Seattle BIPOC+ Books and Events!

From Goodreads:

From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a historical fantasy epic that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British Empire.

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire's quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide . . .

Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?

****PLEASE READ****

We will be speaking freely, often in critique of white supremacy, patriarchy, and misogyny. If you do not identify as BIPOC, you're welcome to join as a co-conspiritor, keeping in mind we prioritize BIPOC voices. We have an anti-racist lens with every discussion we have. Non-BIPOC co-conspirators will be screened.

From Goodreads:
Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant. Run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, the Kamogawa Diner serves up deliciously extravagant meals. But that’s not the main reason customers stop by . . .

The father-daughter duo are ‘food detectives’. Through ingenious investigations, they are able to recreate dishes from a person’s treasured memories – dishes that may well hold the keys to their forgotten past and future happiness. The restaurant of lost recipes provides a link to vanished moments, creating a present full of possibility.

****PLEASE READ****

We will be speaking freely, often in critique of white supremacy, patriarchy, and misogyny. If you do not identify as BIPOC, you're welcome to join as a co-conspiritor, keeping in mind we prioritize BIPOC voices. We have an anti-racist lens with every discussion we have. Non-BIPOC co-conspirators will be screened.

American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America's First Paramedics by Kevin Hazzard

From Goodreads:
The extraordinary story of an unjustly forgotten group of Black men in Pittsburgh who became the first paramedics in America, saving lives and changing the course of emergency medicine around the world
Until the 1970s, if you suffered a medical crisis, your chances of survival were minimal. A 9-1-1 call might bring police or even the local funeral home. But that all changed with Freedom House EMS in Pittsburgh, a group of Black men who became America’s first paramedics and set the gold standard for emergency medicine around the world, only to have their story and their legacy erased—until now.

In American Sirens, acclaimed journalist and paramedic Kevin Hazzard tells the dramatic story of how a group of young, undereducated Black men forged a new frontier of healthcare. He follows a rich cast of characters that includes John Moon, an orphan who found his calling as a paramedic; Peter Safar, the Nobel Prize-nominated physician who invented CPR and realized his vision for a trained ambulance service; and Nancy Caroline, the idealistic young doctor who turned a scrappy team into an international leader.

At every turn, Freedom House battled racism—from the community, the police, and the government. Their job was grueling, the rules made up as they went along, their mandate nearly impossible—and yet despite the long odds and fierce opposition, they succeeded spectacularly. Never-before revealed in full, this is a rich and troubling hidden history of the Black origins of America’s paramedics, a special band of dedicated essential workers, who stand ready to serve day and night on the line between life and death for every one of us.

****PLEASE READ****
We will be speaking freely, often in critique of white supremacy, patriarchy, and misogyny. If you do not identify as BIPOC, you're welcome to join as a co-conspiritor, keeping in mind we prioritize BIPOC voices. We have an anti-racist lens with every discussion we have. Non-BIPOC co-conspirators will be screened.

This is the second book in the Arc of the Scythe trilogy. Reading the first novel, Scythe, is recommended.

From Goodreads:
Rowan has gone rogue, and has taken it upon himself to put the Scythedom through a trial by fire. Literally. In the year since Winter Conclave, he has gone off-grid, and has been striking out against corrupt scythes — not only in MidMerica, but across the entire continent. He is a dark folk hero now — “Scythe Lucifer” — a vigilante taking down corrupt scythes in flames.

Citra, now a junior scythe under Scythe Curie, sees the corruption and wants to help change it from the inside out, but is thwarted at every turn, and threatened by the “new order” scythes. Realizing she cannot do this alone—or even with the help of Scythe Curie and Faraday, she does the unthinkable, and risks being “deadish” so she can communicate with the Thunderhead—the only being on earth wise enough to solve the dire problems of a perfect world. But will it help solve those problems, or simply watch as perfection goes into decline?

****PLEASE READ****
We will be speaking freely, often in critique of white supremacy, patriarchy, and misogyny. If you do not identify as BIPOC, you're welcome to join, keeping in mind we prioritize BIPOC voices. We have an anti-racist lens with every discussion we have.