The Last Lit Crawl Seattle
After nearly a decade of huddling in bars in the rain listening to the poets woo us in verse, of laughing and labiating over great fiction, of fanboying at afterparties as local artist sign our books, it is time, alas, to say goodbye to Lit Crawl Seattle. Come and celebrate the Last Lit Crawl October 25th at Hugo House. Events include readings from Richard Chiem, Rebecca Brown, Jack Straw writers, and a performance inspired by the works of Kurt Vonnegut.
6pm Writers On Writers
Three local authors talk craft, read their work, and celebrate the joy of world building. Featuring Richard Chiem, Rebecca Brown, Becca Hall.
7pm Jack Straw Reading: Halloween Edition
Where would we be without one of Seattle’s greatest treasures? Join us for a spooky reading from some of Seattle’s macabre literati. Featuring Julie Feng, Erin Langner, Ruth Schemmel, and Katharine Strange.
8pm Unexpected Vonnegut
Kilgore Trout once wrote a synopsis about an improvised performance inspired by the writings of Kurt Vonnegut. Many people came to see just how in the world such a performance could occur. Presented in co-production with Unexpected Productions
Becca Hall
Becca Rose Hall directs Frog Hollow School, a children's writing program. She is a Bread Loaf and Sewanee alum, and her work has received support from the Community of Writers, ArtsOmi, Writers' Lighthouse, and Zvona i Nari. Her fiction, essays, and poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in Orion, Pacifica Literary Review, Third Coast, About Place, Mutha Magazine, Drunk Monkeys, and Muleskinner. She is working on a novel set in Olympia in the aftermath of Kurt Cobain's death. She lives in Seattle with her daughter and their dog.
Ruth Schemmel
Ruth Schemmel’s short fiction has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Fiction, and New Orleans Review, among other places. She has been a finalist in Glimmer Train’s Fiction Open and a fifth-place overall winner in the NYC Midnight Short Fiction Challenge. A former Peace Corps volunteer, she works as a teacher of high school English language learners in the greater Seattle area, where she lives with her family.
Katharine Strange
Katharine Strange specializes in questioning received wisdom with a wink and a smirk. She writes personal essays, short stories, novels, and now, memoir! Her work has appeared in The Seattle Times, The Stranger, OC87 Diaries, Literary Yard, ScaryMommy, and anthology The Pandemic Midlife Crisis: Gen X Women on the Brink. She was a 2021 Mainstage Storyteller for The Moth. Formerly she wrote a column for Fundamentally Free, a blog for Exvangelicals and heretics. She lives in south Seattle with her family and is represented by Savannah Brooks of Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency. As a rule, she never turns down champagne.
Erin Langner
Erin Langner is an essayist whose work focuses on art, architecture and identity. She is a regular contributor to Hyperallergic and METROPOLIS magazines. Her writing has also appeared or is forthcoming in december, The Offing, The Normal School, Hobart, The Stranger, and ARCADE. She lives in Seattle and works on exhibitions and publications at the Frye Art Museum. Her debut collection, Souvenirs from Paradise, will be published by Zone 3 Press in 2022.
Julie Feng
Julie Feng is a poet, communications strategist, and scholar of stories. She holds a M.A. in Cultural Studies and is an incoming Ph.D. student in Communication at the University of Washington. Julie currently serves as the Director of Communications for Scholar Fund, supporting resources for communities of color and immigrant communities. Her work has appeared in Winter Tangerine, Pacifica Literary Review, Wildness, Quaint Magazine, and more.
Richard Chiem
Richard Chiem is the author of You Private Person (Sorry House Classics, 2017), and the novel, King of Joy (Soft Skull, 2019), which was long listed for the 2020 PEN Open Book Award. He was named a 2019 Writer to Watch by the Los Angeles Times. He has taught at Hugo House and Catapult. He lives in Seattle.