Writers in the Schools Presents: Local Voices
Join us for Local Voices, a reading series in celebration of the brilliance of Seattle Arts & Lectures' Writers in the Schools (WITS) cohort.
SALās Writers in the Schools (WITS) program connects professional writers with public school classrooms throughout the Puget Sound region to elevate the expressions of all students as they discover and develop their authentic writing and performance voices. Through WITS, students become authors of their own lives.
This event will showcase work from Samar Abulhassan, Karen Finnyfrock, David Lasky, and Sierra Nelson. These acclaimed creative powerhouses come together to read from their own works-in-progress, inspiring the same craft and performance skills they teach in the classroom.
The House bar will be open to serve alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.Samar Abulhassan
Samar Abulhassan is a Jack Straw Writer and holds an M.F.A. from Colorado State University. 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 youth at Hugo House since 2012 and with Seattle Arts & Lecturesā Writers in the Schools since 2008. Samar also recently participated in the 2024 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. She also loves to dance and is interested in the intersection between movement and writing.Ā Ā
Sierra Nelson
Sierra Nelson is a poet, president of Seattleās Cephalopod Appreciation Society, and co-founder of literary performance art groups The Typing Explosion and Vis-Ć -Vis Society. Her poetry books include The Lachrymose Report (PoetryNW Editions, 2018), lyrical adventure I Take Back the Sponge Cake made with visual artist Loren Erdrich (Rose Metal Press), and forthcoming Vis-Ć -Vis Society collaboration 100 Rooms: A Bridge Motel Project (Entre Rios Books). Recently Nelsonās poems accompanying ichthyologist Adam Summerās fish skeleton photographs were exhibited at the Ljubljana Natural History Museum and Piran Aquarium in Slovenia.
Karen Finneyfrock
Karen Finneyfrock is a poet and novelist. She is the author of two young adult novels: The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door and Starbird Murphy and the World Outside, both published by Viking Childrenās Books. She is one of the editors of the anthology Courage: Daring Poems for Gutsy Girls, and the author of Ceremony for the Choking Ghost, both released on Write Bloody press. She is a former Writer-in Residence at Hugo House. Learn more on her website: http://www.karenfinneyfrock.com.
David Lasky
David Lasky is the co-author of the Eisner-Award-winning graphic novel, Carter Family: Donāt Forget This Song, but he is better known to children as the guy who colored Cece Bellās awesome graphic novel, El Deafo, a Newbery Honor Book. David is currently at work on a graphic novel that will focus on the historic Georgetown Steam Plant, commissioned by Seattleās Office of Arts & Culture and City Light. He teaches comics at numerous venues in the Seattle area, including Richard Hugo House and Coyote Central.
