In partnership with Hedgebrook, Washington Humanities, and co-founder Scribente Maternum – formed in the pandemic years when the need to support literary mothers birthed a movement drawing every iteration of mother to gather across state borders, CityLit announces the debut of a West Coast CityLit Fest West in Seattle, Washington. It introduces three sessions: author Angela Garbes, who champions valuing domestic work (Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change) on The Work That Makes All Other Work Possible; multi-talented journalist (and singer!) Kristen Millares Young, (Subduction) in How to Write a Family Portrait, and the Write Like a Mother Panel Discussion and Social that includes poet Amber Flame, (apocrifa) and journalist Maggie Mertens (the forthcoming Better Faster Farther: How Running Changed Everything We Know About Women).
*For detailed information on free and fee-based sessions, visit:
https://www.scribentematernum.com/upcoming-events
These events are in person in Seattle, Washington.
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CityLit Fest West with Angela Garbes
Sat Apr 20, 2024
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
The Pioneer Collective, 92 Lenora Street, Seattle WA 98121
The Work That Makes All Other Work Possible
Without domestic care and labor, no other work – creative or professional – is possible. This session will explore the history of why care work is undervalued, then challenge and expand our understanding of what ‘mothering’ and care labor is and can be. We’ll explore our own care journeys – the memories, emotions, and physical sensations – that brought us to where we are today and reframe care work as rich
terrain for writing and storytelling.
Note: This event is one part of the CityLit West Festival. All sessions require registration, even those that are free.
1:00-2:30pm: “The Work That Makes All Other Work Possible” with Angela Garbes at The Pioneer Collective (Sliding scale pricing. Advanced registration required.)
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CityLit Fest West with Kristen Millares Young
Sat Apr 20, 2024
3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
The Pioneer Collective, 92 Lenora Street, Seattle WA 98121
How to Write a Family Portrait
Tell the stories that have preoccupied, amused, and defined your family for generations. In this hour-long generative writing workshop, essayist Kristen Millares Young will use guided prompts and discussions to help you plan, write, and revise your family stories. By reflecting on intimate truths, we can redefine how we think about ourselves and our kin, contribute to our communities, and spark vital conversations. Participants will leave with new pages. Thank you to Washington Humanities for sponsoring this event!
Note: This event is one part of the CityLit West Festival. All sessions require registration, even those that are free.
3:00-4:30pm: “How to Write a Family Portrait” with Kristen Millares Young at The Pioneer Collective (Free. Sponsored by Washington Humanities)
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CityLit Fest West Panel Discussion and Social
Sat Apr 20, 2024
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Black Bottle Gastrotavern, 2600 1st Avenue, Seattle, WA 98121
Write Like a Mother Panel Discussion and Social
Gather with other moms-who-write to chat about life as a writer-mom and to connect with a community of other creative parents. We’ll hear from local accomplished writers (who also happen to be moms) to learn about their creative lives in a lively panel discussion. Stay to mingle and socialize and form connections. Drinks and food will be available for purchase.
Thank you to Black Bottle Gastrotavern for sponsoring this event!
Note: This event is one part of the CityLit West Festival. All sessions require registration, even those that are free.
5:30-7:00pm: Writer-Moms Social and Panel Discussion at Black Bottle Gastrotavern (Free. Sponsored by Black Bottle Gastrotavern)
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Meet the Panelists
Angela Garbes is the author of Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change, called “a landmark and a lightning storm” by The New Yorker. Essential Labor was named a Best Book of 2022 by both The New Yorker and NPR. Her first book, Like a Mother, was also an NPR Best Book of the Year, as well as a finalist for the Washington State Book Award in nonfiction. Her writing on care labor and the care economy has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, New York Magazine, and featured on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and Fresh Air with Terry Gross. A first-generation Filipina American, Garbes lives with her family in Seattle.
Kristen Millares Young (she/her) is a journalist, essayist, and author. Her novel Subduction was a winner of the Nautilus and IPPY awards, as well as a finalist for two International Latino Book Awards and Foreword Indies Book of the Year. She is also the editor of Seismic. Millares Young was the researcher for the New York Times team behind “Snow Fall,” which won a
Pulitzer. Her essays, reviews, and investigations appear in the Washington Post, the Guardian, and anthologies such as Alone Together. Millares Young lives in Seattle.
Maggie Mertens is a writer, journalist, and editor in Seattle. Her essays and reporting have appeared in The Atlantic, NPR, Sports Illustrated, ESPNw, Glamour, Pacific Standard, Refinery29, and Creative Nonfiction, among others. Her book Better Faster Farther: How Running Changed Everything We Know About Women will publish in June 2024.
A former church kid from the Southwest, Amber Flame’s work is published widely and explores spirituality and sexuality, cross-woven with themes of grief and loss, motherhood and magic, and interstitial joy. A 2016 and 2017 Pushcart Prize nominee and Jack Straw Writer Program alum, Amber Flame’s first full-length poetry collection, Ordinary Cruelty, was published in 2017 through Write Bloody Press. While serving as Hugo House’s 2017-2019 Writer-in-Residence for Poetry, Flame completed her second book of poetry, titled apocrifa, from Red Hen Press. A voracious reader and passionate lover of words, Flame has dedicated more than 15 years teaching, training, and implementing programming in education equity, Black media, youth empowerment, and with women and youth impacted by incarceration. Through her work at Hedgebrook, Amber Flame is committed to fighting racism through centering the voices of women-identified Black and brown humans.