For fifteen years, Rick Riordan taught English and history at public and private middle schools in the San Francisco Bay and in Texas. Today, he is a beloved novelist for young readers, with over 190 million copies of his books in print worldwide from the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, to the Trials of Apollo, and many more. In this SAL Presents event, Riordan returns to his first beloved epic series with Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Chalice of the Gods, to delight dedicated fans and entice new readers alike. All tickets, with the exception of a limited number of Pay What You Can tickets, include a copy of Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Chalice of the Gods, shipped to the ticket holder’s door by our partner bookstore, Elliott Bay Book Company. All books will be pre-signed, there will be no signing line after the event. Q&A with Donna Barba Higuera. Please note: This event has a 6:30 p.m. start time to better accommodate families.

Iconic poet Jane Hirshfield addresses the urgent immediacies of our time in her long-awaited The Asking, which assays the full ranges of our shared and borrowed lives: our bonds of eros and our responsibilities to the planet; the singing dictions and searchlight dimensions of perception; the willing plunge into an existence both perishing and beloved, recognized in these poems as dazzling, “even now, even here.” All Poetry Series, Create Your Own Series, and Super SAL subscribers receive a copy of The Asking, shipped to their doors by our partner bookstore, Open Books. Please note: complimentary subscriptions and single tickets do not include the book.

In his first illustrated book created specifically with a wider audience in mind, the iconic Northern Irish artist Oliver Jeffers gives a very brief history of humanity, reviews our current position, and shares his dreams for where we go from here. All tickets, with the exception of a limited number of Pay What You Can tickets, include a copy of Begin Again: The Story of How We Got Here and Where We Might Go shipped to the ticket holder’s door by our partner bookstore, Queen Anne Book Company. Q&A with Julia Kuo.

Winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Barbara Kingsolver is lauded as one of the most celebrated novelists of our time. With her latest novel, Demon Copperhead, Kingsolver takes on David Copperfield as her inspiration for a story following one boy through the mountains of Southern Appalachia. Reckoning with institutional poverty, opioid addiction, and class divides visible and unseen, Kingsolver’s voice resonates with the truth of loving a place others will hardly believe exists. Kingsolver will appear in conversation with Ruth Dickey, the Executive Director of the National Book Foundation. Single tickets and Create Your Own Series subscriptions, with the exception of a limited number of Pay What You Can tickets, include a copy of Demon Copperhead, shipped to the ticket holder’s door by our partner bookstore, University Book Store. Encore Series subscriptions do not include the book.

Landing in Spaces of Learning: Celebrating Literacy and Care in the Classroom and Introducing Place as a Foundational Element of Learning Laura Da’ is a poet and teacher. A lifetime resident of the Pacific Northwest, Da’ studied creative writing at the University of Washington and the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is Eastern Shawnee. Her first book, Tributaries, was published by the University of Arizona Press and won a 2016 American Book Award. Da’ has held residencies at the Richard Hugo House, Tin House, and Jack Straw. Her newest book, Instruments of the True Measure, is the winner of the Washington State Book Award. Da’ lives near Seattle with her husband and son. This professional development is designed to combine Indigenous literature and writing with land-based pedagogy. The intention for this training is to offer practical content and strategies that are suitable for all students and to encourage open discussion about how to meaningfully incorporate Indigenous literacy and tenants of land-based pedagogy in diverse learning settings.Educators will leave this class with a bundle of teaching resources including suggested readings, activities, thinking strategies, engagement techniques, and culturally responsive standards alignment. Additionally, each professional development will address one institutional challenge and pose thinking strategies to address it. This professional development workshop will include: Creative writing and thinking prompts to engage with place and season Classroom ready discussion strategy to encourage noticing and building on observations Classroom ready reading and writing strategy to encourage visual thinking Consideration of an institutional challenge: How to reframe decontextualized foundations of learning from outside the land to a place informed approach and alternatives to institutional hierarchies of worldview Connection to other content areas: SEL strategies Resources and places to learn more This two-hour workshop will fulfill OSPI’s Continuing Education clock hours (2) for all state educators, and meets the requirements for ongoing Racial Equity Training for teacher certification.

In her international bestseller SPQR, Mary Beard told the thousand-year story of ancient Rome. Now she shines her spotlight on the emperors who ruled the Roman empire, from Julius Caesar (assassinated 44 BCE) to Alexander Severus (assassinated 235 CE). Emperor of Rome goes directly to the heart of Roman (and our own) fantasies about what it was to be Roman, offering an account of Roman history as it has never been presented before. All Literary Arts Series, Create Your Own Series, and Super SAL subscribers receive a copy of Emperor of Rome, shipped to their doors by our partner bookstore, University Book Store. Please note: complimentary subscriptions and single tickets do not include the book.