We the Indigenous: A Storytelling Celebration | Seattle, WA

Seattle is the only major city in the United States named after a native chief. It has grown from a tribal center and logging town into an international engine of economic and cultural innovation. And since 2017, a City of Literature.

Storytellers have always shaped how the world sees Seattle. The Coast Salish peoples have lived here for 10,000 years, and there is a clear line from carvings and oral stories to the modern work of Klallam poet Duane Niatum and James Welch’s novels. Our writing heritage is guided by a sense of place, especially with respect to the natural world and how it shapes our existence.

Native storytelling traditions set our region on a narrative path that has coalesced into our identity as a center of creativity. It is time to celebrate the ingenious work of award winning and acclaimed Indigenous writers and storytellers in one spectacular night. Their…