Alumni Book Club
Personal stories, timely topics, transformative fiction… Let’s dig into some amazing books together! All curious readers are welcome at the UW Alumni Book Club. Together, we read a book about every two months. Choose just one or all five — whatever works for you.
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
Brace yourself for a gripping historical novel from a master of literary horror! A lecturer at the University of Wyoming comes across the diary that her great-great-grandfather kept in 1912. The entries include a series of interviews with the survivor of a massacre of hundreds of Blackfeet Indians… a survivor who has had an unusually long life, and who may just be out for revenge.
→ One of Time Magazine’s “100 Must-Read Books of 2025!”
Join the Discussion
The free online forum has suggested timelines and prompts for online discussion. Join us and take the conversation to the next level!
“The author goes back in time, digs his feet into history, and spins a spellbinding yarn about one of the bloodiest, most significant parts of this country’s history.”
—NPR
Author Interview
Author Voices: In Conversation with Stephen Graham Jones
In November 2025, the King County Library System invited Stephen Graham Jones to talk about his writing process. The one-hour conversation was guided by Madrienne White, ’08, ’19, a proud Muckleshoot Tribal member and Academic/Operations Manager at Muckleshoot Tribal College.
Campus Connections
Storytelling as Sovereignty
UW Tacoma professor Danica Miller curated “This Is Native Land,” a new exhibition at the Washington State History Museum. In this interview with UWT, she explores the power of storytelling to explore the past and future through an Indigenous lens.
CAmpus Connections
Monsters, Slashers, Vampires and More
Stephen Graham Jones gets a dose of creative inspiration from horror films, which come in many sub-genres. Grab a bowl of popcorn and see if any of his faves are on your must-view list! (PS: Many of these films are available at University District favorite Scarecrow Video for rent in person or by the Rent By Mail program.)
Reactions to The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
“Jones reveals the literal horrors of US settlement, and the horrors we continue to grapple with today. Then he imagines how might those horrors manifest themselves, collapsing historical fact with fantastical terror. In the end, he gives us a story where seemingly distant sins of the past might just show up in your living room. Sins, the book suggests, that perhaps we are all implicated in. Sleep with your lights on, Reader.”
— Danica Sterud Miller (Puyallup Tribe of Indians)
Professor of American Indian Studies, UW Tacoma
Co-Director of UW Center of American Indian and Indigenous Studies (CAIIS)
“Horror, at its best, is about the confrontation of taboos, the breaking of moral fictions, and the revealing of (darker) truths. In moving past our safe places, it gets to freely confront ideas we usually prefer to avoid. Jones’ work gruesomely confronts America’s inner turmoil — where languages, religions, and cultures war against each other.”
— Gavin T. Doyle
Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, UW Bothell
2025-2026 Reading List
Reading Period Aug 1-Oct. 3
Reading Period Oct. 10-Dec. 12
Reading Period Jan. 2-March 6
Reading Period March 13- May 15
Reading Period May 22-July 24
Reader Benefits
Seattle Arts & Lectures
UWAA members and book club participants save 20% on tickets for all events in the Seattle Arts & Lectures 2025/26 season! This includes Stephen Graham Jones‘s talk on March 30, right as we are finishing up his new novel, “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter.” Use the code UWAA20 to save on in-person and online passes.
Barnes & Noble at University Book Store
Seattle-area readers, have you checked out how University Book Store is partnering with Barnes & Noble to expand their General Books department? Book clubbers can save 20% on “The Four Winds” when they visit the Barnes & Noble at University Book Store location and mention the UW Alumni Book Club discount at checkout.
University Libraries
UWAA members are eligible for a free UW Libraries Borrower’s Card.
Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth
Readers’ Choice! A mix of mystery and political satire, this novel takes aim at corruption in modern Nigeria. Two old friends decide to investigate a local cartel that traffics in human body parts. But in a country where religious charlatans and dishonest officials abound, can they trust anyone in their search?
Birding to Change the World
Trish O’Kane worked for decades as an investigative journalist, boldly visiting war zones and fighting for justice. When she evacuates from Hurricane Katrina and returns to see the devastation of her beloved New Orleans neighborhood, she is shaken to her core — and then turns into an “accidental ornithologist!” This upbeat memoir, chock full of amazing natural history facts, chronicles how birdwatching helped her find courage and community in the face of a rapidly changing world.
Resources
The Four Winds
Readers’ Choice! Author (and UW alum) Kristin Hannah, ’83, highlights the struggles of the working poor during the Great Depression in this novel. Elsa is an awkward wallflower who is raising her two children on the family farm. As the Dust Bowl hits, she must choose between weathering the climate catastrophe in Texas or moving her family west to follow rumors of jobs in California.
Resources
2024-2025 Archives
2023-2024 Archives
2022-2023 Archives
2021-2022 Archives
2020-2021 Archives
2019-2020 Archives
