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Join the team behind Skipstone (an imprint of the nonprofit, independent Seattle publishing house, Mountaineers Books) for an evening of nature, literature, and advocacy to celebrate the launch of Cascade of Life: An Artist's Seasonal Guide to the Wild Northwest by author and illustrator Emily Poole, joined by Mountaineers Books Editor-in-Chief Kate Rogers. More than just a book launch, this evening is an exclusive preview of the art and natural history books arriving from Mountaineers Books/Skipstone in the upcoming Fall season. From Red-winged Blackbird to Silver-haired Bat, delicate winter twigs to spring's rushing creeks, these books ask readers to explore a year-round relationship with the natural world. About Cascade of Life: An Artist's Seasonal Guide to the Wild Northwest Cascade of Life invites readers to step beyond the typical field guide and into a deeper dialogue with the natural world. Award-winning artist and naturalist Emily Poole explores the wondrous variety of the Pacific Northwest — from rocky shorelines to alpine slopes to arid steppes — through the rhythms of the four seasons, spotlighting species that are especially active at different times of year. Original illustrations and essays feature popular species like gray whales and Anna's hummingbirds, as well as overlooked or misunderstood plants and animals, such as pickleweed and coyotes. Blending stunningly vivid paintings with personal anecdotes and field-based insights, each chapter encourages the reader's curiosity and offers accessible, hands-on activities to deepen their connection with nature. Part field guide, part journal, Cascade of Life is a welcoming, inspiring exploration of our landscapes and the species that define them. Acclaimed artist Emily Poole has been exploring the wild spaces of the western United States since childhood. Her work has been used by organizations such as Creature Conserve, HawkWatch International, and the National Museum of Wildlife Art and has appeared regularly in High Country News. Her illustrations have been featured in six natural history books, including BirdNote, Northwest Know-How: Trees, and A Little Book of Hummingbirds. She lives in Eugene, Oregon. Find her online at epooleart.com. Kate Rogers is editor-in-chief of Mountaineers Books, a Seattle-based independent, nonprofit publisher of outdoor literature and art, nature and ecology, and conservation and stewardship titles that includes two imprints, Skipstone and Braided River. Her publishing career has spanned more than thirty-five years, including positions at Waldenbooks, Bantam Doubleday Dell, and Sasquatch Books, and as founder–principal of a book packaging firm. A graduate of the Denver Publishing Institute (DPI), she also is a part-time lecturer on editing and publishing at the University of Washington and DPI. Katie Campbell is a digital editor and reporter at KUOW, Seattle's NPR station. In 2024, Katie created the KUOW Book Club, featuring stories and authors from the Pacific Northwest. She's interviewed numerous luminaries in the region, including Sonora Jha, Lynda Mapes, Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe, and Daniel James Brown. All readers are invited to join the KUOW Book Club at kuow.org/books. She also covers books and the local literary scene for Seattle Now Arts & Culture on Sundays. Originally from Florida, Katie is a graduate of the University of Florida College of Journalism.  About Skipstone Books Skipstone titles promote a deeper connection to our natural world through sustainable practices, visual art, and thought-provoking written word. Skipstone books inspire us to effect change without losing our sense of humor, celebrate the freedom and generosity of a life outdoors, and explore where we fit in on our planet and our own natural neighborhoods. Buy the Book Cascade of Life: An Artist's Seasonal Guide to the Wild Northwest (Hardcover) Elliott Bay Book Company

A century of conventional farming has left our planet with sick soil, accelerating the interlinked crises of food security, biodiversity loss, water pollution, and climate change. In his new book, ReGen: A New Future for Farming, Food, and Health, David R. Montgomery lays out a practical and productive vision for recovering soil health and safeguarding the future of food. The answer: soil-building regenerative farming. In exploring this much-needed turning point for agriculture, Montgomery marshals more than a decade of research, interviewing innovative farmers and seeing firsthand how they restored degraded farms around the world. Breaking down common myths around conventional and organic farming, animal agriculture, and plant-based diets, the book frames ten policy recommendations for sustainably nourishing the world. As Montgomery shows, reducing tillage, laying off synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, growing a diversity of crops, and getting livestock back on the land can reverse centuries of soil degradation and harvest nutrient-dense food. Succinct, accessible, and urgent, ReGen points the way to a healthier, more resilient world. David R. Montgomery is a professor at the University of Washington and a MacArthur Fellow. He is the author and coauthor of several previous books about soil and agriculture, including Dirt, Growing a Revolution, and What Your Food Ate. Buy the Book ReGen: A New Future for Farming, Food, and Health (Hardcover) Elliott Bay Book Company

In the illustrated guide, Poking the Squid, Perrin Roosevelt Ireland illustrates the splendid diversity of nature's eroticism. Chock full of delightful watercolor comics featuring pregnant seahorse dads, spider oral sex, and the four-headed echidna penis, Ireland takes us on a wild biodiversity ride through queerness, infidelity, consent, divorce, sex change, and even sexual cannibalism in the animal world. Ireland interviews researchers probing the leading edge of animal reproductive biology and, with the help of her cats Ursula and Pudge, brings readers along as she learns the latest discoveries that implode traditional notions of sex roles, relationships, and just who is mounting whom. These researchers are making dolphin vaginal popsicles, retrieving sperm packets from male squid mouths, and documenting dolphin orgies. From the externalized clitoris of the spotted hyena to mating-by-fusion in anglerfish, Poking the Squid draws on decades of feminist and queer theory to show that sexual diversity is biodiversity, and boisterous boinking is only natural. Ireland reminds us that we humans, from habitat destruction to climate change, impact all of animal life, including their private lives. Yet Earth's sexual ecosystem is filled with joy, resilience, and vitality — a balm to climate grief and a reason to protect all forms of nature's pleasure. And by illuminating and celebrating animal diversity, Poking the Squid invites us to embrace our own. Perrin Roosevelt Ireland is an artist and environmentalist. For a decade, she worked at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), ultimately as deputy to the executive director. Her artwork has been published in Discover, Nature, Scientific American, and The Rumpus. She serves on the board of the Roosevelt Institute, was an inaugural Artist in Residence at the New York Aquarium, and is a Banff Graphic Novel Resident. Perrin lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her cats (and muses) Ursula and Pudge. Buy the Book Poking the Squid: What We Can Learn from Animal Sex (Hardcover) Third Place Books

The northernmost stretches of Alaska host an environmental wonder that very few people will connect with in their lives — millions of acres of largely undisturbed public land along the Arctic Circle. This region contains pristine tundra landscapes, unrestricted rivers shaped only by nature, and unique wildlife like polar bears, the only caribou herds in the United States, and more aquatic birds than can be found in any other Arctic wetland. And while the features and roles of these lands may be foreign to many even within the United States, science writer Lynda Mapes is committed to the importance of preserving one of America's most significant wildlands against a newly emboldened push of political interference. Join veteran journalist Mapes alongside longtime Arctic defenders for a multifaceted presentation on the wonder of these lands and the risks they face under a new agenda under the Trump administration, angling for maximum oil, gas, and mineral extraction in Alaska. The evening will open with an excerpt from the film The Arctic: Our Last Great Wilderness — shot by National Geographic photographer Florian Schulz — showcasing the spectacular beauty of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and urgency of protecting it. Mapes will then present on her own reporting just completed in the Arctic, with photography from the field taken in the actively threatened National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. Her findings will expand on the non-commercial value of these wildlands that act as home to ancient Native cultures and some of the most important bird, salmon, caribou, and polar bear habitats on the planet. Already vulnerable to rapid changes brought on by the climate crisis, Mapes emphasizes the critical nature of keeping these lands shielded from the lasting impacts of development, drilling, and the selling of public lands. Learn why everyone is connected to what happens next in America's Arctic—and what you can do to protect it. Lynda Mapes is an award-winning journalist and science writer. She is the author of six books on the natural and cultural history of the Pacific Northwest, including The Trees are Speaking and Orca: Shared Waters Shared Home. She worked previously as an environment reporter for The Seattle Times — focusing on nature, Native cultures and governments, and environmental news throughout her 27 years with the Times. She was named a finalist for a team award for the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting in 2025 and serves on the board of the Northwest Science Writers Association. Presented by Town Hall Seattle and Braided River.

Limits are the key to stimulating creativity, innovation, and collaboration. In a world that gives us seemingly infinite choices and prizes freedom above all else, we have an unprecedented number of options regarding what to do, who to be, and how to spend our time. All that choice is wonderful, but it is also overwhelming. The irony is that total freedom can be paralyzing, and unlimited resources don't necessarily lead to the biggest breakthroughs. In fact, overvaluing complete freedom can be disastrous for everything from starting a company to harnessing creativity to finding personal satisfaction. In his new book, Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better, David Epstein argues that all of us — individuals, businesses, institutions, even societies — can benefit from narrowing our options. Epstein dives into the science and practice of constraints, exploring exactly when and how guardrails can be beneficial, whether we're working with limited resources or using self-imposed boundaries to tap unexpected wells of focus and innovation. Inside the Box reveals how boundaries create breakthroughs, and how setting the right constraints can help you become the most creative, productive, and satisfied version of yourself. David Epstein is the author of the number one New York Times bestseller Range and the New York Times bestseller The Sports Gene. He has master's degrees in environmental science and journalism and has worked as a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and as an investigative reporter for ProPublica. Katy Sewall is the host and creator of The Bittersweet Life podcast. She's a writer, podcast consultant, and a Public Radio professional frequently heard on 94.9 KUOW. She's also the former Program Director at Town Hall. Buy the Book Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better Elliott Bay Book Company

Grief is one of the most universal yet isolating experiences we endure—and psychedelics may offer a path through it. This Salon explores how substances like psilocybin, MDMA, and 5-MeO-DMT are being used to support those navigating loss, whether from death, identity shifts, or life transitions. This session sheds light on how altered states can help us reconnect to love, soften the sharp edges of sorrow, and reorient to a life forever changed. Attendees will gain insight into the science and integration practices that support emotional processing and meaning-making in the context of grief. Dr. Sunil Aggarwal is a physician in hospice and palliative medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and a medical geographer. Dr. Aggarwal's primary clinical work is as an Integrative Pain, Palliative Care, and Rehabilitation Physician in private practice at the AIMS Institute in Seattle, Washington, and as an on-call Palliative and Hospice Physician within a Puget Sound–based healthcare system. He has a petition to reschedule psilocybin that is currently under review at the US Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Aggarwal's medical geography scholarship focuses on the geographies of access, delivery, and development of cannabinologic and psychedelic integrative medicine—particularly as these relate to pain management, hospice and palliative medicine, and rehabilitation services. After two decades in journalism and content direction, Laura Sullivan Cassidy (she/her) used the early pandemic years to begin building a new career serving communities in grief and loss. She's trained as a grief work facilitator, creative coach, and death doula, and is employed at Recompose, the Seattle-based green funeral home known for pioneering the process of human composting. Her role at Recompose involves outreach, community, and client work—specifically with communities for whom a death is approaching, either via terminal diagnosis or hospice care. Laura writes a Substack called Griever's Ball and offers creative expression, listening groups, and death awareness workshops. — Psychedelic Salon: Cultivating Conscious Connections Join Seattle-based psychedelics educator and podcast host April Pride in a dynamic series co-produced with Town Hall Seattle. Psychedelic Salon explores the transformative potential of psychedelic medicines through engaging conversations, expert panels, and interactive community discussions. Rooted in scientific evidence, each event highlights unique themes—including grief, seniors, menopause, and more—emphasizing their role in mental health, spiritual growth, and personal optimization. Designed to be inclusive and insightful, this series invites attendees of all backgrounds to discover how psychedelics can foster profound connections, healing, and well-being. About April Pride April Pride is a Seattle-based creative entrepreneur and harm reduction advocate with over two decades of experience building brands at the intersection of lifestyle, cannabis, psychedelics, and women's health. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Vice, and The Guardian. April is the founder of SetSet, the world's first clinician-approved woman-focused platform for safe, accessible psychedelic integration. To learn more, follow April on Substack – aprilpride.substack.com

Try to imagine a world without birds. It's quite a challenge, given that we share the planet with tens of billions of birds spanning an astonishing 14,000 species. Birds find homes nearly everywhere that people do – and many places we do not – and their prowess and plumage have captivated human imagination throughout the ages. But impressive aerial feats and collective choirs of song aside, part of our fascination with birds is rooted in the awe of something so delicate and strange. How did such seemingly fragile creatures made of hollow bones and downy feathers break the mold of terrestrial life and survive millennia? In his newest book, The Story of Birds: A New History, from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present, esteemed paleontologist Steve Brusatte embarks on a deep dive through the history of avian evolution. The Story of Birds begins by exploring how dinosaurs gradually developed the trademark features of birds one-by-one—feathers, wings, beaks, big brains, keen senses, and warm-blooded metabolisms. Brusatte investigates how these features contributed to birds emerging as the only surviving dinosaurs of the cataclysmic asteroid impact 66 million years ago, and how their numbers soared to new heights of diversity in the barren landscape that followed. Along this journey through time, meet extraordinary extinct species like the 1.5-ton elephant birds of Madagascar, giant Pelagornithid seabirds with 20-foot wingspans, and flightless 10-foot-tall terror birds with beaks that sliced flesh. Brusatte follows these remarkable species all the way down to the present, urging readers to share the same appreciation for the many impressive birds of today– penguins that literally fly underwater, parrots that can mimic human speech, and hummingbirds that hover mid-air and dive at 50 miles per hour. Presented with keen research and soaring enthusiasm, The Story of Birds unearths the unique origins of birds and the legacy they continue to live to this day. Steve Brusatte, PhD, is an American paleontologist who teaches at the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland. He is the author of the international bestseller The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs and The Rise and Reign of the Mammals. The paleontology advisor on the Jurassic World film franchise, Brusatte has named more than fifteen new species, including the tyrannosaur "Pinocchio rex" (Qianzhousaurus), the raptor Zhenyuanlong, and several ancient mammals. His research and writing has been featured in Science, the New York Times, Scientific American, and many other publications. David B. Williams is an author and naturalist whose award-winning books include Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound and Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle's Topography, as well as co-authoring Spirit Whales and Sloth Tales: Fossils of Washington State. His newest book, Wild in Seattle: Stories at the Crossroads of People and Nature is a best-of collection from his free weekly Substack newsletter, the Street Smart Naturalist. He has been called an "evangelist for the practice of paying attention." Buy the Book The Story of Birds: A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present Elliott Bay Book Company

A conversation about the emerging potential of psychedelics, particularly psilocybin, in addressing eating disorders—a psychiatric area marked by persistent treatment challenges. This Salon dives into groundbreaking research showing how psychedelics disrupt entrenched thought patterns, ease cognitive rigidity, and foster self-compassion and emotional reconnection. April Pride and invited experts will discuss the limitations of current treatments and how psychedelic therapies could offer new hope. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of how psychedelic-assisted therapy might revolutionize the path to healing for those struggling with disordered eating. Dr. Amanda Downey is a pediatrician and psychiatrist who cares for adolescents and young adults with eating disorders. She works with patients and their families to develop a treatment plan that honors their unique strengths and challenges. Through education, advocacy, and research, she strives to dismantle the systems that increase risk for eating disorders and improve evidence-based eating disorder treatments. She is the assistant medical director of the UCSF Eating Disorders Program and a member of the UCSF Translational Psychedelic Research Program (TrPR). Psychedelic Salon: Cultivating Conscious Connections Join Seattle-based psychedelics educator and podcast host April Pride in a dynamic series co-produced with Town Hall Seattle. Psychedelic Salon explores the transformative potential of psychedelic medicines through engaging conversations, expert panels, and interactive community discussions. Rooted in scientific evidence, each event highlights unique themes—including grief, seniors, menopause, and more—emphasizing their role in mental health, spiritual growth, and personal optimization. Designed to be inclusive and insightful, this series invites attendees of all backgrounds to discover how psychedelics can foster profound connections, healing, and well-being. About April Pride April Pride is a Seattle-based creative entrepreneur and harm reduction advocate with over two decades of experience building brands at the intersection of lifestyle, cannabis, psychedelics, and women's health. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Vice, and The Guardian. April is the founder of SetSet, the world's first clinician-approved woman-focused platform for safe, accessible psychedelic integration.

Forest ecologist Suzanne Simard has long been fascinated by the sharing of natural knowledge. From the interconnected root systems she studied in her book Finding the Mother Tree to her ongoing work as an educator, Simard has learned to see the importance of cooperative efforts to share resources and knowledge. Joined in conversation by Seattle-based nature journalist Lynda Mapes, Simard expands these connections into a considerate exploration of the elaborate cycles of forest ecosystems, the challenges they currently face, and the intergenerational value they can provide through her new book When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World. Raised in a family of loggers committed to sensible forest stewardship, Simard has watched as modern practices and timber companies have left forests vulnerable to damage and depletion. In her research, Simard explores the finely honed cycles of regeneration forests inherently use to maintain themselves. From mushrooms breaking down logs to dying elder trees passing their genetic knowledge to younger growth, When the Forest Breathes presents these cycles as a key component in the protection and preservation of our forests. Working closely with Indigenous communities and the models of responsible forestry they've upheld over time, Simard examines the damage caused by industrialization and wide-scale human intervention– particularly the impact on the overstory's mother trees that are responsible for sharing intergenerational wisdom and supporting new growth. As Simard seeks to understand the importance of stewardship and how older lives can facilitate the conditions for new growth to flourish, she considers similar patterns of loss and regeneration in her own life. Savoring her final days with her ailing mother and watching her daughters grow into adults, Simard draws thoughtful parallels around what caretaking looks like within the forest and within our own communities. Animated by wonder and the urge to honor the tools that trees have honed over generations, When the Forest Breathes aims to use the lessons of the natural world to encourage paths of adaptability, resilience, cooperation, and valuing our forests. Dr. Suzanne Simard is the New York Times bestselling author of Finding the Mother Tree. She is a Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia, where she leads The Mother Tree Project and co-directs the Belowground Ecosystem Group. Dr. Simard has earned a global reputation for pioneering research on tree connectivity and communication and the productivity, health, and biodiversity of forests. Her work has been published widely, with over 170 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, Ecology, and Global Biology, and she has co-authored the book Climate Change and Variability. Her research has been communicated broadly through three TED Talks, TED Experiences, as well as articles and interviews in The New Yorker, National Geographic, NPR, CNN, and many more. She lives with her family in the mountains around Nelson, British Columbia. Lynda Mapes is a journalist, nature writer, and the author of six books on the natural and cultural history of the Pacific Northwest. Her previous publications include The Trees are Speaking and Orca: Shared Waters Shared Home. She was previously an environment reporter for the Seattle Times, focusing on nature, natural history, Native cultures and governments, and Pacific Northwest environmental news, where she was named a finalist for a team award for the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting in 2025. Buy the Book When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World Elliott Bay Book Company

Comedian, historian, and bestselling author Cate Osborn brings a special program derived from her live touring show, Wildly Unprepared. This evening features a curated portion of the performance, exploring the strange and surprising history of magic, spectacle, and belief, along with storytelling and conversation about curiosity, culture, and the stories we inherit. While this program draws from the larger theatrical show, it is designed as a standalone event created especially for Town Hall audiences. The show will be followed by a Q&A with Cate. About the Book Just shy of her thirtieth birthday, Cate Osborn, a teaching artist with two master's degrees, realized that things that had seemed routine before were falling through the cracks. An evaluation finally led to a diagnosis: ADHD. Erik Gude, who was diagnosed in his teens, had a slightly different path. While an ADHD diagnosis might explain the cause of some of his academic challenges, it would take years before he understood the other ways it affected other aspects of his life. When they connected as adults, it didn't take long before they realized other people might feel just as lost as they had. With roughly eight million adults living with ADHD and more people seeking and receiving diagnoses each year, The ADHD Field Guide for Adults is a witty, thoughtful, and practical guide to living with ADHD in adulthood, from two people who know what it's like. Featuring the most important foundational information about ADHD, it also explores issues that are rarely discussed, such as navigating sex and intimacy, the healthcare system, and home care. And unlike existing titles on the topic, it is intentionally structured to incorporate ADHD accessibility features by offering bite-sized pieces of knowledge in a format that caters to the unique needs of ADHD readers. Cate Osborn, widely known as Catieosaurus, is an award-winning creator, author, and international speaker whose work sits at the intersection of ADHD, decision-making, sex, relationships, and intimacy. With over 2 million followers and hundreds of millions of annual views across her platforms, Cate has built a global audience by blending humor, storytelling, research, and radical honesty about what it means to live in a brain that does not follow the rules. She is the host of Sorry I Missed This on the Understood network, and her work has been featured in The New York Times, GQ, Cosmopolitan, the Washington Post, and most notably, Ships of the Northern Fleet. Cate is also the creator of the Wildly Unprepared live tour, a one-of-a-kind experience that fuses comedy, history, magic, and audience interaction into a powerful exploration of resilience and chaos. Buy the Book The ADHD Field Guide for Adults Brick and Mortar Books

Local beekeepers, gardeners, and native plant experts join in a conversation about turning your own backyard into a native ecosystem oasis. Learn about the benefits of mason bees, the importance of best-gardening practices to protect Puget Sound salmon, and how you can make a difference in keeping our city climate change resilient. Featuring Dave Hunter, author of Mason Bee Revolution: How the Hardest Working Bee Can Save the World One Backyard at a Time, along with panelists Jessi Bloom, Bill Thorness, Kim M. Camara, and Swil Kanim, this event hopes to empower everyone to play a part in rebuilding healthy pollinator networks — and securing a thriving, sustainable planet. Dave Hunter is the founder of the Orchard Bee Association and Crown Bees, which helps people support pollinators with the right supplies, expert guidance, and easy-to-follow programs. His work has been featured in Urban Farm, The Seattle Times, NPR, and more. He lives in Woodinville, Washington. Visit him online at crownbees.com or on Instagram @crown_bees Jessi Bloom is an ecological landscape designer, author, arborist, and teacher. Over the years, she has worn many hats professionally, helping thousands of land stewards with consulting and design/build work, and educating through books and educational events. Jessi started NW Bloom EcoLogical Services, based in Woodinville, WA, in 2000 to innovate and emphasize awareness of permaculture, sustainable landscape design, construction, and land management. The Seattle Times named her a "rockstar in the ecological gardening movement," where her leadership led NW Bloom to numerous environmental awards. She sits on the advisory committee for the WA State Dept. of Natural Resources Urban Forestry Programs, where her decades as a private sector arborist serve in behalf of the PNW ISA (International Society of Arboriculture). Bill Thorness is a writer and gardener who's been doing both in Seattle since the mid-1980s. He is the author of Cool Season Gardener: Extend the Harvest, Plan Ahead, and Grow Vegetables Year Round and Edible Heirlooms: Heritage Vegetables for the Maritime Garden, and writes for many regional publications, including The Seattle Times. He is also a King County Master Gardener. Kim M. Camara serves as Executive Director of Windz of Change Alliance, based in Seattle for over 25 years. Kim is a visionary collectively working with Indigenous inter-Tribal community peoples on contemporary and traditional sacred pathways. Her roles interweave project developer, grant writer, teacher/educator, choreographic and event producer, visual design artist, and youth mentor. With a focus on imparting knowledge, bridging, engaging, and inspiring creative leadership and relationships, she advocates the Windz vision to respectfully bridge and strengthen Indigenous Tribal community Peoples, Presence, Place, Sacred Spaces and Relationships. Accomplishment activities encompass artistic cultural heritage events, eco-cultural parks activation installations, presentations, and workshops, festivals, art shows, youth teaching, and artist opportunity referrals and granting assistance. Swil Kanim is a U.S. Army veteran, storyteller, actor, and classically trained violinist from Washington State. A board member of the Seattle Symphony, he blends original compositions with powerful stories drawn from his life and heritage, inspiring audiences nationwide. His music and compositions are the direct result of a well-supported public school music program, which he credits for nurturing his artistry. Swil Kanim is the recipient of the Woodring College Professional Excellence Award, the Bellingham Mayor's Arts Award, and has been recognized as a Certified Virtuoso Violinist by the Whatcom Chapter of the Washington Music Educators Association. In 2008, he was also honored to perform with His Holiness the Dalai Lama during the Seeds of Compassion event in Seattle. Buy the Book Mason Bee Revolution: How the Hardest Working Bee Can Save the World One Backyard at a Time (2nd edition) Third Place Books

Psychedelic therapy is rapidly gaining traction as a promising approach for addressing substance use disorders—from alcohol and opioids to nicotine and beyond. This session will explore how psychedelic compounds like ibogaine, ketamine, and psilocybin may help interrupt compulsive cycles, uncover root causes of addiction, and support sustained recovery. Featuring Dr. Nathan Sackett of the UW Center for Novel Therapeutics in Addiction Psychiatry, this conversation will examine how pairing psychedelic compounds with evidence-based behavioral interventions could transform the treatment of addiction. Drawing on his team's cautious, research-driven approach, Dr. Sackett will discuss what's known, what remains to be discovered, and how rigorous clinical study can help bring safe, effective psychedelic-assisted therapies to those who need them most. Nathan Sackett, MD, MS, is an addiction psychiatrist and Founding Director of the UW Center for Novel Therapeutics in Addiction Psychiatry. He completed medical and nursing school at UCSF, graduate studies at UC Berkeley, and residency and fellowship training in psychiatry and addiction psychiatry at the University of Washington, where he is now a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. His research explores how psychedelics can enhance psychotherapy and support lasting behavioral change. __ Psychedelic Salon: Cultivating Conscious Connections Join Seattle-based psychedelics educator and podcast host April Pride in a dynamic series co-produced with Town Hall Seattle. Psychedelic Salon explores the transformative potential of psychedelic medicines through engaging conversations, expert panels, and interactive community discussions. Rooted in scientific evidence, each event highlights unique themes—including grief, seniors, menopause, and more—emphasizing their role in mental health, spiritual growth, and personal optimization. Designed to be inclusive and insightful, this series invites attendees of all backgrounds to discover how psychedelics can foster profound connections, healing, and well-being. About April Pride April Pride is a Seattle-based creative entrepreneur and harm reduction advocate with over two decades of experience building brands at the intersection of lifestyle, cannabis, psychedelics, and women's health. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Vice, and The Guardian. April is the founder of SetSet, the world's first clinician-approved woman-focused platform for safe, accessible psychedelic integration. To learn more, follow April on Substack – aprilpride.substack.com Presented by Town Hall Seattle and SetSet.

When it comes to the phenomenon that is consciousness, there is one point on which scientists, philosophers, and artists all agree: it feels like something to be us. Yet the fact that we have a subjective experience of the world remains one of nature's greatest mysteries. How is it that our mental operations are accompanied by feelings, thoughts, and a sense of self? What would a scientific investigation of our inner life look like when we have as little distance and perspective on it as fish do of the sea? In A World Appears, Michael Pollan traces the unmapped continent that is consciousness, bringing radically different perspectives—scientific, philosophical, literary, spiritual, and psychedelic—to see what each can teach us about this central fact of life. When neuroscientists began studying consciousness in the early 1990s, they sought to explain how and why three pounds of spongy gray matter could generate a subjective point of view — assuming that the brain is the source of our perceived reality. Pollan takes us to the cutting edge of the field, where scientists are entertaining more radical (and less materialist) theories of consciousness. He introduces us to "plant neurobiologists" searching for the first flicker of consciousness in plants, scientists striving to engineer feelings into AI, and psychologists and novelists seeking to capture the felt experience of our slippery stream of consciousness. In Pollan's exploration of consciousness, he discovers a world far deeper and stranger than our everyday reality. Eye-opening and mind-expanding, A World Appears takes us into the laboratories of our own minds, ultimately showing us how we might make better use of the gift of awareness to more meaningfully connect with our deepest selves. Michael Pollan is the author of ten books, including This Is Your Mind on Plants, How to Change Your Mind, Cooked, Food Rules, In Defense of Food, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and The Botany of Desire, all of which were New York Times bestsellers. He is also the author of the audiobook Caffeine. A Guggenheim and Radcliffe Fellow, Pollan has taught writing at the University of California, Berkeley, and at Harvard University. In 2010, Time named him one of the one hundred most influential people in the world. Jon Mooallem is the author of three books, Wild Ones, This is Chance! and the essay collection Serious Face. He lives on Bainbridge Island.  Buy the Book A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness Elliott Bay Book Company

Whether you're married, dating, or flying solo, Dr. Nicole McNichols has some sex advice for you. And you may want to pay attention because McNichols is not only the professor of University of Washington's most sought-after class in its history, she's one of social media's most popular educators on the topic of sex. Pulling from her book, You Could Be Having Better Sex, McNichols shares the latest data that shows good sex is one of the most powerful and effective sources of joy. Good sex, McNichols argues, is a gateway to better health, stronger relationships, and the diverse forms of self-actualization we all crave. And yet, the data suggests that good sex is not happening as often as it could. So how do we start having better sex? As a renowned human sexuality expert, McNichols explains through data how to elevate our sex life through practical tools and relatable case studies. She offers all of it with a gender and orientation inclusive, pleasure-forward perspective. Covering everything from sexual anatomy to orgasm and response, hook-up culture, long-term relationships, ethical non-monogamy, kink, pornography, and consent, McNichols emphasizes a holistic philosophy that eliminates shame and stigma. She aims to normalize open and frank conversations and illustrate how connected sex is a pathway to self-awareness, self-expression, true thriving, and happiness. McNichols wants you to know just how important good sex is, and that she has the advice on how to get it. Dr. Nicole McNichols is an internationally renowned human sexuality professor, author, and speaker whose groundbreaking course, The Diversity of Human Sexuality, is the most popular in the history of the University of Washington, enrolling over 4,000 students annually. Dr. Nicole McNichols received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University and completed her master's in psychology at NYU and PhD in social psychology at the University of Washington. She currently lives in the Seattle area with her husband and three children. Dr. Julie Gottman is a highly respected licensed clinical psychologist and educator and the co-founder of the Gottman Institute. She is sought internationally as an expert advisor on marriage, the treatment of trauma and affairs, sexual harassment and rape, domestic violence, same-sex marriage, and gay and lesbian parenting. She is author or co-author of many books, including best-sellers like Fight Right, The Love Prescription, and Eight Dates, as well as The New Marriage Clinic, and The Marriage Clinic Casebook, Ten Lessons to Transform Your Marriage, The Man's Guide To Women, and And Baby Makes Three. Buy the Book You Could Be Having Better Sex: The Definitive Guide to a Happier, Healthier, and Hotter Sex Life Third Place Books

As life expectancy increases, so does the need for mental, emotional, and spiritual support in later years. This Salon delves into the ways older adults are exploring psychedelics for healing, spiritual deepening, meaning-making, joyful intimacy and making peace with mortality. With insights from geriatric practitioners, researchers, and individuals with lived experience, we'll examine how today's older psychonauts are rewriting the narrative around aging. Scott Paul Wright is a filmmaker and screenwriter based in Paris and New Orleans. His adventures in film followed previous careers as a radio personality, record business executive, and award-winning winemaker. He's written five feature films, and made two documentaries that are now in international distribution. He took his first psychedelic journey at age 68 – resulting in his new documentary – Psychedelics for Seniors, which is now in post-production and scheduled for release in June 2026. Abbie Rosner is a writer and cultural observer exploring how the modern psychedelic renaissance is reshaping our understanding of aging—individually and collectively. Her forthcoming book, Psychedelics and the Counterculture of Aging (Park Street Press, July 2026), examines how baby boomers are once again intersecting with psychedelics, this time with the insight and perspective of a lifetime behind them. Through her Substack ELDEREVOLUTION, Rosner documents the experiences of older adults turning to psychedelics for healing, growth, and spiritual exploration—revealing how later life can become a profound period of renewal and meaning. Rosner's work has been featured in Forbes, Next Avenue, DoubleBlind, and other publications. She regularly speaks on the intersection of psychedelics and aging, and closely follows emerging research and evolving frameworks for legal and spiritual access to psychedelics. Dr. Emily Whinkin (she/they) is a naturopathic physician and integrative mental health specialist blending psychedelic and entheogenic medicine with mental, reproductive, and generative health. Trained at the National University of Natural Medicine and the AIMS Institute in Seattle, she is a board-certified Fellow of the Psychiatric Association of Naturopathic Physicians and holds certifications in perinatal mental health (PMH-C) and Holistic Pelvic Care™. Her work centers on community, belonging, and social justice, weaving somatic therapy and botanical medicine into care for people of all genders across the lifespan. Dr. Whinkin is licensed in Oregon and Washington, provides global consultation, and is dedicated to research, education, and individualized integrative mental health. Learn more at emilywhinkin.com. __ Psychedelic Salon: Cultivating Conscious Connections Join Seattle-based psychedelics educator and podcast host April Pride in a dynamic series co-produced with Town Hall Seattle. Psychedelic Salon explores the transformative potential of psychedelic medicines through engaging conversations, expert panels, and interactive community discussions. Rooted in scientific evidence, each event highlights unique themes—including grief, seniors, menopause, and more—emphasizing their role in mental health, spiritual growth, and personal optimization. Designed to be inclusive and insightful, this series invites attendees of all backgrounds to discover how psychedelics can foster profound connections, healing, and well-being. About April Pride April Pride is a Seattle-based creative entrepreneur and harm reduction advocate with over two decades of experience building brands at the intersection of lifestyle, cannabis, psychedelics, and women's health. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Vice, and The Guardian. April is the founder of SetSet, the world's first clinician-approved woman-focused platform for safe, accessible psychedelic integration. To learn more, follow April on Substack – aprilpride.substack.com   Presented by Town Hall Seattle and SetSet.