Hugo House teachers are at the core of our goal to help writers become better writers. Our teachers are writers; they are selected on the basis of their active engagement in the literary world as well as their love of teaching.
Teachers
Hugo House teachers are at the core of our goal to help writers become better writers. Our teachers are writers; they are selected on the basis of their active engagement in the literary world as well as their love of teaching.
Tara Conklin is a writer and former lawyer whose first novel, The House Girl, (William Morrow) was a New York Times bestseller, #1 IndieNext pick, Target book club pick and has been translated into 8 languages. Her second novel, The Last Romantics (William Morrow) was published in 2019 to wide acclaim. An instant New York Times bestseller, The Last Romantics was a Barnes & Noble Book Club Pick, IndieNext Pick, and was selected by Jenna Bush Hager as the inaugural read for The Today Show Book Club. Her latest novel Community Board is out now and available in stores and online in all the usual places. The recipient of an Artist Trust grant, her writing has appeared in Vogue, the Berkshire Eagle and elsewhere.
Before turning to fiction, Tara worked for an international human rights organization and at corporate law firms in London and New York. She was born in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands and grew up in western Massachusetts. She holds a BA in history from Yale University, a JD from NYU School of Law and a Master of Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. Tara now lives in Seattle with her family where she writes, teaches at Hugo House and works with private clients on manuscript development.
BRENDAN CONSTANTINE is a poet based in Los Angeles. His work has appeared in many standards, including Poetry, The Nation, Best American Poetry, Tin House, Ploughshares, and Poem-a-Day. He currently teaches at the Windward School and, since 2017, has been working with speech pathologists across the country to develop poetry workshops for people with Aphasia and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
Ingrid Rojas Contreras was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia. Hailed as “original, politically daring, and passionately written” by Vogue, her first novel Fruit of the Drunken Tree earned the silver medal winner in First Fiction from the California Book Awards, was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award, and was a New York Times Editor’s Choice, an Indie Next Pick, and a Barnes and Noble “Discover Great New Writers” selection.
Her debut memoir The Man Who Could Move Clouds was named a TIME “Best Book of Summer.” Rojas Contreras brings readers into her childhood, where her grandfather, Nono, was a renowned community healer gifted with “the secrets”: powers that included talking to the dead, fortunetelling, treating the sick, and moving the clouds. The Man Who Could Move Clouds interweaves enchanting family lore, Colombian history, and a reckoning with the bounds of reality.
Ingrid Rojas Contreras’ essays and short stories have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Cut, Nylon, and Guernica, among others. She has received numerous awards and fellowships from Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, VONA, Hedgebrook, the Camargo Foundation, and the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture. Rojas Contreras is a Visiting Writer at the University of San Francisco.
Corinna Cook is the author of Leavetakings, an essay collection (University of Alaska Press 2020). She is a former Fulbright Fellow, an Alaska Literary Award recipient, and a Rasmuson Foundation awardee. Corinna’s creative work appears in Flyway, Alaska Quarterly Review, Alaska Magazine, Brink, and elsewhere; her journalism appears in Yukon North of Ordinary and GlacierHub; her critical articles appear in Assay, New Writing, and Essay Daily; and she writes about teaching for Pedagogy and American Literary Studies. Corinna holds a PhD in English and Creative Writing from the University of Missouri. More at corinnacook.com.
I will send you BIO and photo in the email, as having trouble negotiating this form with other docs.
TO be clear: the POETS are the performers. I can be there to introduce the event and to bring it to a close with a theater action with the entire audience.
Diverse in ethnicities, experiences, and careers, Hiromi Cota (They/She) is an Indigenous Okinawan and Yaeyaman, as well as a Mexican, Japanese, and Swedish American. Hiromi has been a special operations heavy weapons expert, medical first responder, adjunct professor, rave journalist, and the flaming-sword-swinging lead in a heavy metal opera. They (singular) have worked on over 100 TTRPG books and love creating & expanding worlds. In their ‘free’ time, they’re an actor-combatant, specializing in spears and daggers. They’ve lived in nations around the world but have settled down in Seattle with their spouse Randi and their (plural) dog Nasus.
Kristi Coulter is author of Nothing Good Can Come From This and the forthcoming Exit Interview. Her work appears in The Paris Review, New York Magazine, Elle, and elsewhere. She has taught at Hugo House and the University of Washington. Go to www.kristicoulter.com for more information.
Social Media: @KristiCCCoulter (Twitter and Instagram)
Christina Crabbe writes Campy, Synthy Plant Themed Songs of Queer Joy and Revenge.
Shaun Crawford writes songs for the lost and wondering.
Learn more at Jed Crisologo's website!
DAVID NIKKI CROUSE is author of the short story collections The Man Back There, winner of the Mary McCarthy Award in Short Fiction, Copy Cats, winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award, and the forthcoming I’m Here: Alaska Stories. Their collection of novellas, Trouble Will Save You, was published recently by the University of Colorado Press. They have also written horror comic books for Dark Horse Publishing and a graphic novel about a trans superheroine. Nikki is the S. Wilson and Grace M. Pollock Endowed Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Washington-Seattle, where they direct the MFA Program.
Carla Crujido is a graduate of the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is the co-editor of the anthology Nonwhite and Woman: 131 Micro Essays of Being in the World forthcoming from Woodhall Press. Her work has appeared in Crazyhorse, Yellow Medicine Review, Ricepaper Magazine, Tinfish Press, The Ana, and elsewhere. Originally from San Francisco, she now calls Portland home.
My first personal essay was published in fourth grade (“My Hobby is Art”), but it wasn’t my last. Having studied Creative Nonfiction with Hugo House, my writing keeps growing more expressive and meaningful because that’s where I found a nurturing crew of writers who inspire, coach and root for me.
Dario Cvencek (he/him) is an immigrant poet from the Balkans. He started writing poetry in high school, inspired by his growing up during the Bosnian War in the 1990s, and his subsequent experiences as a refugee of war and an immigrant in Germany and the United States. In his poems, he explores the themes of war, trauma, healing, identity, gun violence, immigration, nature, and love. His first full-length collection of poetry, PTSD Martini, was released by Carbonation Press in May 2025. He lives and works in Seattle, WA.
Laura Da’ is a poet and teacher. A lifetime resident of the Pacific Northwest, Da’ studied creative writing at the University of Washington and The Institute of American Indian Arts. Da’ is Eastern Shawnee. She is a recipient of fellowships from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, Artist Trust, Hugo House, and the Jack Straw Writers Program. Her first book, Tributaries, won the 2016 American Book Award. Her newest book is Instruments of the True Measure (University of Arizona Press, 2018). Go to www.laurada.com for more information.
Instagram: @lauralouiseda
Twitter @Laura_L_Da
Facebook: www.facebook.com/lauralda
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