Hugo Literary Series

Hugo Literary Series 2009-2010
Twelve writers. Four songwriters. New work with no limits.

Please join us for the third season of the Hugo Literary Series: four evenings of risk and reward, featuring brave new writing commissioned by Hugo House from some of the most exciting local and national writers and musicians working today.

Rebecca Brown's 12th book, recently published by City Lights, is a collection of gonzo "essays" called "American Romances." Brown's other titles include "The Last Time I Saw You;" "The End of Youth;" "The Dogs;" "The Terrible Girls;" "Excerpts from a Family Medical Dictionary" and "The Gifts of the Body." A frequent collaborator, Brown has written numerous texts for dance; a play, "The Toaster;" and "Woman in Ill Fitting Wig," a book-length collaboration with painter Nancy Kiefer. Her work has been translated into Japanese, German, Italian, Norwegian and Dutch. Brown recently co-edited, with Mary Jane Knecht, "Looking Together: Writers on Art," an anthology of writers' responses to work at the Frye Art Museum.


Keri Healey is a writer, director and actor living in Seattle. Her work includes the plays "Don't You Dare Love Me;" "The Ikea Cycle: Tiny Domestic Dramas" and "Ikea Bedtime Stories" (co-written with playwright Bret Fetzer and produced by IKEA in Renton, WA and Frisco, TX), the teen musical "High Tide at Threeforks;" "Parrot Fever (Or, Lies I've Told in Chat Rooms);" "No Demerits for Dancing" and "Cherry Cherry Lemon." Healey is also the author of a collection of short stories, "Jealous of Boys" and frequently participates in Seattle's noted 14/48 Play Festival. Her work has won numerous awards including Best Production (The Stranger), Best Touring Production (Austin American-Statesman) and Best New Play runner-up (The Seattle Times), and she was selected as One to Watch in The Stranger's annual Genius Awards.

Eric McHenry's first book of poems, "Potscrubber Lullabies," won the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. His poems have appeared in The New Republic, Harvard Review, Northwest Review, Orion and Agni. He also writes about poetry for The New York Times Book Review and Slate.





Macklemore, born and raised in Capitol Hill, is an emcee and a vital part of the Seattle hip-hop scene. His debut album, "The Language of My World," was released in 2005 and delves into issues of politics, race and class.

Benjamin Parzybok is the creator of Gumball Poetry, a (now defunct) journal published through gumball machines, the Psychic Book Project and the Black Magic Insurance Agency, a city-wide mystery/treasure hunt in Portland. His projects have twice been selected as Best of Portland for the Willamette Week: Best Guy Who Walks His Talk and Best Quarter's Worth of Culture. His first novel, "Couch," a 2009 Indie Next List selection, was published by Small Beer Press.

Elizabeth Austen served as the Washington "roadshow" poet for 2007, giving readings and workshops in rural areas around the state under the auspices of the Washington State Arts Commission. Her author interviews and recordings of Seattle-area poetry readings can be heard on KUOW, 94.9, public radio. Her poems have appeared in Verse Daily, Willow Springs, Bellingham Review, Swivel, the Seattle Review, DMQ Review and the anthologies "Poets Against the War" and "Pontoon." An audio CD, "skin prayers," featuring 26 original poems recorded with a live audience in the KUOW Studios, is available on her Web site, www.elizabethausten.org.

Matt Smith is an actor best known for his solo performances; "My Last Year with the Nuns," "Helium," "My Boat to Bainbridge" and "Beyond Kindness: A Childcare Guide."  His screen credits include "Outsourced," "The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle," "Spiderman," "Sleepless in Seattle," "Whiteface," "Northern Exposure," "Bill Nye the Science Guy" and "Almost Live!" In 1988, Smith founded the legendary Stark/Raving Theatre with Edward Sampson.

   

Molly Rose is a Seattle-based singer/songwriter originally from Fresno, CA, whose scorching foothills and orange blossoms have inspired her music. In 2006, Molly Rose released her debut EP, "My Skin, Your Bones." Her first full-length album, "Clandestine," was released in 2009.

Linda Bierds is the author of eight volumes of poetry, including "First Hand," "The Profile Makers" and "The Ghost Trip." Among her many honors are two National Endowment for the Arts grants; and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim, Wolfers-O'Neill, Ingram Merrill, Rockefeller and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur foundations. Additionally, she has won the PEN/West Poetry Award, the Poetry Society of America's Consuelo Ford Award and four Pushcart Prizes. Her work has been included in major anthologies and appears in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Poetry, Parnassus, The Hudson Review, The Kenyon Review, The Atlantic Monthly, Field, The Journal, The Massachusetts Review and The Threepenny Review, among other publications.

Terrance Hayes' most recent poetry collection, "Wind in a Box," was named by Publishers Weekly as one of the best 100 books of 2006. His other books of poetry are "Muscular Music," which won the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, and "Hip Logic," winner of the National Poetry Series Open Competition. Poems in "Lighthead," his forthcoming collection, have appeared in journals such as The American Poetry Review, Poetry and The New Yorker. His honors include three Best American Poetry selections, a Whiting Writers Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Garth Stein is the author of three novels; The New York Times' bestselling "The Art of Racing in the Rain;" "How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets," which won a 2006 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award and was a Book Sense Pick; and "Raven Stole the Moon." He has also written a full-length play, "Brother Jones," which received its first production in Los Angeles in February, 2005, and was described as "brimming with intensity," by the L.A. Weekly. After receiving his M.F.A. in film from Columbia University, Stein worked as a documentary filmmaker for several years and directed, produced or co-produced several award-winning films. 

BloodHag is a literary-themed, death metal band from Seattle whose songs are about seminal science fiction, fantasy and horror authors. They have toured libraries and music venues across the country and were the subject of the documentary "BloodHag: The Faster You Go Deaf...The More Time You Have to Read," which premiered at the South By Southwest Film Festival and won the Audience Award for Best Short at the San Francisco Independent Documentary Film Festival. Their albums include "Necrotic Bibliophilia" and "Hell Bent for Letters."

Marya Sea Kaminski is a writer, director and performing artist based in Seattle, where she's been named an Artist of the Year by Seattle Magazine, awarded Best Performing Artist by the readers of the Seattle Weekly and honored thrice on the Theatre Short List for The Stranger's Genius Awards. Her plays and essays have been published in KNOCK Magazine, Rivet Magazine and The New York Theatre Review, and she has created over 20 original solo shows. Marya Sea's acting credits include the role of Hedda Gabler in Washington Ensemble Theatre's original adaptation entitled "blahblahblahBANG!" at On the Boards; "My Name is Rachel Corrie" (Seattle Times Footlight Award 2007), and Athol Fugard's "The Road to Mecca" and Tina Landau's "The Time of Your Life" at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. Marya Sea was a founding member and co-artistic director of the Washington Ensemble Theatre (formerly WET) from 2004-2008.

Phillip Lopate is the author of 11 books of personal essays, memoir, poetry, fiction and criticism, most notably "Portrait of My Body" and "Getting Personal: Selected Writings," and the editor of four anthologies, including "The Art of the Personal Essay" and "American Movie Critics." His work has appeared in "The Best American Short Stories," "The Best American Essays," The Paris Review, Harper's, Vogue, Esquire, The New York Times and many other periodicals and anthologies. Lopate has been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a New York Public Library Center for Scholars and Writers Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts grants, two New York Foundation for the Arts grants and was a finalist for the PEN best essay book of the year award for "Portrait of My Body."

Emily Warn is a poet, essayist, teacher and technologist who most recently served as founding editor of poetryfoundation.org. She is the author of three books of poetry; "The Leaf Path," "The Novice Insomniac" and "Shadow Architect," all published by Copper Canyon Press. Warn's essays and poems have appeared in Poetry, BookForum, Critical Mass, Harriet, Blackbird, Parabola, The Seattle Times, The Seattle Weekly and The Writers' Almanac, among others.




Happy Hour Hero is a Seattle rock band that formed from the ashes of Going South, another band of local veteran rockers. Happy Hour Hero consists of vocalist Katy Devereaux, Billy Stover on keyboards, guitarist Roger Davis, bassist Dave O'Leary and drummer Doug Marrapodi. Their first album, "Strength in Numbers," was released in 2008, and a second album is currently in production.




About the Hugo Literary Series
Beginning in October 2007, the Hugo Literary Series sits at the core of Hugo House's commitment to foster new writing. The series consists of four events per season, with each event featuring three writers and a songwriter or band, all commissioned to create new writing and songs from a theme and writing prompt cooked up by Hugo House's staff.

The nights are collages of unexpected styles and different points of view, and the writers and musicians are encouraged to work without a sense of obligation, censorship or stylistic frame. No one at Hugo House sees the work before it is read or sung at each event.

At the Hugo Literary Series, you will meet writers willing to take risks, to work without the safety net of editors, publishers or reviewers affirming the work before they stand in front of an audience and read it aloud. They are writers who share the exhilaration of creating something new and sharing it with an audience for the first time before the work appears in a book, between the glossy covers of a magazine or within the shrink wrap of a compact disc.


Event Information
All Hugo Literary Series events occur on Friday nights in Richard Hugo House's Theater, and each is followed by a party with food and drink. Books are for sale by Elliott Bay Book Company, and authors are available for book signings.

Classes require a separate registration. For more information about classes, you may view our online catalog or contact our registrar at katelebo@hugohouse.org or by calling (206) 322-7030.


New Works Competition
As part of the Hugo Literary Series, Richard Hugo House seeks poems, short stories, personal essays or plays, of no more than 1500 words. The theme is Laws of Attraction, and the winner will receive $500 and an invitation to read at the final Hugo Literary Series event alongside Marya Sea Kaminski, Phillip Lopate, Emily Warn and the music of Happy Hour Hero. Entries must be received by January 11, 2010.

The theme: All manuscripts must reflect the theme, Laws of Attraction, using the prompt below as a jumping point:

There are laws that govern the natural world--Newton's Law of Gravity, for example, defines the force that keeps our feet on the ground and our jetliners in the air. In Newtonian physics, the attraction between particles is always equal and opposite. But what about those attractions that lie outside the realm of science--the first kiss, the last two fingers in that bottle of Maker's Mark, the dream car with the heated leather interior and a jungle cat under the hood? What happens when a little romp in the hay becomes a boiled bunny rabbit, when a day doesn't begin without a heaping line of coca, when Turtle Wax and tune-ups replace showers, shaving and sleep? In love, lust and obsession, what are your laws of attraction? When and how do you break them? And when won't you?

Submission Format: Five copies of the manuscript typed, double-spaced, pages numbered, in 12-point standard font. No name of author on entries; include cover page with name, address, phone, email, entry titles and genres. One cover page is sufficient for the five copies of your entry. SASE #10 for notification and SASE with sufficient postage if you would like manuscript returned.

Entry restrictions: The New Works Competitions are only open to residents of Washington state, Oregon, Idaho or Montana.

Entry fee: $10.00.

Submissions may be sent to Richard Hugo House, c/o New Works Competition, 1634 11th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122.


Youth New Works Competition
As part of the Hugo Literary Series, Richard Hugo House seeks poems, short stories or personal essays of no more than 1000 words. The theme is Gods and Monsters, and the winner will receive $100 and an invitation to read at the third Hugo Literary Series event at Richard Hugo House alongside poets Linda Bierds and Terrance Hayes, novelist Garth Stein and the music of BloodHag.

The theme: All manuscripts must reflect the theme, Gods and Monsters, using the prompt below as a jumping-off point:

From the crucifixes hanging above our beds to the Bogeymen hiding under them, gods and monsters have always occupied considerable real estate in the human psyche. But sometimes a mattress and box spring are all that separate the two. Gods of all faiths have dispatched locusts, hail and frogs, induced famines and instituted curses. And who was really the monster in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"--the poor, misunderstood creature whose hideous exterior masked a very human heart, or the man who usurped God's role by creating him? Today the line dividing the godly from the grotesque is blurrier than ever as technology hands us godlike powers--cloning! Bio-engineering! Artificial Intelligence!--opening possibilities that Mary Shelley couldn't have imagined. But just because we can do something doesn't mean we should--what happens when, as Joseph Conrad described it, our "inner evil" equals our "outer good"?

Entry restrictions: The Youth New Works Competition is open only to students enrolled in grades 9-12. To be eligible to win, you must be able to attend the Literary Series event at Richard Hugo House on February 19, 2010.

Submission format: Typed, double-spaced, pages numbered, in 12-point standard font, no staples. On top right of every page include name, address, phone, e-mail, grade and school.

Submissions are due by January 11, 2010, to youth@hugohouse.org or by post to: Youth New Works Competition, Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122.

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