A Celebration of Unofficial Languages at Village Books

A Celebration of Unofficial Languages is just that: a celebration of the sounds and unique nuances of speech that English cannot contain within its broad linguistic scope. Join us as we read selections of prose in several different languages!

Translations of the works will be provided so you can enjoy the messages of any of the languages you have not yet learned.

We will read in:

• Spanish
• Lummi
• Mandarin
• French
• German
• Russian
• Japanese
• Tagalog
• Arabic
• Italian
• Hebrew
• Portuguese
• Simultaneous ASL interpretation
• and more!

Seán Dwyer teaches Spanish at Western Washington University. Named a Village Books Literary Citizen in 2024, he has published numerous short stories and a memoir, A Quest for Tears. Seán will be joined by a number of his colleagues in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Western.

Poet Maureen Sandra Kane will read her erasure poem derived from the text of the executive order that fostered this celebration.