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Last Thursday I hit up a couple of sessions at Lit Crawl Seattle, including one organized by VIDA (famous for developing ‘The Count,’ and now a Women of Color Count as well). The third reader at VIDA’s session was Jennine Capó Crucet, whose funny and touching story, “Happy Birthday Dear Dante,” has stuck with me in the past week - enough so that I searched around to find some video of her reading that same story, to share with you.
“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.
“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.
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.)
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.
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.
Sometimes #litcrawlseattle planning is tough business. #youhaveplansoct22 (at Oddfellows Cafe & Bar)
