SAL/ON

A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures

Category: Writers in the Schools

Lindy West, hair braided and wearing a red ribbed sweater, stands at a podium, with both hands powerfully placed upon it. Dramatic light shines down onto her as she speaks into a microphone.

A WITS Student Reflects on Lindy West

By Akshaya Ajith, SAL Volunteer Even before the stage lights dimmed, the room was filled to the brim with pure excitement. There was not a shuffle or a cough, just a silent blanket of anticipation for...

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A hand-drawn bingo board that says "Winter Book Bingo" at the top. Categories are: PNW author, re-read a book you loved as a youngster, a book that was banned, a book about disability, themes of diaspora or migration, graphic novel or comic, poetry, a friend just read, translated into english, memoir or biography, QPOC author, listen to an audiobook read by author, free, epistolary format, spirituality or religion, nature, short stories, book later made into a movie, relates to social movement history, set in fall or winter, queer history, DIY, about the indigenous history of a place you've lived, book your ancestors would disapprove of, fantasy or sci-fi or horror.

A Winter Reading Challenge

On what otherwise might be a gloomy December day, we are delighted to share this winter reading challenge, with text by WITS Writer-in-Residence Shelby Handler and art by Beck Gross. Inspired by SAL a...

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Lindy West stands with her arm over the shoulder of a smiling young student reader. They're standing in front of a brick wall.

“Self-Portrait,” by Lucinda Gilbertson

A photo of a girl Rosy cheeked and round Hangs on a wall in my house Arms spread wide and welcoming The perfect picture of childhood Of tire swings And clam bakes And playing pretend She worries about...

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Close-up of Judith Roth, standing amid a blurred background of green, diffused light through trees.

A Remembrance of Judith Roche

By Laura Gamache, WITS Writer-in-Residence Judith Roche grew up in Detroit, Michigan, but she almost didn’t. Her poem, “Drowning in Lake Michigan,” begins: “My first memory looks up to sunligh...

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Ragini Gupta stands against a very tall bookcase, smiling.

Welcome, Ragini Gupta, WITS Intern!

We’re giving a warm welcome to Ragini Gupta of the University of Washington, who recently joined the SAL team this fall as a Writers in the Schools intern. We’re so grateful to have such a talente...

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Lydia Ganz reads from a wood lectern, hair held back by a blue headband as she leans forward to look at her paper.

“Ode to Cinnamon,” by Lydia Ganz

Cinnamon O, cinnamon Soft but sharp quiet but demanding You are the tall red spruces old as time cutting the sky and stretching beyond You are clouds who knit together casting a blanket of gray swallo...

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