Event

Fatima Bhutto at Town Hall Seattle

Presented by ELLIOTT BAY BOOK COMPANY in association with the GARDNER CENTER FOR ASIAN ART & IDEAS and SEATTLE ARTS & LECTURES. Early words here on two big nights happening early in October at Town Hall. First is this with Pakistani poet/journalist Fatima Bhutto here from her Karachi home with her searing, astonishing book, Songs of Blood and Sword: A Daughter's Memoir (Nation Books). This is a "daughter's memoir" of both a family and a homeland, as Fatima Bhutto's family has been a central, indelible part of Pakistan's sixty-three turbulent years as an independent nation. Her grandfather, uncle, aunt (Benazir), and father Mir Murtaza were variously executed, murdered, and assassinated, as were numerous others who worked with or for them. The clarities and mysteries of these, and more, are told with a brave, bracing narrative voice. $10 tickets are available via www.brownpapertickets.com (1-800-838-3006) or at Elliott Bay Book Company starting September 1. Town Hall Seattle is at 1119 Eighth Avenue (at Seneca). We expect this evening to also address in various ways (discussion, relief efforts, financial support) the ongoing devastation in Pakistan owing to floods). As this goes to press, we're still awaiting word in this regard from Ms. Bhutto's publisher. Please check back on our website and/or our printed October schedule for more current information. Locally, the Pakistan Association of Greater Seattle (www.pakistanseattle.com) has a special website dedicated to flood relief efforts, www.floodrelief2010.com.