A novelist’s thoughts on storytelling, a geologist’s soil restoration strategy, an environmentalist’s memoir, a celebration of Latino music influences, a poet’s meditations on her changing city 鈥�

Yes, and a best-selling author’s latest work, a podcast reborn as a book, a collaboration of world-class violists and even tales of brave Icelandic seawomen 鈥� at this festive time of year, 天美影视传媒 faculty creations can make great gifts for the Dawg on your shopping list.

Here鈥檚 a quick look at some gift-worthy books and music created by UW talents in the last year or so 鈥� and a reminder of some perennial favorites.

Charles Johnson, “.” Johnson, National Book Award-winning author of “” and longtime professor of English, discusses his art in a book stemming from a year of interviews. “There is winning sanity here,” the New York Times wrote: “Johnson wants his students to be ‘raconteurs always ready to tell an engaging tale,’ not self-preoccupied neurotics.” Published by .

Marisol Berr铆os-Miranda, Shannon Dudley and Michelle Habell-Pall谩n, ““ An extraordinary exhibit at the Smithsonian and Seattle’s Experience Music Project (now Museum of Pop Culture) comes to life as a book, detailing Latino influence on American popular music from salsa to punk, Chicano rock to the Miami sound. Berrios-Miranda is an affiliate associate professor of ethnomusicology, Dudley an associate professor of music and Habell-Pall谩n an associate professor in the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies. It’s a dual-language volume 鈥� English on the right side, Spanish on the left. And as a bonus the authors have created an American Sabor on iTunes and Spotify; the book flags specific songs with a playlist icon. Published by 天美影视传媒 Press.

David R. Montgomery, “.” Montgomery, a professor of Earth and space sciences, won praise for his popular 2007 book “.” Several books later he returned in 2017 with this view of environmental restoration based on three ideas 鈥� “ditch the plow, cover up, grow diversity.” said Montgomery’s well-expressed views “will convince readers that soil health should not remain an under-the-radar issue and that we all benefit from embracing a new philosophy of farming.” Published by .

Margaret Willson, Willson is an affiliate associate professor of anthropology and the Canadian Studies Arctic Program. In her years working as a deckhand she came across historic accounts of a woman sea captain known for reading the weather, hauling in large catches and never losing a crew member in 60 years of fishing. “And yet people in Iceland told me there had been few seawomen in their past, and few in their present,” she said. “I found this strange in a country of such purported gender equality. This curiosity led to the research and all that came from it.” Published by .

Estella Leopold, “.” Leopold is professor emeritus of biology and the youngest daughter of , who wrote the 1949 classic of early environmentalism, “.” She returns to scenes of her Wisconsin childhood in this follow-up, describing her life on the land where her father practiced his revolutionary conservation philosophy. Published by .

David Shields, “.” Shields is a professor of English and the best-selling author of many books, starting with his 1984 novel “.” In 2017 he brought out this collection of essays that the New York Times called “a triumphantly humane book” and him “our elusive, humorous ironist, something like a 21^st century Socrates.” The paper’s praise continued: “He is a master stylist 鈥� and has been for a long time, on the evidence of these pieces from throughout his career. . . All good writers make us feel less alone. But Shields makes us feel better.” Published by .

Joseph Janes, “.” The year 2017 saw Janes’ popular podcast “” become a book under a slightly different title. Janes is an associate professor in the Information School who writes here about the origin and often evolving meaning of historical documents, both famous and less known. Some of his favorite “documents” are Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s fictional list of communists, the Fannie Farmer Cookbook and the backstory to what’s called the Rosie the Riveter poster. Published by .

Frances McCue, Well-known Seattle poet, teacher and self-described “arts instigator,” McCue is a senior lecturer in English. She was a co-founder of Hugo House, a place for writers, and served as its director for 10 years. Those experiences fuel this book of poems about the changing nature of the city. “This is Seattle. A place to love whatever’s left,” she writes. Published by .

Scott L. Montgomery, “.” Scientific research that doesn鈥檛 get communicated effectively to the public may as well not have happened at all, says geoscientist Montgomery in this second volume of a popular 2001 book. A prolific writer, Montgomery is a lecturer in the Jackson School of International Studies. “Communicating is the doing of science,” he adds. “Publication and public speaking are how scientific work gains a presence, a shared reality in the world.鈥澛� Published by .

Odai Johnson, “.” The true cultural tipping point in the run-up to the American Revolution, writes Johnson, a professor in the School of Drama, might not have been the Boston Tea Party or even the First Continental Congress. Rather, he suggests, it was Congress’ 1774 decision to close the British American theaters 鈥� a small act but “a hard shot across the bow of British culture.” Published by .

Here are some recordings from 2017 involving faculty in the UW School of Music:

Melia Watras, “.” Music professor Watras offers a collaboration from of world-class violists performing and sharing their own compositions with each other. Her own playing has been described in the press as “staggeringly virtuosic.” Richard Karpen, School of Music director, is among several guests. The title comes from the number of strings on the instruments used: two violas, one violin, and the 14-string viola d’amore. .

Cuong Vu 4-Tet, “.” A live collaboration between Vu, UW Jazz Studies chair, and renowned jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, who is an affiliate professor with the School of Music. Recorded in 2016 at Meany Theater, Vu and Frisell were joined by artists in residence Ted Poor on drums and Luke Bergman on bass. Released on .

Craig Sheppard, “.” Sheppard, longtime professor of music and a world-class pianist, plays sonatas and mazurkas by Frederic Chopin recorded live at Meany Theater in February 2017. The Seattle Times said of an earlier Chopin concert of Sheppard’s that his playing featured “exquisite details 鈥� it was playing that revealed layer after layer of music in each piece, as if one were faceting a gemstone. Released on .

Here are some other notable recent UW-authored books:

• Research on poverty and the American suburbs in “,” by Scott Allard, professor in the Evan School of Public Policy & Governance.
• Literature meets science to contemplate the geologic epoch of humans in “,” co-edited by Jesse Oak Taylor, associate professor of English.
• A popular science exploration of machine learning and the algorithms that help run our lives in “,” by Pedro Domingos, professor of computer science and engineering.
• A close look at four of America’s electoral adventures in “” by Margaret O’Mara, professor of history.
• A fully revised second edition of Earth and space sciences professor Darrel Cowan’s popular 1984 book, “.” This 378-page paperback is filled with details about Washington state geology.
• The story of a city’s transition from the Ottoman Empire to Greece in “” by Devin Naar, professor of history and Jewish studies.
• A city that “thinks like a planet” is one both resilient to and ready for the future that the changing Earth will bring, says Marina Alberti, professor in the College of Built Environments in “.
• Todd London, professor and director of the School of Drama, follows the professional theater experiences of 15 actors from the 1995 class of Harvard’s American Repertory Theater in “.”
• Dr. Stephen Helgerson, a UW School of Public Health alumnus and physician in preventive medicine for four decades, uses the novella form to tell of the influenza epidemic’s arrival in his state in “.”
• On the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, an exploration of faith that results in the common good in 鈥�,鈥� co-authored by Steve Pfaff, professor of sociology.
• Calm down from holiday 鈥� and tech-induced stresses 鈥� by thinking mindfully with “” by communication professor David Levy.

Finally, still-popular and pertinent books from a few years back include the second edition of “” by Jeffrey Ochsner, professor of architecture; “” by Randlett with Frances McCue; “” by Cliff Mass, professor of atmospheric sciences; and the ever-popular “” by Bill Holm, professor emeritus of art history. All of these were published by , which has many other great titles.

The grant will support a Creative Fellowships Initiative, under which guest performing artist fellows will be recruited from around the world for one- to three-year residencies in dance, music and theater.

The initiative will mark the first time the UW’s performing arts units 鈥� the , , and (DXArts) 鈥� have joined together for an experiment of this scale.

The fellows will be chosen from among individuals and ensembles who are at the leading edge of contemporary performing arts and have significant experience in both creative development and education. Their work will be done though commissions, collaborations and performances, with an emphasis on crossing artistic disciplines.

Selection of the fellows will be collaborative; department chairs will act as leads with their faculty to create short lists of proposed artists, in consultation with , UW World Series executive and artistic director.

“The Creative Fellowships Initiative builds on the 天美影视传媒’s belief in innovation and the power of the arts to make positive change in the world,” said Gerald J. Baldasty, UW interim provost and executive vice president. “The program so clearly supports UW President Ana Mari Cauce’s mission to prepare the next generation of leaders through interdisciplinary learning that generates new knowledge and ideas.”

The residencies will take various forms, supporting both creative research and learning 鈥� whether working with or in view of students, part of a teaching residency or a commission or public premiere. The aim of the Creative Fellowships Initiative will be to encourage creative inquiry among fellows and scholars and researchers in other disciplines.

“In the STEM world we inhabit, research and innovation are seen as the domain of the sciences and technology,” said , professor and executive director of the School of Drama, “even as the values of art 鈥� creativity, collaboration and imaginative engagement with the unknown 鈥� are prized.

“This culture is both our challenge and opportunity, and we see these research-directed creative residencies as a way forward, both to serve our fields and to champion the values of art in the culture at large.”

Witt, who is lead investigator on the project with London, said, “We are deeply honored by Mellon’s partnership in providing opportunities for artists, faculty and students to engage in rigorous creative research. This important work will connect the arts, sciences and humanities in a shared process of discovery to advance the performing arts in our society.”

The UW performance arts units will partner with the UW World Series in these creative collaborations, while furthering their own work.

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This article was adapted from a by the UW World Series. For more information, contact Teri Mumme, UW World Series director of marketing and communications, at 206-685-0995 or tmumme@uw.edu.

Todd London, artistic director of , a playwriting center in New York, has been named the new executive director of the .

“We are thrilled to have Todd London join us,” said , divisional dean of arts for the UW College of Arts and Sciences. “Todd is an acknowledged leader in the field and has a solid reputation for being one of the most important voices speaking of and for the American theater today.”

A writer and scholar, London has led New Dramatists since 1996. He has taught at Harvard University and New York University, and now teaches at the Yale School of Drama. He earned a master’s of fine arts degree in directing from Boston University and a doctorate in literary studies from American University.

The former managing editor of “American Theatre” magazine, London has written, edited or contributed to a dozen books. Among these is 2013’s “,” which included writing by longtime UW professor .

London will succeed Sarah Nash Gates, the school’s director since 1994, who will return to teaching as a part-time faculty member.

“Todd will bring a fresh perspective on training 21st century artists and scholars,” said Gates. “We are fortunate to find a person with such deep and wide experience as a practitioner, writer and historian. I look forward to his tenure as executive director.”

For his part, London praised the school’s “vibrant” work and “enormous” impact on theater in Seattle and across the nation.

“Recently, I’ve seen up close the remarkable gifts and educational devotion of the faculty and staff, under the energetic leadership of Sarah Nash Gates. The school’s dedication to exploring the roots of theatrical expression and finding creative ways to educate artists and scholars for the new forms of the new century is inspiring.”

He said the job “represents, for me, the fulfillment of a career of service to artists and professional development.”

London will relocate to Seattle and begin his duties as director, and professor of drama, on Aug. 1, pending approval of his hiring by the UW Board of Regents.

He will be joined at the School of Drama by his wife, Karen Hartman, an award-winning playwright who will be a senior artist in residence.

London added, “A great theater school in a great theater city 鈥� I can’t wait to begin.”

• This article was based on a by of the School of Drama.