Jennifer Ott is executive director at HistoryLink.org and an environmental historian. Her works include Olmsted in Seattle: Creating a Park System for a Modern City and Where the City Meets the Sound: The Story of Seattle’s Waterfront. David B. Williams is a naturalist, author, and educator. His many books include Seattle Walks: Discovering History and Nature in the City, Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound, and Wild in Seattle: Stories at the Crossroads of People and Nature. He also writes a free weekly newsletter, Street Smart Naturalist: Explorations of the Urban Kind.
This…
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: mwoolbri@uw.edu. Event Types: Special Events.
Thursday, May 7, 2026, 6:00 PM.
Ballard M. Chittenden Locks.
Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network (BARN) Presents: Coll Thrush discussing "Wrecked"
The BARN hosts author Coll Thrush for the Monthly Speaker Program. Coll will discuss his new book, winner of the Pacific Northwest Book Award. Wrecked: Unsettling Histories from the Graveyard of the Pacific details the history of shipwrecks (over 2,000 recorded) from the Pacific Northwest to Vancouver Island and how “Indigenous people were the primary saviors of shipwrecked sailors” who settled on the land, accelerating colonization of regional cultures. Wrecked sheds welcome new light on the PNW’s complex past.
A discussion facilitated by author Beth Ann Mathews will follow Coll’s presentation. Copies of the author’s books will be available for purchase and signing at this free event. Coffee and snacks provided.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: mwoolbri@uw.edu. Event Types: Special Events.
Saturday, May 9, 2026, 10:30 AM.
BARN Bainbridge.
For more info visit www.create.bainbridgebarn.org. Puget Sound Institute Presents: Seabirds Live! An evening with Eric Wagner, author of "Seabirds as Sentinels"
What can tens of thousands of rhinoceros auklets tell us about the health of the Salish Sea? Get the inside scoop on the remote and often enigmatic seabirds of Protection and Destruction Islands. Author Eric Wagner will be on stage with seabird biologist Peter Hodum for a conversation on May 13 at the University of Washington Tacoma. The free event will feature original photos and audio, along with a discussion of Eric’s new book Seabirds as Sentinels.
Every year, tens of thousands of rhinoceros auklets return to the steep hillsides of Protection and Destruction Islands. When they arrive, scientists say, these football-shaped birds carry with them a story as big as the North Pacific.
Learn what seabirds are telling us about changing ocean conditions and the health of the Salish Sea. Find out the best technique for dodging a flying rhinoceros auklet. Take a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at seabird research in Washington state.
This event combines gorgeous photographs and audio recordings with an…
Event interval: Single day event. Campus room: Carwein Auditorium (Keystone 102). Accessibility Contact: mwoolbri@uw.edu. Event Types: Special Events.
Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
University of Washington Tacoma.
For more info visit www.pugetsoundinstitute.org. Barnes & Noble University District Presents: David B. Williams and Jennifer Ott discussing "Seattle's Locks and Ship Canal"
Join us for a fascinating presentation on Seattle history by two authors who bring the past alive. In their new book Seattle's Locks and Ship Canal: A History and Guide, David B. Williams and Jennifer Ott chart the vision that drove the canal’s creation and the dramatic changes it brought to the city’s economy, neighborhoods, and natural environment. Along the way, they highlight the political struggles, industrial ambitions, and ecological consequences that shaped one of Seattle’s defining projects.
Clear, informative, and visually rich, Seattle’s Locks and Ship Canal is both a primer on the city’s past and a companion for exploring part of its present-day waterfront.
David B. Williams is an author whose many books include Seattle Walks: Discovering History and Nature in the City and Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound.
Jennifer Ott is executive director at HistoryLink.org and an environmental historian. Her works include Where the City Meets the Sound: The Story of Seattle’s…
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: CRM3563@bn.com. Event Types: Special Events.
Thursday, May 14, 2026, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM.
Barnes & Noble University District.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Powell's City of Books presents: Tamiko Nimura in Conversation with Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong
Tamiko Nimura’s A Place for What We Lose (University of Washington Press) is a deeply affecting memoir of reckoning with a father’s death and the Japanese American incarceration.
In a moving conversation with the past, Nimura explores her late father’s life and her family’s wartime history at Tule Lake. The typewritten pages of her father’s unpublished memoir — written decades earlier about his childhood behind barbed wire — spark a reckoning with the long shadow of parental loss and the unresolved legacy of incarceration.
Following an innovative structure, Nimura interlaces her father’s vivid recollections with her own: scenes of camp life, family separation, and resistance alongside her present-day journey as a mother, writer, and descendant. Joining a community pilgrimage to Tule Lake transforms inherited pain into collective remembrance.
With honesty and lyrical precision, Nimura shows how intergenerational trauma and silence are transmitted, and how confronting them can foster healing. Part memoir,…
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: help@powells.com. Event Types: Special Events.
Tuesday, May 19, 2026, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
1005 W Burnside St. Portland, OR 97209.
For more info visit www.powells.com. Arboretum Foundation Presents: Lynda V. Mapes discussing "The Trees Are Speaking"
The Arboretum Foundation welcomes Seattle journalist and author Lynda V. Mapes to the Arboretum's Graham Visitors Center for a discussion and slide show about her new book The Trees Are Speaking: Dispatches from the Salmon Forests. The event will conclude with a book signing.
Presented by the Arboretum Foundation and the Elisabeth C. Miller Library.
Lynda V. Mapes specializes in coverage of the environment and Indigenous cultures and governments. Over the course of her 27-year career as a reporter at The Seattle Times, she earned numerous awards, including the Kavli Gold Science Journalism Award in 2012 and 2019 from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2025, she and a team of journalists at The Seattle Times were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting. Lynda is the author of seven books, including most recently The Trees Are Speaking: Dispatches from the Salmon Forests (University of Washington Press, 2025). She is the winner of the 2021 National Outdoor Book Award and…
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: info@arboretumfoundation.org. Event Types: Special Events.
Tuesday, June 2, 2026, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM.
Washington Park Arboretum.
For more info visit arboretumfoundation.org. Blaine Memorial UMC Presents: Tamiko Nimura discussing "A Place for What We Lose"
Join author Tamiko Nimura for a reading from her new book, A Place for What We Lose: A Daughter's Return to Tule Lake, followed by a conversation with Vince Schleitwiler.
"In this gut-wrenching work of intergenerational dialogue, Nimura braids passages from her late father's unpublished memoir of growing up in California's Tule Lake Japanese American concentration camp during WWII with her own reflections on the text" (Publishers Weekly).
This event is free and open to the public. Books will be for sale and signing from Madison Books. Cosponsored by Tsuru for Solidarity.
Tamiko Nimura is a creative nonfiction writer, VONA fellow, and public speaker. She is coauthor of We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration, which was a finalist for a 2022 Washington State Book Award.
Vince Schleitwiler, a fourth-generation Japanese American from Chicago, currently teaches ethnic studies at the University of Washington. He is the author of Strange Fruit of the Black Pacific: Imperialism’s…
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: mwoolbri@uw.edu. Event Types: Special Events.
Saturday, June 6, 2026, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Blaine Memorial UMC.