Shelf Lives

7 Seattle Books to Read This Fall

From Marcus Harrison Green's essay collection to a history of the 1991 Huskies by Mike Gastineau.

09/15/2021 By Stefan Milne

First Person, Last Word

The Power of Mutual Aid Extends Beyond Collective Crisis

Writer Shin Yu Pai reflects on the past year and a half, when we’ve relied on forms of community support more than ever.

09/08/2021 By Shin Yu Pai

First Person, Last Word

Pike Place Market Has Offered Me Lessons of Resilience

After a rough stretch in my life, the market's vendors and bounty were restorative.

07/09/2021 By Holly Regan Illustrations by Jane Sherman

Local Letters

3 New Books for Your Seattle Spring Reading

A how-to on parental feminism, essays about fruit (with recipes), and essays about whales.

03/23/2021 By Stefan Milne

First Person, Last Word

I Could Have Waited out the Pandemic in Singapore, but Seattle Kept Me

Community and solidarity proved powerful ballast.

03/18/2021 By Ruchika Tulshyan

First Person, Last Word

Sarah Leyrer Showed Us How to Live

My friend was a joyful advocate for justice.

12/07/2020 By Kristen Millares Young

Feature

Santa Is Real—He’s Also My Dad

Dad was never big on holidays. Then a jolly seasonal job gave us a new form of father-daughter bonding.

11/13/2020 By Marisa Comeau-Kerege Illustrations by Franziska Barczyk

First Person, Last Word

The Art of Living in the Rain

How my East Coast family learned to love this soggy city through my eyes.

10/20/2020 By Alex Pemoulié

First Person, Last Word

What a Virus Taught Me About Uncertainty

The five years I’ve lived with chronic illness have worked as a strange preparation for a pandemic.

08/04/2020 By Bess Lovejoy

Essay

Welcome to Seattle! Now Quarantine.

I uprooted to the Emerald City for excitement. But the pandemic thrust me back into isolation.

04/29/2020 By Benjamin Cassidy

First Person, Last Word

I Turned to Doula Work as an Alternative Form of Resistance

Burnt out with protesting in the streets, I discovered how to sustain myself while making change.

04/08/2020 By Jordan Alam

Essay

Coronavirus and the Struggle to Live Virtually

From streaming concerts to breaking quarantines, we're reckoning with our inability to encounter people in the real world.

03/25/2020 By Stefan Milne

FIRST PERSON, LAST WORD

As Seattle Grew, I Grew Up

The same blocks I walked in my feral 20s have new stories to tell.

02/25/2020 By Angela Garbes

The Upside of In-Between

A Reluctant Love Letter to Brunch

Learning to love the most American of meals.

12/23/2019 By Jessica Voelker

Essay

Life at 15 Knots: Coming of Age Aboard a Ferry

Growing up, Rosin Saez took the ferry to get away. Now it brings her home.

04/23/2019 By Rosin Saez

Nonstarter Home

Seattle Is Still a Seller’s Market. But Who Can Afford to Buy?

We've so been here before.

02/27/2018 By Ciara O'Rourke

Essay

The Great Divide: Growing Up in Rural Washington as a Muslim Immigrant

What being an outsider taught me about race, class, and politics today.

08/17/2017 By Hayat Norimine

Ultimate Hawaii Guide

The Push and Pull of Paradise

A Seattleite contemplates growing up in Hawaii and leaving it all behind.

12/20/2016 By Ethan Chung