Come be inspired by the courage and imagination of our next generation of creative writers.

This event will raise essential funding for SAL’s Writers in the Schools (WITS) program, which matches talented professional writers with local public schools and Seattle Children’s Hospital for year-long writing residencies. Last year, WITS writers helped more than 6,000 students at 27 public schools to build self-confidence, community, and essential writing skills as they learned to tell their unique stories through creative writing.

Doris Kearns Goodwin is a world-renowned presidential historian, public speaker, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. She will speak on her forthcoming book, Leadership in Turbulent Times, which will explore presidential leadership throughout history.

Alice Walker is an internationally celebrated, prolific writer, poet and activist whose books include seven novels, four collections of short stories, four children’s books, and volumes of essays and poetry.

Van Jones is a social entrepreneur, CNN political contributor, and host of The Van Jones Show on CNN. Famous for his heartfelt election night coverage, Jones showed up as “the voice of reason” for people in red and blue states throughout the volatile 2016 political season.

Jill Lepore is an award-winning history professor at Harvard University and a staff writer at The New Yorker. In her new book, These Truths: A History of the United States (September 2018), Lepore offers a magisterial account of the origins and rise of a divided nation.

Renowned American novelist Barbara Kingsolver, author of the instant classics Flight Behavior, The Poisonwood Bible, and The Lacuna, will speak about her life in reading and writing, as well as her forthcoming novel, Unsheltered.