Join us for the final in our series of events, curated by writer D.A. Navoti, that examines the highs and lows of growing up. Registration required. Click here to register.

In this five-part series, writer D.A. Navoti welcomes readers of all ages to consider the pains of growing up. Tonight’s program focuses on Adulthood. Readers include Gabrielle Bates, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, and Raúl Sánchez.

The event is presented in partnership with Open Books: A Poem Emporium. This event is supported by The Seattle Public Library Foundation. Thanks to media sponsor The Seattle Times. There will be closed captioning available at this program. This program will be recorded and posted on SPL’s YouTube page after the event.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

D.A. Navoti is a member of the Gila River Indian Community and a nonfiction and poetic prose writer. His work has appeared in Homology Lit,  Spartan,  Indian Country Today,  Cloudthroat, and elsewhere. He produces the literary series We the Indigenous and co-created Fight For Our Lives, a reading series supporting communities targeted by divisive politics. He is a 2020 Radical Imagination grant recipient from the NDN Collective and was a 2020 CityArtist from the City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. Navoti lives in occupied Duwamish territory (Seattle, WA). Visit his website: www.danavoti.com

SPEAKERS

Gabrielle Bates is a writer and visual artist originally from Birmingham, Alabama. Her work has appeared in a number of publications including the New Yorker, Poetry Magazine, and Ploughshares, and her poetry comics have been featured internationally in a variety of exhibitions, festivals, and conferences. Formerly the managing editor of the Seattle Review and a contributing editor for Poetry Northwest, Gabrielle currently serves as the Social Media Manager of Open Books: A Poem Emporium, a contributing editor for Bull City Press, and a University of Washington teaching fellow. She also volunteers as a poetry mentor through the Adroit teen mentorship program and teaches occasionally as a spotlight author through Seattle’s Writers in the Schools (WITS). With Luther Hughes and Dujie Tahat, she co-hosts the podcast The Poet Salon.

Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore is the author of two nonfiction titles and three novels, and the editor of five nonfiction anthologies. Her new book, The Freezer Door, is a New York Times Editors’ Choice, one of Oprah Magazine’s Best LGBTQ Books of 2020, and a finalist for the 2021 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and a Lambda Literary Award. Her previous title, Sketchtasy, was one of NPR’s Best Books of 2018. Her first memoir, The End of San Francisco, won a Lambda Literary Award, and her sixth anthology, Between Certain Death and a Possible Future: Queer Writing on Growing up with the AIDS Crisis, will be out in October. Sycamore lives in Seattle.

Raúl Sánchez is the current City of Redmond Poet Laureate. He teaches poetry in Spanish through the Seattle Arts and Lectures (WITS) program, also through the Jack Straw Educational Project. In the last three years he volunteered for PONGO Teen Writing at the Juvenile Detention Center. Recently, he translated Ellen Ziegler’s book for the Museum of Antique Mexican Toys located in Mexico City. His forthcoming second collection When There Were No Borders will be released Spring 2021 from Flower Song Books, McAllen Texas.

ADA Accommodations: We can provide accommodations for people with disabilities at Library events. Please contact leap@spl.org at least seven days before the event to request accommodations. Captions are available for all recorded Library programs.