Check out these summer reads (and listens) by UW authors and artists
Summer brings new books, music and podcasts by UW alumni.
Back in 2010, a student gets philosophical on UW’s Red Square with a book by Thich Nhat Hanh. Photo by Mary Levin.
Have you heard the urban legend that Seattle sells more sunglasses than any other city? Well, it’s not true. The truth is we’re more likely to be inside reading a book, since we’re the most educated city in the country and the second-most literate, in addition to being a UNESCO-designated City of Literature. We love books.
We’re lucky that many Seattleites and UW community members also love writing books, making music and creating podcasts. Here are a few new releases from your fellow alumni to check out, with or without a pair of shades.
Wild Cucumber: New and Selected Poems
by Ann Spiers, ’68, ’77
Empty Bowl Press, 2025
Poems by Vashon Island’s poet laureate reveal intimate human yearning, setting events against the lush and rugged backdrops she travels as a girl, woman, mother, grandmother, teacher, lover, hiker, writer, birder, gardener, environmentalist and guide.
Odyssey of a Seattle Native Son
by Carver Clark Gayton, ’60, ’72, ’76
HistoryLink and distributed by UW Press, 2025
Carver Gayton’s story bears witness to Seattle’s experience of race and the importance of family, teachers, teamwork and building bridges in the context of the civil rights movement. From his family roots in slavery and abolition, his life in the Seattle public school system, his career as a Husky football player and assistant coach to his career at Boeing and many civic activities, he draws on his experience of being Black in America.
The Almond Tree Duos
by Melissa Watras
Planet M Records, 2025
Violist/composer Melia Watras celebrates her latest album, featuring the world-premiere recording of her compositions for violin and viola. The album’s title references the symbol of hope and new beginnings in Oscar Wilde’s “The Canterville Ghost.” Hailed by Gramophone as “an artist of commanding and poetic personality,” Watras is professor of viola and chair of strings at the University of Washington.
Go Huskies Podcast
Host: Tony Castricone
The Varsity Podcast Network
Produced by the UW Athletic Department and hosted by play-by-play announcer Tony Castricone, this podcast provides an insider’s look into the world of Husky Athletics.
A.W. Prihandita poses with her Nebula Award for “Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being.”
Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being
by A.W. Prihandita, ’20, ’25
Clarkesworld Science Fiction & Fantasy Magazine, 2024
Trailers for science fiction movies like “Project Hail Mary” and shows like “Murderbot” are making the rounds, reminding us that sci-fi’s escapist nature can be popular in times of turmoil. A.W. Prihandita, who earned her master’s and doctorate in English at the UW, received the Nebula Award for best novelette, making her the first Indonesian to take home the prize. At the ceremony, she said: “This story is about resisting oppression, both epistemic and material, but above all it’s about kindness. It’s my way of saying I hope you’ll find a way to always be kind, even to those we cannot understand.” You can read the story in full on Clarkesworld.
The Blues is Best Sung at Sunrise
by BLUEs.WEAVE (Jai Kobi Kaleo’okalani, ’25), 2025
Jai Kobi Kaleo’okalani, who graduated this year with a degree in jazz and improvised music, creates music inspired by blues, jazz, ambient soundscapes and bird sounds, but remains categorically undefinable. Her debut album, featuring cover art made in collaboration with fellow 2025 graduate Kyra “Wolf” Wolfenbarger, features twangy guitar, dreamy beats and plenty of singing birds.
Cabin: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman
by Patrick Hutchison, ’09
St. Martin’s Press, 2024
Released to acclaim this past winter, Patrick Hutchison’s memoir, “Cabin,” tells the tale of a would-be lumberjack who decided to renovate an off-grid tiny home on a gravel road in the Cascades…equipped with no renovation experience. The history and anthropology grad took up copy-writing after the UW, then used his grandfather’s typewriter to document his cabin renovation, evoking a modern-day Henry David Thoreau. Now a full-time builder of tiny homes, cabins and tree-houses, Hutchison lives in Tacoma.
Mainline Mama
by Keeonna Harris, current postdoctoral scholar
Amistad Press, 2025
Writer, mother, activist and prison abolitionist Dr. Keeonna Harris dreamed of becoming an obstetrician as a teenager. Soon after she found out she was pregnant, her boyfriend, Jason, was sentenced for 22 years in prison for a carjacking, leaving Harris to raise her child alone. In this debut memoir, she examines mass incarceration while reflecting on motherhood, using community as a tool against carceral institutions. She is the founder of Borderland Project, a restorative space for Black and Brown women navigating life with an imprisoned loved one.