Geraldine Brooks

Credit Randi Baird

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Literary Arts

Geraldine Brooks

Past Event: Thursday, January 28, 2016

At McCaw Hall — Susan Brotman Auditorium

Co-Presented by The Seattle Times. Sponsored by Elliott Bay Book Company, KPLU 88.5 FM, KUOW 94.9 FM, and Seattle Met.

The thing that most attracts me to historical fiction is taking the factual record as far as it is known, using that as scaffolding, and then letting imagination build the structure that fills in those things we can never find out for sure.

— Geraldine Brooks

Certainly I’m still mining my experiences as a journalist. I think it’s no coincidence that all three of my novels basically are about how people act in a time of catastrophe. Do they go to their best self or their worst self?

— Geraldine Brooks

I swim in a sea of words. They flow around me and through me and, by a process that is not fully clear to me, some delicate hidden membrane draws forth the stuff that is the necessary condition of my life.

— Geraldine Brooks

The Secret Chord…A thundering, gritty, emotionally devastating reconsideration of the story of King David makes a masterly case for the generative power of retelling. What’s added, to blazing effect, are the other characters…most crucially his mother and his wives…I dare readers to take in Brook’s rendition of it without crying at least once. (I did, three times.)

— Alana Newhouse

Geraldine Brooks was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her novel March. The New York Times calls her most recent novel, The Secret Chord, “blazing” and “masterly.”

Other novels, Year of Wonders, People of the Book and Caleb’s Crossing are international bestsellers, translated into more than 25 languages. She is also the author of the nonfiction works Nine Parts of Desire and Foreign Correspondence.

Australian-born Brooks grew up in the Western suburbs of Sydney, and attended Bethlehem College Ashfield and the University of Sydney. She worked as a reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald for three years as a feature writer with a special interest in environmental issues.

In 1982 she won the Greg Shackleton Australian News Correspondents scholarship to the journalism master’s program at Columbia University in New York City. Later she worked for The Wall Street Journal, where she covered crises in the the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans. In 2006 she was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University.

Brooks, who retains her Australian passport, became an United States citizen in 2002. She lives on Martha’s Vineyard, MA.

Please note: there will not be a book-signing for this event. However, Elliott Bay will have some pre-signed books available for sale.

Selected Works:

Novels
The Secret Chord (2015)
Caleb’s Crossing (2011)
People of the Book (2008) – Winner of the Australian Book Industry Award for Book of the Year and Literary Fiction Book of the Year
March (2005) – Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Year of Wonders (2001) – Chosen as both a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book

Non-Fiction
Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal’s Journey From Down Under to All Over (1997)
Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women (1994)

Links

Geraldine Brooks’s homepage
‘The Secret Chord,’ by Geraldine Brooks – The New York Times review
Geraldine Brooks – Backstage at Pen & Podium
‘Caleb’s Crossing,’ by Geraldine Brooks – The New York Times review
Geraldine Brooks interview – Author Magazine
NPR: Geraldine Brooks’ Civil War ‘March’

Event Details

McCaw Hall — Susan Brotman Auditorium

321 Mercer St
Seattle, WA 98109

View directions.

This event will take place in the Susan Brotman Auditorium, the largest event space in McCaw Hall. The main entrance to the hall is on the north side of the building facing Mercer Street.

Transportation & Parking

By Car

  • From I-5
    Take Mercer Street exit (exit 167) and go straight onto Mercer Street westbound. Turn right onto 4th Avenue. Turn left to park in the Seattle Center Mercer Street Garage.
  • From Aurora/Hwy 99 Northbound
    Take the Western Avenue exit. Continue straight on Western Avenue. Turn right onto Battery Street. Turn left onto 1st Avenue. Turn right on Mercer Street. Continue down Mercer Street to drop off patrons directly in front of McCaw Hall, or turn left on 3rd or 4th Avenues to park in the Seattle Center Mercer Street Garage.
  • From Aurora/Hwy 99 Southbound
    Exit right on Roy Street. Turn left on 3rd Avenue North. Turn left to park in the Seattle Center Mercer Street Garage or proceed to the corner of 3rd Avenue and Mercer Street, turn left and proceed immediately to the far right lane to drop off patrons directly in front of McCaw Hall.

By Bus
Bus routes with Seattle Center stops include: 1, 2, 3, 4, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 24, 33, and 82. For more information about the routes nearest you, call Metro’s 24-hour Rider Information hotline at (206) 553-3000 or visit Metro online.

Parking
Parking is available at the Mercer Street Garage, conveniently located across the street from McCaw Hall. A covered skybridge provides easy access between level C of the garage and McCaw Hall.

Other garages and parking options are:

  • Fisher Plaza Garage, located in the KOMO Plaza on 4th Avenue N, between Broad St and John St. The entrance is at 451 John St. The quickest way to get to McCaw Hall from here is to walk across the Seattle Center campus, starting from the Space Needle.
  • 5th Avenue North Garage, located at the corner of 5th Avenue and Harrison Street. This is the first garage you will encounter after exiting I-5 and turning onto Harrison Street. It is a 3-block walk to McCaw Hall from this garage.
  • Surface lots are available on either side of Mercer Street between 3rd and 1st Avenues.
  • Southwest Seattle Center garages, for those willing and able to make the short walk across the Seattle Center campus, there are garages located on 1st Avenue North between Thomas and John Streets (south of KeyArena), at the corner of Warren Avenue North and Denny Way (adjacent to the church), and on 2nd Avenue North and Denny Way (adjacent to Pacific Science Center).

Accessibility

SAL is for everyone. We want all audience members to be able to experience our lectures and readings regardless of accessibility concerns. Accessibility services at our venues are provided at no cost to ticket holders. If you find you need to sit closer to the stage to accommodate your needs but find the cost of a Patron ticket prohibitive, then please contact us—we will seat you where you need to be, regardless of cost.

Open Captioning occurs at every event that takes place at Benaroya Hall. It is also always available upon request for all events in our other halls, with a two-week minimum notice. To make a request for Open Captioning services, please contact us at [email protected] or 206.621.2230×10.

Assisted Listening Devices, including Hearing Loop Assisted Listening Systems, are available at all of our venues, with the exception of Broadway Performance Hall. If you would like more information, please contact us at [email protected] or 206.621.2230×10.

ASL-Interpretated Events are always available upon request, with a two-week minimum notice. To make a request for ASL interpretation, please contact us at [email protected] or 206.621.2230×10.

Wheelchair Accessible Ticketing is available in all sections at our venues, and and our venues are fully accessible to ticket holders with physical mobility concerns. If you would like more information, please contact us at [email protected] or 206.621.2230×10.

For any further questions or requests, or to offer Seattle Arts & Lectures feedback on how we can be more accessible and inclusive, please reach out to our Patron Services Manager at [email protected] or 206.621.2230×10.

Seating Chart