The last time 71 year old Pulitzer Prize winning poet Mary Oliver visited Seattle was 2005. She made quite a splash by selling out the 900 seat Town Hall in a relatively short amount of time. The University of Washington Bookstore sold 600 copies of her books at that event making it the second most profitable reading of the year for them.
This past Monday night Oliver returned to Seattle and the community response was one for the literary record books.
What happened:
-it was the fastest sellout in the 20 year history of the venerable Seattle Arts & Lectures series
-the demand was such that tickets were popping up on Craigslist for as much as $100 a ticket!
With all the doom and gloom regarding the decline of reading and literacy it is quite refreshing to see something come across my screen that is indicitive of the health of our literary culture.
Hat’s off to the people of Seattle for their undying support of things literary, the Emerald City is as close to a literary utopia as we have.
Wherever you are in this great world, if your feeling isolated in your love of reading, of poetry, of books and you don’t feel connected to people whose lives are enriched by words then pack up your bags and come on out.
You are welcome here!
John Marshall at the Seattle PI has been following the Oliver madness.
Prior to the reading, Poet-Maina: Mary Oliver’s sold-out appearance sparks a ticket frenzy…
Post reading, Revered poet shows her witty side
Mary Oliver bio via Poets.org