Writers in Residence

Published writers in the house.

Our program has been bringing talented published authors to Hugo House since 1999. Writers-in-residence receive a monthly stipend and paid teaching opportunities, along with the time and space to complete a manuscript. And, they are available to provide guidance and advice to Seattle-based writers yeararound, free of charge.

Writers-in-residence have 60 hours throughout the year to meet with Seattle-area community members. Consults will be 30 minutes unless otherwise agreed upon and could cover the writing life, submission and publication guidance, and limited feedback. Writers-in-residence will prioritize first-time consults and writers from BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, and other communities which have historically not had as much access and opportunity to Hugo House’s resources. Please fill out the forms linked below to query about setting up an appointment.

Meet Your 2022-24 Writers in Residence

Ching-In Chen

Poetry

Descended from ocean dwellers, Ching-In Chen is a genderqueer Chinese American writer, community organizer and teacher. They are author of The Heart’s Traffic: a novel in poems (Arktoi Books/Red Hen Press, 2009) and recombinant (Kelsey Street Press, 2018 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry winner) as well as chapbooks to make black paper sing (speCt! Books) and Kundiman for Kin :: Information Retrieval for Monsters (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, Leslie Scalapino Finalist). Chen is co-editor of The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities (South End Press, 1st edition; AK Press, 2nd edition) and Here Is a Pen: an Anthology of West Coast Kundiman Poets (Achiote Press). They have received fellowships from Kundiman, Lambda, Watering Hole, Can Serrat, Imagining America, Jack Straw Cultural Center and the Intercultural Leadership Institute as well as the Judith A. Markowitz Award for Exceptional New LGBTQ Writers. A community organizer, they have worked in Asian American communities in San Francisco, Oakland, Riverside, Boston, Milwaukee, Houston and Seattle and are currently a core member of the Massage Parlor Outreach Project. They currently teach at University of Washington Bothell in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences and the MFA program in Creative Writing and Poetics. www.chinginchen.com
Ching-In can be contacted at chinginchen@hugohouse.org.

Schedule an Appointment
Writers-in-residence are available for appointments starting September 19, 2022.
Schedule an appointment with Ching-In Chen.

Joyce Chen

Prose

Joyce Chen is a writer, editor, and community builder who draws inspiration from many coastal cities. She has covered entertainment and human interest stories for Rolling Stone, Architectural Digest, Elle, Refinery29, the New York Daily News, and People, among others, and her creative writing credits include Poets & Writers, Lit Hub, Narratively, and Slant’d, among others. She has contributed op-eds to Paste magazine, and writes book reviews for Orion and Hyphen magazines. In 2022, she co-edited the anthology Uncertain Girls in Uncertain Times, a collection of poetry paired with essays and life lessons. She is a proud VONA alum and was a 2019-2020 Hugo House fellow. She is also the executive director of The Seventh Wave, an arts and literary nonprofit that champions art in the space of social issues.
Joyce can be contacted at joycechen@hugohouse.org.

Schedule an Appointment
Writers-in-residence are available for appointments starting September 19, 2022.
Schedule an appointment with Joyce Chen.

Past Writers-in-Residence

* Starred writers were part of the Hugo Huts Writers in Residence program, which was discontinued in 2010.