A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures
By Michael Overa, WITS Writer-in-Residence Americans love the art of the spectacle. And if you’re talking business, there’s nothing like a giant American flag and patriotic music to sell whatever it is you want to sell. It becomes a dangerous cocktail, this concoction of flag-waving jingoism, capitalism, and pageantry. Billy Lynn’s Long Half Time Walk […]
By Gabrielle Bates I feel like a different type of tenderness might be emerging.—Ross Gay When Ross Gay read for the SAL Poetry Series last week, it was exactly what I needed. I dare say it was exactly what we all needed. All of us streaming into that auditorium from the cold—carrying our bodies quickly, […]
By Amelia Peacock, SAL’s Community Engagement Coordinator “It’s about to get really loud.” Those six simple words from the Town Hall House Manager proved an oddly poignant introduction to my evening with Marina Abramović. Two minutes later, the sound of 900 people screaming themselves into cathartic bliss gave me more context. It was an unearthly […]
Book nerds, it’s time to use your powers for good! On Small Business Saturday, November 26, Indies First will be unfolding at an independent bookstore near you. This national campaign to support local indies was launched by Sherman Alexie in 2013, a day where thousands of authors volunteered as guest booksellers across the country. In an open letter to fellow […]
On October 26 at Benaroya Hall, National Book Award-winning author and journalist Timothy Egan joined us for a night of time travel, discussing the research process and emotional journey he takes when bringing his American portraits to life. SAL Associate Director Rebecca Hoogs introduced Tim for this event, the second evening in SAL’s 2016/17 Literary Arts Series. By Rebecca Hoogs, SAL Associate Director It […]
“I’m sort of an accidental historian. . . I’m a storyteller first and foremost,” said Timothy Egan of how he creates his vivid portraits of little-known historical figures. “There’s no such thing as boring history—only boringly told history.” On October 26, for his 2016 Literary Arts lecture, Egan walked us through the go-to sources that have lent texture to his accounts and, to himself […]
Everyone at SAL is deeply saddened to hear the news that poet and essayist Lucia Perillo has passed away at the age of 58 in Olympia, Wash., a place she called home for many years. A MacArthur fellow, Lucia authored seven collections of defiant and sharply humorous poetry, including Inseminating the Elephant in 2009, which was a finalist […]
If you could curate your own series of authors and thinkers to come to Seattle, who would you choose and why? Besides starting up your own local reading series, the closest you can get to a literary-style Choose Your Own Adventure is probably SAL’s Create Your Own Series, in which you can pick any four of our events […]
On October 5th at McCaw Hall, Ada Limón—the wildly generous and truthful poet whose “heart wants her horses back”—read from her book Bright Dead Things and gave us all excellent writing advice. SAL Associate Director Rebecca Hoogs introduced and interviewed Ada for this event, which opened SAL’s 2016/17 Poetry Series. By Rebecca Hoogs, SAL Associate Director For a […]
By Alison Stagner, SAL Events Coordinator & Sonder Editor When SAL’s luminous 2016/17 Poetry Series opener Ada Limón visited Roosevelt High School last Thursday, there was a surprising moment in the classroom. Asked about the writing exercises she uses in her own classes, Ada described a technique she ordinarily practices with much younger children: a group effort poem, composed aloud, […]