SAL/ON

A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures

Category: Creativity

Unmastering English: On the Work of Cathy Park Hong

This essay is part of a series in which Seattle Arts & Lectures partners with Poetry Northwest to present reflections on visiting writers from SAL’s 2021/22 Season. On Friday, January 28, Cathy Park Hong will be in conversation with Ijeoma Oluo at Langston Performing Arts Institute, and the event will also be streamed live. Although […]

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When the Years are Gone: On “Playlist for the Apocalypse” by Rita Dove

This essay is part of a series in which Seattle Arts & Lectures partners with Poetry Northwest to present reflections on visiting writers from the SAL Poetry Series. On Friday, December 3, Rita Dove will read and discuss her work with Anastacia-Reneé at an online-only event. This event is available to attend online until December […]

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Spotlight on Mita Mahato—Seattle Artist!

Enormous appreciation to Mita Mahato, the talented Seattle-based artist who provided the artwork for the most recent WITS anthology, Gliding Between the Land of This and That!  Mahato is a multi-media artist working at the intersection of cut paper, collage, comix, and poetic experimentation. She is a career educator, a board member with Short Run Seattle, and currently is the Associate Curator […]

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Faces of SAL Partners: Ann Hedreen and Rustin Thompson of White Noise Productions

Many local partners support SAL’s programs and operation. In responding to the changing and uncertain conditions of the pandemic, we’ve relied on some of our partners even more than usual. To celebrate our longtime relationship with Ann Hedreen and Rustin Thompson, owners of White Noise Productions who produce our video content—including the pre-recorded events from our 2020/21 […]

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Faces of SAL: Jennifer Cast

We have new faces on the SAL Board of Directors to introduce to you over the coming weeks! Most of our board members began their SAL journey the same way you did: as readers and event-goers. Learn about the moments that inspired them to get involved with SAL more deeply, what they do, where they […]

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Faces of SAL: Lauri Conner, SAL Board President

By Gabriela Denise Frank “Writing for me had become this thing where I didn’t have to fit into anybody’s box, except for the one I created,” poet and educator Lauri Conner said. We were discussing the ways in which creative writing and WITS open up possibilities for both students and teachers. This month, Conner—recently named […]

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Go Inside a WITS Classroom Visit with Ocean Vuong

In June, students from Franklin High School spent time with poet and fiction writer Ocean Vuong in a session they called “Breaking Virtual Bread Together.” SAL’s Spotlight Author visits, held through our Writers in the Schools program, connect young public school writers in WITS classrooms with world-class authors and thinkers like Ocean, who spoke as part of […]

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Faces of Bushwick: Ken Nottingham & Carrie Wicks

To celebrate our long-time partnership with Bushwick Book Club Seattle, we’re speaking with local musicians who have composed and performed songs inspired by the written works of SAL speakers over the years. Learn about these hometown talents and discover their work in our Faces of Bushwick interview series. In this first conversation, we talk with […]

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A Comic from Ocean Vuong’s Event

If you’ve been following us for a while, you may know of Tessa Hulls, the “SAL Official Doodler” and author of the forthcoming graphic novel Feeding Ghosts (MCD Books, 2023). Tessa was recently honored with a 2021 Arts Innovator Award from Artist Trust. On June 9, Tessa joined us to watch Ocean Vuong’s live and online-only […]

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Gorgeous, Here On Earth: The 2020/21 Elaine Wetterauer Writing Contest Chapbook

Every year, Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Writers in the Schools (WITS) program holds the Elaine Wetterauer Writing Contest to celebrate the wisdom, creativity, and heart captured in student and teacher writing. The theme for this year’s contest was “On Earth, We’re Briefly Gorgeous,” inspired by the award-winning novel of upcoming SAL speaker, Ocean Vuong. On Earth We’re Briefly […]

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