A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures
Lantern You’re sitting in class. The teacher drones on and on. On her desk sits a lantern. Decorative yet functional. You think of the different scenarios of why you would use that lantern. In your mind you travel forward in time with that lantern. You’re sitting in a bunker, waiting for nothing to happen. The […]
Everyone at SAL is deeply saddened to hear the news that poet and essayist Lucia Perillo has passed away at the age of 58 in Olympia, Wash., a place she called home for many years. A MacArthur fellow, Lucia authored seven collections of defiant and sharply humorous poetry, including Inseminating the Elephant in 2009, which was a finalist […]
If you could curate your own series of authors and thinkers to come to Seattle, who would you choose and why? Besides starting up your own local reading series, the closest you can get to a literary-style Choose Your Own Adventure is probably SAL’s Create Your Own Series, in which you can pick any four of our events […]
On October 5th at McCaw Hall, Ada Limón—the wildly generous and truthful poet whose “heart wants her horses back”—read from her book Bright Dead Things and gave us all excellent writing advice. SAL Associate Director Rebecca Hoogs introduced and interviewed Ada for this event, which opened SAL’s 2016/17 Poetry Series. By Rebecca Hoogs, SAL Associate Director For a […]
By Alison Stagner, SAL Events Coordinator and Sonder Editor As part of our Required Reading series, we share a list of three essential works from SAL’s featured writers. Up this time: Seattle-based New York Times columnist and nonfiction author, Timothy Egan. “But is he going to talk about politics?” It must be the unprecedented vitriol of our election season, but I’ve […]
By Julia Cook I don’t need to watch Breaking Bad. It’s a blasphemous thought, to which my boyfriend does not respond well. “But we’re seeing him in October,” he cries. “You’re reviewing his book!” With any great actor, you don’t need to meet his character to have a talk with him. And that’s how Bryan […]
By Alison Stagner, SAL Events Coordinator & Sonder Editor When SAL’s luminous 2016/17 Poetry Series opener Ada Limón visited Roosevelt High School last Thursday, there was a surprising moment in the classroom. Asked about the writing exercises she uses in her own classes, Ada described a technique she ordinarily practices with much younger children: a group effort poem, composed aloud, […]
A Few Blades Of Grass I was born to a seaglass house Softened by the rough edges of the sea, Chipped and clouded though it was I was born. Upon my birth I shattered it Gripping a dagger and a forget-me-not. I was born in a well Filled to the brim with gold paint […]
On September 19 at Benaroya Hall, international bestseller Ann Patchett spoke of the life-changing process of writing about her own family in her new novel, Commonwealth. SAL Executive Director Ruth Dickey introduced and interviewed Ann for this event, which opened SAL’s 2016/17 Literary Arts Series. By Ruth Dickey, SAL Executive Director I first fell in love with Ann […]
Books Go inside a book. That would be my way. Let someone be a perfect person that never gets in trouble. The letters pour off my pages trickling into my head. Inside is a mystery slowly unfolding. Inside is what my imagination feeds on.