Upcoming SAL Events

Murmurations: Local Voices Taking Flight Image

Murmurations: Local Voices Taking Flight

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Community

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 Rasheena Fountain, Monique Franklin, Vivian Li, Cypress Manning, Clara Olivo, and Acca Warren! 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)

The SAL Gala: Words Bloom Image

The SAL Gala: Words Bloom

Friday, March 22, 2024

Fundraisers

The SAL Gala will feature a lively reception and delicious multi-course dinner, an engaging program, and live and online silent auctions of irresistibly unique literary experiences and treasures. Cocktail attire. Forest glam encouraged!

Matthew Desmond: In-Person & Online Image

Matthew Desmond: In-Person & Online

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Literary Arts

In his landmark book, Poverty, By America, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond draws on history, research, and original reporting to show how affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly keep poor people poor. Elegantly written and fiercely argued, this compassionate book gives us new ways of thinking about a morally urgent problem—and also helps us imagine solutions. In his follow up to Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Desmond investigates why the United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages? Q&A with Daniel Zavala.

Victoria Chang: In-Person & Online Image

Victoria Chang: In-Person & Online

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Poetry

Victoria Chang has garnered acclaim with her collection Obit and her nonfiction exploration Dear Memory. Her new collection of poetry, With My Back to the World, is inspired by the work of Agnes Martin, exploring topics of feminism, art, depression, and grief with Chang’s signature taut language and brilliant imagery. Q&A with Jane Wong.

Gabrielle Zevin: In-Person & Online Image

Gabrielle Zevin: In-Person & Online

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Literary Arts

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Hailed as a “tour de force” by Ron Charles of the Washington Post, Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow has found both critical and commercial success, named one of the Best Books of the Year by the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, TIME, GoodReads, and Oprah Daily. Q&A with Ruchika Tulshyan.

Terrance Hayes: In-Person & Online Image

Terrance Hayes: In-Person & Online

Thursday, May 2, 2024

Poetry

So to Speak, a powerful, timely, dazzling new collection of poems from Terrance Hayes, the National Book Award–winning author of Lighthead, reminds us of the strange and lyrical grammar of thinking and feeling.  On the one hand, these fabulous fables, American sonnets, quarantine quatrains, and ekphrastic do-it-yourself sestinas animate what Toni Morrison called “the writerly imagination of a black author who is at some level always conscious of representing one’s own race.” On the other hand, these urgent, personal poems contemplate fatherhood, history, and longing with remarkable openness and humanity. So To Speak is the mature, restless work of one of contemporary poetry’s leading voices. Q&A with Yanyi.

Seattle Arts & Lectures cultivates transformative experiences through story and language with readers and writers of all generations.

Community

Community Access Tickets

We believe that reading, writing, and creative thinking are indispensable to a curious, engaged, democratic society. Our goal is to make these experiences available to as many people as possible, regardless of economic circumstances—which is why we created our Community Access Tickets (CAT) program for our in-person and digital events.

Gift Cards

Give the gift of SAL! If you’re looking for a literary-themed gift for loved ones near and far, SAL’s digital gift cards are on sale now.