Announcing the 2025 Microgrants Winners

Seattle City of Literature is thrilled to announce the inaugural recipients of the Microgrants Program. This first year of funding provides one organization with $2,000 and four individual literary artists with $750 to support international literary endeavors in the city of Seattle. Click here to learn more about this year’s winners.

Seattle Literary Calendar

Want to find a literary event? Want to add one? Click here to learn more about all of the book and author events our city has to offer!

Seattle Literary Map

Featuring over 90 literary points of interest on the printed map and over 300 points of interest on the digital map, the Seattle Literary Map is your guide to the stories that helped make our city a UNESCO-designated Creative City of Literature. Click through to learn more.

Seattle is a City of Literature

Elliott Bay Book Company Photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash

Seattle’s designation as a UNESCO City of Literature recognizes the vitality, range, and vigor of the city’s literary culture. Seattle supports a wide range of writers, a vibrant culture of indie bookselling, a multi-platform publishing industry, an eclectic array of literary organizations, and a healthy culture of reading and engagement in events and festivals. The designation was made in recognition of the following factors, amongst others:

The quality, quantity and diversity of publishing and editorial initiatives;
The quality and quantity of educational programs;
Seattle’s urban environment in which literature is integral;
Seattle’s experience at hosting literary events and festivals, and promoting foreign and domestic work;
Seattle’s libraries, bookstores and cultural centers

About Seattle City of Literature

Founded in 2013 to manage Seattle’s bid to join UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network, Seattle City of Literature is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving our city’s literary community by connecting it to the world.

In 2017, Seattle was designated a UNESCO City of Literature in the Creative Cities Network, and at the direction of Mayor Durkan, the Seattle City of Literature nonprofit helps manage the designation. This includes local programming and relationship building with other Cities of Literature and Creative Cities around the world.

In 2019 and 2020, the nonprofit organization Seattle City of Literature participated in a limited-term agreement with the Office of Arts & Culture, The Seattle Public Library, and the Seattle Public Library Foundation. This agreement represented municipal buy-in to the City of Literature efforts and shifted the Creative City designation under the aegis of The Seattle Public Library for a period of two years. During this time, Seattle City of Literature advised on programmatic decision making and raised funds to support program initiatives.

Our Mission

Seattle City of Literature builds relationships and community partnerships to help creative potential meet opportunity. We connect and strengthen the local and global storytelling ecosystem and center stories rooted in traditionally marginalized communities. In our work, we integrate UNESCO Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to foster an exchange of knowledge, resources, and lived experience.