SAL/ON

A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures

Let the Record Reflect: Songs from Bushwick/SAL Partner-Events

By Wes Weddell, Associate Director of The Bushwick Book Club For the fourth season of partner-events between Seattle Arts & Lectures and The Bushwick Book Club Seattle, the two organizations set a goal to record as many of the songs—created by Bushwick artists inspired by SAL’s lineup and premiered at author-events—as possible. With the season […]

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3 Questions: Julieta Vitullo, Our New WITS Program Associate

Meet Julieta Vitullo, our brand new Writers in the Schools Program Associate! Julieta, who will be engaging with WITS schools, writers, teachers, and families throughout the year to celebrate the work of WITS students in the region, has twenty years of teaching under her belt. A woman of many talents, she’s also a writer, playwright, […]

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2019 Summer Book Bingo: Start Your Next Square

By Danielle Palmer-Friedman Your first #BookBingoNW2019 square is seemingly the easiest to knock out: the board dancing in front of you, all of your options open, untouched. But after you’ve crossed the first category off your list, what should you read next? The forever-growing stack of books at your bedside table looms, almost toppling over […]

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Carol Anderon laughs, wearing hoop earrings and placing a hand on one hip.

2019 Summer Book Bingo: SAL Speaker Square

By Brooke Densmore Williams, Summer Book Bingo Player I look forward to Summer Book Bingo every year, and 2019 marks my fourth year of filling my book bingo card with books written by black, indigenous, POC, LGBTQIA+, and  womxn-identifying authors. I have always been an avid reader, but I easily get into reading patterns and […]

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SAL Success Guide to Book Bingo

By Danielle Palmer-Friedman The game is underway, and we’re set to read, play, and win. Here are some handy tips & tricks on how to master the 2019 Book Bingo Board this summer, straight from the SAL office:   Use sticky-notes flags as markers, instead of writing the title directly on your board. The only […]

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“Family,” by Omar Shamdeen

Family I remember when I visited my country Kurdistan, in Iraq. I was eleven. Me, my brother and my parents had to sleep At both of my grandparents’ houses. I remember we decided to stay, which ended up Being for four years. I remember the doctors said we had to go back To the United […]

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Introductions: Solmaz Sharif

On June 3, 2019, we had the pleasure of welcoming poet Solmaz Sharif to the SAL stage—or rather, re-welcoming, as her initially-scheduled appearance in February was cancelled due to one of the worst Seattle snowstorms in years. SAL Associate Director Rebecca Hoogs gave this introduction to start the evening, and, after Sharif’s reading, the poet […]

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Welcome, Bryn Carlson!

We’re giving a warm welcome to Bryn Carlson of Whitman College, who recently joined the SAL team in June as a Writers in the Schools intern. We’re so grateful to have her on board—learn a little bit more about her and her passions below. Hi, Bryn! Welcome to the team. Can you tell us a […]

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WITS Voices: Evergreen Speaks

By Maiah Merino, WITS Writer-in-Residence My first year with Writer in the Schools, I taught 9th grade poetry at Evergreen High School in Burien, four classes, three of which were English Language Learners.  The first class of the day set the rhythm, as they struggled the most with English; they were my compass.  Slow it […]

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WITS Voices: A Place for Song in the Poetry Classroom

By Jeanine Walker, WITS Writer-in-Residence The recording is slightly muffled, but I still find its magic moments audible: during the first full practice of a new song, 6- and 7-year-olds recite lyrics right before the guitar starts, and one child exclaims, “We’re recording!” My WITS class at Alki Elementary began at ten a.m., as I […]

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