KUOW, Seattle Public Library series continues with Seattle author's 'queer garden of love, grief, and longing'

The KUOW Book Club is continuing our series of live author talks in partnership with the Seattle Public Library with writer and educator Molly Olguín.

We'll be reading her debut short-story collection, "The Sea Gives Up the Dead."

Olguín will join us for a live interview at the Seattle Central Library on April 23. Register for free here.

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This collection has roots in the classic fairytale tradition, but Olguín transforms these stories into "a queer garden of love, grief, and longing." In her hands, for example, it is not your standard knight who sets out to a slay a dragon but rather a lovesick nanny. Themes of fantasy and magical realism feature prominently, but you also can expect elements of science fiction and horror.

In short, "The Sea Gives Up the Dead" is a demonstration of Olguín's versatility as a writer and the wild places authors can take us when they blend genre.

Read along with the KUOW Book Club by signing up for our newsletter, and join Olguín and me at the Seattle Central Library on April 23 at 6:30 p.m.

If you can't make it, don't worry: I'll share the interview and my thoughts on April 27. (We'll also share the interview on the "Meet Me Here" podcast feed.)

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Even before "The Sea Gives Up the Dead" officially hit bookshelves, it received accolades, which have continued to pile up.

In 2023, the manuscript won the Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction, selected by author Carmen Maria Machado, an award-winning author herself whose work I highly recommend.

In selecting Olguín's manuscript, Machado said, "I could not be more excited by this haunting, lush, genre-leaping collection — reading it, I am reminded of how I felt when I first encountered Karen Russell's 'St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.' Gorgeously written, imaginative, startling — '[The] Sea Gives Up the Dead' is a wunderkammer of beauty and sorrow."

Pick up a copy, feel some stuff, and join the conversation on April 23.

Olguín's book is the penultimate course in our literary winter feast. We'll conclude this season in May with one of my favorite local authors, Sonora Jha, and her latest novel, "Intemperance."

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