SAL/ON

A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures

“Help” by Paul Yoon

don’t forget the day students left this          earth 250 teens don’t have a future their future 􀁌􀁑􀁛􀁉􀁘􀁘􀁍􀁉􀁚􀁍􀁌 like a mist their last cries help        vanished it          wasn’t         there droplets           of           tears from    […]

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Introductions: Robin Wall Kimmerer

By Ruth Dickey, SAL Executive Director In one of the essays in Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer writes about remembering the rituals with which her parents began days, saying, “Ceremonies large and small have the power to focus attention to a way of living awake in the world.” And in this sense of ceremony as […]

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“Until I Saw the Sea” by Anna Johnson

Until I saw the sea, I did not know how much the sea sparkled and how many animals roamed. Until I saw the sea, I did not know what it felt like to be closed up under the watery bed. But then I felt it: the feeling I wanted to know, that the sea is […]

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Looking for creative writing summer camps?

This summer, many of our talented WITS Writers-in-Residence will be leading Scribes Summer Camps with our community partner, Hugo House! Young writers, grades 5-12, will have the opportunity to participate in week-long, all-day camps in which they can safely focus on, dig deep into, and nurture their inner writer. Our WITS writers, as well as […]

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Victor Xia reads “Party Circa 1952”

  2020/21 Youth Poet Digital Engagement Ambassador Victor Xia reads his poem “Party Circa 1952,” which he performed before Ibram X. Kendi’s 2020/21 Literary Arts Series event, presented on the virtual SAL stage.

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A Letter from the SAL Board

Dear SAL community, We are writing to provide an update on our search for the next Executive Director! The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that the Search Committee has engaged Koya Partners to conduct our search. Koya is a leading firm dedicated to placing exceptionally talented leadership at mission-driven organizations. Koya is actually the […]

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A World Full of Heroes: A WITS Intern Reflects on Event with Lawrence Wright

Akshaya Ajith, a high school student doing a remote internship with the Writers in the Schools program at SAL, attended SAL’s Journalism Series event with Lawrence Wright, investigative journalist for The New Yorker and author of the pandemic thriller The End of October, on February 9, 2021. Read on to hear her reflections. By Akshaya […]

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Faces of SAL: Akshaya Ajith

By Gabriela Denise Frank Writing serves many purposes for Writers in the Schools (WITS) Intern Akshaya Ajith. “It’s a tool and a gateway for people to connect and to understand and open doors to mutual respect,” she said. “Writing can be an exploration, but it can also be like going into battle, whether that’s with […]

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“The Book Thief” by Juliana Agudelo Ariza

Juliana Agudelo Ariza of McClure Middle School read this original comic to open our Poetry Series event with Douglas Kearney. This comic was written during the 2019/20 school year with WITS Writer-in-Residence Greg Stump. Performed on the digital SAL stage on Wednesday, March 31, 2021.

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Bookshop Superheroes: Paper Boat Booksellers

Bookstore workers and owners have been absolute essential workers during this pandemic—heroes on the frontlines of our mental health. After those first months when reading felt really hard, when the doom-scrolling kept us in our lizard brains, books were there waiting for us in all their analog selves. Books, as one 2020 Summer Book Bingo player said, […]

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