Save the Date!
Friday, November 21st, 3:00-8:00pm at wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ Intellectual House
The Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington hosts an annual literary and storytelling series. Sacred Breath features Indigenous writers and storytellers sharing their craft at the beautiful wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ Intellectual House on the UW Seattle campus. Storytelling offers a spiritual connection, a sharing of sacred breath. Literature, similarly, preserves human experience and ideals. Both forms are durable and transmit power that teaches us how to live. Both storytelling and reading aloud can impact audiences through the power of presence, allowing for the experience of the transfer of sacred breath as audiences are immersed in the experience of being inside stories and works of literature.
As the days grow shorter, we gather in for a gathering with friends, family, and community to appreciate some long-form storytelling.
3:00pm Weaving Workshop
4:00pm Storytelling Session 1 with Roger Fernandes and youth storytellers
5:00pm Dinner served
6:00pm Storytelling Session 2 with a special guest (details being confirmed)
Free and open to the public. RSVP appreciated. Link coming soon.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
ROGER FERNANDES (Lower Elwha S'Klallam)
Roger Fernandes is a Native American artist, storyteller and educator whose work focuses on the traditional arts, legends, and teachings of the Coast Salish tribes of the Puget Sound region of Western Washington. He is a member of the Lower Elwha S’Klallam Tribe and has a degree in Native American Studies from the Evergreen State College and a Masters Degree in Whole Systems Design from Antioch University. He also studied graphic design at the University of Washington and has focused on learning, creating and teaching Coast Salish art for the past 20 years.
Can't wait for our Autumn Event? View some of our previous events on YouTube.
*Recording of our March 2025 event with Arigon Starr coming soon*
Watch the full event recording of Sacred Breath from November 14th, 2024. This event featured writer and storyteller Richard Van Camp (Tłı̨chǫ Dene from Fort Smith, NWT) as well as artist and storyteller Roger Fernandes (Lower Elwha S'Klallam).
Watch the full event recording of Sacred Breath from November 18th, 2021. This event featured authors Emma Elliott-Groves (Cowichan Tribes) an author and UW professor, and her mother Huyamise' Della Rice-Sylvester (Cowichan Tribes) a traditional medicine woman and storyteller.
Watch the full event recording of Sacred Breath from May 17th, 2021. This event featured children's book author Christine Day (Upper Skagit) and Jessica Dominy (Tlingit and Haida).
Watch the full event recording of Sacred Breath from November 23rd, 2020. This event featured authors Traci Sorell (Cherokee), Michelle M. Jacob (Yakama), and storyteller Fern Renville (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate).
Do you love Sacred Breath and want to see more?
Donate to our Friends of American Indian Studies fund to help us support indigenous authors and storytellers and bring you more amazing works.
Read about Sacred Breath in the A&S Perspectives newsletter.
These events are free and open to the public, but registration is required, as space is limited. wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House is located at 4249 Whitman Court, Seattle, WA.
Sacred Breath is sponsored by the Department of American Indian Studies, the Intellectual House Academic Programming Committee, the Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies, the UW Department of English, the Banks Center for Educational Justice, the Squaxin Island Tribe, the Suquamish Tribe, and the Muckelshoot Tribe.