Members of the Pacific Northwest Ballet at Elliott Bay. By Jordan Matter
The capstone to the residency I just completed with Seattle7Writers was a night of public reading. The charismatic and wonderful Jennie Shortridge hosted the event at Elliott Bay Books. There I joined past residents Janet Buttenwieser and Sierra Nelson to read excerpts from work written during the residency.
The variety of texts made for a wonderful blend, and the audience responded positively. The reading had everything. From Buttenwieser’s humorous and biting personal memoir to Nelson’s elegantly playful poems to (my own) wildly (wildly!) hilarious satire.
This beautiful event brought together writers of memoir, poetry, and fiction with editors and the Seattle reading public. Do check out Buttenwieser’s funny and inspiring memoir on illness, titled Guts, and Nelson’s splendidly imaginative choose-your-own-adventure poetry book, titled I Take Back the Sponge Cake.
One final note on the residency. Regardless of how much I publish in the future, I’m proud to report that I wrote over 100k words of fiction during my six months with the non-profit. Thank you Seattle7Writers for the unique opportunity to develop my craft!