About

Author Jon Mooallem's book "This is Chance!: The Great Alaska Earthquake, Genie Chance, and the Shattered City She Held Together" is the selection for the 2025 BI Reads, the city of Bainbridge Island's community reads program. 

The book, about the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake and radio broadcaster Genie Chance, was named a best book of 2020 by Amazon, BuzzFeed and Brainpickings. Join him for a free talk on the "how" of writing nonfiction, including conducting research and navigating the publishing process. He'll also give a reading from "This is Chance!" There will be a question-and-answer session. 

BI Reads is essentially an island-wide book club in which the community votes for a book to be read by all!

Mooallem lives on Bainbridge Island and spent 18 years as a writer for The New York Times Magazine. He's written for This American Life on American Public Radio and for Pop-Up Magazine.