October 2025 Author and Community Events at The Seattle Public Library

This October, The Seattle Public Library has planned author and community events that will inspire, educate and entertain. Exercise your freedom to read at a Banned Books Week read-in; attend a KUOW live podcast taping about Seattle’s history with highways; and dive into horror with local authors, to name just a few events.

All Library events are free and open to the public. Find information and registration through the event links below or at www.spl.org/Calendar.

Many of these events are supported by The Seattle Public Library Foundation and the Gary and Connie Kunis Foundation. Registration is not required unless noted.

Nuestra Euforia / Our Euphoria presentation. Saturday, Oct. 4, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. Join artist in residence Vaquero Azul for a dance performance from LGBTQ2IA+ Folklorico Dance Group Danza Monarcas, featuring garments created by the artist. Vaquero Azul is an illustrator and sewist who draws inspiration from their identity as Otomí, Maya, Taíno, Dos Espiritus/Two-Spirit and Mesoamerican. This program will be conducted in English and Spanish. Registration is required.
Banned Books Week Read-In. Sunday, Oct. 5, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Green Lake Branch. Join us at the historic Green Lake Branch to kick off Banned Books Week by reading banned and challenged books in community with fellow readers.
Ladies Musical Club Concert. Wednesday, Oct. 8, from noon to 1 p.m. Central Library, Level 3 Living Room. Join us for a concert featuring music for viola and guitar.
Chi-ming Yang, author of Octavia Butler: H Is for Horse. Friday, Oct. 10, from 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company (1521 10th Ave). An homage to the childhood genius of the legendary Black science fiction writer, Yang’s “Octavia Butler Hi Is for Horse” shares a selection of Butler’s unpublished writings and drawings, and traces her fascination with human-alien symbiosis to her early empathy with horses and other marginalized creatures. Registration is required.
“Challenging History”: 2025 Pacific Northwest Historians Guild Conference. Saturday, Oct. 11, from 8:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. Join the 32^nd regional history conference to share your experiences of meeting challenges faced in reporting, teaching or preserving history, or in telling stories of those who have faced challenges in our region’s history. Presented by Washington State Historical Society, 4Culture, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, and HistoryLink.org. Registration is required.
“The Future of Libraries with Lillian Dabney, Tom Fay and Dr. Audrey Whitty.” Sunday, Oct. 12, from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. Folio librarian Lillian Dabney, Seattle’s Chief Librarian Tom Fay, and Director of the National Library of Ireland Dr. Audrey Whitty, will lead a conversation on the future of libraries in a rapidly changing world. Registration is required.
Daniel H. Wilson discusses “Hole in the Sky.” Thursday, Oct. 16, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. Daniel H. Wilson discusses “Hole in the Sky,” a gripping thriller and Native American first contact story. Wilson is the New York Times bestselling author of “Robopocalypse,” and the event is co-presented by Clarion West and Third Place Books. Registration is required.
“Nuestra Euforia/Our Euphoria” Exhibit. Saturday, Oct. 18 through Jan. 10, 2026. Central Library, Level 8 Gallery. Curated by artist in residence Vaquero Azul, this exhibit features the artwork of local Trans and gender non-conforming artists, photography of local cultural bearers and icons, and a Trans Pride Ofrenda (an altar honoring Trans, Two-Spirit, and gender expansive relatives). This exhibit is presented in English and Spanish.
“Book Banning: What’s the Story?” Sunday, Oct. 19, From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Central Library, Level 4 – Room 1. Join us for a panel discussion about this year’s Banned Books Week theme with poet Rena Priest, novelist Nancy Rawles, and editor and writer Anna Bálint.
Cory Doctorow discusses “Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It.” Wednesday, Oct. 22, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. Join Doctorow (“Enshittification”), Ed Zitron (“Better Offline”) and moderator Whitney Beltrán for a discussion of how reckless tech policy created an “enshittogenic” environment that allowed the worst people in our most structurally important corporations to turn them into vast, remorseless extraction machines. Co-presented with Clarion West and Third Place Books. Registration is required.
One City. Three Perspectives. Countless Stories. Sunday, Oct. 26, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. Seattle Times history columnist Jean Sherrard will moderate a conversation about the stories we choose to tell about Seattle. Panelists include HistoryLink.org Executive Director Jennifer Ott (“Where the City Meets the Sound “), Karen Treiger (“Standing on the Crack: Legacy of Five Jewish Families from Seattle’s Gilded Age”), and Thomas Kohnstamm (“Supersonic”). Co-presented with HistoryLink. Registration is required.
Seattle vs. Highways: Special Live Taping with KUOW. Monday, Oct. 27, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. Join Ian Coss, host of the Peabody Award–winning podcast “The Big Dig,” and KUOW’s Josh McNichols, host of the “Booming” podcast, for a special KUOW live taping. Along with special guests, they’ll look at the legacy of highways that once divided communities, and Seattle’s efforts to confront these challenges and repair the harms of the past. Registration is required.
Clay Vermulm & Tamara Sellman discuss “Rain Shadows” in conversation with Neena Viel. Tuesday, Oct. 28, from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. Dive into local horror with authors Clay Vermulm and Tamara Sellman, who will discuss their podcast-turned-book “Rain Shadows: Dark Tales from Washington State.”
Guest Curator Amy Hirayama presents “Perfect Pairings.” Wednesday, Oct. 29 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. The second event in Hirayama’s series “Serious Play” invites surprising collaborative pairs to share their secrets about connection across disciplines, learning from each other, and flow and conflict within collaboration.