Betsy Aoki with Cookie Hiponia—'Breakpoint'

Third Place Books welcomes poet, short story writer, and game produced Betsy Aoki to our Ravenna store! Aoki will be discussing her debut poetry collection Breakpoint—a 2019 National Poetry Series Finalist and winner of Tebot Bach's Patricia Bibby First Book Award—in conversation with local author Cookie Hiponia. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required in advance.

Copies of Breakpoint will be available for purchase at the store. 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 required in advance.

Dedicated to 'all the women in tech making it happen,’ Breakpoint by Betsy Aoki is a debut poetry collection that combines intense lyrical free verse with found Python “code poems” to explore the modern technological and societal landscape.

Aoki, a video game producer by day, brings the reader into her world of polygons and fractals, Japanese folklore and family stories, computational language and robot factories, and the timeless yearning to be seen clearly. The machines speak in this book, but more strongly the women in tech’s voices rise in the rooms where the future is being made.

Breakpoint was a finalist for the National Poetry Series in 2019, and won the Patricia Bibby First Book Award in 2021 by Tebot Bach. The $500 Bibby Award prize from Tebot Bach was donated to donated to Black Girls Code.

Elizabeth (Betsy) Aoki is a poet, short story writer and game producer. Her first poetry collection, Breakpoint, was a 2019 National Poetry Series Finalist and received Tebot Bach's Patricia Bibby First Book Award. Its signature poem, "Slouching like a velvet rope," was selected by Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown as the winner of the Auburn Witness Poetry Prize. She has received fellowships/grants from the City of Seattle, Artist Trust, Jackstraw Writers Program and residencies at Hedgebrook and Clarion West Writers Workshop. She currently serves as an assistant poetry editor at terrain.org and on the board of the Clarion West Writers Workshop. Learn more at betsyaoki.com or follow her on twitter at @baoki.

Cookie Hiponia was born in the Philippines and immigrated to America when she was nine years old. As the mother of children born into two cultures, Cookie had spent years searching for books that reflect her family’s experience. When she couldn’t find such a book, Cookie heeded Toni Morrison and wrote the book she wanted to read with her daughters. We Belong is that book, a semi-autobiographical middle grade novel-in-verse about the Pilipina/o/x American immigrant experience that weaves in Tagalog cosmic mythology. It’s in bookstores under Cookie’s other name “Cookie Hiponia Everman.” Cookie lives in Seattle with her family. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @titacookie1974.

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.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Third Place Books, 6504 20th Ave NE, Seattle, United States