Get Lit at the Second Annual Orcas Island Literary Festival
A word party returns to Orcas Island
By Gavin Borchert March 26, 2019
This article originally appeared in the April 2019 issue of Seattle magazine.
This article appears in print in the April 2019 issue. Click here to subscribe.
Considering Orcas Island’s reputation as the artsy jewel of the San Juan islands, you may wonder why no one had launched a literary festival prior to 2018. But last year’s inaugural Orcas Island Lit Fest proved worth the wait; basking in the afterglow, participating YA author Jennifer Longo later called it “three days of book love…a celebration of books, readers, writers, librarians, teachers, bookshops and our literary Pacific Northwest home.”
The second fest includes open-mike events, writers’ workshops, panel discussions, readings, signings, parties, a book fair and a Saturday-morning kids’ fest; among the scheduled authors are Seattle novelist Nicola Griffith, NPR contributor Mat Johnson and New Yorker staff writer Judith Thurman. 4/5–4/7. Times and prices vary. Orcas Center, Eastsound, 917 Mount Baker Road; oilf.org
Follow Us
Ferry Tales: Eight Indie Bookstores Worth the Ride
Plan a summer day around these bookshops in Seattle, Bremerton, Bainbridge Island, Kingston, and Poulsbo.
Independent bookstores tend to be cornerstones of the communities in which they reside, and Seattle is no exception. In addition to helping customers discover their next read, these neighborhood hubs host weekly gatherings and events, like publication release parties, author talks, and book clubs. Many of them have cafés and reading tables that encourage lingering…
Rearview Mirror: Seattle Art Fair is Back, Nordstrom Throws a Block Party, and a Must-Try Ice Cream Sundae
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
SEATTLE ART FAIR RETURNS The buzziest event of the summer (well, aside from the World Cup), is returning next week. Now in its 10th edition, the Seattle Art Fair will once again take over the Lumen Field Event Center, packing it to the gills with art from 101 local, national, and international galleries. This year,…
Studio Sessions: Jennifer Leigh Harrison
Seattle artist Jennifer Leigh Harrison uses layers of paint and abstraction to explore what we carry beneath the surface.
Jennifer Leigh Harrison’s paintings are dense with movement. Color and texture gather into mosaic-like fields, as if they have been fractured and reformed. There are places in the work where a frenetic buzz seems trapped between the canvas and the first layer of paint. That energy runs through Patterns of Belonging, her current exhibition at…
ENHYPEN’s Jay Has K-Pop Stardom and a Seattle Heart
The Federal Way-raised singer talks hometown memories, Ivar’s clam chowder, and how it feels to perform in the place he grew up.
Long before he was performing in sold-out arenas around the world and representing brands like Prada, ENHYPEN’s Jay called the Puget Sound region home. Born Jay Park (not to be confused with the other famous K-pop star of the same name, who is also from Seattle) in Seattle and raised in nearby Federal Way before…