lifelong learning
UW 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.
“So often we think of reading as a solo activity, but with discussion it improves and elevates the experience.”
—Marilyn Conover Watt, ’76, ’81
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Now Reading:
“The Four Winds”
by Kristin Hannah
Reading Period: Oct. 10–Dec. 12, 2025
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.
Kristin Hannah, ’83, is a New York Times bestselling author who has written more than 20 novels. A former attorney, Kristin lives in the Pacific Northwest.
“An ode to the strength and ferocity of mothers, and a declaration that sometimes, love is the only thing that holds us together.”
— AP News
Author Interview:
UW Magazine: Author Kristin Hannah Finds Inspiration in Heartbreak
In this 2019 interview with UW Magazine, Kristin Hannah, ’83, talks about her path to becoming an author and gives us a peek at her writing process. (Hint: it involves yellow legal notepads.) Get to know this immensely popular writer!
Campus Connections:
America’s Great Migrations
Explore interactive maps about the Dust Bowl migration in the late 1930s. Professor James Gregory of the UW Dept. of History assembled this content, and also contributed to the Great Depression in Washington State Project.
UW Libraries Digital Collections
James Patrick Lee was a photographer for the Seattle Engineering Department from 1913 until 1957. His Great Depression photos include images of shantytowns that sprung up in the city in the 1930s. See also these Labor and the New Deal images from the UW Libraries digital collections.
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.
Up Next:
“The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones
Reading Period: Jan. 2–March 6, 2026
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.
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
2025-2026 Book Club Archives
“Birding to Change the World”
by Trish O’Kane
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.
Campus Connections: Birding to Change the World
Campus Connections:
Neighborhood Bird Outing: Union Bay
Sun. Sept. 28 | 9–11 a.m.
Center for Urban Horticulture
3501 NE 41st St.
The Union Bay Natural Area, managed by UW Botanic Gardens, is one of the best bird-watching sites in Seattle. Birds Connect Seattle invites us to join their free bird walk — all are welcome!
So you think you want to try birding?
Four members of the UW Retirement Association’s birding group worked together to write this handy birdwatching primer. Learn basic birding ethics and get a review of different field guides. Find in-person events and online resources. Learn the right way to focus your binoculars, and what to look for if you are shopping for a pair of your own!
Get Back to Your (Grass)roots
New to community activism? UW Impact’s Associate Director, Chris Olsen-Phillips, recommends this article on this basics of grassroots organizing. (Visit uwimpact.org to learn more about advocating for the UW and higher education.)
Be a Bird’s Buddy
Fall migration is a big deal for birdwatchers, but it can be a dangerous time for the birds themselves. Conservationist Joshua Morris, ’08, has timeless tips on ways to aid our feathered friends in this 2020 article from UW Magazine.
Past UW Alumni Book Club Archives
Curious what books we have read before? Use the links below to access our book club archives, which include recorded events and resource lists.
Share Your Book Ideas!
Have suggestions for upcoming book club titles?
Submit your ideas to our Book Club Suggestion Form.
Check out the books that have already been suggested.
The UW Alumni Book Club is a collaboration between the UWAA, UW Libraries, University Book Store, Seattle Arts & Lectures — and passionate readers like you.
