Spokane: Where the Weather is Horrible and the Writing is Amazing

When people think of vibrant arts communities, they usually think of New York, LA, Seattle--cities on the coastlines. But in Spokane, if you were to pull out a calendar and put your finger on a random date, you'd probably land on a reading. To name a few, we have: Auntie's, DANGER! Live Writers, Naked Lunch Break, Broken Mic, Beacon Hill, Spokane Poetry Slam, EWU's Visiting Writers Series, and the magnificent Get Lit! Festival (this isn't journalism, bias is permissible).

It's kind of insane, really, how lucky us Spokanites are. So, let's take a minute and forget about the deadly ice-pavement we've been careening over for weeks, and the fact that we live somewhere that has "Stagnant Air Advisories," and bask in the knowledge that our writing community is better than their writing community, whoever they may be.

On a less narcissistic note, take a few minutes to look at the amazing work Spokane writers have been producing. Then forward the links to your friends in the Midwest and gloat.

Mari Hunt: 

You might remember Mari Hunt from the 2011 Inlander Short Fiction Contest, which she won with the story "Her Daughter." Now her story "In the Shadow of Elizabeth Smart" is being featured in the literary journal YARN.

From "In the Shadow of Elizabeth Smart":

Three years ago, when I was fourteen, I waited for my mother to pick me up from a department store downtown. Katie Rennert and I spent Saturday afternoon shopping, but she had to leave early. Her mom called while we were in Women’s Shoes saying she had to go out to dinner with her grandmother—or maybe it was her aunt—I can’t remember anymore. The point is, I waited for my mom by myself at the department store between two sets of doors. One set led outside, where my mother didn’t want me waiting alone, and the other led into the store. The space in between, the space where I waited, is called a vestibule. It’s a nothing space. Like being nowhere, like being fourteen.

Get the full story here.

Kevin Taylor:

Kevin Taylor spent 7 years writing for the Inlander before leaving in 2011 to pursue freelancing. No surprise here, freelancing looks good on him. His piece “Haiti: Home of Her Heart,” just won a Gold Award in the Individual Features or Feature Articles category of the 2013 CASE District VIII Communications Awards, which is a long way of saying that his feature writing is the best of the best in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and Western Canada. Read more about it here.

From "Haiti: Home of Her Heart":

In Cité Soleil [site so-lay, Sun City] the poorest slum in Port-au-Prince, the chaotic capital of Haiti, Analiesse Isherwood (’11, Behavioral Neuroscience) came bearing gifts for the Christmas toy giveaway in the church. Boy. She saw the boy on the dirt street in Cité Soleil, naked but for a scrap of undefinable cloth. Plastic bottle on a string. Sitting in the passing tap-tap with her mission team, Analiesse Isherwood had the sack filled with toys – real, American toys – she had spent all her spare dollars on. 

Get the full article here.