SAL/ON

A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures

Category: Literary Arts Series

“Dear Spanish,” by Mateo Acuña

Hello old friend. Have you stopped hiding from me? Have you stopped pretending that you’re listening just around the corner, is that why you touch me with silence? Or is it because two worlds are tearing me apart and I don’t have enough native blood in my mouth to bring you as sacrifice? You of […]

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“American Poetry” by Zinnia Hansen

American Poetry I imagine my brand-new copy of The Best American Poetry 2021 lying stiff and silent after the apocalypse. I’d like to remain conservative a little longer. save seed for winter. watch it sprout in the spring. I break bread by myself, sitting on the floor, hunched over by the fire, like God’s lap […]

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An Illustration From Krista Tippett & Isabel Wilkerson’s Event

If you’ve been following us for a while, you may know Tessa Hulls, the “SAL Official Doodler” and author of the forthcoming graphic novel Feeding Ghosts (MCD Books, 2023). We were so lucky that Tessa attended our event in collaboration with the On Being Project on February 15, 2023, and captured the evening in doodle form! Take a […]

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Introductions: Maggie O’Farrell

By Rebecca Hoods, Executive Director It is now my immense pleasure to introduce Maggie O’Farrell. Born in Northern Ireland and now a resident of Edinburgh, O’Farrell is the author of nine novels, a memoir, and two books for children. I came to her work first through her 2017 memoir, I Am, I Am, I Am: […]

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“Song I’ll Sing” by WITS Student Elisa Pérez

If you want … I will sing. If not … I will hum. If you’re sad, I’ll give you a beat. A song I’ll sing is my dream. It is something that belongs to me. It’s loud, even with no sound. It’s quiet when it’s loud. I don’t care if you don’t listen but this […]

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Introductions: Abdulrazak Gurnah

By Rebecca Hoogs, Executive Director It is now my immense pleasure to introduce Professor Abdulrazak Gurnah. We are here tonight to celebrate Gurnah’s tenth novel, Afterlives, for which he won the Nobel Prize in Literature almost exactly one year ago today, as well as to honor his long career in literature. Gurnah’s books have been […]

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“Poem” by WITS Student Aisha Muse

There’s a poem in this place a poem stronger than a steel cup a poem that races through your mind faster than a modern car There’s a poem in this place a poem so calm it feels like you’re sailing on the sea There’s a poem in this place a poem so wild it sounds like a rock […]

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“Lived. Moved. Wanted. Got?” by Zora Sowinska

“Here” feels so lonely. The hands of a ghost who loved another ghost, the space between fingertips, the hall light under the door. Whispers that evaporate into thin air like an August creek. Ferns line the sidewalks and the trails, spores frequenting their undersides. In kindergarten, someone told me that those spores heal cuts, but […]

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Introductions: Charles Yu

By Rebecca Hoogs, Executive Director Charles Yu is the author of four works of fiction, including Interior Chinatown, which won the 2020 National Book Award for fiction. Previously, he received the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 Award, which he was selected for by Richard Powers, whom we will see on this stage in April. […]

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