Limitless: Stories from the Neighborhood that Shaped Seattle

Third Place Books welcomes artists Erin Shigaki and Damon Brown, editor Jill Friedberg, and long-term Central District residents Cecil Beatty and Phyllis Beatty-Yasutake to our Seward Park store for a conversation about The Shelf Life Community Story Project's new book, . Showcasing interviews alongside pieces by local artists, Limitless is an ode to Seattle's Central District neighborhood.

This event is free and open to the public. For important updates, RSVP 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!

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This event is free to attend. For important updates, registration is highly recommended in advance.

The people of Seattle's Central District, forced together by discriminatory housing practices, built a thriving community that felt limitless to those who grew up there. Racist and restrictive policies meant to keep Central District residents in their place instead fueled creativity and resistance. These oral histories recorded by the Shelf Life Community Story Project, and illustrated by Central District artists, reveal how one neighborhood's innovation, art, and action shaped Seattle in ways that still resonate today.

This book includes original art by: Inye Wokoma, Damon Brown, Bonnie Hopper, Erin Shigaki, Chi Moscou-Jackson, Jite Agbro, and Romson Regarde Bustillo.

The Shelf Life Community Story Project is a Seattle-based collective of oral historians, photographers, artists, librarians, and filmmakers motivated by the belief that community stories and neighborhood histories can influence conversations about change and shift the way cities imagine their futures. The collective began as a storybooth next door to a community grocery store in 2016 where over 75 community members were interviewed.

Erin Shigaki is a fourth-generation Japanese American. She creates art that is community-based and often grounded in the World War II incarceration of her people. She is passionate about highlighting similarities between that history and systemic injustices communities of color continue to face. Erin's activism includes work on the annual Minidoka Pilgrimage to the American concentration camp where her family was incarcerated and with Tsuru for Solidarity, a nonviolent, abolitionist project of social justice advocates.

Damon Brown is an WA-based Artist, Public Artist, Illustrator and Art Director . His juxtaposition between light and shadow punctuates his signature style. Damon believes works of art are metaphors, making the abstract concrete and mystifying the mundane.

Jill Freidberg is a documentary filmmaker, oral historian, radio producer, and youth media educator. Her work reflects her belief that responsible, powerful storytelling builds understanding and solidarity across borders and across the street.

Phyllis Beatty-Yasutake grew up in the Central District. She and her father, Cecil Beatty (age 103), were interviewed together in 2016 and shared many stories about the CD from the 1940s through the 1980s, stories that paint a picture of just how limitless the neighborhood was. Cecil and Phyllis will revisit a couple of the stories that appear in the book.

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.

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