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  • Date: May 16
  • Time: 5:30pm - 9:30pm PT

Eat Read Hugo 2019: Benefit Dinner & Auction

Eat Read Hugo 2019

Join us for our annual benefit dinner and auction to help bring nationally recognized authors to our stage, award scholarships to youth in need, grant fellowships to emerging writers, and provide a welcoming and open space for anyone who loves books or has a drive to write.

This glamorous evening of live and silent auctions, renowned authors, gourmet food, and exquisite wine will bring together more than 250 of Hugo House’s most loyal donors, patrons, and community members.

Featuring special guest speaker Laurie Frankel, author of the highly acclaimed novel This Is How It Always Is; emcee Karen Finneyfrock; auctioneer Fred Northup, Jr.; delicious food from Herban Feast; and an auction of unique items and whimsical experiences—literary, gastronomic, and everything in between.

Event Details

May 16, 2019 at Sodo Park
(3200 1st Avenue South, Seattle)
5:30 pm | Doors open
6 pm | Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres
7 pm | Dinner and live auction
Tickets: Guest $200, Patron $350. Purchase tickets at the bottom of the page.


Interested in sponsoring this event or donating an item or experience for our live auction? Contact Louise Kincaid at louise@hugohouse.org or call 206-456-4006.


About the Speaker

Laurie Frankel is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of three novels. Her writing has also appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, Publishers Weekly, People Magazine, Lit Hub, The Sydney Morning Herald, and other publications. She is the recipient of the Washington State Book Award. Her novels have been translated into more than twenty-five languages, and all three have been optioned for film or TV. A former college professor, she now writes full-time. She was recently named one of the 50 Most Influential Women in Seattle where she lives with her family and makes good soup.

Her novel, This Is How It Always Is, was Reese Witherspoon’s monthly book club pick in October 2018.


About the Emcee

Karen FinneyfrockKaren Finneyfrock is the author of the young adult novel The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door (Viking Children’s Books, 2013) and a book of poems, Ceremony for the Choking Ghost (Write Bloody, 2010). She is a former writer-in-residence at Hugo House and teaches for Seattle Arts and Lectures’ Writers-in-the-Schools program. A member of four National Poetry Slam Teams, Finneyfrock traveled to Nepal as a Cultural Envoy through the US Department of State to perform and teach poetry and in 2011, she did a reading tour in Germany sponsored by the US Embassy.


About the Auctioneer

Fred Northup, Jr. is one of the Pacific Northwest’s busiest entertainers: as a fundraising auctioneer, host and emcee, author, and comedy improviser. For 10 years, Fred was a company member of Seattle’s famed “TheatreSports” comedy improv group, and he travels the country emceeing and designing entertainment for major corporate events. In addition to his work on stage and on camera, Fred Northup runs a video and event production company, Southdown Creative. He’s also the co-founder of RainGlobes, the globe that rains! When not entertaining the masses, Fred can be found in Seattle entertaining his wife, Ashley, and their two children.


Thank you to our event sponsors!