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Spring Sacred Breath event scheduled May 22nd, 7:30pm at Town Hall Seattle featuring
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.
A Coast Salish Storytelling Event with 3 Artists
Thursday, May 22nd, 7:30pm at Town Hall Seattle
We had such a wonderful event with Arigon Starr in March, that we're thrilled to return to Town Hall Seattle for another great evening of storytelling, reading, and sharing. Three Coast Salish storytellers will be sharing stories from this region.
Please join us to hear "Skwadatchi Ah-kwi Ahtsiltalbish", the teachings of the First People of this region.
For guests coming from campus, Town Hall Seattle is just 2 light rail stops away and a few blocks from Symphony station. Use your UPASS and get a free student ticket, and we'll see you there!
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.
BARBARA LAWRENCE (Suquamish)
Barbara is a Suquamish Tribal Elder and a traditional storyteller. She has a passion for and deep knowledge of Suquamish and Coast Salish history, culture, and archaeology. She is a keeper, collector, and longtime teller of stories. Throughout her life, she has memorized the stories passed down from her elders, and now, she retells and teaches those stories to the next generation. Raised on the Suquamish Port Madison Indian Reservation, near Seattle, Washington, she was very involved in the conception of the Canoe Journeys through her appointment to the Washington State Centennial Commission. In her work as a historian, she’s documented and preserved hours of oral history and thousands of photographs connected to the tribe. She’s also worked many years in education, teaching native language, stories and heritage to tribal youth through the tribe’s schools and programs. She is currently in administration, working on a Suquamish Tribe-centric history curriculum with university professors which may one day be taught in public schools. Barbara has served on several Washington State Advisory Boards, committees, commissions and task forces that bridge tribal and state interests. She currently works for the Suquamish Tribal Education Department. Barbara is the mother of four adult children and the Kiyah (grandmother) to 12 grandchildren and one great grandchild. Storytelling to her grandchildren is her favorite past time.
PAUL CHIYOKTEN WAGNER (Saanich)
Paul Chiyokten Wagner is a Saanich Nation tribal member, which is located on so called Vancouver Island, BC Canada. As a Traditional Coast Salish Storyteller & flutist, he brings us on a wonderful, profound, and humorous journey to the world of Mermaids, leprechauns, and the animal people in traditional story, song, and Native American flute music of his Coast Salish territory. We don't simply listen to the story... we are part of the story! We will travel to the ancient forests, meadows, and waters of the Salish Sea and experience the eternal connective sounds of nature with masterful deliverance of Coast Salish Native American flute music and storytelling. His debut CD "Journey Of The Spirit" won the JPF National Music Award "Best Native American Album 2009". Chiyokten is also the founder of Protectors of the Salish Sea who actively stand up for the tree, plant, and animal peoples as well as our human peoples of Mother Earth and the livable future for all children.
Can't wait for our Spring 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.