Registration now open for 2024 Whatcom READS events featuring Red Paint by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe

Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe is the 2024 selection for Whatcom READS, an annual collaboration between all the academic and public libraries in Bellingham and Whatcom County, to encourage everyone in the community to read and join in conversation about one book.

This year’s title has received a Pacific Northwest Book Award and the Washington State Book Award for Creative Nonfiction/Memoir. The author writes with a focus on trauma and resilience. Topics range from PTSD, sexual violence, and the work LaPointe’s great grandmother did for the Lushootseed language revitalization, to loud basement punk shows and what it means to grow up mixed heritage. LaPointe is from the Upper Skagit and Nooksack Indian Tribes.

Registration is now open for multiple Whatcom READS events including a free writing workshop with the author at Northwest Indian College on Friday, March 15 at 11 a.m., and free tickets to see the author in-person at Mount Baker Theatre on Friday, March 15 at 7 p.m. WWU’s Tribal Liaison Laural Ballew, Ses yehomia/tsi kuts bat soot, will emcee the evening at Mount Baker Theatre. 

A full schedule of additional Whatcom READS events related to Red Paint in February and March is available at whatcomreads.org.