We’re focusing on superheroes this summer. Superheroes come in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes they happen to be very tall! Spokane certainly looks up to the Zags, and we are super excited to welcome some of the players to the South Hill Library! This is your chance to meet a few local heroes, hear a story or two and even ask them questions about basketball and what it’s like to be part of a winning team. Join us!

Tuesday, August 4, 6 pm at the South Hill Library

The 73rd World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Sasquan, is landing at the Spokane Convention Center on August 19 – 23! The only other time this international convention was held in WA State was 1961 (in Seattle). It’s a big honor for the event to be here and there will be tons of fun stuff to see and do.

Worldcon usually draws upwards of 5000 attendees, many of which attend in their favorite sci-fi garb so it’s a great people-watching event. It’s also when the Hugo Awards are announced. The Hugo Award®, established in 1953, is for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy literature. Our Fiction Queen, Librarian Susan Creed, shares her take on this year’s nominees in her blog (see her post here).

The library is partnering with Worldcon so stay tuned for more info as it develops. We are hosting an author/artist meet and greet on Tuesday, August 18 at 4:00 pm at the Downtown Library that you’ll definitely want to attend! Stay tuned for further Worldcon/Library info by checking our Facebook feed and our calendar of events.

Two military space operas, one fantasy/steampunk mystery, a best-selling Chinese sci-fi novel translated into English and the latest in a long-running wizard detective series are the five books nominated this year for the Hugo Award for best science fiction/fantasy novel published in 2014. Members of Worldcon 2015, who are meeting in Spokane next month, will vote for their favorite. Which one will win? That’s hard to say, there has already been controversy over these five and some people feel that there are books that should’ve been included that weren’t. Read on for summaries of each and find out which one gets my vote.

Last year the Spokane Public Library Foundation introduced a brand new event that turned out to be a huge hit. The Spokane Trivia Championship debuted at the Bing Crosby Theater to a packed house with 21 teams competing for the honor of being the master trivia champions of Spokane. The event not only raised awareness of the important work the our libraries do in Spokane but it also raised about $12,000 for the our STEM and early literacy programs.

Teams are forming right now for this year’s event which will be held on Thursday, September 24 at the Bing Crosby Theater at 7 pm. You can form a corporate team, an individual team, or come out as one of the cheering members of the audience.

To get you in the mood for trivia we have some warm-up questions and they involve winning. Here’s where you could win right away!

Teaser question #1 – Who was the governor of the Washington Territory until 1857 and what large project did he undertake in 1853 and 1854? (email your answer as soon as you know and we’ll enter you into a drawing for a Foundation tote bag. For those that don’t know, we’ll list the answer in the next newsletter along with a new question). Here’s a hint: visit the library’s NW Room this month.