The Writer’s Studio Featuring Sarah Scoles
By Dana Koster
This month we are lucky enough host science writer/journalist/all-around hilarious human being Sarah Scoles! She’s come all the way from Denver to talk about her brand new book, Making Contact: Jill Tarter and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, a biography of famed astronomer Jill Tarter.
The Writer’s Studio is a new reading series hosted by Dana Koster that seeks to explore not only the art of writing but the process from inspiration to publication. Each reading will focus on one writer and will begin with a short conversation to locate the audience in the writer’s work and life. After that, the author will read from her book and the audience will have a chance to meet/ask questions of our visitor.
Doors open at 7:00 for wine and snacks and mingling. Q&A/reading starts at 7:30 with a book signing to take place at the end. The Writer’s Studio is perfect for non-writers, new writers and seasoned writers alike! Come be inspired by the art of writing and the incredible gallery space.
In previous lives, Sarah Scoles was an associate editor at Astronomy and the public education person at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia. When she’s not making sentences or recording conversations, she enjoys reading short story collections, running weirdly long distances in the wilderness, teaching her dog English, and trying to become a better navigator. Her science writing and journalism regularly appears in WIRED, The Atlantic, Popular Science, Slate and Discover.
For anyone who has ever looked up at the night sky and wondered, “Are we alone?” Making Contact is an examination of the science behind the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and its pioneer, Jill Tarter, the inspiration for the main character in Carl Sagan’s Contact, which is perhaps best known for its film adaptation starring Jodie Foster.
Jill Tarter is a pioneer, an innovator, an adventurer, and a controversial force. At a time when women weren’t encouraged to do much outside of the home, Tarter ventured as far out as she could―into the three-Kelvin cold of deep space.
It all began with gazing into the night sky. All those stars were just distant suns―someone else’s suns. Diving into the science, philosophy, and politics of SETI―searching for extraterrestrial intelligence―Sarah Scoles reveals the fascinating figure at the center of the final frontier of scientific investigation. This is the perfect book for anyone who has ever looked up at the night sky and wondered if we are alone in the universe.
Friday, July 14 at 7 PM – 9 PM
Tri-Chromatic Gallery
1321 J St., Modesto, California 95354
