Ed Taylor presents 'The Power of the River'

Third Place Books welcomes author, former Gonzaga basketball player, and current University of Washington Dean and Vice Provost Ed Taylor to our Ravenna store for a conversation about his new memoir , which explores his youth and experiences in higher education through lenses of community, growth, and grace.

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 books!

This event is free to attend. Registration is recommended in advance.

Please note: While RSVP helps us anticipate attendance, your RSVP may not guarantee a seat. Seating is first-come, first-served, and all events at our Ravenna neighborhood store are free and open to the public. Only standing room may be available for events with high interest.

We are happy to accommodate any accessibility concerns. Please contact us at [email protected] or call our Ravenna store at (206) 525-2347.

From a former Gonzaga basketball player and current University of Washington Dean and Vice Provost comes a memoir steeped in the universal truths and human pursuits of love, grace, forgiveness, and continued growth.

Ed Taylor takes readers on a journey from Lompoc, California through a childhood marked with loss but grounded in the love and support of family and community, to a singular moment that changed everything for a boy set up by the system to be a cog in the machine.

But Taylor's story is only beginning on the day Gonzaga University offers him a full ride: Faced with questions every young Black man on a basketball scholarship has heard-questions like "Do you even belong here?" and "Do you really think you can cut it?"-Taylor answers by examining himself, everything that brought him to this place, and all that he hopes to bring to the world, and by rising to the ever-increasing challenges he sets for himself.

In The Power of the River, Ed Taylor offers perspective on his journey as it relates to the larger, human one we're all on together, inviting us to celebrate the many individuals-family members, teachers, coaches, colleagues, friends, and chance acquaintances-who lifted him up and taught him along the way and reminding us that even while we are responsible for our impacts on those in our lives, we all deserve some measure of grace.

Dr. Edward Taylor has been a friend, a colleague a partner, a son, a father, a teacher, a student, and a fisher on the river of life, and here he shares what he knows of its power.

Ed Taylor is Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs at the University of Washington and a professor in the University of Washington’s College of Education, where his teaching and scholarship explore comparative education in the United States and South Africa. He is the co-author of Transformative Conversations: A Guide to Mentoring Communities Among Colleagues in Higher Education and Inside the Undergraduate Teaching Experience: The University of Washington’s Growth in Faculty Teaching Study. Dr. Taylor is also a founding board member of Rainier Scholars, a trustee of Gonzaga University, and a member of the University Council of the United States International University-Africa.

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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