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)
This group is currently full. To be added to the waitlist email olli@uw.edu
Schedule: November 6, 13, 20, December 4, 11, 18 from 1:00 - 2:30 PM
Meets at Third Place Books at Lake Forest Park
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. The 2024 collection will be released on October 22, and beginning November 6, we will meet each week to explore the stories! 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...
October 28: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
November 25: The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin
December 30: Flight of Passage: A Memoir by Rinker Buck (Dec 30)
January: 27: King, a Life by Jonathan Eig
February 24: Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
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
October 14: Prequel by Rachel Maddow and On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder.
November 11: Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips
December 9: The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane
January 13, 2025: The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger
February 10, 2025: Too High and Too Steep by David Williams
March 10, 2025: The Women by Kristin Hannah