Feature

The Richard Hugo House:
A Home for Writers

Richard Hugo is the namesake for the Richard Hugo House, a literary community center that nurtures writers, readers, and audiences of books, plays, and films. The center also brings innovative writing education to people of all ages and backgrounds. In his book, The Triggering Town, Richard Hugo says, "Writing is a way of saying you and the world have a chance." Hugo, a writer who wrote beautifully about overlooked places, would appreciate the mission of the Hugo House, which is "to build a vital learning community that develops and sustains practicing writers doing essential work."

The founders of the Hugo House—Linda Jaech, Andrea Lewis, and Frances McCue—believed that like Richard Hugo's eloquently overlooked places, writers had been overlooked in the region. In 1996, the three Seattle writers began to research an idea that Linda Jaech proposed—to create an urban writer's retreat with readings and services for readers and writers. Although Seattle is known for its writers and bookstores, no central "hub" existed for writers and readers to meet and build audiences for new work. In 1997, Richard Hugo House moved to its present location in central Capitol Hill in a 16,206 square foot Victorian house built in 1912. The house, which had been previously used as a theatre, apartment house, and mortuary, is an exceptional use of space with a 150-seat theatre, cafe with cabaret stage, library, conference room, a writer's room, and administrative offices.

This quietly tucked-away center in Capitol Hill is indeed the bustling literary hub that the three founders envisioned. The Hugo House is home to a wide array of courses, innovative workshops, readings by seasoned and emerging writers, and various programs that engage and benefit the community. Courses are original and professional, with students and teachers coming together who share a similar passion. Classes change regularly and run the gamut of topics from "Manuscript Completion Course" to "Writing in the City" in which the instruction requires the viewing of the movie Blade Runner before the class begins. Hugo House instructors describe comfortable and supportive classrooms in which published and beginning writers learn together. Programs such as the John Nelson Prison Program and School Alliance: After School Writing Club aim to keep alive the vital connection between writing and community.

Two active voices at the Hugo House are the Writers in Residence, Kathleen Alcala and Emily White. The writers maintain a variety of responsibilities at the Hugo House such as holding office hours to consult with writers about their work, teaching in the Inquiry Through Writing Program, and producing a program designed to bring audiences and writers together.

Kathleen, a fiction writer whose books include Treasures in Heaven, The Flower in the Skull, Spirits of the Ordinary, and Mrs. Vargas and the Dead Naturalis, is interested in producing events highlighting storytelling as the basis of writing. "Family stories are the original source of my own writing. Stories provide a framework within we can understand the human condition; they link events in a way that shows cause and effect, something that is often hard to detect in real life. By telling stories—out loud, on paper, through words or music—we can share our understanding of the world with each other, and so create a sort of common vocabulary through which we can communicate," she says.

Kathleen is working on a series of events called a Latino National Conversation, in which readings and author presentations are centered around storytelling. She will also be presenting three nights of storytelling with each night featuring a master storyteller followed by an open-mike. The audience is invited to vote on which story was the "biggest or the best."

Emily, a former editor of The Stranger, is a fiction and non-fiction writer. She is currently working on a book titled, Fast Girls: Teenage Tribes and the Myth of the Slut, to be published in March by Scribner. It's an investigation of the high school slut myth as it pervades teenage life and is based on interviews and cultural analysis. Emily is working on a series of readings and events centered around the theme of redemption, called "Save Yourself." Local and out-of-town writers and artists will explore various ways of being rescued, regenerated, or salvaged. The events explore the many different forms in which we can experience deliverance. At the center of the series will be a revival meeting hosted by Reverend William Steven Humphrey, author of The Stranger column, "I Love Television."

One of the most valuable responsibilities of the Hugo House Writers in Residence is their open office policy, in which both Kathleen and Emily are available to the public. Community writers can schedule appointments to meet with the Writers in Residence and consult them on their work, seek advice about being published, or just meet to talk about issues such as inspiration and creativity. Both Kathleen and Emily are eager to help and glad to see that people utilize their knowledge of writing. The consultations are free and tailored to the needs of those seeking help. "I assess where the writer is in their work, and what they want out of a meeting with me. I give advice, which will help them move in their desired direction: toward publication or simply finishing, or toward realizing what they want to write about," Emily says.

Kathleen poses three essential questions to those who come to her for help. "I suggest that they write down these questions: Who are you writing for? (Who is your audience?) Do you want to be published? How will you decide if you are successful? At some point or another, they will find themselves referring back to one or more of these questions in order to make decisions about their work," says Kathleen.

The Richard Hugo House can be as vital as pen and paper to local writers in the Seattle area. It is a venue, a gathering place, a sounding board, and a center where people can build relationships over shared interests. Check out the Richard Hugo House at www.hugohouse.org.

Aja Armey is a poet, artist, and writer living in a big white house in Seattle where she quietly plans a cultural revolution with the help of Anais Nin, Bob Dylan, and Anne Sexton.