Join Katie Wilson, Mayor of Seattle, and Seattle Civic Poet Dujie Tahat for a mayoral Salonshop—an intimate gathering where poetry and public policy meet. The evening will feature a shared reading of poems followed by a conversation on civic life, exploring how both poetry and governance are vocations of language: collaborative, interpretive, and shared. Part reading, part policy dialogue, the event invites participants into a space where imagination and public service intersect.
The Salonshops series is part of Tahat’s Civic Poet project of bringing poetry into the every day machinery of City Hall. Through one-on-one and small group gatherings with elected officials, commissions and boards, and community members, Tahat uses the collective act of reading poems to open space for reflection, truths, and shared language—laying the groundwork for more thoughtful, humane policymaking.
CAM will produce a commemorative broadside of Bill Carty's "South Lake Union" for participants and attendees.
Katie B. Wilson is the Mayor of Seattle, taking office in January 2026. A longtime transit advocate and community organizer, Wilson co-founded the Transit Riders Union and then led the organization for over a decade, during which time she had extraordinary success building coalitions to win better transit, affordable fares, higher wages, stronger renter protections, and new progressive revenue. She rents an apartment in Capitol Hill which she shares with her husband and young daughter.
Dujie Tahat is the author of the forthcoming poetry collection Shibboleth (Fonograf, 2027) and three acclaimed chapbooks. A recipient of fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, National Book Critics Circle, and others, Tahat cohosts The Poet Salon podcast and has served as Critic-at-Large for Poetry Northwest.
