Hugo Literary Series

The second season of the Hugo Literary Series brings four new themes, twelve more writers and four songwriters. Once again each event features a Friday night reading with all new writing and brand-new songs. The following day, each writer will offer classes on some aspect of craft or facilitate a panel discussion on some aspect of the theme.

Please join us for four evenings of risk and reward with some of the most exciting writers working today.

Aimee Bender, called “Hemingway on an acid trip” by the L.A. Times, is the author of “The Girl in the Flammable Skirt,” “An Invisible Sign of My Own” and “Willful Creatures.” Bender has received two Pushcart prizes and was nominated for the Tiptree award in 2005.


Marie Howe is the author of two volumes of poetry, “The Good Thief”—selected by Margaret Atwood as the 1989 winner of the National Poetry Series—and “What the Living Do,” and the co-editor of a book of essays, “In the Company of My Solitude: American Writing from the AIDS Pandemic.” Her third volume of poetry, “Kingdom Of Ordinary Time,” is forthcoming.



Matt Ruff is the author of “Fool on the Hill,” “Sewer, Gas & Electric: The Public Works Trilogy,” “Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls” and “Bad Monkeys.” His awards include the Washington State Book Award, PNBA Book Award and the James Tiptree, Jr. Award.


Laurie Katherine Carlsson is a Seattle-based singer/songwriter. Her debut album, "Life Is Made Of," has been featured in Starbucks stores across the United States.

Ryan Boudinot's work has appeared in McSweeney's, BlackBook, and The Best American Non-Required Reading 2003 and 2005. His collection of short stories, "The Littlest Hitler,” was named one of the best 100 books of 2006 by Publisher's Weekly. Grove Press will publish Ryan's first novel in fall 2009.

Richard Rodriguez is the author of “Hunger of Memory” and “Brown: The Last Discovery of America.” His work has appeared in Harper's, Mother Jones and Time, and he has been a regular commentator on PBS.



Sallie Tisdale is the author of several books, including “The Best Thing I Ever Tasted” and "Talk Dirty to Me: An Intimate Philosophy of Sex.” Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Harper's, the New Yorker, Allure and Vogue.



Laura Veirs is a Portland-based singer/songwriter. Her albums include “Saltbreakers,” “Year of Meteors” and “Carbon Glacier,” among others.

Sherman Alexie is the author of “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,” “Reservation Blues,” “Smoke Signals” and “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” winner of the 2007 National Book Award.


Pam Houston is the author of the novel “Sight Hound,” the collection of essays “A Little More About Me” and two collections of short stories, “Cowboys Are My Weakness,” winner of the 1993 Western States Book Award and “Waltzing the Cat,” winner of the Willa Award for Contemporary Fiction.


T. M. McNally is the author of five works of fiction, including the novels “Until Your Heart Stops,” a New York Times Notable Book; “Almost Home,” a St. Louis Post-Dispatch Best Book of the Year; and “The Goat Bridge,” a Booklist Editors' Choice for 2005. He is also the author of the short story collections “Low Flying Aircraft” and “Quick.”



Devin Sullivan was born in the far west country of Malthusia and emigrated to the U.S. in his mid teens. He is currently a member of many bands—most notably, Grebes—a rocking avant oldies band out of Vashon Island.

Christa Bell is an award-winning feminist folk poet, performance artist and cultural activist. She is the author of three collections of poetry, two spoken word CDs and the creatrix of the one-woman phenomenon, “CoochieMagik: A SpokenWord Musical Comedy” directed by Baraka de Soleil.

Jennifer Finney Boylan was born transgendered and lived and published several books, including “Remind Me to Murder You Later” and “Getting In,” among others, under the name James Finney Boylan until 2001. In 2003, Boylan published the memoir, “She's Not There,” winner of the Lambda Award, and a follow-up memoir “I'm Looking Through You” in 2008.

Vikram Chandra is the author of the acclaimed novel, “Sacred Games” (2007), an epic story of crime and punishment in Mumbai, as well as two earlier novels, “Red Earth and Pouring Rain” and “Love and Longing in Bombay.” He lives in Berkeley, where he teaches at the University of California, and in Mumbai.

The Maldives are a Seattle-based country band whose self-titled LP debuted in 2006. The band has toured the United States, performing at Bumbershoot and Sasquatch, among other venues, and regularly plays at the Tractor Tavern. The Maldives second album, “Listen to the Thunder,” is forthcoming in November 2008.



About the Hugo Literary Series
The Hugo Literary Series, which debuted in October,2007, comes from our core desire to bring exciting new writing and writers to the House and to give audiences a glimpse into their process before the piece makes it between the covers of a book or glossy magazine.

Each event features three writers and a songwriter or band. The nights are collages, with unexpected styles and different points of view. We encourage writers to work without a sense of obligation, censorship or stylistic frame.

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.

Event Information
All events occur on Friday nights in Richard Hugo House's Theater—except “My Avatar,” which occurs at Town Hall Seattle. Each event is followed by a party with beer from Elysian Brewing Company, food by Jaime Page-McGuigan and local music. Books are for sale by Elliott Bay Book Company, and authors are available for book signings.