SAL/ON

A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures

Category: Literary Arts Series

Introductions: Geraldine Brooks

On January 28, Geraldine Brooks brought her powerful and moving words to McCaw Hall for SAL’s 2015/16 Literary Arts Series. SAL Executive Director Ruth Dickey introduced her talk and moderated their conversation that evening. In The Secret Chord, Geraldine Brooks’ most recent novel, the narrator, the prophet Natan, reflects on his life, “I have had a great length of days, […]

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“Where I’m From,” by WITS Student Ahlam Khaleefa

Where I’m From I come from Ding Dong, Beep Beep Beep, Sponge Bob Squarepants. I come from the comfy gold sofa, sitting at a brown desk and putting on lipstick. Where I come from the clock goes backwards and the eyeliner won’t turn. Where I come from we eat Subway sandwiches and Ethiopian dishes, we […]

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Book Club Inspiration: The Bushwick Book Club at SAL

By Erin Langner, Sonder Editor & WITS Program Associate The Bushwick Book Club‘s ambition is something to be admired. As a subpar member of a standard kind of book club that meets monthly and always has a movie option for those of us that cannot keep up with the reading, it’s hard for me not […]

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From the Archive: “Are You There, Judy Blume? It’s Me, Rachel”

This essay was commissioned by SAL on the occasion of our program featuring Judy Blume in the 2014/15 Literary Arts Series, on June 11, 2015, written by WITS Writer-in-Residence Rachel Kessler. By Rachel Kessler, WITS Writer-in-Residence Are You There, God? It’s Me, the Shy “Early-Bloomer” is the book I’d like Judy Blume to write next. By […]

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Introductions: Anthony Doerr

The evening of Wednesday, November 18, SAL Director Ruth Dickey introduced acclaimed writer Anthony Doerr to a buzzing, brimming auditorium, at Benaroya Hall. Perhaps you, like me, were wary of All the Light We Cannot See. I picked it up because a friend recommended it and then was afraid to begin. A book about World […]

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An Intimate Evening with Tony

By Christina Gould, Patron Services Manager I shared “my boyfriend” with a sold out crowd at Benaroya Hall on November 18th. I would have been too shy to have a one-on-one date with him; being one of over 2500 in the cozy atmosphere of the S. Mark Taper Auditorium suited me just fine. I first became […]

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“Paris, Le Canal Saint-Martin,” by WITS Student Graeme Richards

Paris, Le Canal Saint-Martin Dark and silver clouds rule the sky over the dark winter city. The black bare trees reach for nothing and the murky water under the rusty iron bridge has no inhabitants. The streets have no wanderers and through the dark windows letting in the so-little sun into the dark rooms like […]

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Linda Pastan’s Breathless Words at The Center School

By Erin Langner, WITS Program Associate & Sonder Editor When Linda Pastan and I approached a classroom of The Center School, where she was about to speak, we were three minutes early. A teacher inside, in the gentlest, quietest whisper, asked if we wouldn’t mind waiting outside, for just two of those minutes. The students inside […]

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WITS Voices: Rainbow, Rainbow, Rainbow!

By Emily Bedard, WITS Writer-in-Residence On a recent day when the trees flashed a hundred hues against a cloudy Seattle sky, I entered a fourth grade WITS class, planning to play with color. We began by reading Red Sings from Treetops by Joyce Sidman and Pamela Zagarenski, with its saturated, leaping language and its intricate, dreamlike […]

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“I Used To,” by WITS Student Joseph Hairston

I Used To I used to worry about my life: what will make me finally draw that smile, what makes me chase the dreams. But as soon as I hit high school, things weren’t as they seem. I sit and I kick rocks, try to do what my bible tells me to do, but I […]

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