Writer Eli Hastings shares on the WITS blog his experience of the healing power of angry letters. 

Bob Hicok visited Nathan Hale High School this morning and spoke to the 9th grade poets, some of them dressed as super heroes.

He read for fifteen minutes to a completely absorbed group of twenty-three students and shared lines such as, “Tattoo my front door to my tombstone/ and place a key on my tongue like a mint,” and ending, from “Primer,” that explores his Michigan roots, with, “Let us all be from somewhere./ Let us tell each other everything we can.”

A series of four lectures, with John Delaney of the UW School of Oceanography, will explore how oceans dominate entire planetary ecosystems on earth and probably beyond. A fifth lecture, to be held in October, will share results of the major 2014 Seagoing Expedition to complete construction of a Novel Offshore Laboratory the size of a Tectonic Plate. Click here for more.

Save the date, mark your calendar; gather your fellow readers, writers and lovers of stories and words! SAL's primary fundraising vehicle, WORDS MATTER, will be held March 27. Author of All About Lulu, Jonathan Evison, will be the keynote speaker. Click here for more.

Our WITS Tumblr page is back in action! Every week we'll be publishing work from the past three years of WITS students. Make sure to follow us on tumblr to get a weekly dose of inspiration from our exciting young writers. witsink.tumblr.com

As 2013 draws to a close and we reflect back on the year that has passed, we are share with you a snapshot annual report of our work this past year. As you'll see, in 2012/13, the generous commitment of our patrons and supporters brought 19 literary luminaries to Seattle, engaged over 15,000 audience members, and allowed our Writers in the Schools (WITS) program to inspire 5,500 children from around the Puget Sound region. Read the whole report to learn more!

Award-winning poet Dorothea Lasky conducted a special lesson for 3rd graders at B.F. Day Elementary School. Find out how her lively visit sparked a classroom full of future writers and performers. 

On Sunday, September 29th we'll be celebrating the release of this year's WITS anthology, Only Rocks and Fire, with a book launch event at Benaroya Hall. The anthology showcases the best student work created in the program during the 2012-13 school year, and features the writing and illustrations of more than 100 students in grades K-12. Each of the sites that WITS worked with this year, including 23 schools in the Highline, Port Townsend, Seattle, and Shoreline School Districts and Seattle Children's Hospital, are represented in the anthology.

The book launch is free and open to the public and will include readings by the students, a book signing, and sweet treats from our friends at Cupcake Royale. Please join us in congratulating these wonderful student writers!

WITS writers-in-residence are in the news! Daemond Arrindell, who has taught middle and high school students through WITS for five years, was featured in The Seattle Times on Sunday, April 7. Check out the article here: http://ow.ly/kckoJ. Karen Finneyfrock, a local and national slam poetry legend whose first YA novel was released this winter, has an interview published in The Seattle Lesbian: http://ow.ly/kckvj. Karen has taught elementary, middle, and high school students through Writers in the Schools for six years. Congratulations to Daemond and Karen!

The Poetry Series event with Jorie Graham originally scheduled for May 15 has had to be postponed for health reasons. We have rescheduled this event for Tuesday, September 17 when we hope that Ms. Graham will be in full health and good spirits. If you have tickets for this event and need more information or have any questions, please contact our Box Office by email or phone at (206) 621-2230 x10

On March 15, 2013, over 250 guests attended Seattle Arts & Lectures' 25th Anniversary Words Matter Benefit. The night was enlivened by the alchemy of good words and even better company. We were joined by our founder Sherry Prowda, authors Claire Dederer and Bruce Barcott, Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken, and Writers in the Schools (WITS) student Angel Cielo. Vis-à-Vis Society also made a special appearance collecting data from our guests during the cocktail hour.

Maga Barzallo Sockemtickem, a 10th grader, walked to the stage at the annual WITS reading at Benaroya Hall. As she read her poem "Snow Turtle," the audience stilled. A patient at Seattle Children's Hospital, Maga shared the intensity of her experience through the power of her precise words and brought together hundreds of people in a moving poetic moment.*

Maga cultivated her writing through WITS, a Seattle Arts & Lectures program that teaches 5,000 public school students and employs local writers to build the next generation of the literary community. Maga's "Snow Turtle" is inspiration for SAL; as we transform throughout this winter during our 25th anniversary, we find it is good to be "the turtle with fire through the snow." SAL has big plans to burn brightly in 2013 and for another 25 years. You can help us do that.

Now is the perfect time to contribute. $5, $25, $100, $500 or more will fund WITS (Writers in the Schools), allow us to bring excellent speakers like Joan Didion and Nick Flynn, and create vibrant education programs like David Domke's SAL U political courses at the University of Washington.

We couldn't do it without your help, so please consider us as the year draws to a close. From all of us at SAL, we thank you!

*Snow Turtle
She ran.
Delicate arrival, blazing alarm.
The wind blew through with ice in its arms.
She listened.
Whispers of sickness, she refused
to be alarmed.
She walked.
Gone through the city.
Healing slowly.
She walked slow.
She grieved
and wondered how
she'd get through.
She realized she'd be the turtle,
this turtle with fire through the snow.

Amazon.com will support Seattle Arts & Lectures’ innovative Writers in the Schools (WITS) program for the fourth year with a $25,000 gift, helping to inspire thousands of public school students throughout the region to discover and develop their authentic writing voice through in-school residencies staffed by local professional writers.

The WITS program, founded in 1994, places professional writers-in-residence at public elementary, middle, and high schools around Puget Sound plus Seattle Children’s Hospital, giving young people the opportunity to create, present, and receive feedback on their writing. The program culminates each year in two showcase events: public readings at the Seattle Public Library, and a printed anthology of selected works. The WITS program also offers in-school professional development opportunities for teachers and provides local writers with meaningful employment.

In the 2012-13 school year, the WITS program is serving over 5,000 K-12 students at 24 sites: Seattle Children’s Hospital plus 23 public schools in Seattle, Highline, Port Townsend, and Shoreline School Districts. In addition, the WITS program is providing 22 professional writers with meaningful employment.

About Amazon.com’s Support for the Writing Community
A love of reading and an appreciation for the people who create great books is part of the DNA at Amazon.com. Amazon.com offers grants for nonprofit author and publisher groups that share an obsession with fostering the creation, discussion, and publication of books. Please visit www.amazon.com/authorgiving for more information.