SAL/ON

A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures

Category: 2019/20 Season

A workspace at Books to Prisoners, with beams of light flooding down and touching shelves and boxes full of books. Two volunteers are working in the background.

An Interview with Books to Prisoners

Each month, the Seattle-based nonprofit Books To Prisoners receives upwards of 1,000 requests for used book titles from inmates all across the country. And, every year, tens of thousands of free books leave their volunteer location in Greenwood to head to readers in U.S. prisons. Beyond this vital service, the organization has also fought to […]

Read More

A kid with curly hair sits atop a box backstage at Benaroya Hall, legs swinging.

“I Remember,” by Julian Camba

A brown tree and its rough bark a boar with big tusks shifting through leaves my grandma strolling me through a park Singapore, and how it had so many trees When I wake up, when it’s still dark The bitterness of sour candy My grandma buying me sweets my grandma’s room, it was dandy my […]

Read More

Bernini's sculpture, The Rape of Proserpina, stands against a black background.

Time Flown

This essay is part of a series in which Poetry Northwest partners with Seattle Arts & Lectures to present reflections on visiting writers from the SAL Poetry Series. At 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 6, Paisley Rekdal will read at Hugo House. Tickets are still available! By Bill Carty, Senior Editor at Poetry Northwest Pythagoras’s greatest influence upon his […]

Read More

Reading Carmen Maria Machado’s “In the Dream House”

By Bianca Glinskas Carmen Maria Machado’s new work, In the Dream House, uses elements of creative nonfiction, fantasy, pulp fiction, and horror, and more. Each genre uses the capital ‘I’ as its powerful entry point to retell Carmen’s experiences in an abusive queer romantic partnership with somebody who shares the same gender identity. Buzzfeed News […]

Read More

A cozy window shot at Left Bank Books, with a reading nook in a window amidst shelves of books.

Winter Reads: SAL Staff Edition

What books did you gift this winter? While we love a good “Best of 2019” reading list (and share them with abandon), sometimes our favorite book recommendations come from taking a peek at the holiday shopping lists of avid readers. With that in mind, here is our compilation of 32 titles the SAL team gifted, […]

Read More

A black and white close-up of a sign that says "Wall St."

Adam Davidson Answers Five Essential Questions about the Economy

By Rachel Bachler Planet Money. For many Americans, this National Public Radio program is a household name. But for those who find themselves less familiar with its creator, Adam Davidson, let us introduce you: he’s the economy guy. The award-winning co-founder of Planet Money, the former New York Times Magazine’s “It’s the Economy” columnist, and […]

Read More

A grey book is resting against a white background, with green sprigs tucked into its pages. It's wrapped in a bright red curling ribbon.

The Best SAL Books For Every Reader in Your Life

By Rachel Bachler Unless you’re a direct descendant of the Oprah Winfrey gifting gods, chances are that around this time of year, you’ve found yourself hyperventilating in a) the hour-long line at the Starbucks register, waiting to pay for that same souvenir mug you bought Aunt Helen last year, or b) the labyrinth of Best […]

Read More

Cali Kopczick stands in front of a colorful geometric display, one hand propped under her face, which is smiling. She's wearing a mustard yellow sweater and a chunky necklace.

Faces of SAL: Cali Kopczick

Cali Kopczick does it all: from house management to box office sales, you can spot her working at most of our events this season, so it’s high time we introduced her to you! As you’ll learn, Cali trains her cat, keeps all genres on rotation—see her picks for fiction, poetry, and nonfiction below—and one of […]

Read More

Lindy West, hair braided and wearing a red ribbed sweater, stands at a podium, with both hands powerfully placed upon it. Dramatic light shines down onto her as she speaks into a microphone.

A WITS Student Reflects on Lindy West

By Akshaya Ajith, SAL Volunteer Even before the stage lights dimmed, the room was filled to the brim with pure excitement. There was not a shuffle or a cough, just a silent blanket of anticipation for the stage door to open and hearts to be filled. It was a kind of fierce joy that illuminated […]

Read More

Mary Ruefle gazes into the camera, head down, brows up, through her curly hair. Her hands are clasped in front of her, and the lapel of her navy blue blazer is decorated with a small pin.

Mary Ruefle: Impressions of a Sentence-Maker

By Bianca Glinskas As an emerging poet, I’ve been a bit clueless when it comes to considering how profoundly my writing process affects my work. I type in front of screens in noisy cafes. I am guilty of planning my poems out before I write them. For me, this has served as a sort of […]

Read More