Samantha Paige Rosen, Suanne Carlson, & friends — 'Living, Together'

21 writers and organizers on chosen family, hacking adulthood, and other lessons communal living can teach us about the future of housing.
About this Event

Third Place Books welcomes editor Samantha Paige Rosen and contributors Suanne Carlson and Kate Madden Yee to our Ravenna store for a conversation about their new book : an exploration of communal living as a way to navigate climate crisis and economic upheaval while also strengthening social ties. Author and friend of the store Daniel Tam-Claiborne joins in conversation.

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 book!

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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.

About Living, Together. . .

21 writers and organizers on chosen family, hacking adulthood, and other lessons communal living can teach us about the future of housing in America

Featuring Kristen Arnett, Rhaina Cohen, Kim Stanley Robinson, and more

At age 29, when Samantha Paige Rosen made an unexpected move back home, she was surprised to find how much she loved living with her parents again. Inspired and curious, she began searching for others who had redefined home and community.

The essays and Q&As in Living, Together are about carving out spaces of communal connection and joy in our 3-bed, 2-bath starter home culture. Although they recount life at different stages and in different regions, these stories showcase the delights and tradeoffs of more dynamic shapes of “home.” Across sections on family, intentional community, and what lies beyond housing, readers will hear from voices like:

• Kristen Arnett, whose found family kept her afloat, from weddings to hurricane season and everything in between
• Kim Stanley Robinson, who describes the magic of communities that are led by everyone
• Sarah Thankam Mathews, who founded a pandemic mutual aid group and discovered, like so many of us, how essential connection and care are in times of crisis
• Rodney M. Bordeaux, who explores how strength and unity are inextricably tied to life on First Nations reservations

Communal living isn’t just for cults or millennials with a pipe dream. Amidst the climate crisis, a hostile housing market, and the loneliness epidemic, Living, Together opens a window into how people in the US are thriving through collective care. This book invites us to imagine what new opportunities for connection exist when we push through the walls society has built for us.

Samantha Paige Rosen’s writing on identity, culture, and the arts has appeared in the Washington Post, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, Slate, Them, Literary Hub, and elsewhere. She earned her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and lives outside of Philadelphia, where she is a freelance writer and editor, a writing tutor and coach, and an amateur potter. Living, Together: Reimagining Community in the Age of Disconnection is her first book.

Suanne Carlson is a cofounder of the 501(c)(3) charitable organization Homes on Wheels Alliance. Having lived nomadically since 2009, she has discovered unexpected community, purpose, and friendship among fellow travelers on the open road.

Kate Madden Yee is a freelance writer in Northern California, where she has lived in cohousing since 2000. She loves to write about women, health, and spirituality.

Daniel Tam-Claiborne is a multiracial writer, multimedia producer, and nonprofit director. His debut novel, Transplants (Simon & Schuster, 2025), was a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction and longlisted for the 2026 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. He is the author of the short story collection What Never Leaves, and his writing has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, HuffPost, Catapult, Literary Hub, Off Assignment, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. A 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow, he has also received awards and fellowships from the U.S. Fulbright Program, Poets & Writers, Bread Loaf, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, and others. Daniel holds degrees from Oberlin College, Yale University, and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

About Third Place Books

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.