Mary Lou Sanelli presents 'An Island Called Bainbridge'

Third Place Books welcomes back Mary Lou Sanelli for a reading from her new collection of essays: An Island Called Bainbridge.

In An Island Called Bainbridge, Sanelli's writings move effortlessly from reflections on friendship, to the currents of local and human politics. Through it all, her attentiveness reveals the intimate bond between people and the land that sustains them, a lens through which she discovers balance, within herself and in the world around her.

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About An Island Called Bainbridge. . .

Step off the ferry from Seattle, and the city fades behind you—its noise, its rush, its endless complication. What remains is the quieter rhythm of Washington’s small towns. In this collection of writings, Mary Lou Sanelli introduces readers to Bainbridge Island, its people, places, and the conversations that define “this island of us.” Here, life moves to its own pulse and rituals, kindnesses, grudges, and quiet truths unfold beneath the endless gaze of the surrounding waters.

Sanelli has a rare gift for balancing the personal and the universal, guided by a wry, irreverent wit and an unflagging curiosity. She observes the full spectrum of human emotion with compassion, never sentimental and always honest. In An Island Called Bainbridge, her writings move effortlessly from reflections on friendship, “her generous nature filled every inch of my kitchen,” to the currents of local and human politics, “there is fear under the surface of a lot of us”. Through it all, her attentiveness reveals the intimate bond between people and the land that sustains them, a lens through which she discovers balance, within herself and in the world around her.

Mary Lou Sanelli's last title, In So Many Words, was nominated for a 2025 Pacific Northwest Book Award and a 2025 Washington State Book Award. Her forthcoming book, An Island Called Bainbridge: People, Places, Conversations, will be published in the fall of 2026. She is a columnist for the Kitsap Sun, the Bainbridge Islander, Pacific Publishing's Seattle newspapers, Art Access magazine, and she contributes Seattle Times and Weekend Edition, NPR. She also works as a professional speaker and a master dance teacher. She lives on Bainbridge Island.

About Third Place Books

Founded in 1998 in Lake Forest Park, Washington, Third Place Books is dedicated to the creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them. With locations in Lake Forest Park and Seattle's Ravenna and Seward Park neighborhoods, Third Place Books is proud to serve the entire Seattle metro area. Learn more about their event series at thirdplacebooks.com/events.