Lit Crawl Seattle

The best damn lit crawl in Seattle. October 22, 2015 80+ Readers. 30+ Events. 1 Big Ass Night.

[litcrawlseattle]

Nicole Hardy: “But also, I really like whiskey. Just give it to me straight.”

Interviewed by Brian McGuigan

Years ago Nicole Hardy came into my office at Hugo House with a draft of an essay about losing her virginity in her 30s that she wanted to use as a work sample for a prestigious residency program. I'd only ever known Nicole as a poet, but upon reading the essay, I was floored by her prose. The economy of expression, the imagery, the crispness of her sentences. Nicole's nonfiction was basically long-form poetry.

That essay would eventually make its way into the New York Times and later be developed into "Confessions of a Latter-Day Virgin," a memoir that hit so many people in the heart, whether they were virgins, Mormons, or something different entirely.

A few months ago Nicole returned from a year of sailing around the world -- the seed of her next manuscript, perhaps? -- and will be reading at Wage Slaves: Tales from the Grind on Thursday, Oct. 22, 7 p.m. at Office Nomads, as part of Lit Crawl Seattle's big ass night of readings.

I tracked Nicole down by email to talk writing and books and try to tease out some details about her next project. Here's what she had to say.

You're reading as part of the Wage Slaves reading, a series where writers read stories about work. Tell us about your dream job.

Travel writer. But back in the days when people would pay you to go on fancy or adventurous trips and then pay you to write about said trips. I still travel a lot, and I still write a lot -- but sometimes they feel at odds with each other. 

And, it's all much less glamorous when your sailing ship has cockroaches rather than stewards in white pants bringing you fresh squeezed orange juice.

What are you working on now?

Here's the pitch I've just written for my How to Write a Nonfiction Book Proposal class at Hugo House:

"With or Without the Whale tells the story of the year I sailed the world on a 180-foot tall ship with 42 strangers and an egomaniacal sea captain. We crossed three oceans and visited four continents from Fiji to Nova Scotia while I learned the language of gypsyheads, flying jibs, and t’gallant halyards, lived among roaches and bedbugs, fell in love with a Scandinavian sailor, and battled to earn a saltier nickname than Barbie. What began as a romanticized quest for beauty turned out to be a slow, monotonous, rage-fueled, lust-filled journey toward living a life less ordinary." 

What do you think?

What book opened up the world of writing for you? 

Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams. It ruined me, in the best way. Its gorgeous, tough prose, its braided construction, its strength of voice--all of it gave space for the idea that I--a young Mormon girl, with big dreams of being a writer--could maybe do it, too.

You just got back from a year of sailing around the world. OMG. Tell us all about it! 

You've got to buy me a drink first. But I'll dish, don't worry.  

What drink best describes Nicole Hardy's writing? 

Someone sent me a photo, recently, of a bottle of whiskey called "Writer's Tears." I think maybe Dolly Parton said it in Steel Magnolias--the thing about laughing through tears being her favorite emotion. Me, too, for sure. But also, I really like whiskey. Just give it to me straight.

What excites you about Seattle's writing scene right now? 

There's a respect for rigor here, and also a sense of fun, given events like Lit Crawl. We're holding each other to higher and higher standards, which to me is further evidence that we're taking ourselves seriously as a city of artists. That's exciting. I'm ecstatic about The Seattle Review of Books. And despite its recent controversy, I'm tremendously excited about the work included in the City of Lit anthology. I hope to see many more editions as the years progress.

What is Seattle to you?

Home. 

[litcrawlseattle]

Kevin Craft: “Or was it an episode of drunk dialing after midnight? ”

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Interviewed by Lauren Ireland.

Maybe you haven’t met Kevin Craft--but chances are good that you’ve loved his poems, or been influenced by his translations, or benefitted from his work in our community, our schools, and our very own Poetry Northwest. He’s been the editor there for nearly 5 years now, and brought it home to Seattle from Portland. Now, he’s working to reach new audiences, as well as continuing to celebrate diverse voices and ideas in every issue. 

This Thursday, at 8pm, you can find him at Sole Repair, hosting A Reading by Poetry Northwest. Hear work from contributors Clare Johnson, Suzanne Bottelli, and Emily Bedard...then come meet us at the after party.

Why and/or how did you start writing?

I started writing in grade school: I had a little comic book series going in 3rd and 4th grade, featuring the harrowing adventures of various foodstuffs, such as Max Marshmallow and Patricia Plum. I kid you not. The central hero was Kevin Corn, of course. It was all uphill from there! I turned to Star Wars rip-off science fiction story plots in 5th and 6th grade. But I also started writing poetry around this time, and got my first poem—austere cliché about an oak tree—published in The Gloucester County Times. I’m no longer sure why, exactly, but I’ve always been drawn to the printed page, the written word. Real life is never enough.

How does Seattle influence your work?

I grew up in New Jersey, lived in D.C. for a while, and moved to Seattle 1993. Kurt Cobain was still alive (if barely). My students at the UW wrote papers comparing the relative merits of Nirvana and Pearl Jam. I came here in my 20s seeking that youthful west coast reinvention—a place, a geography, really, in which my soul could expand. I love the mountains, the lakes, the salt water sheen—the sheer variety (readily accessible, at that) of so many different geographies—a landscape for every mood. Seattle was the perfect place for a gregarious introvert like me. In gray weather we hunker down, in sunshine we head for the hills. That pattern informs my writing, too: some poems brood, some exult in expansive territory, and I seem to swing  between these poles. I can’t stay in one place for long. Seattle, being a city of many small towns, a place of many places, accommodates the restless transplant in me very well.

You’ve been the editor at Poetry Northwest for five years now. What has it been like to head up a magazine with so much history?

Well, first and foremost, it’s been a great honor. I feel the gravity of a tradition and a certain responsibility to cultivate that history, even as we innovate and accommodate diverse new readers and writers, reinventing Poetry Northwest for the digital age. My main goal as editor has been to remember where we came from: the western feminist avant-garde, in sense. Sounds strange, when you think of the 36 years that David Wagoner served as editor. Like many readers, I once assumed he had founded the magazine—but that’s not the case. It was founded (in 1959) and guided for its first six years by Carolyn Kizer, who held her own, and then some, among the boys in Theodore Roethke’s classes. She brought in big name artists like Mark Tobey and Edward Gorey to illustrate the covers and sometimes the interiors. She published many women whose work we still celebrate—Maxine Kumin, Mona Van Duyn, Joan Swift—sometimes in all-women issues, long before the VIDA count called our attention to gender and color imbalances in publishing. In rediscovering this northwest tradition, it’s been a delight and a privilege to dwell with Kizer, learn from her, reawaken her guiding spirit. She has equipped us for the present moment in more ways than one.

What writers are currently inspiring you?

So many! I’m enjoying new books by Keetje Kuipers, Karin Gottshall, Sandra Beasley, and Erin Malone. Troy Jollimore is a favorite, too. His new book, Syllabus of Errors, is conversational and philosophical by turns, and hasn’t given up on ideas about beauty in a sullen, angry, downtrodden age. Can I just quote a piece of it, to show you what I mean? Here’s the beginning of “On the Origin of Things”:

Everyone knows that the moon started out

as a renegade fragment of the sun, a solar

flare that fled that hellish furnace

and congealed into a flat frozen pond suspended

between the planets. But did you know

that anger began as music, played

too often and too loudly by drunken musicians

at weddings and garden parties? Or that turtles

evolved from knuckles, ice from tears, and darkness

from misunderstanding?

If I’m not mistaken, Lit Crawl Seattle began as a series of high fives in a petting zoo, right? Or was it an episode of drunk dialing after midnight? Guess we’ll find out at Fred Wildlife Refuge next week.

The bravest thing you’ve ever done?

Improv comedy. Try me.

[litcrawlseattle]

Richard Chiem: “Until my body breaks down.”

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Interviewed by Lauren Ireland.

Richard Chiem is a human writer who is a large part of many of the things you love about Seattle’s literary community: its inclusiveness, its fun, its sometimes-frantic activity, the underlying sweetness and quirk that sets it apart from any city, anywhere. He’s on staff at the Hugo House, and he’s listening intently at your reading, and he’s reading from his own heart-stopping fiction, and he’s running into you on the street and generally making you feel warm and happy that you get to live in this city with people like Richard.

You can hear Richard read this Thursday (!!!) with Princess Charming and Sonya Vatomsky in A Salty Reading at Hugo House, 6pm. Free chips!

Where and when do you do your best writing?

My favorite spots right now are sitting at my kitchen counter and sitting on my couch next to Frances, but if I have a chunk of time, it can be anywhere, even if it's during a long bus commute. I love writing into the evening until my body breaks down.

What do you do when you just can’t write?

I've started running this past year when I have a block. I'm a weird runner too, because I run mostly on a treadmill in a small gym and almost never outside anymore. It's also helpful when I'm feeling a little crazed and beating myself up for not being productive enough, or for not being as productive as I want to be, I can just hop on the treadmill and work it out.

I've learned that I'm a lifer though. Frances and I talk about this all the time and it's always a good conversation to have. To realize not to beat yourself up, that you're a lifer, and you're going to be doing this your whole life. Chill. Write. Enjoy.

How does the city you live in influence your work?

I feel comfortable and completely at home in Seattle. I think that's important: to feel at home, to have a station. I don't really focus on actual cities in my writing, like call them out as Los Angeles or Seattle or anything, but landscapes do appear, as do little things like the weather, how the people are.

As for writing community, I think Seattle's is the standard. There is always a reading to find if you're really looking.

What are your writing rituals?

I usually read for a half hour and then I can open up my computer to write. I keep a notebook of lines from books I read and sometimes I do cutups before I jump back into a project.

What writers are currently inspiring you?

Joy Williams, Clarice Lispector, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Dennis Cooper at the moment. I'm still buzzing over Stacey Levine's last reading too, from the APRIL/Monorail reading.

Has having a writer for a partner changed your work? How?

Frances is my best friend and the comfort she gives me has no rivals. It's sentimental, but with her at my side, I feel like I can do anything, like I can tackle any task or project and I won't fall apart at the seams. Because she knows all of my weird insecurities and anxieties, and she knows what I aspire to be in life, I have the complete freedom to pursue those wants. If I need to stay up all night to finish a section, Frances would be the first to tell me to go for it.

I used to fear us feeling competitive with each other but that has never happened. If anything, we coach each other and empower the other when the going gets tough. It's also so fun when we get stoked for the same books or for the same writers that currently have our attention. I enjoy where we differ in taste as well, as she sometimes likes to read YA books, and sometimes I enjoy a bit of horror or sometimes other weird ass shit.

Do you listen to music when you write? If so, what? Why?

Yes, but it can be anything from Elliott Smith to Danny Brown. I do this annoying thing of listening to the same song over and over and over again while I'm working on a particular piece, but I always use my earphones so I don't annoy anyone around me. It helps me create a consistent tone throughout the piece. It's weird.

How do you juggle intense involvement in Seattle’s literary community with actually, you know, writing?

I would rather have the intense involvement than be without it, and it's about finding a balance almost week to week. It's about answering the questions of how to be a good literary citizen and how can you show support to other artists and writers? It's simple not easy: just go to readings, when you have the capacity.

But knowing that you can't make a reading sometimes, is also valuable. There's a time for others and there's a time for you. I'm lucky to live in a city that allows me to have both.

Dream collaborator?

Richard Nash. Bill Clegg. Cal Morgan. Ira Silverberg.

All-time favorite book?

Breaking & Entering by Joy Williams

Try by Dennis Cooper

The Passion According to G.H. by Clarice Lispector

The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie by Agota Kristof

etc.

Favorite album?

Probably something Elliott Smith.

Weirdest habit?

Most of them.

Favorite basketball player?

Old school answer is Tracy McGrady. Right now, I like Anthony Davis, but I guess my team right now are the Blazers but we're going to suck this season. RIP Sonics.

Goofiest nickname for your cat?

Fat cat.

[litcrawlseattle]

Tara Atkinson: “I do what I want!”

Interviewed by Lauren Ireland.

Tara Atkinson seems comfortable anywhere: reading fiction in front of an audience, dangling her feet into the rainbow-oiled waters off the edge of someone else’s dad’s yacht, asking the cute guy behind the counter of Bluebird to please put the malt we bought from QFC into our chocolate shakes. This is all to say that Tara is game, and game people always do the coolest things. For five years, Tara’s been doing APRIL, for example, an inclusive, celebratory festival that has helped to shape Seattle’s literary landscape for the better. She does what she wants, ok? And we should totally let her.

Don’t miss Tara (and Litsa Dremousis and Zach Ellis) read from her upcoming eBook at Welcome to the Instant Future, 7pm at Raygun Lounge on October 22.

Where and when do you do your best writing?

I write my best when I get the best idea--sometimes I wait for it for a long time. Sometimes the pressure of a deadline will force it along. Sometimes I write when I don't have the best idea, or any good ideas, and then I usually regret it. So I usually wait until I know how to say what I want to say.

What do you do when you just can’t write?

I read an article about training for a marathon once and the author said that if you walk during the race, you're still a runner. I think that's what this question is getting at: I think, if you're not writing, you're still a writer. Being a writer, to me, is a way of looking at the world, a kind of cultivated attention. If I sit at my desk and nothing happens, I don't feel very bad about it. I don't keep a schedule. I do what I want!

How does the city you live in influence your work?

Since I moved here five years ago, place has become more important to my writing. The Pacific Northwest is pretty different from the Midwest where I grew up and I think it would take some effort to not notice the contrast. It isn't as different as some people around here think, though: I think the look I get in response to telling someone where I'm from that I hate the most is the precious one. I'm not the heroine to your favorite Tom Petty song, dudes. I'm always writing about here or there, triangulated like most writers, I think, between my past and my present and the people who might notice me. New York for some reason never compelled me much, even though I loved living there. I only ever wrote about two things in New York: the subway and the (now demolished) Mars Bar. That's probably pretty accurate to the life I lived there. But in less thematic ways, I think I know more writers here in Seattle than any other place I lived, including Iowa City, where I went to college, and especially in college and especially there, everyone is writing something, so to know even more writers here is saying something. It's great being around lots of people who care about this same thing, writing, and literature. It guards against feeling like your artistic pursuit is a waste of time. And it's motivating, sometimes jealously, when the writers you know accomplish something, a publication or award, because it lets you know it's possible, sometimes lets you know it would have been possible years ago. And it puts your writing in a constant conversation with the themes and aesthetic values of others, so that if you're around writers your decisions are very informed by what you've liked or not in other people's work.

What are your writing rituals?

I keep a diary. I started keeping a writing diary when I first started a novel, and now I do it by the year. I write down where I am, what I'm wearing, what time of day it is, and at the end, what happened: if I wrote a lot, if I decided to go to the store instead, etc. It's not about page count, though--I'm not prolific at all, or very interested in that particular kind of measuring myself. I do it as a warm-up and because I like looking back and remembering where I was when I wrote such and such scene. That kind of diarying gives me a relationship to my writing that I think a routine gives other people.

What writers are currently inspiring you?

Jenny Zhang, Sarah Manguso, Sara Jaffe, Wittgenstein, those car dealership wiggly men, and this manifesto by Adrienne Rich, forever

Has having a visual artist for a partner changed your work? How?

You know, especially because we've collaborated, I think it must have, but then again I am very slow to change, and much of my work has its seeds in time before I knew him, so that it's hard to see in the work. He has affected me as a writer, though, largely by making plain to me how different we are as artists. He has an excellent work ethic and would paint all day every day if he could; I could never write all day every day. He edits a lot; I'm the opposite and plan a lot. He's talked to me about painting as a kind of discovery process, which he finds exciting, but when I sit to write and don't know where I'm going I stop--it's not discovery for me; it's problem-solving. I see color differently now because of the way he sees it and talks about it, and yet I almost never write about color, because I have a complicated relationship to beautiful language and to beauty in general--I tend to prize thought as it manifests in unique observations and original ideas and accurate, acute realism above what's conventionally considered "beautiful writing" but--and this is so cheesy--my hope for our life as artists together is that I will learn about beauty from Justin. I want to find the geniously beautiful beyond the easy, cliché descriptive language. When I do, I'll say more about color.

Why and or how did you start writing?

I was writing as a very small kid. I remember writing a story for my mom before I could write, using pictures, and having this realization that I could use the same pictures to tell a different story--and it was very exciting because I wanted to tell stories more than draw and now I wouldn't be slowed down. I was lucky to continuously have teachers who encouraged me to read and write, despite living in a fairly small town. My parents never pressured me or even made suggestions to me about what I should study in college or high school. I was never discouraged about it at all-- I wrote a "novel" when I was in 3rd or 4th grade. I think it was 60 pages single spaced; I remember I typed it without any spaces between the periods and my teacher let me stay in during recess to retype it on the school computer. But isn't that weird? Why would she have me do that? I remember deciding that I wanted to read "Literature"--like exactly that, the concept "Literature," instead of kids’ books. I knew Hemingway, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, and, for some reason, Steinbeck's East of Eden, but I have no idea how I heard about those authors, and no one said to me "a prostitute burns her family to death in this book--maybe wait until puberty to read it." I have no idea why it was writing that stuck with me, other than I'm pretty bad at sports and all the other subjects in school. I'm pretty sure it was just this accident of avoiding discouragement, because anything else I tried in school I quit easily: volleyball, basketball, swim team, cheerleading, theatre. And now here I am, somehow having maintained the same childish obliviousness that allows me to think I will write books like the one's I've admired.

Favorite way to enjoy malted milk?

Well, the thing is, you can taste the malt in a strawberry or vanilla malt best, but it's very hard to say no to chocolate malt, so my favorite way to enjoy malted milk is to have two malts.

[litcrawlseattle]

“At this point, writing, as with everything in life, is all about improvisation.”

Interviewed by Brian McGuigan

Ross McMeekin is one of the good guys of Seattle’s writing scene. Whenever I see him I can’t help but smile. He’s always got something positive to say about writing, about books, about other writers, and about his kids. It’s the sort of attitude that’s infectious, that makes me want to run home and write and read and hang out with my own little man.

Although I wanted to get together in person, Ross and I are both busy guys. He just had his second kid. Lit Crawl Seattle is basically my second kid at this point. Instead, I sent him some questions by email about his own writing and Spartan, the lit mag he runs, which will be hosting a reading as part of Lit Crawl on Oct. 22, 8 p.m. at Ada’s Technical Books.

You're the editor of Spartan and the host of the Spartan reading at Lit Crawl. What do you love about running a lit mag?

There are many pleasures—getting the chance to host readings featuring local contributors is definitely one—but probably the biggest is finding something beautiful in the slush pile. There’s nothing like the hope fulfilled of opening an email and being swept away.

What are you working on now?

I’m always tinkering with short stories and reviews, but over the last month I’ve been getting deep into research for my second novel (my first is with my agent as we speak!). I’m exploring the history of fishing, both as a sport and a job, and so far it has provided a fascinating angle in exploring humanity’s role in ecology.

You just had your second kid. Congrats! How do you balance parenting and writing -- and still manage to get any sleep?

Thanks! We’re over the moon—he’s wonderful. At this point, writing, as with everything in life, is all about improvisation. With two kids age three-or-under nothing about life is predictable except perhaps joy and sleep deprivation. But I’m fortunate to have a lot of help from my family, most of whom live in the area, so that buys me some time to catch up on rest as well as writing.

What book do you most love reading your kids at bedtime? What book do you look forward to giving them to read when they're older?

Right now I’m a big fan of the Richard Scarry books. My daughter loves them. The pictures are so busy and fun, the plot lines and character names are funny, and the huge cast of characters rivals that of a Pynchon novel.

I’m counting the days until they’re old enough to dig into the Harry Potter series. I’m unapologetic in my Hogwarts fandom and can’t wait to share that with them.

What beer best describes Ross McMeekin's writing?

If only my writing was as compelling as beer! I’d like to say a nitrogen ale, maybe a Caffrey’s or Kilkenny, because they’re smooth and easy to drink. There’s also a richness and complexity to a cream ale, one that isn’t as desperate for attention as say an IPA. But probably most often my writing resembles the skunky six-pack of Michelob that gets bought for a camping trip and promptly forgotten, left in the trunk for a couple years, only to be consumed anyway because—let’s be honest—no one’s palate is as sophisticated they’d like people to think. Especially mine.

What about Seattle's writing scene most excites you?

The list of great literary journals, presses, organizations, and readings is exciting (and growing…the size of this year’s Lit Crawl Seattle shows proof of that). But what has excited me lately is a larger body of literary critics, and critics engaging with other critics. I’m a believer that strong culture of literary criticism can play an important role in the development of the quality of a writing community.

What is Seattle to you?

My hometown and my home. A city whose growth in arts and culture I sincerely hope surpasses that of its growth in business.

[litcrawlseattle]

“I'm a Rainier man myself, but my writing is probably most like some kind of home brew.”

Interviewed by Brian McGuigan

Willie Fitzgerald works his ass off for small press authors but there's nothing small about the way dude thinks. As co-creator of APRIL, he goes big for the smalls, inventing spookily awesome seances to Alice B. Toklas and wild ass readings, like A Poet, a Playwright, and a Drag Queen or A Salty Reading, the APRIL event that's part of Lit Crawl on Oct. 22.

What people forget is Willie isn't just a damn good event organizer -- he's also a damn good writer. I hit him up by email to talk about writing, reading, working with writers, and beer, the important things in life.

What are you working on now?

I'm writing, at my customary glacial pace, some short stories. 

What book opened up the world of writing for you?

As a kid I devoured fantasy books—David Eddings, the Redwall series, etc. That probably was the seed of my love of storytelling. As an adult? I think Carver made me say (with impossible naïveté) "I could do this." Borges and Lydia Davis made (and make) me think "You can do that?!" Most recently, Marlon James' A Brief History of Seven Killings made me gasp, "I could never do this."

What beer best describes Willie Fitzgerald's writing?

I'm a Rainier man myself, but my writing is probably most like some kind of home brew: it takes forever to make, there's not much of it, and most people only enjoy it out of a sense of friendly obligation.  

You've been working closely with writers for several years now. Any memorable stories? 

We had Ed Skoog give a reading in a derelict parking garage, and then at the party afterward this random guy wanted to give everyone foot massages. That was definitely strange. 

I once ate some weapons-grade "medicinal" Chex Mix with a poet-who-will-go-unnamed and then tried to brave the AWP Book Fair. That was a bad decision. The only thing that would calm us down was Electric Light Orchestra—"El Dorado" and "A New World Record," if I remember correctly. 

What most excites you about Seattle's writing scene right now?

At this very moment? Don Mee Choi. I saw her read twice in the last month; both were among the best readings I've seen in a long time. I'm just happy to be in the same biome as her.

What is Seattle to you?

Home. 

[litcrawlseattle]

Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum: “I think Seattle gets uncomfortable with too much earnest sentiment. I don't care, though--I'm proclaiming my love for this place.”

Interviewed by Brian McGuigan

Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum is a short story writer’s short story writer. She plucks complex characters into stories about real world shit, and let’s them struggle with how to be a person in ways that make me think, “Yeah, I’ve been there." 

Kirsten is the author of two collections of fiction, "This Life She’s Chosen” and “Swimming With Strangers." 

She’s working on a new collection of stories. She read one at a recent Cheap Beer & Prose that made my big, dumb heart go kerplunk.  

Kirsten’s reading at Get (Mineral) Schooled, part of Lit Crawl Seattle’s 7 p.m. phase, at Still Liquor, with fellow Mineral School residents Stephanie Kuehnert, Jane Wong, and Susan Meyers. 

I caught up with Kirsten by email to talk reading and writing and teaching.  

You’re reading as part of the Mineral School reading at Lit Crawl. Tell us about your Mineral residency experience. 

I spent two weeks at the Mineral School last June, and it was such a huge gift! The site is a unique place to write, surrounded as it is by gorgeous scenery (Mt. Rainier is right there!) and the small (and I mean small) town of Mineral. I found the place’s beauty and quiet incredibly restful, and I was able to get an enormous amount of writing done in that space.

Beyond that, Jane Hodges and the Mineral School staff worked so hard to ensure that we writers all felt at home, were fed well (the food was incredible), and had a positive work experience. I am filled with gratitude to them every time I think about my residency, and I’d go back in a heartbeat.

What are you working on now?

I’ve gone back to the form that feels like home to me and am writing a collection of stories. This collection is linked, though–a first for me. It has meant always keeping an eye on each individual story’s shape, but also an eye on the shape of the narrative as a whole, and that has been a fun (and totally engrossing) challenge.

What book opened up the world of writing for you?

The first book I read that really made me think "this is what I need to do with my life” was Anne Tyler’s Breathing Lessons. 

A teacher gave it to me as an extra assignment when I was sixteen, and I was submerged in the book for a weekend and came up gasping for air (in the best possible way). 

After that, I think Alice Munro’s Selected Stories was really a game-changer for me. 

I read it during the winter vacation after my first semester of grad school (and–in case the details are important to you–I read it while huddled in a sleeping bag in the flatbed of a truck in Joshua Tree, California, completely ignoring the beautiful place I was in because the stories were too compelling to put down).

I had never before read stories that were about people like those I’d grown up with, nor stories that felt so richly complex and whole. And Tyler and Munro are still favorites–still the literary parents I go back to when I’m lost or seeking.

You teach high school English. What book don’t you teach that you’d love to?

I do teach high school English now (after over a decade of teaching at the college-level), and it completely surprises me every day that I ended up in a high school classroom and that I love it as much as I do. 

A big part of my love for the job, however, is the freedom my school gives me to choose what I’m going to teach–or to ask my students what they want to learn. In general, if I want to teach a book, I do.

Last year, for instance, my juniors read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Lauren Groff’s Arcadia, which are both books with difficult, “adult” subject matter, but also books my high schoolers LOVED. 

What about Lit Crawl Seattle are you most looking forward to?

This will be my first Lit Crawl, and I’m so excited to hear the other readers and to get a sense of the incredible work being made in Seattle. The energy already surrounding the night makes me think it’s going to be a highlight of my year.

What is Seattle to you?

Home. That seems like a simple answer, but it’s the truth for me. I grew up here, left, and built a life on the other side of the country, but this place never stopped feeling like home. I had to come back.

And now that I am here again, I’m grateful every single day that this is where I get to live. (Too earnest an answer? I think Seattle gets uncomfortable with too much earnest sentiment. I don’t care, though–I’m proclaiming my love for this place.)

[litcrawlseattle]

Sara Jaffe: “Exactly what it’s like to be a human in the world”

Interviewed by Lauren Ireland.

Sara Jaffe’s first novel, Dryland, just-just-JUST came out, and you can hear her read from it on October 22, 8pm, at Elliott Bay Book Company, along with Sonya Lea.

You might also know her from New Herring Press,  publisher of weird and gorgeous things, or her time in post-punk band Erase Errata, which inspired the book The Art of Touring. And if you don’t know her yet, you’ll want to. Keep scrolling for more Sara.

Where and when do you do your best writing?

Sometimes I get very particular when I'm planning where to write--like, "I can only work at this one table in this one particular coffee shop with this one particular drink and if any one of those factors doesn't fall into place I will be able to accomplish nothing." But I think that particularity is often more about finding a way not to write, because the truth is that if I am in the mode to get down to it I can usually make the writing happen almost anywhere. That said, the times in my life when I have had a writing studio outside of my house have been amazing. Particularly a converted ADU in the backyard of a former house (we had to leave when the landlord sold the palace, so sad!), and the time I had a residency at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (so peaceful!).  And I prefer to write in the morning.

What do you do when you just can’t write?

Take a nap or just make myself write a bunch of unusable crap. Maybe read a few pages from a reliably inspiring source to try to kick start things. I do believe that just putting in the time still helps...

What writers are currently inspiring you?

Madeline ffitch. Jess Arndt. Juliana Spahr. Claudia Rankine. Bhanu Kapil. Rachel B. Glaser. Douglas A. Martin. Mary Ruefle. Herve Guibert. Alexandra Kleeman. Jae Yeun Choi. Maggie Nelson.

Do you listen to music when you write? If so, what? Why?

I can pretty much only listen to instrumentals. I like it to be music that is boring enough not to distract me but with a little noise or beat thrown in to keep me alert. The hour-long "Hanging Gardens" by The Necks, this Australian sort of jazz group, has seen me through many hours of writing.

What aspect of writing do you struggle with most?

Finding the time to do it. Also not comparing myself to other writers who are more ____ than I am.  

Why and or how did you start writing?

My grandfather, who died before I was born, was a Tin Pan Alley-style songwriter from the 1920s-40s. I grew up with my dad playing those songs, which were full of wordplay and small narratives, at the piano. I think that's what got me hooked on language.

Text or call?

I'd like to say call, but patterns of texting are hard to break...

All-time favorite book?

One I return to again and again is Denton Welch's In Youth Is Pleasure. The strangest and least sentimental rendering of adolescence I've read.

Favorite album?

The Ex, Starters Alternators or Dog Faced Hermans, Hum of Life (the two bands share the same guitarist, Andy Moor). Both are dense with language and melody and politics and rhythm and noise in a way that feels to me exactly what it's like to be a human in the world.

Weirdest habit?

When I can't sleep in the middle of the night I start stressing about what food in the fridge might be going rotten. Or is that what wakes me up?  

Best thrift store find?

I have an amazing 80s LL Bean zip-up sweater that is my go-to for supreme winter coziness.  

Secret talent?

I usually know all my students' names after out first class meeting.  

Favorite place to be?

Hard to choose, but Waldron Island in the San Juans, where my friend Jess's family has a farm, is the most beautiful place in the world.

Favorite scent?

Sadly, I do not have a very good sense of smell. But I do love this new fancy soap we got so much so that I'll take a shower just to use it. Bergamot?

[litcrawlseattle]

Amber Nelson: “So I fight against it.”

Interviewed by Lauren Ireland.

Amber Nelson is everywhere. She’s flying past you on her bike, she’s pickling all the things, she’s writing rule-breaking poetry, and she’s founding awesome presses and publishing incredible new work from a range of incredible writers. Recently, she joined the APRIL staff as development coordinator. Basically, she’s the coolest, and you should get to know her before she reads in Sin is Always in: Writings About Sex, Drugs, & Violence with Sean Beaudoin and Robert Lashley at Fred Wildlife Refuge at 7pm, October 22. You can also catch her hosting Quick & Dirty: A Reading by Shotgun Wedding, with Stephen Danos, Sarah Gallien, Graham Isaac, and Anca Szilagyi, at Vermillion at 6PM.

Why and or how did you start writing?

My mom. I was about 7 and out to dinner with my parents and often we played hangman at restaurants (my brother's word was always Batman) but they were talking and I was bored and pestering them and my mom was like "You should write a story" and I was all "about what?" and she was like "write about a frog named General Jim Jumpingbones" and so I did. And I didn't stop. For I don't know how long because, you know, time and childhood and perception and whatnot. But it was long enough for me to fill a couple of spiral bound notebooks. They were lost when given to a friend of the family to type up and neither the typed pages or notebooks were returned. I continued to be a big reader, shitty Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan poetry in high school, and the love of reading and the drive to write just continued and continued and continued. Of course, when it all started I thought I'd be writing novels and grow up to win all the prizes and stuff. None of that turned out though. I got caught in poetry when I got to college and realized I didn't really have an ear for plot.

Where and when do you do your best writing?

My best writing has traditionally happened while at work. Shhh. Don't tell anyone! But seriously. Nearly every job I've had, "adult" job anyway, has left me with pockets of time and I have often filled those pockets of time with poems. But it's not always the case--there's an entire universe of poems, typically my longer poems, that were written all over the place. Usually as notes, sometimes intentionally as a poem and sometimes just random thoughts or ideas where eventually I realize I've been working through a kind of single or linked set of ideas and so the writing takes place in bars in notebooks on scraps of napkins or in the notes on my phone and eventually I sit down at my computer and thread it all together.

How do you juggle intense involvement in Seattle’s literary community with actually, you know, writing?

I tend to do both in waves, honestly. Right now I'm not writing, but I am finishing up a 10 year run with alice blue review, am publishing a double issue (12 chapbooks) for the Shotgun Wedding series, reading and hosting for Lit Crawl obviously, and also volunteering for APRIL. It sort of evens out, I think, and both are valuable and part of the work. Come end of October I'll get a lull in the intense community stuff and hopefully life will have provided me with enough material to write something new. And if not, oh well. I'll read and read and read and eventually it will come to me again. I try really hard not to stress too much about either and to make time for myself away from writing and the literary community. I don't always succeed, but I try not to.

What aspect of writing do you struggle with most?

I don't want to be someone who only writes "white girl poems" in the same way I strive to be an intersectional feminist, and not simply focused on white girl issues.  So I fight against it. That and being boring. I don't want to write the same poem over and over. I want to write new poems, poems that tackle different ideas and do so in different ways. I think striving for that has the somewhat unwanted side effect of making me a "project book" writer, and that can sometimes also be dull -- the "ok I get it I see what you're doing here now do something else" reading experience. But I still think I'd rather do that than write the same poem over and over.

What do you do when you just can’t write?

I used to try to force it, just write to write. But that typically brought about a lot of effort and not a lot of good writing. I do the NaPoWriMo every year, but that's pretty much the only forced writing I do. So when I just can't write, I read, or work on different literary endeavors, or watch Netflix or go hiking and wait for something to build inside me, to discover the next thing I'm really chewing on and working through to get around to working it out on paper.

How does Seattle influence your work?

When I moved back to Seattle, my work ended up being heavily influenced by place, much more so than it ever had before. It has a lot to do with the weather, but also with the landscape. My work became much more ecologically focused. More, as my friends so succinctly call it, "birds and trees and shit." Part of that was because I started to really see the human impact on the planet, the effects of climate change, but also probably because upon my return I started hiking and backpacking at a level I had never done before. That kind of thing is super grounding. Earthing? Unearthing? When I lived in Boise these things weren't true. I was in grad school, in academics, and I think the things I was writing while I was there were also much more academic.

What writers are currently inspiring you?

Ji Yoon Li wrote a book (SPD says it was published in 2014 but I feel like it's older than that) called Foreigner's Folly that I think about a lot. I keep hoping she'll have new books. I'll buy all of her books forever.

I also think Jenn Marie Nunes (and I am biased since I've published her a few times) is a stunning writer.

I think Cathy Park Hong is some kind of mad angel genius.

Danez Smith blew my mind when I saw him read at AWP Seattle and I totally loved his book from Yes Yes [insert boy].

And Brooklyn Copeland always.

Dream collaborator?

Sawako Nakayasu -- I think she is exceptional as both a translator and writer of her own work. She does really interesting things with text and language. I've never met her before, but I've heard tell that she is also a lovely person. I've just admired her from afar for a long time.

Text or call?

Oh my god Text.  

All-time favorite book?

It feels like cheating, but it is true. The book I always return to is James Schuyler Collected Poems.  He also has a really unusual and kind of spectacular reading voice, and I often return to listening to him read "Hymn to Life" or "The Crystal Lithium".

Best thrift store find?

1940's Italian Slip Dress--it's black, it's shear, and I typically where it with this bright red floral slip underneath.

Secret talent?

I don't know which one it would be, but I'll never forget being at a birthday party with people I worked with and one of my coworkers told me "YOU HAVE SO MANY SPECIAL SKILLS!" -- that has always stuck with me. You just never know which one will crop up! But I am absolutely terrible at putt putt. I'm the worst.

[litcrawlseattle]

Laura Da’: “Seattle is a paradise for introverts and a city for readers.”

Interviewed by Elissa Washuta 

Laura Da’ radiates a kindness that I’d imagine makes her an incredible middle school teacher. It’s a kindness that burns bright in her poetry, too. Her first full-length poetry collection, Tributaries, is filled with scenes of encounter and imagination made possible by the writer’s empathetic heart and studying eye. The poems consider curated presentations of Native peoples in textbooks and museums, respond to the agents of Indian removal and imposed cultural change, and create a striking rendering of a contemporary Shawnee life.

Da’ is a poet and public school teacher. A lifetime resident of the Pacific Northwest, Da’ studied creative writing at the University of Washington and The Institute of American Indian Arts. Da’ is an enrolled member of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. Her first chapbook, The Tecumseh Motel, was published in Effigies II. The University of Arizona Press recently published her first full-length manuscript, Tributaries. Da’ lives near Seattle with her husband and son.

At Lit Crawl Seattle, Laura will read as part of “Native Writers from Seattle & Beyond” at the Frye Art Museum at 6pm.

Please tell me about Tributaries.

Tributaries is my first full length book of poetry. I have been working on the poems in this book since I was a student at the Institute of American Indian Arts in the late 90s.  Many of the poems look into Shawnee history, specifically the history of the forced removal of the Shawnee from their homelands to Indian Territory.  I think of this section of the book as a lyrical counter-narrative.

How’s your school year going?

The school year is shuttling back and forth down the line from insane to wonderful.  My classes are massive—34 in each core class, but the kids are a blast.  We are reading Greek myths and I just got to explain exactly how Aphrodite was born to a bunch of 7th graders.  It was engaging.

What’s your favorite part of doing readings of your work?

My favorite thing about readings is the community that rallies around them. Writing is often a lonely endeavor, and readings affirm the mutual nature of reading and writing.  As a poet, I also love the way that readings help me sort out my line breaks.

Your three best qualities?

Curiosity, Loyalty, Empathy

What about Lit Crawl Seattle are you most looking forward to?

I am looking forward to seeing the “How I Write” exhibition at Hugo House and Late Night at the Library looks cool.  I’ll be thinking of my fellow Made at Hugo House and Jack Straw writers and wishing them well too.

What is Seattle to you?

Seattle is a paradise for introverts and a city for readers.  It is also strikes me as a city that sometimes distracts me with all of its whimsical pleasures.  This is a place with a deep well of compassion and intelligence.  In the future, I think Seattle has the will and capacity to live up to more of its humanist principles.

[litcrawlseattle]

Shannon Barber: “I really enjoy using the city as a way to write on the body to bring a reader in close.”

Interviewed by Lauren Ireland.

Shannon Barber is the coolest. She’s a genre-hopping, mind-bending, heart-opening, eye-widening writer who looks out for other writers, via moving and empowering essays—and now a book—on self-care.

And she crochets.

Her interview reads like a combination of the world’s shortest, most useful manual on Making Yourself Write, and a love letter to so many other artists. Don’t miss her at the VIDA Presents Women of Color prose reading, with Jennine Capo Crucet and Wendy C. Ortiz, at 8:00pm at Fred Wildlife Refuge.

Where and when do you do your best writing?

I just got a new laptop and I’m settling back into a routine. The best is between 1-6 AM at home in bed, in some degree of nakedness because I sweat while I work.  Years ago I read an interview with Jerry Stahl where he talked about wanting a job he could do fucked up and naked at 3 O’clock in the morning, (I am probably mangling that) and that really appeals to me. I’m a nocturnal weirdo.

Why and/or how did you start writing?

Before I started writing, I was always telling myself stories. I’ve been an insomniac since I was a little kid and after an event at my elementary school called Young Authors Day where we wrote, illustrated and then bound little books I’ve been hooked. I don’t know why honestly. I do it because I have to do it.

Your work zigzags across genres, sometimes blending them. Is there one that feels most natural to you? Why?

I don’t really feel like one genre is more me than others. On the top of it, I’m just greedy. I like a lot of things. On a deeper level it absolutely stems from how much of a promiscuous reader I am. I read everything and just write what is in my head.   And honestly the distinctions don’t feel natural to me and trying to force myself to stay within the conventions of whatever genre I’m working in makes my work less than my best.

Self-Care Like a Boss recently came out, following a series of smart and loving articles for xojane.com. Tell me about how you started working on this.

I started writing about Self-Care in my early 20s (I’m 38 now) in journals. I really needed to work out how to be a grown up and how to survive myself. Later on, I had blogs where I tentatively wrote about self-care mainly through the lens of my appearance. As time went on I was teaching myself how to write non-fiction and it’s been happening since then. I’m very, very passionate about self-care the way I do/talk about it  and having the book come out from Motherblazing has been just amazing. I am super excited to see where I go from this point.

What are your writing rituals?

I start Word. I make sure I have water or something to drink. Sometimes I have a Capone sweet cigarillo and go. I also talk to myself a lot.  

Do you listen to music when you write? If so, what? Why?

I always need something playing. I prefer huge, diverse playlists on Spotify. I put them on shuffle and go.  Otherwise, this is embarrassing. I put Dr. Phil on YouTube and for some reason it puts me in the zone.

Tell me about the crocheting. (I love to knit, especially when I’m struggling with writing).

I’ve known how to crochet since I was a little girl. I want to say I learned from my Great Grandma. I love doing it so much. I have a very noisy, chaotic brain, I love that I have the ability to make a thing that has rows and is orderly. It’s so deeply meditative for me.

What aspect of writing do you struggle with most?

Right now self promotion and finding balance. All I want to do is hole up and work until I can’t and then work more.  

What do you do when you just can’t write?

I will edit something or write a blog post.  If it’s just a total bust I like to look at art, read things. I love looking at photography or researching whatever happens to catch my fancy. My other favorite thing is to –obsessively- watch videos on YouTube of favorite authors speaking or reading.  My other go to thing is I have a list of poems, essays and fiction that always help.

How does Seattle influence your work?

The biggest one I can think of is that I like to try and use the physicality of Seattle in my work. The spitty misty rain, the wet heavy air, the way the smells of the city change as I’m going through my commute. I really enjoy using the city as a way to write on the body to bring a reader in close.

What writers are currently inspiring you?

OH crap ask me the worst, hardest questions.  Aaminah Shakur, Chanda Hsu Prescod-Weinstein, Wagatwe Sara Wanjuki, Joe Clifford, Todd Robinson, Milcah Orbacedo, Danez Smith, Nikki Wallschlaeger, Chiwan Coi, Dena Rash Guzman, Jenny Forrester, Eunsong Kim, Gregory Laynor- KAY let me stop. These are just my friends. I know a lot of for real legit awesome writers.

Dream collaborator?

A super group? Lydia Lunch, Hubert Selby Jr., Saul Williams and me.  

Text or call?

Text always.  I hate talking on the phone.

All-time favorite book?

The Demon by Hubert Selby Jr.

Favorite album?

OH crap. This is constantly subject to change lately the soundtrack from the movie Hannibal has been in heavy rotation. Check out the track ‘Let my Home Be My Gallows’ about Judas Iscariot. Separated from the movie, it’s pretty epic.

Weirdest habit?

I legitimately practice my Kubrick Stare. 

Secret talent?

My superpower is being able to stumble all day long, but not actually fall. Until I do.

The bravest thing you’ve ever done?

Said I love you and meant it.

[litcrawlseattle]

Frances Chiem: “Marmot sightings were worth it.”

Interviewed by Lauren Ireland.

Frances is one of those thoughtful people who is often busy behind the scenes, writing fantastic essays on gaming or Twin Peaks, or working on incredible fundraising ideas for APRIL and just generally making the world a better place for writers and readers. When Frances speaks up, you listen, because she has something to say--something funny or droll or wise or kind. I’ve been wanting to know more about Frances, so interviewing her--even over email--was extra lovely. 

Want more Frances? Of course you do. She’ll be reading at Lit “Level Up” with Darren Davis, Rachel Springer, and James Gapinski. Pine Box, 1600 Melrose Ave. [21+]

Where and when do you do your best writing?

Wherever, most often when I'm supposed to be doing something else. In college, my apartment was cleanest when I was avoiding finals. In adult life, I did a lot of writing when I was supposed to be planning a wedding.  

What are your writing rituals?

I can't write in my pajamas. I absolutely have to be wearing something work-appropriate, including (at least some of the time) shoes.

What writers are currently inspiring you?

Wendy Xu because her poems are so sweet and dark and funny. Elissa Washuta because she made me rethink what is the form of a memoir. Helen Oyeyemi for actually doing something interesting with fairytale retellings. Saeed Jones for his poetry and for being The Best At Twitter.

Has having a writer for a partner changed your work? How?

Well, Richard writes way more than I do, so he makes me look bad (sort of kidding), but our writing is so different that we don't really get in each others' way or feel competitive at all. Like, if he's writing a pseudo nonfiction piece about basketball, he has to add something stylistically challenging or just weird to make it interesting for him, like writing it as if it was observations from Kafka and in his fiction, none of his lovers get happy endings and are all fairly sexually depraved. When I write about video games, I usually take a pretty traditional literary analysis approach and all the women in my fiction have weird issues with the men around them. I've had women turn into a colony of bees to avoid marriage. If you looked at our fiction alone, our relationship would seem to be pretty dysfunctional. But in reality, we're pretty quiet and boring. He cleans the litter box and vacuums while I make dinner. Does that sort of answer the question?

How do you juggle intense involvement in Seattle’s literary community with actually, you know, writing?

What's balance? Seriously though, Willie Fitzgerald and Tara Atkinson do way more for APRIL than I do. If the literary festival was a child, I would be the aunt taking credit for the hard work of the parents. But being in the community makes me motivated to write more because I want to be worthy of standing in the same room with so many talents I admire.

What aspect of writing do you struggle with most?

I don't have much self esteem, so the biggest struggle is not convincing myself a sentence or idea is too dumb to be on a page.  

Why and or how did you start writing?

When I was growing up, my family moved every few years for my dad's work, which meant I was always the new kid and felt like the outsider all the time. I was pretty lonely and read a lot. Most of my early writing was fan fiction of Animorphs and Harry Potter. I wanted to be in those worlds and friends with those characters. I made a few booklets with those stories, complete with really terrible illustrations, but I don't have them anymore. Not sure if I wish I did or not. Seeing them might make me spontaneously combust from embarrassment.

  How has your work with Washington Trails Association changed or influenced your writing and/or your writing habits?

I write a lot of public lands-policy related stuff for work, so as a way to get out of that more wonky writing, I've been writing a lot about video games in my spare time. I write most, weirdly, when I am most busy because I seem to have more ideas. I still probably write far less than many of my esteemed colleagues though.  

What do you do when you just can’t write?

Either play video games or read.  

Dream collaborator?

Anders Nilsen. Draw all the things for me, please.

Text or call?

Text. Calls make me anxious, which my therapist says I should work on.

All-time favorite book?

Does anyone have an answer to this question? I'm too embarrassed to tell you which book I've reread the most.

Weirdest habit?

Throwing things out makes me really nervous, so I make a lot of piles of things. Mail, torn tights I pretend I'm going to use in some DIY project. It's a problem. Ask Richard.

Favorite hike?

Whichever one I did most recently. This summer, I did the White Pass to Pilot Ridge loop with poet and publisher Amber Nelson. Almost 30 miles in 2.5 days. We were really tired but the meadow walks and marmot sightings were worth it. Also, Amber introduced me to the magic of burritos as a first-night backpacking food.

[litcrawlseattle]

Sasha LaPointe: “I even fist-bumped Oscar Wilde.”

Interviewed by Elissa Washuta. 

I learned about Sasha LaPointe by reading her poems in the excellent journal As/Us: A Space for Women of the World. I can’t tell you how excited I was to read this beautiful work by a fellow Coast Salish writer and Seattle resident. We met for coffee, and I learned that she had been accepted into the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, where she was finishing her BA. I had just learned that I’d join the MFA faculty at the same time Sasha would begin her program.

At IAIA, I’ve had the great honor of working with Sasha as she’s worked on a powerful, important memoir. Her visceral, live-wire writing shows the eye for detail, the exquisite and the monstrous, that she developed as a poet. I can’t wait for all of us to be able to read her book. We share an affinity for mermaids, tarot, boots, and powerful stones.

Sasha is a member of the Nooksack Indian Tribe. Her work has appeared in The Portland Review, As/Us Journal, THE Magazine, and Aborted Society Online Zine. Sasha lives in Seattle where she is currently pursuing her MFA through The Institute of American Indian Arts with a focus on nonfiction and poetry.

At Lit Crawl Seattle, Sasha will read as part of “Native Writers from Seattle & Beyond” at the Frye Art Museum at 6pm. 

You’re in Ireland right now! Tell me all about it. I'm actually not in Ireland anymore. I was when you sent the questions, now I'm answering from Berlin. I've been pretty nomadic this month. Since we last talked I've seen Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Czech, and now Germany. Ireland was magical. I visited castles that were crumbling into the sea, saw faerie mounds and ancient tombs. I even fist-bumped Oscar Wilde. So that was cool. Now I have a few days off and I'm spending them writing.

How is your semester at IAIA going? Great! I've been assigned such good books. And Chip Livingston is such a wonderful friend and mentor. We've stayed in touch throughout my adventures and that's been really cool. I swear he's a witch, or we're psychically connected or something. He seems to know just when to email me. 

The other night in Slovenia for example, I was particularly homesick, restless, unable to sleep and my phone dinged. It was an email from Chip informing me he and Debra Earling (Perma Red is one of my favorite books) had just had a conversation realizing my great grandmother and Debra knew each other, had worked together. I write a lot about my great grandmother and I write a lot about water—it's a major theme in my book—and at the time they were discussing my work and my great grandmother, a water bottle in Debra's purse apparently opened and spilled everywhere. 

Chip told me this in the email and I, of course, got goosebumps and then slept like a baby. If something like that won't ground you I don't know what will.

What do you never leave home without? It changes. Sometimes it's a lock of a friend's hair, sometimes it's a shell or a vial of salt water from Puget Sound. This trip it happens to be Revlon's moisturizing lip stain in Crush. I never leave without my iPod or a book to read either.

Favorite album? They rotate. Right now it's Boatman's Call by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, but that's probably just because the word Boat is in the title.

What brought you to Seattle? I was born in Seattle and was always only an hour up I-5 in Skagit Valley. I suppose what brought me finally from Swinomish to Seattle was five hundred bucks saved up and a 1986 Toyota Camry.

What about Lit Crawl Seattle are you most looking forward to? All the fantastic readers! I look forward to meeting new friends, hearing strong work, supporting my fellow literary warriors.

What is Seattle to you? Seattle is home. It's a city by the water, it's a city close to my ancestral home. It's family. It's close enough to the cascades, to the ocean, to the forest. It's noisy punk shows and quiet coffee shops, good book reading places and awesome places to eat fish.

[litcrawlseattle]

Featured Reader Stephen Danos: “Writing to get through the complaining element of being alive.”

Interviewed by Chelsea Werner-Jatzke

Stephen Danos, a self-described “older gentleman,” is co-organizer of the new Monorail Reading Series whose upcoming reading takes place on September 30 and has combined with APRIL’s (Authors Publishers and Readers of Independent Literature) 5 year fundraising party. Monorail is a reading series focused on importing authors to Seattle, their upcoming reading features Graham Foust from Denver. Stephen is also the editor-in-chief of Pinwheel, an online poetry journal in its third year and about to launch their ninth issue. 

Stephen’s chapbook, DO NOT WANT, is forthcoming from the Shotgun Wedding Series published by Alice Blue Review and will be reading during Lit Crawl in Quick & Dirty: A Reading by Shotgun Wedding, 6 pm at Vermillion Art Gallery and Bar.

So you’re busy, do you have anything else going on besides the reading series, the journal, and your writing?

Right now my writing has taken a back seat to my community involvement. It’s more important to me than my own writing. It used to be I was more interested in publishing and submitting, writing constantly, 30-day challenges—the expectation gets overwhelming to write all the time. Other things just have more importance now. I did write two poems the other day.

Tell me about DO NOT WANT.

The chapbook is my negativity poems. It’s me exorcising my Larry-David-demon, writing to get through the complaining element of being alive. This chapbook, in a lot of ways, is me trying to be more upbeat by complaining a lot. It was written over a couple years and in many different places: Chicago, Boston, Seattle. I have a poem series in it, the “never” series. “Never North Dakota,” for instance, responds to something terrible happening politically or legislatively in that state, something that gets me mad. Instead of venting to people about it I wrote the poem.

Your analog Facebook rant?

I use Facebook mostly as a calendar. I’m not a big public ranter. Facebook has its place for sure, it’s important, it’s just not my place to have a battle I guess. I think Facebook has done nothing but try to privatize the Internet and it’s very strange to me that people want that. However I would never have found The Peach Basket Tumblr without Facebook.

Would that have been a detriment to your writing process?

The Peach Basket is poets and writers writing about basketball. It’s entertaining to read poets writing about basketball. There’s another website called ballballballball.com that’s the same kind of thing. I’m their NBA development league writer.

Did these poems succeed in exorcising the Larry-David-demon?

I’m still writing the “never” poems. The chapbook itself is self-contained, but it by no means feels like the end of that mode of writing for me. I have two poems that aren’t in the chapbook and are forthcoming from Boston Review that are pretty negative. One of them is about basketball and the cruelty of the system that is basketball. How the players are manipulated, how 1% make it of the best college players. The other is an anti-Scott Walker poem called “Never Wisconsin.” Which is fun since he just dropped out of the race.

Were you complaining a lot as a person while writing these poems?

I don’t think I’ll ever expel complaining from my life, I’m not sure that’s possible. The opening poem in the book is called “Crowd Noise” it begins with surrendering, with a white flag. It ends with this commercial logic. In commercials no one complains unless they are in need of a product that will save them by the end of the commercial. We live in a climate now, and social media is part of this, where complaining is the initial mode for most people. With that over-saturation, it makes me not want to be part of that extreme perspective.

So the poems themselves are a nugget of something you don’t want to participate in?

When you’re writing a series, it’s strange. I’ve joked about it being my Sufjan Stevens project, how he said he would write an album for all 50 states. But I’ll won’t write a “never” poem about every state. I’m pretty realistic about that.

Well I look forward to hearing you read and reading your chapbook.

Thanks, I’m excited about the reading and grateful to Amber Nelson, the publisher of the Shotgun Wedding chapbook series.

[litcrawlseattle]

Featured Reader Casandra Lopez: "I know I need to keep writing to find the answer."

Interviewed by Elissa Washuta. 

When I met Casandra Lopez (the way I’ve met a lot of writers in Seattle: at a reading), I already knew that I liked her. She’s one of the founding editors of As Us: A Space for Women of the World, a journal I admired for its record of publishing beautiful work, much of it from Indigenous women and women of color. 

Casandra’s own writing pulses with the energy of a heart thumping through the page. Her chapbook, Where Bullet Breaks, was published by the Sequoyah National Research Center in 2014. 

Casandra is a Chicana, Cahuilla, Luiseño, and Tongva writer raised in Southern California who currently lives in Seattle. She has an MFA from the University of New Mexico and has been selected for residencies with the Santa Fe Art Institute, School of Advanced Research, and Hedgebrook, and she is a CantoMundo Fellow. 

Casandra and I will be sharing a table at Short Run Seattle on October 31 at Fisher Pavilion at Seattle Center from 11-6. 

At Lit Crawl Seattle, she will read as part of “Native Writers from Seattle & Beyond” at the Frye Art Museum at 6pm. 

Please tell me about Where Bullet Breaks. 

My chapbook Where Bullet Breaks is an exploration of grief, trauma and love.

What’s your least favorite part of the writing process? 

My least favorite part of the writing process is also the most rewarding part of writing. It is when I'm writing and I'm not sure of what direction I should be going, how the piece should be structured or what the heart of the piece is, but I know I need to keep writing to find the answer. When I finally start to figure things out it feels very rewarding. 

What brought you to Seattle? 

I came to Seattle for teaching at a community college. It has been an unique opportunity to teach a such a diverse group of students at North Seattle College. 

What about Lit Crawl Seattle are you most looking forward to? 

Not only will it be my first time participating in Lit Crawl Seattle, but this will also be my first time attending. I'm looking forward to reading with other Native writers. I am always happy to see the talent and diversity of Native writers represented. I am also looking forward to catching some of the other readings. It is going to be hard to decide which ones to go to. 

What is Seattle to you? 

Seattle is a place of new friends and new community.

[litcrawlseattle]

Corina Zappia: “It's not about talent, it's about ass-in-seat time.”

Interviewed by Brian McGuigan

Corina Zappia is a writer you should know. She's all too smart and shit-yourself-funny and has this knack for writing true stories that make you feel like you're sitting beside her on a porch in her hometown of Beaumont, TX while fat mosquitoes circle your drink. 

In a former life, Corina wrote for the Village Voice. Her background as a newspaper writer is evident in her crisp, no-nonsense sentences. Whether she's writing about her disgust with Amazon's dog culture or a family trip to the graveyard to shop for cremation boxes, Corina's prose shines like a polished rock from an oil rig.  

That gift of the sentence is one of the talents Corina brings to Lit Crawl Seattle. She's our resident copywriter, Renee Erickson-event wrangler, awesome lipstick-wearer, and the one I can always count on to roll her eyes whenever I say something dumb during one of our weekly meetings. 

These days we don't see each other as much as I'd like -- unless it's over beers and Lit Crawl author bios at Lost Lake on Tuesday nights -- so I emailed Corina a bunch of questions about books and writing and writing community. Here's what she had to say.

You just finished your MFA last year. What's the best piece of writing advice you received?

It's not about talent, it's about ass-in-seat time.

Your essays tackle quote unquote real shit -- death, ethnic identity, the body -- with a laugh-out-loud humor. How do you balance being funny with being vulnerable?

Pacing, slowly introducing, hinting at..I think I'm still learning how to do this. Ask Elissa Washuta. I'm reading My Body Is a Book of Rules, and it's an education on how to do that well.

What's your favorite book?

Notes of a Native Son. I don't think we can ever do better than James Baldwin.

What are you working on now?

An essay about growing up in small-town Texas and an essay on a ritual animal sacrifice I attended. Maybe I should combine them!

Do you have a writing regimen?

I wish. I try to write for a few hours weekend mornings, and an hour every weekday. But this has fallen off lately...

You're a copywriter by trade. How does your approach to your creative writing differ from your approach to writing for your job? 

I see them as two very different things; but I don't think I could do one without the other.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

When I dropped out of my post-bac business program. I avoided accepting that I wanted to be a writer for a while—that constant fear of not being good enough, fear of not contributing anything worthwhile.

Although maybe I should think about accounting again. The intro class was strangely satisfying, like rearranging your sock drawer over and over.

If you could be any author, living or dead, who would you choose?

Fran Lebowitz. So I could bang out two brilliantly witty books in my 20s, wear cufflinks, and occasionally appear as a judge on Law & Order.

NYC vs. Seattle vs. Beaumont (sp?), TX. Go!

NYC: My heart. Seattle: My sanity. Beaumont: The place that shaped who I am.

Any good stories from your days writing for the Village Voice?

Stories of the glory years trickled down all the time there, but none that I think I could repeat. Well, that and strippers should always be invited to the company Christmas party. I'll never hear "Breakin' the Law" the same way again.

What's exciting to you about Seattle's writing scene right now?

The support, the range of talent, the sense of community...and I have to say, I have met so many bad-ass women. What cool, smart, inspiring lady writers this city has. Dudes need to step it up.

What is Seattle to you?

The third act. I hope for the best.

[litcrawlseattle]

Wendy C. Ortiz: “...a more mature narrator with shadows and ghosts that still intrude.”

Interviewed by Elissa Washuta

The first time I met Wendy C. Ortiz, she challenged me to a public arm-wrestling match. She won. It wasn’t hard to be a good sport about it: we entered into the match with a sense of camaraderie built from Twitter rapport (follow her at @WendyCOrtiz) and the shared feeling that our first books were probably cousins.

Wendy’s first book, Excavation: A Memoir (Future Tense Books, 2014), took over my life for a few days. The narrative is powerful and relentless. She doesn’t look away from painful and complicated truths, and  textured characters are forged from memory. Those sharply-rendered scenes are still living in my head, like rooms in a friend’s apartment I haven’t been to in a while.

I could hardly wait to tear through Wendy’s second book, Hollywood Notebook (Writ Large Press, 2015). The book is packed with magic that travels through short fragments, with friction and momentum building in the space between them. It’s an exquisite portrait of a heart in a place built from sparkling shards. On October 22, join us for “VIDA Presents: Women of Color Prose Reading” (8:00 p.m., Fred Wildlife Refuge) where Wendy C. Ortiz will read with Jennine Capo Crucet and Shannon Barber. Your second book, Hollywood Notebook, came out earlier this year. In some ways--form, most noticeably--it's a departure from your first book, but the two also live in a common space. How would you describe their relationship?

Hollywood Notebook displays the late-20s/early 30s version of the adolescent I was--still struggling with some of the same themes, only with new language, the agency of adulthood, and a bit more wisdom. The tone and structure of the book reflect a more mature narrator with shadows and ghosts that still intrude.

What are you working on now? 

I have several projects in progress but none of them are taking all of my attention. What's taking up my attention right now is feeling like I'm on the verge of knowing what the true next project will be, the one that's taking shape in the form of tumblr notes and posts. 

What are your three best qualities?

Intuitiveness, intensity, and the ability, desire, and power to go deep. 

What do you never leave home without?My smart phone (sigh).

What book opened up literature for you?

What books didn't? I read so much from the time I could start to read, and from the time I got a library card. 

You live in Los Angeles--What should Seattle readers know about your city's literary community?

There are a multitude of literary communities in Los Angeles. This calendar, http://lalitscene.com, gives a sense of what we have going on any given day of the week. It's not an "official" calendar, it's not tied to an institution, nor does it cover absolutely everything. There are quiet happenings and loud ones. We enjoy a range of voices, so many it's difficult to track. The literary community at large is lucky in this way--we have a lot to choose from, a lot to invest in, and there's always a place for more. 

What about Lit Crawl Seattle are you most looking forward to?

I'm always up for sin, so I'll be at Sin Is Always In: Writings About Sex, Drugs, and Violence, happening in the time slot before the one I read in at Fred Wildlife Refuge. I'm also looking forward to being back in a city I've had a past romantic fling with but one I never had a deep literary relationship with! I took some classes at Hugo House right before I left the Pacific Northwest, and was so inspired by its existence I asked for any founding documents they might give me so I'd have a blueprint to create my own in Los Angeles. Going back to that place feels a little like a pilgrimage. 

What is Seattle to you?

Seattle is old, life-long friends, the Alaskan Way Viaduct, too many beers at Linda's Tavern, shows spilling out of the Crocodile Cafe, my first experiences of enjoying solo sidewalk wine dates, and the place where I got all my favorite used clothes in the 1990s.