SAL/ON

A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures

Category: 2016/17 Season

Ross Gay holds a book with left hand and reaches towards audience with right hand

Next on the SAL Podcast: Ross Gay

In our latest episode of SAL/on air, our literary podcast featuring talks from across Seattle Arts & Lectures’ thirty years, we hear from poet Ross Gay. In a time like this, where do you look to for joy? In an episode of Krista Tippett’s podcast, On Being, poet Ross Gay recently said, “It is joy […]

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2016-17 WITS Anthology Launch: Closing Remarks

Ronica Hairston, the mother of 2016-17 Youth Poet Laureate Ambassador Joseph Hairston–whose poetry you can find here and here–generously made these warm remarks in support of Writers in the Schools at our 2016-17 WITS Anthology Launch. At this celebration, over 60 K-12 students shared the poetry, stories, comics, and memoir from the brand new WITS […]

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Introductions: Jeffrey Tambor

On May 23 at Town Hall Seattle, Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Jeffrey Tambor spoke about his new memoir, Are You Anybody?, to close our 2016/17 SAL Presents Series. SAL Associate Director introduced the evening, and the night’s conversation was moderated by Seattle entertainment writer Melanie McFarland, who wrote about the experience on Salon.com. By […]

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Creative Obsessions: Learning from Emily Nussbaum’s Critical Mantras

By Erin Langner The first review I ever wrote was of the soundtrack for Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. It was for Jefferson Junior High School’s Patriot newspaper in 1997. To say I was obsessed with the movie is a dramatic understatement. It’s still the only film I’ve seen in the theater three times. The […]

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WITS Voices: Reflections from Nathan Hale High School

By Alex Gallo-Brown, WITS Writer-in-Residence When I walked into Ms. Simmons-Rice’s class at Nathan Hale High School last month, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had taught writing at the community college level, but never to high school students, and certainly not to high school freshman, a time I remember with regret and a […]

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Helen Oyeyemi

Helen Oyeyemi’s K-Drama List

Ever since Helen Oyeyemi gave her panoramic talk, “Shine or Go Crazy,” about Korean television dramas on April 25th, we’ve been wanting to binge-watch this distinctive genre with all its unlikely twists and turns, imaginative narratives, and soapy addictiveness.  Some of you must feel the same, as we’ve gotten audience requests for a complete list of all the […]

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Carl Phillips at McCaw Hall

Introductions: Carl Phillips

On Tuesday, May 2nd at McCaw Hall, cerebral poet of the flesh, Carl Phillips, read us a stunning array of poems old and new. SAL Associate Director Rebecca Hoogs introduced and interviewed Carl for this event, which brought SAL’s 2016/17 Poetry Series to a beautiful, breathless close. By Rebecca Hoogs, SAL Associate Director It is […]

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Poet Ross Gay

WITS Voices: Writing is Climate. Writing is Real. Writing is Change.

By Cody Pherigo, WITS Writer-in-Residence  I’ve become semi-obsessed with checking the weather channel website several times a week for the last 3 months. It’s like Facebook without friends. I want it to tell me spring is here to stay, the sun exists, and temperatures will rise steadily to a glowing, saturated peak. But do I? […]

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