Laura Gibson is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music blends literary folk with experimental instincts. Her most recent album Goners is a meditation on grief and empathy—both raw and incessantly beautiful, tracing the tension between longing and instinct.
Laura Gibson
Laura Gibson is an internationally acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, producer and writer NPR calls “a boundlessly wise and warm interrogator”. As philosophical as she is open-hearted, with a love of traditional folk music and a bent toward experimentation, she has performed on four continents and had the distinct honor of playing the very first (and 200th) NPR Tiny Desk Concert. “She has this uncanny way of drawing you into her ruminations, making you connect with her emotionally”, says Pitchfork. Between albums three and four, Gibson earned an MFA in fiction writing from Hunter College, completing her thesis in the back of a tour van. Her essays have appeared in Talkhouse, the Los Angeles Review and Oregon Humanities Magazine, and she was a 2020 recipient of the McElheny Award from MIT for her work the Timber Wars podcast. She is currently prepping a new album while very slowly working on a book.
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Cascade PBS Ideas Festival
The Cascade PBS Ideas Festival is a full-day event featuring live podcast recordings and studio television tapings by The Atlantic, NPR, The New Yorker, CNN, PBS, Pushkin, and more. Watch live as journalists, newsmakers, and thought leaders -like Nancy Pelosi, Laverne Cox, Ibram X. Kendi, Tonya Mosley, and Robby Hoffman- take on compelling topics and headlines making the news. Plus, community meetups, speaker meet-and-greets, micro-sessions, food trucks, DJs, -and surprises. Join us on June 6th at Fremont Studios, The Picklr and Hidden Hall in the heart of Seattle's Fremont neighborhood.



2026 SPEAKERS
Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
Author of America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation's Anniversaries
Laverne Cox
Emmy-winning actress, producer, LGBTQ+ advocate, and author
Nancy Pelosi
Speaker Emerita, United States Congress
Ibram X. Kendi
Author, Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age
Monica Lewinsky
Activist, Writer, Producer
Kenny Mayne
Former ESPN Host, Podcast Host
Robby Hoffman
Emmy-winning writer, Emmy-nominated actor, and Comedian
Tonya Mosley
Co-Host Fresh Air / Creator and Host of Truth Be Told
Knute Berger
Host, Mossback's Northwest
Steve Phillips
Host of Democracy in Color podcast, Author, and Columnist at The Guardian, The Nation
Adam Schiff
U.S. Senator, California
Nick Zentner
Geologist, Host of Nick on the Rocks
Patricia Murphy
Host, Seattle Now / KUOW
Hanna Rosin
Host, Radio Atlantic
Tyler Foggatt
Host, The Political Scene
Kevin Sur
Host, KEXP's Sounds of Survivance
Paris Jackson
Host, The Newsfeed
David Rind
Host of CNN Podcast, "One Thing"
Girmay Zahilay
King County Executive
Rebecca Nagle
Writer and Host, First America
Laura Gibson
Musician / Writer
Daisy Hernández
Author, Citizenship: Notes on an American Myth
Molly Webster
Senior Correspondent, Radiolab Co-Host
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Theoretical Physicist and Cosmologist, Author of The Edge of Space and Time