YPF Celebration Reading

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YPF Celebration Reading

Friday, December 12, 2025 7:00 pm PST

12/12/2025 7:00 pm 12/12/2025 America/Los_Angeles YPF Celebration Reading https://lectures.org/event/ypf-reading-winter-3/ Elliott Bay Book Company add to calendar icon

At Elliott Bay Book Company

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In Person

Join us for a celebratory poetry reading featuring SAL’s talented Youth Poetry Fellows. This reading marks the end of the program, and you are invited to come celebrate their genius with us!

This event is free and open to the public.

About SAL’s Youth Poetry Fellowship (YPF):

The Youth Poetry Fellowship serves a cohort of young writers committed to poetry, performance, civic and community engagement, education, and equity across the Puget Sound region. Over the course of the school year, fellows meet regularly for workshops with the Youth Poetry Fellowship mentors. Fellows also have numerous public opportunities to share their voices, leadership, and love of Seattle throughout the course of the year. One of the fellows serves as the Youth Poet Laureate and writes a poetry collection published by Poetry NW Editions.

Ahsenti Alfedil (she/her) is a first-generation American of Ethio-Sudanese descent and a student at the Bush School. A multidisciplinary Piscean, she moves fluidly between poetry, acrylic/oil painting, and movement—always led by curiosity and feeling. When not overwhelmed by her academic workload, she finds joy in braiding hair, spending hours adorning herself and loved ones in henna, skating to her favorite playlists, and research as a leisure activity. As a writer, Ahsenti turns most often to poetry. Her work shows resistance to categorization because she follows her intrigue; the fleeting moments that spark inspiration to create. Through her writing, she hopes to make space for those navigating layered identities, vulnerability, and for stories that make people feel seen in their most intricate and unspoken parts.

Briseldy Hernandez-Ramos is a 19 year old senior at the University of Washington on the pre-law track. Originally from East Wenatchee, WA, Briseldy now lives in Seattle where she’s involved in over six cohorts, multiple political councils and holds a variety of leadership roles. She has been a writer since she first read time, focusing on creative nonfiction, Briseldy writes about immigrant injustices stemming from her own lived experiences to continue pushing for social change!

Nadia Najam is a senior at Liberty High School in Renton, Washington. She finds joy in reading any good book she can get her hands on and spending time in nature. Through YPF, Nadia hopes to grow more confident in sharing her writing with the world and to challenge herself to explore new themes and styles in her poetry.

Adisa Grant is a poet, fiction writer, and sophomore at Seattle Academy who hopes to create change in the world utilizing his love for words. When not writing Adi enjoys reading, bike rides in nature, stargazing, and playing mediocre chess. One day he hopes the world can find as much joy reading his work as he does writing it but until then he’ll be happy to tell anyone who will listen about his literary pursuits.

Galilee Marcos is a junior at Decatur High school. When she isn’t stuck to her muji pen and journal, she’s rehearsing for the next production of her school’s theater company. She writes about the thrills (and terrors) of adolescence and hopes to understand more about herself and the world through her writing.

Saeesha Bhargava is a junior at Interlake High School. She’s drawn to anything involving stories and storytelling, being a lifelong bookworm above all else but also enjoying writing, dabbling in poetry, essays, short stories, and plays. Her other hobbies include watching movies, listening to music (constantly), and being a closeted theater kid.

Kaitlyn Bai (she/her) is a sophomore at Eastside Preparatory School in Kirkland. In both her prose and poetry, she loves to explore themes of suburbia, childhood, nostalgia, memory, and the fragmented experiences of diaspora. Outside of writing, she enjoys digital art, reading, and debate.

Sirjana Kaur is a Punjabi-American writer at Redmond High School who explores topics of memory, girlhood, identity, and history through poetry and prose. A 2024 National Student Poet Semifinalist, her work has been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, The New York Times, The National High School Poetry Contest, Eunoia Review, Livina Press, and others. When she isn’t reading or writing, she’s either exploring cafes with her friends, baking with her siblings, doom scrolling, or doing homework.

Varnika Jammalamadaka (she/her) is a junior at The Overlake School. She loves art, music, playing chess, and shopping for earrings. Varnika hopes to become a published author and poet, so that her experiences may be preserved on the page.

Luna Picone-Louro (they/them) is a queer, Boricua-Portuguese artist and writer. They grew up on the east coast and moved to Seattle with their family in 2021. They have used poetry as medicine and as a tool to help them get through the hardest of times, and they dream of having their own book on the shelves some day.

Marisa Oishi (she/her) is a University of Washington student studying Informatics with a minor in Textual Studies and Digital Humanities. In addition to reading and writing poetry, Marisa enjoys dancing and listening to music. From symbolism to SQL, she loves exploring the ways in which we encode meaning.

Quinn Umeno is a youth poet born and raised in Seattle, Washington. They have been writing poetry as long as they can remember and as a queer mixed race POC poet they focus on poetry as a powerful form of self-expression that questions and builds identity in the face of a rapidly changing world, acting as a quiet connection with the people around them. They have worked as a youth leader and board member for Youth Speaks Seattle since 2022, and have performed their work at Brave New Voices, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, El Centro de la Raza, and various open mics around the greater Seattle area

Event Details

Elliott Bay Book Company

1521 10th Ave
Seattle, WA 98122
View Directions.

Transportation & Parking

Located in Capitol Hill, The Elliott Bay Book Company is served by the #2 bus, and is close to the #10 bus stop.

Street Parking is available in the area.

Please see The Elliott Bay Book Company website for more details.

Accessibility

The Readings Room is located below ground level. There is an elevator at the front of the store, to the right of the front steps, that takes riders down to the level where they can access the event space.

For any attendees who wish to use it, there is a doorbell by the elevator that when rung buzzes at the front counter. This will alert an Elliott Bay staff member, who will come outside to call up the elevator and to meet riders below so they can guide them to the Readings Room.

If you would like to notify Elliott Bay ahead of time that you’ll need access to the elevator, please call the store at 206-624-6600 to let them know your arrival time.

For those event attendees who don’t plan to use the elevator, please note that we have five steps at the front of the store leading up to our front door. Once you access the store, you’ll need to walk to the back of the main floor, approximately 55 feet. There, you’ll find a staircase with eighteen steps leading down to the event space.