Soundside

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**Soundside**

*Soundside* leads the Puget Sound conversation with smart questions, lively debates, and direct access to the region’s most influential voices. Timely, insightful, and unmistakably local, it’s where the Pacific Northwest comes to dig into the news.

Latest Episodes:

A Seattle-based translator on 'We Computers,' dirty jokes and AI-proof careers Oct 20, 2025

Show notes

Shelley Fairweather-Vega is a Seattle-based translator.

She’s responsible for the English edition of Uzbek writer Hamid Ismailov’s novel “We Computers.”

For that work, Fairweather-Vega is a finalist for a 2025 National Book Award in the translated literature category.

She wrote in the afterword to “We Computers,” that she tried to find room in the plot for the poetry, and room for the poetry in the plot.

We talk with her about her work and the community of translators around the Puget Sound.

Guest

Shelley Fairweather-Vega

2025 National Book Awards: Seattle writer, translator longlisted - The Seattle Times

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes.

Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Election 2025: Seattle city attorney candidates debate Oct 16, 2025

Show notes

Who will be Seattle’s next top lawyer?

The city attorney enforces Seattle’s laws, prosecutes misdemeanor crimes and defends the city in court.

After a summer primary, former assistant U.S. attorney Erika Evans emerged as the challenger to incumbent City Attorney Ann Davison.

They debate at KUOW in front of a live studio audience.

Guests

Ann Davison, incumbent Seattle city attorney

Erika Evans, candidate for city attorney

Will Seattle reelect its conservative City Attorney? (published before the summer primary) - Cascade PBS

Trump has become the focal point in Seattle city attorney race - The Seattle Times

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes.

Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Soundside's "Weekend Warmup" - Oct 16-20 Oct 16, 2025

Show notes

Your weekend has arrived, we're ALL celebrating HUMPY, and we're anticipating that very first Mariners World Series... But, there are a bunch of other things happening, so let's get to it!

LINKS:

SPORTS!!
- Mariners!! - Thurs/Fri at home, (Sun/Mon in Toronto if needed)
- Reign vs Utah Royals FC
- Seahawks vs Houston - MNF!
SIFF DocFest - starts Thurs 10/16, ends 10/23
Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair
Seattle Oddities & Curiosities Expo 2025
Slack Key Seattle Festival
Seattle No Kings - Oct 18
No Kings - FULL MAP
Seattle Opera - The Pirates of Penzance
Northwest Record Show

SPOOKY STUFF:

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes

Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is Trump an authoritarian? Or a fascist? Two UW professors weigh in Oct 15, 2025

Show notes

Demonstrators are gearing up for another nationwide No Kings Day Protest this weekend against President Donald Trump.

If you don’t know what we’re talking about, here’s a tagline on the event’s website to catch you up to speed: “Reclaiming Democracy, Rejecting Authoritarianism.”

For years, Americans on the left have called Trump an authoritarian. And for a lot of people, his second go in the White House has only reinforced these labels.

In the past year, Trump has pardoned rioters who tried to keep him in office after a free and fair election; deployed the National Guard to major U.S. cities against the wishes of state governors; and called for the prosecution of his critics by the U.S. Justice Department.

But does Trump’s expansion of executive authority make him… and authoritarian? Or a fascist, as some argue? Two experts from the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies hash it out with us.

Guest:

Scott Radnitz, Herbert J. Ellison Professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies at the University of Washington
Daniel Bessner, Anne H.H. and Kenneth B. Pyle Associate Professor in American Foreign Policy at the University of Washington and co-host of American Prestige

Related stories:

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes.

Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Election 2025: Seattle City Council position 9 candidates debate Oct 14, 2025

Show notes

Two candidates are running to represent the city of Seattle in one of our two city-wide Council seats.

And 2026 will be a big year for the council – we’ve got a looming budget deficit, potential federal funding cuts, and, of course, the continuous threat of federal troops being sent to our fair city.

The first candidate is a familiar name – incumbent Sara Nelson was elected to the position 9 seat in 2021. She is the city council president, and a co-founder of Fremont Brewing.

Her opponent is Dionne Foster - former executive director of the nonprofit Washington Progress Alliance, which advocated for a statewide capital gains tax. Foster is also a former policy advisor for the city.

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes

Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Are you reading less these days? Researchers say you're part of a bigger trend Oct 14, 2025

Show notes

Americans are reading less for pleasure these days.

That’s according to research from the University of Florida and University College London. And it’s not a little dip - we’re talking a 40% drop in daily leisure reading for people 15 and older over the past two decades.

This shift is especially prevalent for specific groups, like Black Americans, people with lower incomes, and people in rural areas.

We dug deeper into the findings from this study... and took a closer look at Seattle's reading habits.

Guest:

Jill Sonke, co-director of the EpiArts Lab at the University of Florida.
Brooke Bosley, co-founder of the Black Futures Book Club.
Spencer Ruchti, author events manager for Third Place Books.

Related stories

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes.

Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's the difference between a scurfy mouse and a scruffy mouse? A Nobel Prize Oct 13, 2025

Show notes

It’s been quite a week for one Seattle scientist, after getting an unexpected late-night call from a Swedish phone number last week.

That call turned out to bring good news: Dr. Mary Brunkow is sharing this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

She’s being honored for research she did decades ago; work that would eventually loom large in developing ways to treat autoimmune disease and cancer.

We’ve asked Dr. Brunkow to reflect a bit on what that work looks like in hindsight, and what it means to share this honor…

GUEST: Dr. Mary Brunkow

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