"Ian's Ride" by Karen Polinsky

Event Details

When
Jun 10, 2025 from 07:00 PM to 08:00 PM
Where
Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park
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A Nature of Writing speaker series event, in partnership with Third Place Books

North Cascades Institute and Third Place Books are delighted to welcome outdoors accessibility advocate Ian Mackay and author Karen Polinsky for a presentation of Karen's new book Ian's Ride: A Long-Distance Journey to Joy. 
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After a bike accident left avid outdoor adventurer and biology student Ian Mackay permanently paralyzed from the shoulders down, his life was at a standstill. Gradually, with the help of his dedicated family, especially his mom, Teena, Ian’s love of nature began to pull him outside again, first through bird-watching, then through longer and longer wheelchair rides on a paved trail near his home.
In this intimate biography based on more than one hundred hours of interviews, journal entries, and more, writer Karen Polinsky recounts with Ian his accident and determined journey, including a three-hundred-thirty-mile trip across Washington state, setting the world record for the greatest distance traveled in a motorized wheelchair in twenty-four hours, and becoming a champion for accessible trails. This raw, fiercely tender, and inspiring true story examines how we exist in our bodies, adapt to and overcome adversity, and above all, what makes our hearts tick.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Karen Polinsky, a former journalist and high school teacher, is a novelist and playwright. Like Ian’s Ride, her first book, Dungeness, is set on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Polinsky has written more than a dozen staged plays. Based in Portland, Oregon, she enjoys camping, biking, and hiking with her husband, Michael, and her border collie, Pearl.

ABOUT OUR BOOKSELLER PARTNER
Now celebrating over 25 years in business, Third Place Books is a Pacific Northwest bookselling institution with three locations in the Seattle area, each featuring a partner restaurant and gathering space. Hosting nearly 300 author events a year, Third Place Books has proudly supported Puget Sound authors since 1998.