A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures
One thing about 2017 is certain: the literature will be stunning. As the new year unfolds, many are turning to our cultural thought leaders for direction and perspective, which always makes for a good beginning—reading, as book-lovers have long suspected, has been proven to enhance our ability to empathize and to increase brain function. But before we get ahead […]
When we asked the different folks at SAL about the best writing on love, it was hard to know what to expect. The topic is so widely written about and so subject to cliché. And, yet, it is so satisfying to experience words on the page that somehow manage to capture the feeling and kind […]
Greg Stump is a WITS Writer-in-Residence at SAL and has been a regular contributor to The Stranger for more than a decade. He is the co-creator of the comic book series Urban Hipster, a former writer and editor for The Comics Journal, and the creator of the weekly alternative-newspaper comic Dwarf Attack. He teaches […]
By Christina Gould, Patron Services Manager As a SAL staff member, I usually have the privilege of catching a glance at the celebrated author prior to opening the house for our events—the moment when my expectations based on the things I have read and the reality of the person being here, in the flesh, come […]
On January 28, Geraldine Brooks brought her powerful and moving words to McCaw Hall for SAL’s 2015/16 Literary Arts Series. SAL Executive Director Ruth Dickey introduced her talk and moderated their conversation that evening. In The Secret Chord, Geraldine Brooks’ most recent novel, the narrator, the prophet Natan, reflects on his life, “I have had a great length of days, […]
By Erin Langner, Sonder Editor & WITS Program Associate The Bushwick Book Club‘s ambition is something to be admired. As a subpar member of a standard kind of book club that meets monthly and always has a movie option for those of us that cannot keep up with the reading, it’s hard for me not […]
Just before 2016 begins to reveal all of the new places literature will take us, we asked SAL staff, WITS Writers and board members to share the best books they read in 2015, to continue our What SAL’s Reading series. While preferences varied widely, the most oft-cited titles included one of SAL’s most memorable speakers this […]
“So, what was going on the week before Thanksgiving?” This is the question I anticipate coming from my husband, when we wait to board our plane to Santa Fe for the holidays tomorrow. It will be provoked when I pull The New Yorker out of my bag, which will be from the week of November […]
The evening of Wednesday, November 18, SAL Director Ruth Dickey introduced acclaimed writer Anthony Doerr to a buzzing, brimming auditorium, at Benaroya Hall. Perhaps you, like me, were wary of All the Light We Cannot See. I picked it up because a friend recommended it and then was afraid to begin. A book about World […]
By Christina Gould, Patron Services Manager I shared “my boyfriend” with a sold out crowd at Benaroya Hall on November 18th. I would have been too shy to have a one-on-one date with him; being one of over 2500 in the cozy atmosphere of the S. Mark Taper Auditorium suited me just fine. I first became […]