Signature Dish

The Signature Dish

Monday, October 4, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
(Tickets required)

Sponsored by HarperCollins

Carolyn Wood / Class Notes: A Young Teacher’s Lessons from Classroom to Kennedy Compound

Oregonian Carolyn Wood went from being a first-year high school English teacher to spending a year at the Hyannis Port compound of the Kennedy family, working as governess to the Kennedy children in the aftermath of Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination. Her experiences during that tumultuous time in American history are chronicled in Class Notes (White Pine Press), Wood’s second volume of memoir, following her award-winning debut Tough Girl. Wood taught for over thirty-five years, and was an Olympic gold medalist in swimming at just fourteen.

Jill Louise Busby / Unfollow Me: Essays on Complicity

Olympia writer and cultural commentator Jill Louise Busby, aka jillisblack, speaks out on race, power and hypocrisy in Unfollow Me (Bloomsbury Pub./Macmillan), a unique memoir-in-essays from an insightful and challenging voice. These essays offer a deeply personal, razor-sharp critique of white fragility (and other words for racism), respectability politics (and other words for shame), and all the places where fear masquerades as progress. Busby is a writer, filmmaker and sought-after speaker; Unfollow Me is her first book.

Kim Fay / Love & Saffron

Former EBBC bookseller Kim Fay’s second novel Love & Saffron (G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin) is a witty and delicious tale of two women brought together through the power of food, set in LA and Camano Island against the backdrop of an America in flux in the 1960s. Kim Fay is the author of The Map of Lost Memories, an Edgar Award finalist for Best First Novel, and the award-winning food memoir Communion: A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam.

Chelsea Bieker / Heartbroke

Heartbroke (Catapult/Penguin) is a collection of short stories from Chelsea Bieker, stories united by their settings under the hot sun of California’s Central Valley. The characters in these stories, whether looking for love or grace or meaning, are vividly brought to life through Bieker’s snapping prose. Chelsea Bieker is the author of the acclaimed novel, Godshot, and her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, McSweeney’s and other publications. Originally from the Central Valley, she now lives in Portland.

Stephanie Shaw / Sylvia Finds a Way

All the neighborhood animals want a snack from a delicious-looking garden, but none of them can get through the gardener’s protections – until Sylvia the tiny slug finds a way. Stephane Shaw’s delightful picture book, Sylvia Finds a Way (West Margin Press/IPS), playfully illustrated by Fiona Lee, shows how finding a new approach to a problem can make a big difference. Shaw is the author of several books for children, including the award-winning Tales from the Animal Shelter.

Ryan Busse / Gunflight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America

Ryan Busse, hunter, avid outdoorsman and a former firearms executive, pulls back the curtain on America’s multibillion-dollar gun industry in Gunfight (PublicAffairs/Hachette), offering a valuable insider’s perspective on an industry blinded by profits and largely responsible for an ever-growing cultural divide in our already divided nation. After leaving his successful career in the firearms business, Busse now works as a consultant to progressive organizations with the aim to undo the country’s dangerous radicalization. He lives in Montana.

Nicole Stellon O’Donnell / Everything Never Comes Your Way

Alaska poet Nicole Stellon O’Donnell explores the landscapes of memory, argument and wilderness in her third collection, Everything Never Comes Your Way (White Pine Press/Consortium). From manicured baseball fields to the debate podium, from the lobby of the public pool to the hallowed Alaskan cabin where John Haines once sat down to write, these poems push against the notion that the solitary self is the arbiter of truth. O’Donnell’s first collection, Steam Laundry, won the WILLA Literary Award for Poetry.

Jay Coles / Things We Couldn’t Say

In Jay Coles’ new novel, Things We Couldn’t Say (Scholastic Press), seventeen-year old Gio has a lot on his plate. His mother left him, his father and brother eight years ago without a word. And now that Gio’s finally getting his life together, she’s back. Jay Coles is a champion for and writer of diverse books, including the acclaimed young adult novel Tyler Johnson Was Here. He is also a teacher, a composer and a professional musician.

Donna Sandstrom / Orca Rescue! The True Story of an Orphaned Orca Named Springer

In 2002, when an orphaned orca calf was spotted alone in Puget Sound, Seattleite Donna Sandstrom eagerly joined the volunteer effort to return the calf to health, and to her home waters in Canada. Orca Rescue! The True Story of an Orphaned Orca named Springer (Kids Can Press/Hachette) is the captivating story of the only successful orca rescue and reunion ever. Sandstrom’s fascinating up-close-and-personal depiction of the rescue mission includes new behind-the-scenes details, narrative storytelling, and factual information about orcas.

Layne Maheu / Man of the World

With rich historical detail, Layne Maheu tells the story of real-life aviator Hubert Latham in Man of the World (Chatwin Books). The novel brings to life the dawning days of aviation, from the daring pilots like Latham to the people on the ground who made flight possible. Layne Maheu has worked as a carpenter, a shop teacher, and of course, as a writer. His first novel, Song of the Crow, was a Booksense (now IndieBound) pick.

Cassandra Newbould / Every Body Shines: Sixteen Stories About Living Fabulously Fat

Cassandra Newbould is the editor of and contributor to Every Body Shines (Bloomsbury YA/Macmillan), a ground-breaking collection of stories for young adults celebrating body diversity and fat acceptance. Teen readers will find it easy to identify with a kaleidoscope of fat main characters in stories from various genres, from contemporary romance to science fiction and fantasy. Cassandra Newbould is the creator and host of the podcast Fat Like Me, and a writer of middle grade and young adult fiction.

Alexandria Bellefleur / Count Your Lucky Stars

Lambda Literary Award-winning author Alexandria Bellefleur offers up another steamy queer romance in Count Your Lucky Stars (Avon/HarperCollins). In a classic story of the-one-who-got-away, Margot Cooper has had it with relationships, until a chance encounter with her childhood friend and first great love makes her think about what she might be missing. Alexandria Bellefleur is the best-selling author of Written in the Stars and Hang the Moon with a weakness for good coffee, Pike IPA, and Voodoo Doughnuts.

Jaimal Yogis / City of Dragons #1: The Awakening Storm
Middle grade readers will slip right into the action in Jaimal Yogis’ City of Dragons #1: The Awakening Storm (Graphix/Scholastic), illustrated by Vivian Truong. Grace, a young girl new to her Hong Kong boarding school, is given an egg while on a field trip, and the egg soon hatches to reveal a baby dragon. Jaimal Yogis is the author of several books for adults, including Saltwater Buddha, and the Mop Rides the Waves series of picturebooks for children.

Margaret Owen / Little Thieves

Magic, mayhem and just a little larceny are at play in Margaret Owen’s Little Thieves (Henry Holt BYR/Macmillan), a standalone novel for young adults. A young maid, blessed with the gift of magic by her godmothers Death and Fortune, uses that gift to impersonate a princess, a useful disguise for robbing the noble families blind. But luck can easily turn, leaving debts to pay and wrongs to right. A Seattle resident, Margaret Owen is also the author of the Merciful Crow series.

Christina Suzann Nelson / Shaped by the Waves

CBA bestselling author Christina Suzann Nelson offers a heartfelt story of a woman facing her past in Shaped by the Waves (Bethany House/BPG). Cassie George returns home to the small town she had left behind years before, called back when her aunt suffers a stroke. Waiting for her is a mysterious package, one that holds the key to Cassie’s understanding who she is and where she came from. Shaped by the Waves will be published in February, 2022.

Andy Chou Musser / A Home Under the Stars

Seattle writer and illustrator Andy Chou Musser addresses the difficulties and anxieties a child might feel in moving to a new place in A Home Under the Stars (Little Bigfoot/RH). A move from the country to the city means a little boy can no longer see familiar stars in the night sky. With a lion and other lost creatures, he embarks on a magical nighttime adventure in search of the North Star, the star that will guide them home.