Whatcom READS is a countywide program that encourages everyone to read and discuss the same book.
The 2024 selection is Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe.

UPDATE: March 15, 2024
The Whatcom READS 2025 Book is No Two Persons  by Erica Bauermeister. The Whatcom WRITES prompt is “the book that changed my life.

“A vulnerable and luminous debut set against the backdrop of Coast Salish ancestral land.” Lisa Gresham, Cascadia Daily News book review

Winner of the 2023 Washington State Book Award for Creative Nonfiction/MemoirRed Paint traces LaPointe’s personal story of trauma, healing and the search for home.
Place your hold at Whatcom County Library System or Bellingham Public Library or purchase your copy at Village Books

Watch the online conversation between Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe and Kristen Millares Young from March 16, 2024.

A Conversation with Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe and Kristen Millares Young

Listen to an interview with Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe from the Young and Indigenous Podcast


Whatcom READS is in your earbuds, thanks to the Whatcom County Library System’s podcast, Library Stories. Listen to an oral history featuring the voices of Linda Lambert, Chuck and Dee Robinson, Paul Hanson and Christine Perkins.