Want to get a sneak peek at Seismic?

Art by Valerie Niemeyer for Crosscut

We’re thrilled that Seismic: Seattle, City of Literature is nearly here, and excited to share some of the amazing essays in the collection. Want to get a sneak peek? Check out the introduction by editor Kristen Millares Young, and essays by Ken Workman, Timothy Egan, and Claudia Castro Luna which are featured on our website here. You can learn more about the other contributors to the collection as well!

And if you haven’t already registered for the virtual launch party on September 15 at 7pm, you can do that here. Hope to see you there!

Seismic is nearly here!

We’re excited to announce that Seismic: Seattle, City of Literature is almost here. Edited by the wonderful Kristen Millares Young, Seismic is a collection of essays that invites ten local authors to consider what is means for Seattle to be a UNESCO City of Literature and how literature (and the arts sector in general) can be an agent of change.

The collection will be released on September 15 and Seattle City of Literature is partnering with The Seattle Public Library to host the launch event. Register here for the event, and in the meantime enjoy the beautiful and apt cover, designed by Mita Mahato.

Learn more about the contributors to the collection here on our Seismic page. And if you haven’t watched it already, enjoy editor Kristen Millares Young’s Message to the City . See you on September 15!

Resources for the Literary Community

Photo by Vlad Tchompalov via Unsplash

The COVID-19 public health crisis has shaken the global community. We’re heartbroken by the impact that the crisis is having on Seattle’s literary community.

On April 14, 2020, Seattle City of Literature co-founder and current Board President Rebecca Brinbury sent a letter to Governor Inslee asking him to consider classifying bookstores as essential businesses during this crisis. Read the letter below. If you want to add your support, sign Seattle City of Literature’s petition.
We’re also inviting everyone in the literary community: readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, etc. to share how COVID-19 has impacted them. Take the survey now.

Below you’ll find some resources and links for the community during this difficult time. We’re featuring resources that focus on helping the literary community, but many of the sites have links for artists of all types. Listings with an asterisk (*) are based in Washington state.

Resources

For the literary community:
American Society of Journalists & Authors Writers Emergency Assistance Fund
Authors League Fund
Carnegie Fund for Authors
Dramatists Guild Foundation
The PEN Writers Fund
Queer Writers of Color Relief Fund
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Sustainable Arts Foundation

General:
4Culture: Includes aggregate resource lists, funding opportunities and webinar listings. *
Americans for the Arts: Includes aggregate resource lists, funding opportunities, webinar listings, and articles.
Arts Administrators of Color Network : A relief fund to support BIPOC artists and administrators.
ArtsFund: Relief fund *
Artist Trust: Includes resource lists and funding opportunities *
Artwork Archives: Includes a list of emergency grants for artists.
Book Industry Charitable Foundation (BINC)
Freelancers Union
King County Creative's COVID-19 Handbook for Creative Industries *
One Reel “Art Saves Me” Grant *
Seattle Artist Relief Fund Amid COVID-19 *
Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture Art Beat Blog: Includes a number of resources, including this spreadsheet of resources for individuals and organizations that includes funding opportunities, and more general resources re: rent relief, healthcare, etc.  *
Spokane Arts: Relief fund for individual artists in the Spokane, WA area. *
Springboard for the Arts: Include several resources and relief funds.

Make Your Voice Heard

This crisis is having an unprecedented, direct impact on the arts sector. Please take a minute to complete these surveys to help measure that impact so it can be accurately quantified.

Americans for the Arts
LitNet
Economic Impact Survey for Greater Seattle Region
Seattle Independent Artist Sustainability Effort's Independent Artists COVID-19 Impact Documentation
Seattle City of Literature

Resources for Readers

Want to support your literary community? There are lots of ways! Check out some of the suggestions at the links below.

Humanities Washington: Includes a list of Washington State bookstores who are still taking orders and shipping books *
McSweeney’s: Includes ways you can support independent bookstores
Save Indie Bookstores: Author James Patterson has donated $500,00 to start a fund to save independent bookstores. You can donate too!

Seattle City of Literature Seeks New Board Members!

Seattle City of Literature, the nonprofit responsible for securing Seattle’s UNESCO City of Literature designation in 2017, is looking for new board members.

Are you:
Passionate about books and reading?
Committed to supporting the work of the literary community in Seattle?
Interested in making meaningful change in and around our city?

If so, apply now! We’d love to chat with you about our work!

Members of the Seattle City of Literature board serve three-year terms, and the board meets one evening every month for two hours. We are a working board; responsibilities include (but are not limited to) fundraising, communicating regularly with the community, and advising on Seattle's relationship to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

Fall Books Preview Part Two!

Our second preview comes from Caitlin Baker, adult book buyer at University Book Store. Catilin, a seasoned bookseller who tweets about books at @Cait_onthe_Luce, highlights some titles that might have evaded the national press.  Eve Out of Her Ruins, by Ananda Devi and translated from the French by Jeffrey Zuckerman September 2016 Deep Vellum Publishing 

Narrated by four teens living in the Troumaron neighborhood on the tiny resort island of Mauritius, Eve Out of Her Ruins captures the harsh reality of life in a part of the island tourists never see. Devi's powerful novel has stuck with me weeks after finishing and  Zuckerman's lively translation captures the intensity of the daily struggle for life the teens face.

The Revolutionaries Try Again, by Mauro Javier Cardenas September 2016 Coffee House Press

In this debut novel, three childhood friends reunite after a decade apart to run against the corrupt President El Loco. Cardenas' playful language and wit make this one of the best books of the year.

 The Subsidiary, by Matias Celedon August 30, 2016 Melville House

Designed by the author using a set of rubber stamps he purchased at the Santiago library, The Subsidiary is set in an office building in which the employees are trapped during a power outage. Through mounting terror, and with only a few words per page, this slim book will haunt you long after you have finished reading it.

A Greater Music, by Bae Suah and translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith October 2016 Open Letter  

Early in A Greater Music the narrator slips into an icy river outside Berlin where she is house sitting for an ex-boyfriend. As the reader we slip into her memories in this gorgeously written book.

Thanks to Caitlin and University Book Store for these picks! And stay tuned for more recommendations from other booksellers in our community!

Save

Save