A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures
By Alexis Chapman, Public Programs Intern In our latest episode of SAL/on air, our literary podcast featuring talks and readings from across Seattle Arts & Lectures’ thirty years, we hear from Valeria Luiselli, the award-winning Mexican author living in the United States. Luiselli joined us back in April 2019 for a Literary Arts Series discussion […]
Attention all young poets, rappers, leaders, and activists in the greater Seattle area, ages 14-19: are you interested in representing Seattle as the 2020/21 Youth Poet Laureate? We’re now accepting applications for this year’s Youth Poet Laureate program, and we want to see your work! What is the YPL program? Since 2015, the Seattle Youth […]
Every year, Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Writers in the Schools (WITS) program holds the Elaine Wetterauer Writing Contest to celebrate the wisdom, creativity, and heart captured in student and teacher writing. The inspiration from this year’s contest was drawn from Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, an epic historical novel that follows a Korean family over the […]
Do you have a middle or high-schooler at home looking for learning opportunities? Or, maybe you’d like some inspiration for yourself? Today’s #SALMoment comes from WITS Writer-in-Residence Laura Da’, who shares a writing prompt for when times feel overwhelming. This lesson teaches us to center and focus, to become quiet and still, even though the […]
“What I say is, a town isn’t a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town but unless it’s got a bookstore, it knows it’s not foolin’ a soul.” This quote, from author Neil Gaiman, is featured on the homepage of BookTree Kirkland—it’s a fitting motto for one of the few remaining independent […]
By Peter Mountford, WITS Writer-in-Residence This year’s two-week fiction-writing residency—my ninth, I believe, with the eighth grade class at Blue Heron Middle School—was my favorite to date. There’s an inexplicable magic to these groups, something of a class culture, and some years, the students are more guarded, wary, and their writing reflects that. This year […]
Dear friends, I write you in literally unprecedented times. When Carmen Maria Machado was with us in January (which now seems like decades ago), she talked about the process of writing her memoir, In the Dream House, and said it was challenging because, as time moved, “I kept becoming a different person, as we all do.”These […]
April is coming soon, and while there may be a lot going on in our communities right now, it’s important to remember that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. That means it’s the perfect time for us all to brush up on our local support centers, and how we can get involved with their work—including […]
Every year, Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Writers in the Schools (WITS) program holds the Elaine Wetterauer Writing Contest to celebrate the wisdom, creativity, and heart captured in student and teacher writing. The inspiration from this year’s contest was drawn from Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee, an epic historical novel that follows a Korean family over […]
With our daily lives disrupted, we are all working to finding new forms of togetherness. From balconies, Italians break into song and Spain applauds its healthcare workers. Bookshops hand-deliver to Seattle porches. Local relief funds have opened up for artists and hospitality workers. And we at Seattle Arts & Lectures want to do what we […]