A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures
By Danielle Palmer-Friedman Katherine Boo is not just a reporter—she’s a sponge. When she’s working on a story, she spends months, sometimes years, thoroughly documenting the lives of families living under extreme inequity. She meticulously records, never disregarding any detail for being too inconsequential. After Boo has gathered the histories, hopes, and abhorrences of the […]
By Rebecca Hoogs, SAL Associate Director Once upon a time, we might have thought of ourselves as a series that featured mid-to-late career poets. But, when a poet like Danez Smith comes along, two books into their career, well, you change the rules. This is a poet we’ve been waiting for, and we didn’t want […]
This essay is part of a series in which Poetry Northwest partners with Seattle Arts & Lectures to present reflections on visiting writers from SAL’s Poetry Series. Danez Smith reads at 7:30 pm tonight, November 26 at Broadway Performance Hall. Tickets will be sold at the door! By Luther Hughes 1. I used to own a plant, or […]
By Danielle Palmer-Friedman, SAL Volunteer When I asked Seattle Civic Poet Anastacia-Reneé (she/they) why I should go see Danez Smith (they/them) speak on November 26, she had this to say: “Get your life together and get to the reading.” She shared with me Danez’s poem “alternate names for black boys” and added: “If you still […]
By Danielle Palmer-Friedman, SAL Volunteer Who else is extremely excited to hear the eloquent, fiercely loving, and courageous Alice Walker read tonight at Benaroya Hall? This author and social activist is friends with Gloria Steinem, Yoko Ono, and Oprah (hello, dream book club!). Tickets will be available at the Benaroya Box Office tonight, which opens […]
This season, SAL’s friends at Poetry Northwest are partnering with us to present reflections on visiting writers from our Poetry Series. Below, Michelle Peñaloza reviews Oceanic, the collection by Aimee Nezhukumatathil that Michelle calls “her best yet.” Aimee Nezhukumatathil will read at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 21 at McCaw Hall to close out our 2017/18 Poetry Series. […]
As part of our Required Reading series, we share a list of three essential works from SAL’s featured writers. Up this time: Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar & author of The Sympathizer, Nothing Ever Dies, & The Refugees, Viet Thanh Nguyen. In his recent New York Times opinion piece, Viet Thanh Nguyen—the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, […]
By Stephany Kim, SAL Intern Recognize Questlove, the drummer with the signature afro pick on The Tonight Show, but don’t know much about him? Well, grab your earbuds, groove out to the Grammy Award-winning band The Roots, and check out this “Required Reading” to get ready for Questlove’s event tomorrow night at Washington Hall, where he’ll […]
“Why has international momentum toward democracy slowed, and why are so many charlatans seeking to undermine public confidence in elections, the courts, the media?” This is the urgent question voiced by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Fascism: A Warning, who will be speaking on Apr. 24 at The Paramount Theatre. The book is not only a sage examination […]
By Gabrielle Bates Anastacia Renée: “Do you feel free on the page?” Tyehimba Jess: “I feel opportunity.” * Seeing and hearing Tyehimba Jess read from his Pulitzer-Prize winning collection Olio at SAL two weeks ago has me rethinking every parameter and practice I’ve ever accepted as fixed. The expansive, acrobatic, mechanical wonder of Jess’s syncopated […]