Designed and led by members, study groups are free to all OLLI-UW members. Groups offer participants self-directed learning opportunities to focus on a chosen topic for a sustained period in a community of members with similar interests. Osher peer-led study groups are exclusively for OLLI-UW members.
Mercer Island Current Events Roundtable (Zoom)
If you are interested in joining this group please email olli@uw.edu
Schedule: Weekly, every Wednesday from 10:00 – 11:30 AM
Join other OLLI-UW members in discussing the events of the day in an informal and friendly environment. You may also join the group as an observer. The observers will be able to sit back and relax and learn from the dialogue. Whenever they are ready to participate in the conversation, all they have to do is raise their hand. Elliot Newman facilitates this group.
Best American Short Stories 2024 (In-Person)
If you are interested in joining this group please email olli@uw.edu
Schedule:Wednesdays from 1:00 - 2:30 PM
Location: Third Place Books at Lake Forest Park and various King County Library Rooms
Each fall, The Best American Short Stories showcases 20 stories from those published the previous year. Reading the anthology can feel like a tour of the highest peaks in contemporary fiction. This year the guest editor is Lauren Groff, herself an accomplished writer. We will meet each week to explore the stories! The 2024 collection is available online or at bookstores such as Third Place. This group will be facilitated by David Harrell, alum of UW’s MFA program.
Non-Fiction Study Book Group (Zoom)
This group is currently full. To be added to the waitlist email olli@uw.edu
Schedule: 4th Monday of the month
Time: 12:30 - 2:00 PM
Biography, memoir, science, politics, philosophy and so much more! Revisit and reflect on old reads and experience new realizations with other books in our new community of non-fiction readers! Read authors like Jon Krakauer, Malcom Gladwell, Virginia Woolf, Rachel Carson, to name a few...
March 24: Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
April 28: Master Slave Husband Wife by Llyon Woo
May26: Truman Part 1 by David McCullough
June 23: Truman Part 2
July 28: Summer Read - Surprise
August 25: Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
September 22: Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
October 27: Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo
Previous reads include: Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher by Tim Egan, David and Goliath by Malcom Gladwell, All About Love by bell hooks. The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama, My Promised Land by Ari Shavit, Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
North Seattle Contemporary Reads Book Group (In-Person)
This group is currently full.
Schedule: Monthly, 2nd Monday of each month
Time: 2:00 – 3:30 PM Meets at Third Place Books at Lake Forest Park
Book Selections 2025:
April 14: Time of the Child by Niall Williams
May 12: The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Miller
June 9: Happiness Falls by Angie Kim
July 14: The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
August 11: The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
September 8: A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power
October 13: How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair
November 10: The Cure for Women by Lydia Reeder
December 8: How to Read a Book by Monica Wood