A delicate, dreamlike, and lushly detailed comics collection by a contemporary artist whose work explores the enmeshment of the human and non-human worlds.
Third Place Books is thrilled to welcome artist and author Aidan Koch to our Ravenna store! Koch will be discussing her new collection, Spiral and Other Stories, a showcase of Koch’s mastery of the form of comics, as a medium that can contain astonishing forms and tell new stories for our uncertain times. She will be joined in conversation by local author Megan Kelso. This event is free and open to the public.
For important updates, registration is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book!
Click here for more about our COVID-19 policies for in-person events.
Having trouble registering? See Eventbrite's troubleshooting FAQ here.
Tickets:
This event is free to attend. Registration is required in advance.
About Spiral and Other Stories. . .
For years, Aidan Koch’s comics have been pushing the boundaries of the medium, helping reimagine what a comic can look like, and the kinds of stories it can tell.
Koch has been living and working in the desert of California, turning her focus toward the ways humans and the natural world converge. Spiral and Other Stories is a triumph of that continuing process.
Using watercolors, pencils, crayons, charcoals, and collage, Koch builds worlds of dense detail and vast open spaces, urgent scrawled text and long silences, telling a series of stories about people and the places they inhabit.
Characters yearn for each other, even as they’re pulled toward different lives. Rivers dance together and then diverge as they make their way to see the sea.
With an accompanying essay by the author and critic Nicole Rudick, who explores Koch’s craft and her move into environmentally focused comics, Spiral and Other Stories is a showcase of Koch’s mastery of the form of comics, as a medium that can contain astonishing forms and tell new stories for our uncertain times.
Aidan Koch is a multimedia artist and author of several book-length comics. An educator and key figure in the environmental comics movement, she is the founder of the Institute for Interspecies Art and Relations, a publisher and educational organization. She has exhibited in galleries in North America, South America, and Europe. She lives in the Mojave Desert.
Megan Kelso has been drawing comics for over 30 years. In 2007, she was invited by The New York Times to serialize her "Watergate Sue" comic as part of the weekly "Funny Pages" feature. In 2019, she was selected for a public art commission for Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Her books include Who Will Make the Pancakes (2022), The Squirrel Mother (2006), Artichoke Tales (2010), and Queen of the Black Black (2011). She lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and daughter.
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.
