S145.
Sustaining Seattle: Literary Leaders in a Time of Reckoning
Saturday, March 11, 2023
10:35 am to 11:50 am
How will Seattle’s literary scene remain vibrant and organic, given the pressures—and opportunities—of the city’s increasing role as the nation’s second publishing hub? Poised between increased international ties and deep histories of red-lining of land rights conflicts, our city is reckoning with questions of community sustainability. Drawing together activist leaders from leading local literary organizations, this panel explores our needs and challenges during the years of growth ahead.
Participants
Susan Meyers teaches at Hugo House and directs the creative writing program at Seattle University. Her novel Failing the Trapeze won the Nilsen Award for a First Novel, and she has received awards from the Fulbright foundation, NEH, AAUW, Hedgebrook, Jentel, Playa, and Millay Colony for the Arts.
Juan Carlos Reyes has published the novella A Summer's Lynching and fiction chapbook Elements of a Bystander. His work has appeared in Waccamaw, Florida Review, and Moss, among others. He is the former board president of Seattle City of Literature and teaches creative writing at Seattle University.
Joyce Chen is the executive director of The Seventh Wave, a literary arts nonprofit that champions art in the space of social issues through publishing, events, residencies, and more. She's been published in Rolling Stone, Poets & Writers, People, Paste, LitHub, Narratively, and beyond.
Kimberly A.C. Wilson, twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the explanatory journalism and breaking news categories, is the executive director at Hedgebrook. An avid reader, she is currently writing a work of speculative fiction.
