Events

Original music inspired by Maus by Art Spiegelman | JAN 11 | Town Hall Seattle

Original music inspired by Maus by Art Spiegelman

Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus has resonated with readers for years as a powerful graphic memoir of the Holocaust. Told through a son’s retelling of his father’s harrowing experiences, Maus captures raw emotion and historical depth in every panel—so much so that the Tennessee School Board removed it from shelves in 2022.

“Full of hard-earned humor and pathos, Maus takes your breath away with its stunning visual style, reminding us that while we can never forget the Holocaust, we may need new ways to remember.” —Kirkus

“Some works of art change their medium forever, and this graphic memoir is a sterling example of a book that upended all expectations about what comics could accomplish.” —Common Sense Media

Heads up: an unflinching chronicle of the Holocaust, Maus features Nazi imagery, antisemitism, and the accompanying horrors of genocide.

Get your TICKETS HERE!

Original music inspired by various banned picture books | FEB 8 | Hugo House

A favorite target of would-be censors nationwide—even the ever-charming Where’s Waldo? was one of the ALA’s 100 most challenged books of the 90s— picture books like And Tango Makes Three and They Call us Enemy introduce ideas about tolerance, self-expression, and difference with simple language and exuberant illustration. Circle up for uncensored story time!

Get your TICKETS HERE!

Original music inspired by The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea | APR 12 | Hugo House

Informed by years of research and banned in Arizona upon publication, Luis Alberto Urrea’s The Devil’s Highway paints a harrowing portrait of America’s boiling border deserts and the determined migrants who attempt the crossing. So effective was Urrea’s research, in fact, that it became the first book banned in Arizona for being “satanic” and “un-American.”

“A horrendous story told with bitter skill, highlighting the whole sordid, greedy mess that attends illegal broader crossings.” —Kirkus Reviews

“The single most compelling, lucid, and lyrical contemporary account of the absurdity of U.S. border policy.” —The Atlantic

Heads up: detailed descriptions of death from heat and starvation, and a disturbing portrait of the human negligence, cynicism and opportunism that fuels this tragic cycle.

Get your TICKETS HERE!

Original music inspired by Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds | MAY 10 | Hugo House

Perhaps no single author has generated more controversy in recent years than Ibram X. Kendi, whose Stamped from the Beginning—published in versions for both adults and youth—outlines the history of racist ideas in America with devastating clarity. In 2020, Stamped itself was stamped as the second-most challenged book in America.

“… engrossing and relentless… The greatest service Kendi and provide[s] is the ruthless prosecution of American ideas about race for their tensions, contradictions and unintended consequences.” —The Washington Post

Heads up: by covering the roots of America’s systemic racism, be ready for hard and necessary conversations about slavery and a wide spectrum racial violence and hatred.

Get your TICKETS HERE!

Original music inspired by Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and Sex is a Funny Word by by Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth | JUNE 14 | Town Hall Seattle

We’ve got your summer soundtrack covered! Celebrating two of the most challenged books in America, Bushwick goes big in June with a kaleidoscopic double-bill about love and self-discovery. Gender Queer is the reigning banned book champ, sitting atop ALA’s list of most challenged books in 2023. Sex is a Funny Word has been banned and challenged for just about every topic it covers: sexual identity, sexual expression, and all of the weird, wonderful body parts that make us who we are.

Gender Queer serves multiple purposes…Telling the world all your most excruciating personal secrets while also making them aesthetically pleasing and readable certainly seems like it should be a simple enough task, but it’s harder than you might think.” —The Comics Journal

“My hope is that we’re creating a world where there’s no shame for our kids to shed anymore. Sex Is a Funny Word is timely, important and engaging—and, as many parents will agree, a step in the right direction.” —Today’s Parent

Heads up: Gender Queer dives into gender dysphoria and shares some mild depictions of sexual acts; Sex is a Funny Word has youth-friendly illustrations of body parts.

Get your TICKETS HERE!