Seattle's Last Lit Crawl
Last night I dreamed I was the opening reader for a lecture by someone who was simultaneously the poet Ilya Kaminsky and Barack Obama. Talk about a dreamy dream. Well, it’s basically a fact, because I’m reading in Seattle’s Last Lit Crawl at Hugo House, 6-9 October 25th.
This should be a super fun literary evening, and (as far as I can tell) it is free and for all ages who are ready to listen to intense content. You’re invited! Nothing like hearing living authors to get writing inspiration flowing. Also, if you’ve never been to Hugo House, great excuse to check out Seattle’s very awesome literary hub.
(And for those of you not in Seattle, you can begin drooling with envy or relief, depending on how you feel about literary readings.)
All kinds of details:
After nearly a decade of huddling in bars in the rain listening to the poets woo us in verse, of laughing over great fiction, of fanboying at afterparties as local artist sign our books, it is time, alas, to say goodbye to Lit Crawl Seattle. Come and celebrate the Last Lit Crawl October 25th at Hugo House. Events include readings from Richard Chiem, Rebecca Brown, Jack Straw, and a performance inspired by the works of Kurt Vonnegut.
6pm WRITERS ON WRITERS
Three local authors talk craft, read their work, and celebrate the joy of world building. Richard Chiem, Rebecca Brown, Becca Hall.
BIOS:
Rebecca Brown is the author of 14 books published in the US and abroad, most recently YOU TELL THE STORIES YOU NEED TO BELIEVE (Chatwin Books, 2022). Her other books (novels, short stories, essays, prose poems) include AMERICAN ROMANCES, THE HAUNTED HOUSE, THE DOGS:A MODERN BESTIARY, THE TERRIBLE GIRLS (all with City Lights) , THE GIFTS OF THE BODY (HarperCollins) and NOT HEAVEN, SOMEWHERE ELSE (Tarpaulin Sky). She has also written a play, the libretto for a dance opera, a one-woman show, Monstrous, commission by Northwest Film Forum, and popular arts and book criticism. Her written work has been translated into Japanese, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Italian, etc. She has taught writing and literature for 40 years in venues as diverse as prisons, public schools, homeless encampments, senior citizens’ centers, at-risk youth centers, and universities. Her visual work has been displayed at the Frye Art Museum, Hedreen Gallery, Henry Art Gallery, Simon Fraser Gallery (Vancouver, BC) and the University of Arizona Poetry Center Gallery. She has taught and lectured in the US, UK, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Japan and Uganda. She was the designer, co-founder and first curator of the Jack Straw Writers program, first writer in Residence at Hugo House (1997-1999) and is a former Artistic Director of the Port Townsend Writers conference. She lives in Seattle.
Richard Chiem is the author of You Private Person (Sorry House Classics, 2017), and the novel, King of Joy (Soft Skull, 2019), which was long listed for the 2020 PEN Open Book Award. He was named a 2019 Writer to Watch by the Los Angeles Times. He has taught at Hugo House and Catapult. He lives in Seattle.
Becca Rose Hall directs Frog Hollow School, a children's writing program. She is a Bread Loaf and Sewanee alum, and her work has received support from the Community of Writers, ArtsOmi, Writers' Lighthouse, and Zvona i Nari. Her fiction, essays, and poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in Orion, Pacifica Literary Review, Third Coast, About Place, Mutha Magazine, Drunk Monkeys, and Muleskinner. She is working on a novel set in Olympia in the aftermath of Kurt Cobain's death. She lives in Seattle with her daughter and their dog.
7pm JACK STRAW READING: HALLOWEEN EDITION
Where would we be without one of Seattle’s greatest treasures? Join us for a spooky reading from some of Seattle’s macabre literati. Julie Feng, Erin Langner, Ruth Schemmel, and Katharine Strange.
BIOS:
Julie Feng is a poet, communications strategist, and scholar of stories. She holds a M.A. in Cultural Studies and is an incoming Ph.D. student in Communication at the University of Washington. Julie currently serves as the Director of Communications for Scholar Fund, supporting resources for communities of color and immigrant communities. Her work has appeared in Winter Tangerine, Pacifica Literary Review, Wildness, Quaint Magazine, and more.
Erin Langner is an essayist whose work focuses on art, architecture and identity. She is a regular contributor to Hyperallergic and METROPOLIS magazines. Her writing has also appeared or is forthcoming in december, The Offing, The Normal School, Hobart, The Stranger, and ARCADE. She lives in Seattle and works on exhibitions and publications at the Frye Art Museum. Her debut collection, Souvenirs from Paradise, will be published by Zone 3 Press in 2022.
Ruth Schemmel’s short fiction has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Fiction, and New Orleans Review, among other places. She has been a finalist in Glimmer Train’s Fiction Open and a fifth-place overall winner in the NYC Midnight Short Fiction Challenge. A former Peace Corps volunteer, she works as a teacher of high school English language learners in the greater Seattle area, where she lives with her family.
Katharine Strange specializes in questioning received wisdom with a wink and a smirk. She writes personal essays, short stories, novels, and now, memoir! Her work has appeared in The Seattle Times, The Stranger, OC87 Diaries, Literary Yard, ScaryMommy, and anthology The Pandemic Midlife Crisis: Gen X Women on the Brink. She was a 2021 Mainstage Storyteller for The Moth. Formerly she wrote a column for Fundamentally Free, a blog for Exvangelicals and heretics. She lives in south Seattle with her family and is represented by Savannah Brooks of Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency. As a rule, she never turns down champagne.
8pm UNEXPECTED VONNEGUT
Kilgore Trout once wrote a synopsis about an improvised performance inspired by the writings of Kurt Vonnegut. Many people came to see just how in the world such a performance could occur. Presented in co-production with Unexpected Productions