This four-part reading series features acclaimed poets, writers, and comics artists who teach in SAL’s Writers in the Schools program. Tonight’s program will feature Samar Abulhassan, Danielle Hayden, Vivian Li, Ell Lin, Clara Olivo, Ann Teplick! These resident writers come together to read from their own works-in-progress, inspiring the same craft and performance skills they teach in the classroom.
Free (no RSVP necessary; just come)
Samar Abulhassan is a Jack Straw Writer and holds an M.F.A. from Colorado State University. She’s worked in California public schools for seven years. Born to Lebanese immigrants and raised with multiple languages, she is a 2006 Hedgebrook alum and the author of six chapbooks, including Farah and Nocturnal Temple. Samar has worked with Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Writers in the Schools since 2008. Samar also recently participated in the 2018 Skagit River Poetry Festival. In 2016, Samar received a CityArtist grant to aid in completing a novel-in-poems reflecting on memory, longing, and the Arabic alphabet. Samar often finds inspiration in images and places and replicates these techniques in her teaching.
Danielle Hayden is a former French, Algebra, and English teacher originally from Detroit who is excited to be returning to the classroom. She is currently a Writers’ Room Resident at the Seattle Public Library. Danielle received a 2022 fellowship from the Jack Straw Cultural Center and a 2022 Grant for Artists’ Progress from Artist Trust. She has completed workshops with Tin House, The Kenyon Review, and Yale. Her articles, essays and poetry have appeared in publications widely. Danielle is also the creator of the website 3pistolary.com, which encourages people to write and send three personal letters. She published a book for her young daughter called A is for Aria and is currently working on an essay collection as well as a novella.
Vivian Li is a comics artist and illustrator from a small town in western Illinois called Macomb. She likes drawing comics because they’re a fun, accessible storytelling tool. Her work is rooted in finding joy in everyday experiences — from connections with family and friends to exploring trees and the nature around her. In 2023, she published the first volume of her comic cookbook, ABC Cooking, with her mom, containing stories from her adventure in learning to cook Chinese food at home. She has also contributed comics to Papeachu Review, Fogland Press, and Portland Zine Symposium. You can find her on her Instagram @vivianlikesfruit posting sketches that make her smile. Since 2015, Vivian has been working with kids with a focus of education through project-based learning and hopes to give them the tools to create things that they want to share.
Ell Lin ta̍k-ke hó! ell (伊/they/she) is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and educator of Native Pacific Islander ancestry with a background in community-rooted written, visual, and performing arts. ell has facilitated multigenerational antiracist theater, developed poetry and creative writing performances with incarcerated youth, taught multilingual language arts courses as well as elementary education, and won awards in photography, teaching, instrumental music, and poetry. ell’s most recent poem is locally featured in a community celebration coupling food with poetry. Her doctoral writing is inspired by the blazing legacy of warrior poets, including Audre Lorde and Gloria Anzaldúa, who urged reclaiming language as bridges to liberatory relationship and action. The sacred mists of Coast Salish mountains, protagonist of ell’s first published poem as a child, continue sparking wonder, healing, and dreams.
Clara Olivo (she/her/ella) is an Afro-Salvi poet living in diaspora. Born and raised in South Central L.A. to Salvadorean refugees, Clara weaves history and lived experience, creating transcendental poetry that amplifies ancestral power and pride. Writing for her lost inner child, Clara steps into her poetry with the intention of healing the hurts of her past and inspiring hope for the future. Since finding her voice, she has performed in open mics and art receptions from Seattle to Washington D.C., is a 2022 Pushcart nominee and has been featured in publications such as The South Seattle Emerald, Valiant Scribe, and Quiet Lightning’s Literary Mixtape.
Ann Teplick is a poet, playwright, and prose writer with an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. For twenty-three years, she’s been a teaching artist in Seattle public schools; Hugo House; Coyote Central; and Pongo Teen Writing, at King Co. juvenile detention and the Washington State psychiatric hospital. She has received funding from Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, 4 Culture, Artist Trust, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She is also a Hedgebrook and Jack Straw alumna.