We're making a book!

Shelf Life is making a book!

Thanks to a generous Hope Corps grant from the Office of Arts and Culture, as well as support from King County 4Culture, Shelf Life has commissioned seven artists to create artwork to accompany a book of oral histories recorded by the Shelf Life Community Story Project. All seven artists have strong ties to, and/or deep roots in, the Central District. The artists are: Jite Agbro, Erin Shigaki, Damon Brown, Romson Bustillo, Bonnie Hopper, Chi Moscou Jackson, and Inye Wokoma. Ariel Paine @ampfire - graduate of the Seattle Black Spatial Histories Institute - is working on the project as assistant story editor and archival researcher in training.

We are extremely excited! Will you help us get this done? With an additional $15,000 we can pay even more artists to contribute their writing to the book, we will be able to afford the best printing the artworks and artists deserve, and we can distribute more free copies of the book to local and regional libraries and schools.

When the book is completed, Central District community stories will share the page with visual artworks created by some of Seattle’s most talented, innovative, and brilliant artists. Chin Music press will publish the book with an anticipated release date of summer, 2025.

There are lots of big organizations to whom you can Give Big.
Shelf Life is a tiny effort where your contributions will go a long way towards helping us complete a specific, tangible project!