December 17, 2019
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 […]
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December 16, 2019
SAL Box Office whiz Natalie Howard has been helping out over the past year—have you spotted her handing out tickets? We’re super excited to feature her in Faces of SAL, our on-going series about the volunteers, staffers, and other behind-the-scenes folks you should know about. Below, Natalie shares with us the experience that drew her […]
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December 13, 2019
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 […]
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December 11, 2019
We are fortunate to have a team of people who help make SAL happen—each of these people plays a very special role at SAL! Molly Suhr has been a behind-the-scenes grant writer with SAL since September 2018. Read on to learn what books she’s been loving lately and discover her hidden talent (hint: it involves […]
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December 5, 2019
By Ruth Dickey, SAL Executive Director I bet each one of you in this room remembers the first time that you fell in love with Lindy West’s writing. Mine was her Guardian essay about her wedding—“My wedding was perfect—and I was fat as hell the whole time.” I can’t even remember how I found it […]
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December 3, 2019
By Rebecca Hoogs, SAL Associate Director Twenty-five years ago, I jumped into a pool in Switzerland and when I got out of the pool, I went about my business, i.e. my life for a while—maybe a half hour?—before I realized everything was blurry. I’d jumped in with my glasses on and when I went back, […]
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November 26, 2019
New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Nicolas Kristof grew up on a cherry farm in rural Yamhill, Oregon, and it’s there that he and Sheryl WuDunn, his wife and co-writer, return in their latest reporting. In part, their book is about the lives of some of the children with whom Kristof grew up, about a quarter […]
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November 22, 2019
By Ruth Dickey, SAL Executive Director A few years ago, everyone I knew began telling me about a book they absolutely adored and that I simply must read. But when I learned the book was about a Count who spends 30 years in a hotel in Moscow, I was first skeptical, and then outright resistant. […]
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November 20, 2019
We are so grateful for the many volunteers who make our world go round at the SAL headquarters. Bianca Glinskas is one such volunteer, and not only does she help out in the office—she also writes for our blog! Check out her recent pieces on poet Mary Ruefle here and here. To see what’s inspired […]
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November 13, 2019
Numerous creative and brilliant people work on behind-the-scenes projects for SAL. Andrea Dimond is one of two freelance designers and has freelanced for SAL for over three years, where she uses her superb design skills to produce our Annual Report and other pieces. See some of her past work here. Read on to find what […]
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