Paris, France. September 14, 2015. Ta-Nehisi Coates is seen at Cercle Kadrance in Paris, on Monday, September 14, 2015 in Paris, France. Antoine Doyen/AP Images for John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

SAL Presents

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Past Event: Sunday, November 5, 2017

At Benaroya Hall — S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium

The University of Washington

There is no hope if we can’t face up to the narrative, if we can’t actually admit who we are. If we can’t actually admit what happened, there is no hope.

— Ta-Nehisi Coates at a speech for the College of Charleston

Coates is one of the most elegant and sharp observers of race in America. He is an upholder of universal values, a brave and compassionate writer who challenges his readers to transcend narrow self-definitions and focus on shared humanity.

— Judge Hendrick Hertzberg

The greatest reward of this constant interrogation, confrontation with the brutality of my country, is that it has freed me from hosts and myths.

— Ta-Nehisi Coates, “Letter To My Son,” The Atlantic

Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of the most original and perceptive voices on Black America. He last appeared at SAL in the 2015/16 Season, where Coates discussed his National Book Award-winning Between the World and Me. Now, he returns with his third book: We Were Eight Years in Power.

With rich emotional depth and a sonar sense of how pop culture, politics, and history shape discussions of diversity, Coates is “the young James Joyce of the hip hop generation” (Walter Mosley). In 2015, Coates signed on to revive Marvel’s Black Panther superhero story with a new series entitled A Nation Under Our Feet. The first installment in the story premiered in April 2016 and, according to the Guardian, sold more than 250,000 copies in a month, “Making it the bestselling comic in the US so far this year.” In his first venture into the genre, Coates endeavors to answer the question, “Can a good man be a king, and would an advanced society tolerate a monarch?”

Coates has worked for The Village Voice, Washington City Paper, and TIME. He has contributed to The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, The Washington Monthly, O, and other publications. He was a Martin Luther King Jr. Visiting Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012 and a journalist-in-residence at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism in 2014. He is also a 2015 MacArthur Award Fellow.

Coates’ forthcoming book We Were Eight Years in Power, is an annotated collection of new and previously published essays on the Obama era, including an interview with the past President himself.

Selected Works:

Essays

“My President Was Black” (2016) – The Atlantic
“There Is No Post-Racial America” (2015) – The Atlantic
“The Case for Reparations” (2014) – The Atlantic, Winner of the 2014 George Polk Award

Non-Fiction

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy (Forthcoming in 2017)
Between the World and Me (2015)
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons and an Unlikely Road to Manhood (2008)

Event Details

Benaroya Hall — S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium

200 University Street
Seattle, WA 98101

View directions.

This event will be held in the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, the largest event space at Benaroya Hall.

Benaroya Hall is located at 200 University Street, directly across Second Avenue from the Seattle Art Museum.

By Car

From Southbound I-5
Take the Union Street exit (#165B). Continue onto Union Street and proceed approximately five blocks to Second Avenue. Turn left onto Second Avenue. The Benaroya Hall parking garage will be on your immediate left. The garage entrance is on Second Avenue, just south of Union Street.
From Northbound I-5
Exit left onto Seneca Street (exit #165). Proceed two blocks and turn right onto Fourth Avenue. Continue two blocks. Turn left onto Union Street. Continue two blocks. Turn left onto Second Avenue. The Benaroya Hall parking garage will be on your immediate left. The garage entrance is on Second Avenue, just south of Union Street.
From Northbound I-5 via Westbound I-90
Take the 2C exit for I-5 North. Follow signs for Madison Street/Convention Place and merge right onto Seventh Avenue. Turn left onto Madison Street. Proceed three blocks and turn right onto Fourth Avenue. Continue four blocks. Turn left onto Union Street. Continue two blocks. Turn left onto Second Avenue. The Benaroya Hall parking garage will be on your immediate left. The garage entrance is on Second Avenue, just south of Union Street.

By Public Transit (Bus & Light Rail)

Benaroya Hall is served by numerous bus routes. Digital reader boards along Third Avenue display real-time bus arrival information. For details and trip planning tools, call Metro Rider Information at 206.553.3000 (voice) or 206.684.1739 (TDD), or visit Metro online. The Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel, served by light rail, has a stop just below the Hall (Symphony Station).

Parking

The 430-car underground garage at Benaroya Hall provides direct access from the enclosed parking area into the Hall via elevators leading to The Boeing Company Gallery. Enter the garage on Second Avenue, just south of Union Street. Maximum vehicle height is 6’8″. ChargePoint charging stations are available for electric vehicles. Visit the Benaroya Hall website for event pricing.

Parking is also available at:

The Cobb Building (enter on University Street between Third and Fourth avenues).
The Russell Investments Center (enter on Union Street between First and Second avenues).
There are many other garages within a one-block radius of Benaroya Hall, along with numerous on-street parking options.

Open Captioning is an option for people who have hearing loss, where a captioning screen displaying the words that are spoken or sung is placed on stage. This option is present at every event at Benaroya Hall in our 2021/22 Season.

Closed Captioning is an option for people who have hearing loss, where captioning displays the words that are spoken or sung at the bottom of the video during an online event. Captioning is available for all online events; click the “CC” button to view captions during the event.

Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) are devices that people with hearing loss use in conjunction with their hearing device (hearing aids or cochlear implants). Benaroya Hall has an infrared hearing system, which transmits sound by light beams. Headsets are available in The Boeing Company Gallery coat check and the Head Usher stations in both lobbies.

Sign Language Interpretation is available upon request for Deaf, DeafBlind, and hard of hearing individuals for both in-person and online events. To make a request for interpretation, please contact us at boxoffice@lectures.org or 206.621.2230×10, or select “Sign Language Interpretation” from the Accessibility section during your ticket checkout process and we will contact you to confirm details. Please note: we appreciate a two-week advance notice to allow us time to secure interpretation.

Wheelchair Accessible Seating and Accessible Restrooms are available in all sections at our venues, and our venues are fully accessible to ticket holders with physical mobility concerns. Among other features, Benaroya Hall has designated parking spaces adjacent to elevators in their parking garage. Elevators with Braille signage go to all levels within the Hall. To reserve seating for a specific mobility concern, you may select “Wheelchair Accessible or Alternative Seating Options” during ticket checkout, and we will contact you to confirm details. For more details on their accessibility features, click here.

Guide and service dogs are welcome.

Gender neutral restrooms are available.

We are pleased to offer these accessibility services at our venues, and they are provided at no additional cost to ticket holders. Please contact us with any questions and feedback about how we can be more accessible and inclusive. Our Patron Services Manager is available at boxoffice@lectures.org, or Tuesday-Friday, from 12 noon–5 p.m., at 206.621.2230×10.

For more accessibility information, please head to lectures.org/accessibility. If you would like to make accessibility arrangements you do not see listed here, please contact our box office or select “Other Accommodations” from the Accessibility section during your ticket checkout process, and we will contact you to confirm details.

Seating Chart