There’s a couple pieces of Book News to share for Seattle’s big ole queer book lovin’ public. The first is the delightful news that Elliot Bay Books has announced their targeted opening date for their new store on Capitol Hill. In case you’ve been hibernating, Elliot Bay announced at the end of 2009 they are moving from their Pioneer Square location to a new spot on 10th Avenue in a building sandwiched between the Oddfellows building on Pine and the Comet/Basic Plumbing building on Pike. Elliot Bay will occupy about 2/3 of the building and Everday Music will take over the other third (they have not announced an opening date yet) and there will be some parking available IN the building (it was originally constructed as a car dealership/garage) and additional validated parking will be available in the lot behind the Wild Rose. Both Paul Constant at The Stranger and the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog have been intensely covering this story and they have both recently reported that Elliot Bay has announced they are closing the Pioneer Square store on March 31st and the new Capitol Hill store should be ready to open on April 15th dependant on the construction and move being completed. This is GREAT news for everyone on the Hill who loves books and has been in a constant state of keening and mourning since the demise of Bailey/Coy Books in November of last year. Elliot Bay has always had a great selection of LGBT literature, along with every other category of books, and it’s presence on the Hill is a boon for the entire community. The downside is, the book lovers of Capitol Hill will be in a perpetual state of poverty due to the desire to weekly purchases of the latest Taschen ode to beefcake, pricey new cookbooks, and complete sets of Sookie Stackhouse “True Blood” novels…
AND, in other bookish news, Seattle Arts and Lectures is bringing acclaimed novelist Michael Chabon to town as part of their lecture series at Benaroya Hall on Tuesday, March 9th at 7:30pm. Chabon first earned attention from the public, and specifically the LGBTQ community, with his acclaimed debut novel The Mysteries Of Pittsburg a semi-autobiographical tale of a young man questioning his sexuality in 1980’s Pittsburg. (The book was made into a mediocre film last year which performed poorly at the box office partly due to the bisexuality of the main character being radically toned down.)Chabon’s subsequent works The Wonder Boys, the Pulitzer Prize winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, and The Yiddish Policeman’s Union have earned him worldwide recognition and legions of queer fans for his entertaining writing style and sympathetic and honest treatment of queer characters and themes. Tickets for the reading are on sale now; Seattle Arts and Lectures events are on the pricey side starting at $25 for balcony seats but students and under 25s can purchase seats for $10. For more info, go to the website.
-Michael Strangeways
About the Author: Michael Strangeways
