Winter reads Winter reads Winter reads

Whether you commit to resolutions each January, or you keep a running tally of books and movies you enjoy each year, it's never a bad idea to add a few new releases by UW authors and artists. This winter, we rounded up nine of our favorite recent books, movies and albums by alumni and faculty.

Earth Wise: A Guide to Today’s Environmental Issues

By Thomas Spiro and Helen Spiro with Alexandra Soldatova
McFarland Press

Thomas Spiro, an affiliate chemistry professor, and his team write about human activity and the environment. From hurricanes to wildfires, reports about the environment can be depressing. Spiro, along with Alexandra Soldatova (who works in the Spiro Lab) and Helen Spiro, offers potential solutions to climate change and ideas for a more sustainable future.

Let the Moon Wobble

By Ally Ang, ’21
Alice James Books

Seattle-based Ally Ang is a gaysian poet and editor who is a Pushcart Prize and Best New Poets nominee. Their work has appeared in The Rumpus, Muzzle Magazine and ANMLY. “Let the Moon Wobble” is their first poetry collection, exploring queer joy in the face of fascism, the COVID-19 pandemic and more.

Woodpecker: A Year in the Life of North American Woodpeckers

By Paul Bannick, ’86
Braided River, an imprint of Mountaineers Books

Woodpeckers are one of the most remarkable species in the avian world. They have evolved in ways that make them ecologically critical to forest health, serving as keystone species in a variety of wooded habitats across North America. Paul Bannick, a renowned photographer, has received awards for his writing on both owls and woodpeckers.

“Code 3,” with Rainn Wilson

Wayfarer Studios, Circle of Confusion

This American action-comedy stars the former UW student as a burned out EMT worker training his eager replacement during a final 24-hour shift that spirals into complete chaos. Lil Rel Howery (“Get Out”) and Aimee Carrero (“Young & Hungry”) co-star in this dark comedy that takes jabs at the U.S. health-care system.

Eclectic Momentos EP

By Josh Jensen, ’10

Jensen returns with a downtempo and electronic experimental album that touches on topics of “coming-of-age,” celebrity obsession culture and living life in the present tense.

Detonator

By Peter Mountford, ’06

“Publishers Weekly” calls Peter Mountford’s newest story collection “sensorily rich and narratively captivating…utterly addictive.” Creative writing grad Peter Mountford is a sought-after writing coach whose clients have written New York Times bestsellers; now, Mountford, who lives in Seattle with his two children, releases his own writing again 10 years after his novel, “The Dismal Science,” was published by Tin House. The stories in “Detonator” span both the globe and Mountford’s decades-long career, written between 2007 and 2019.

Of Floating Isles: On Growing Pains and Video Games

By Kawika Guillermo, ‘13, Arsenal Pulp Press

Kawika Guillermo (they/he) is an award-winning author and third generation Filipinx American who graduated from the UW’s creative writing program. Their debut novel, “Stamped: an anti-travel novel,” won the 2020 Association for Asian American Studies Book Award for Creative Prose, and in 2023 was adapted into a free-to-play video game, “Stamped: an anti-travel game.” “Floating Isles” is an immersive journey into Guillermo’s lifelong attachment to video games, revealing how they shape us, shatter us and give us the courage to start again.

The Future of Our Former Democracy

By More Equitable Democracy

George Cheung, ’92, is executive director of More Equitable Democracy, a racial justice organization whose mission is to advance racial equity by transforming electoral systems. And their podcast, “The Future of Our Former Democracy,” shows how the U.S. might be able to learn about transformed electoral systems from the north of Ireland, especially in the wake of rising polarization and political violence. Cheung and co-host Colin Cole discuss how Ireland’s adoption of proportional representation could be a solution for the American democratic system.

“Future” won two Signal Awards: a gold for best podcast in History, and a silver for best in Activism, Public Service and Social Impact.

Thorn House

Thom Schramm, ’00, Yas Press

Winner of the Granite State Poetry Prize for “Thorn House,” creative writing MFA grad Thomas Schramm’s previous poems have appeared in AGNI, The American Scholar, Harvard Review and Ploughshares. Schramm won an Academy of American Poets Prize and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Says author Jennifer Militello, “[Thorn House] enthralls the reader from the lyrical hypnosis of the very first poem, weaving a spell that propels us through the book’s entirety.”