Nature of Writing Speaker Series
Calling all nature lovers and bibliophiles! Discover your next great read in presentations by authors, artists, poets and naturalists sharing their new works during our Nature of Writing Speaker Series. Hosted partnership with Village Books in Bellingham and Third Place Books in Seattle, this series celebrates the creative minds illuminating the natural world with the turn of a page.
A deep appreciation for the transformative power of literature and art has been at the heart of North Cascades Institute since the very beginning, and we believe that the humanities provide important lenses through which we inhabit and understand our shared landscapes. By bringing our community together in conversation at these events, we aim to support authors, poets and artists and amplify their voices to promote lifelong stewardship through better understanding of the world around us.
SEPTEMBER 2025
Edible Plants of the Pacific Northwest
by Natalie Hammerquist
Tuesday, September 2 at 7 pm
Third Place Books, Seward Park
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Sunday, September 14 at 4 pm
Village Books, Fairhaven
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A foraging guide that emphasizes the tastiest wild foods of the region, Edible Plants of the Pacific Northwest is a comprehensive, effective, and ethical resource for anyone interested in foraged food. Appropriate for beginners and experienced naturalists alike, this book teaches readers to identify, harvest, and cook with 40 of the region's most common wild plants. Expert forager and educator Natalie Hammerquist not only teaches readers to recognize the most common plants, but she also shows them how to steer clear of threatened species, as well as toxic and poisonous plants, using highly detailed visuals to make identification more immediate and accurate. Her holistic approach to wild foods incorporates both Eastern and Western traditions, as well as folk knowledge, and invites people to form relationships with the land and to act with reciprocity and care in our wild spaces.
FAMILY STORY HOUR | DOUBLE FEATURE
Blue by Suzanne Kaufmann | Families of a Feather by Fern Wexler
Saturday, September 6 at 11 am | Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park
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Sunday, September 7 at 1 pm | Village Books, Fairhaven
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ABOUT BLUE
One summer morning, Boy wakes up to discover Blue. Curious, he follows this mysterious bird on a day’s worth of adventure, play, and exploring the nooks and crannies of their coastal home. And at night, they soar, with hands and wings reaching for the stars. But as the sunrise peeks out, Boy is forced to say goodbye to Blue. For now. In this gentle and touching story, New York Times bestselling illustrator Suzanne Kaufman proves that love can transcend all boundaries.
ABOUT FAMILIES OF A FEATHER
Discover the family lives of a variety of bird species and the many different ways they work together to care for their young in this gorgeous book that celebrates diversity and inclusion. Families of a Feather illustrates the diverse nature of family structures with a message of love and acceptance that no matter what a family looks like they express their love for each other, and everyone deserves to be loved. The book includes a short field guide with more information about the bird species included in the book.
by Paul Koberstein and Jessica Applegate
Saturday, September 13 at 2 pm
Village Books, Fairhaven
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In Canopy of Titans, Paul Koberstein and Jessica Applegate examine the global importance of the Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest that stretches from Northern California to Alaska. Drawing on years of on-the-ground reporting, Koberstein and Applegate pull back the curtain on policies of governmental bodies that have seriously diminished the rainforest’s capacity to store carbon, and uncover industry practices that have led to the destruction of swaths of a major ecological resource. Additionally, using an environmental justice perspective, Canopy of Titans shines a light on the Indigenous communities that have lived in the rainforest for millennia, and the impact forest policies have had on their lives.
Special Event | Presented by Seattle Arts and Lectures, in partnership with Grist and North Cascades Institute
by Bill McKibben
Tuesday, September 16 at 7:30 pm
Town Hall, Seattle
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From the acclaimed environmentalist, a call to harness the power of the sun and rewrite our scientific, economic, and political future.
Our climate, and our democracy, are melting down. But Bill McKibben, one of the first to sound the alarm about the climate crisis, insists the moment is also full of possibility. Energy from the sun and wind is suddenly the cheapest power on the planet and growing faster than any energy source in history―if we can keep accelerating the pace, we have a chance.
Here Comes the Sun tells the story of the sudden spike in power from the sun and wind―and the desperate fight of the fossil fuel industry and their politicians to hold this new power at bay. From the everyday citizens who installed solar panels equal to a third of Pakistan’s electric grid in a year to the world’s sixth-largest economy―California―nearly halving its use of natural gas in the last two years, Bill McKibben traces the arrival of plentiful, inexpensive solar energy. And he shows how solar power is more than just a path out of the climate crisis: it is a chance to reorder the world on saner and more humane grounds. You can’t hoard solar energy or hold it in reserves―it’s available to all. There’s no guarantee we can make this change in time, but there is a hope―in McKibben’s eyes, our best hope for a new civilization: one that looks up to the sun, every day, as the star that fuels our world.
by Molly Hashimoto
Wednesday, September 17 at 7 pm
Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park
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Saturday, October 25 at 4 pm
Village Books, Fairhaven
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A lush celebration of wildflowers--the perfect gift for hikers, artists, or any nature lover. Bestselling artist Molly Hashimoto brings her unique blend of vibrant illustration, engaging natural history, and intimate personal reflection to the Western landscape--this time exploring the ephemeral beauty of wildflowers. Organized by habitat, Wildflowers of the West showcases flora from wetlands, shorelines, and prairies to deserts, forests, and alpine meadows. Accompanying each piece with natural history and stories of her own outings to find flowers, Hashimoto captures individual species through different media, from quick sketches with pen and ink to detailed watercolors and carefully planned block prints. Weaving in the history of wildflowers in art along with sidebars offering practical techniques for artists, Wildflowers of the West is an inspiration for anyone who would like to try their hand at capturing the delicate beauty of wildflowers they encounter or simply an armchair album for those who appreciate the natural beauty of the American West.
by Dave & Ilyssa Kyu
Thursday, September 18 at 7 pm
Third Place Books, Seward Park
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Friday, September 19 at 6 pm
Village Books, Fairhaven
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Expanding on the bestselling Campfire Stories volumes, which feature shareable tales from our national parks, this new series from Ilyssa and Dave Kyu immerses readers in the storytelling endemic to America’s beloved natural spaces, offering unique tours through diverse histories, lore, and local landscapes. Part story collection and part travel companion, each eye-catching volume begins with an anthology of "campfire stories"--from classic passages to original poetry, historical excerpts to fresh perspectives, treasured folk songs to local myths. Through the magic of storytelling, readers are deeply drawn into each distinctive terrain. These tales are then followed by a mini-guide: community-sourced recommendations for outdoor activities, cultural landmarks, and historical points of interest that will enrich the reader’s experience, as well as tips on how to best travel lightly and respectfully through these scenic and varied public lands.
by Rena Priest
Monday, September 29 at 7 pm
Third Place Books, Ravenna
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Friday, October 10 at 6 pm
Village Books, Fairhaven
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From an Indigenous perspective, Positively Uncivilized examines the impact of human inhabitants on the planet earth. Alongside personal accounts of the deterioration of salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest and the loss of Indigenous history, the twelve essays in this collection emphasize the necessity of community to overcome the damage done by human socioeconomic and political systems designed to isolate and shame those vulnerable to those unfair systems.
Rena Priest’s Positively Uncivilized is a necessary read. Priest writes with lyrical curiosity, sharp resistance, and immense tenderness. This is an essay collection rooted in storytelling—singing forth with gratitude, community, indigenous futures, and entangled relation. As Priest insists: “Stories are powerful.” — Jane Wong, author of Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City
Special Event | Presented by The Mountaineers, in partnership with North Cascades Institute and Third Place Books
by Tommy Corey
Tuesday, September 30 doors open 6:30pm | program 7:00pm
The Mountaineers' Seattle Program Center
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Featuring the elevated, intimate art of photographer Tommy Corey, All Humans Outside is a reflective look at the varied ways people’s lives are forever changed by nature through sustainability and conservation work, outdoor sports and recreation, community building, and more. Corey traveled across the United States and conducted more than two hundred interviews to chronicle these diverse experiences, sharing them through documentary-style photography and both first-person and third-person stories.
Subjects include backcountry horse rider Gillian Larson, Triple Crowner and sponsored athlete Jack Jones, self-described "seminomadic van-dwelling grandma" Pacific Crest Trail hiker Karen DeSousa, Filipinx immigrant and park ranger Francis Eymard Mendoza, adaptive athlete Annijke Wade, New York Hunters of Color ambassador Brandon Dale, bestselling author and runner Mirna Valerio, and many more. All Humans Outside is a stunning collection of stories in which everyone can find inspiration.
by Thor Hanson
Wednesday, October 1 at 7 pm
Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park
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We all live on nature’s doorstep, but we often overlook it. From backyards to local parks, the natural places we see the most may well be the ones we know the least. In Close to Home, biologist Thor Hanson shows how retraining our eyes reveals hidden wonders just waiting to be discovered. In Kansas City, migrating monarch butterflies flock to the local zoo. In the Pacific Northwest, fierce yellowjackets placidly sip honeydew, unseen in the treetops. In New England, a lawn gone slightly wild hosts a naturalist's life's work. And in the soil beneath our feet, remedies for everything from breast cancer to the stench of skunks lie waiting for someone’s searching shovel.
Chuckanut Radio Hour | Presented by Village Books and North Cascades Institute, in partnership with Backcountry Essentials
by Melissa Arnot Reid
Tuesday, October 14 doors open 6:30pm | program 7:00pm
Lairmont Manor, Bellingham
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A searching, uplifting memoir by the celebrated, groundbreaking climber: a journey of overcoming where the mountain’s highest peaks can only be reached by traversing the dark crevasses of the soul.
From a childhood marked by conflict, betrayal, and predation, Reid propelled herself to the top of the mountain climbing world, summiting and guiding on the world’s most challenging peaks and establishing herself as a woman unafraid to throw elbows in a milieu dominated by men. And yet for every summit she reached, her valleys of inner turmoil—over her estrangement with the family she believed she’d destroyed as a child; over relationships that cycled through deception and infidelity—grew deeper and more self-destructive. Eventually, she could not keep these worlds from colliding, especially after a series of tragedies at dangerous elevations took the lives of her mentors and friends. Forced at last to face herself, Reid made her most perilous climb yet—toward the uncertain promise of forgiveness and self-acceptance.
by Paul Bannick
Wednesday, October 15 at 7 pm
Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park
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Woodpeckers are one of the most remarkable bird species found in the avian world. They have evolved in ways that make them ecologically critical to forest health, serving as keystone species in a variety of wooded habitats across North America. They are, in many ways, the heartbeat of the forest. Informed by his own experiences in the field as well as extensive research, author and photographer Paul Bannick delves into the natural and cultural history of woodpeckers from the boreal forest of northern Canada to oak woodlands and conifer forests in the United States to the wet tropical forests of Mexico and the Caribbean. He captures the woodpeckers' charismatic behavior as well as their colorful displays and sensitive habitats in astonishing images. And with accessible, science-based text, Bannick explores their courtship and nest selection process in spring; life in the nest during summer; fledging and gaining independence in autumn; and the challenges of winter survival. He compares and contrasts typical behavior and anomalies among the 41 woodpecker species in North America, and shares their conservation outlook for the future. Robust captions, interesting sidebars, and a comprehensive field guide round out this extraordinary volume.
More Events Coming Up This Fall
November 1 | Kurt Hoelting with Apprentice to Wild, in conversation with Saul Weisberg
2:00 PM | Village Books | Fairhaven
November 12 | Jeff Vandermeer with Absolution: A Southern Reach Novel
7:00 PM | Third Place Books | Lake Forest Park
November 14 | Lance Garland with Out There
7:00 PM | Third Place Books | Ravenna
November 17 | Lance Richardson with True Nature
7:00 PM Third Place Books | Lake Forest Park
November 18 | Lance Richardson with True Nature
6:00 PM Village Books | Fairhaven Readings Gallery
November 20 | Lance Garland with Out There
6:00 PM Village Books | Fairhaven Readings Gallery