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City of Storytellers: Essays from Some of Seattle’s Finest Writers
A new book celebrates Seattle’s vibrant literary scene
By Seattle Mag August 17, 2015
This article originally appeared in the September 2015 issue of Seattle magazine.
It’s easy to find stats that prove Seattle is a literature-loving city—we always land in the top three in the annual ranking of America’s Most Literate Cities, which doesn’t even take into account our many writing programs, reading series and independent word nerds writing books and creating literary magazines.
But beyond the numbers are the countless real people responsible for making our city feel like a hotbed of the written word. Releasing in September, Seattle City of Literature: Reflections from a Community of Writers (Sasquatch Books, $19.95) is a compendium of essays and personal recollections by local writers, booksellers and literary leaders, timed to coincide with the nonprofit Seattle City of Literature’s bid for designation as a UNESCO City of Literature (follow the campaign at seattlecityoflit.org).
Among the 40-some voices gathered by editor Ryan Boudinot is novelist Bharti Kirchner, recalling a writing workshop she taught to homeless people at the ferry terminal. Hugo House founder Frances McCue remembers escorting Tom Robbins across campus when she was an MFA student at the University of Washington. Music writer Charles Cross details a disturbingly corporeal reading by underground poet Steven “Jesse” Bernstein. All of the pieces are short and conversational, resulting in a figurative cocktail party full of Seattle writers eager to contribute to the clamor. Experience that feeling literally when Elliott Bay Book Company brings several of the contributors together for a reading at Hugo House (10/2; Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave.; 206.322.7030; hugohouse.org).
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