Richard Hugo House needs an Executive Director

Richard Hugo House, a nonprofit center for the literary arts in Seattle, is searching for a full-time Executive Director.

About Hugo House:

Richard Hugo House is a home for writers and readers. Our mission is to provide writers of all ages and backgrounds with the resources they need, connect audiences with the world of writing, foster the creation of new work and promote the literary arts as a vital part of our culture.

Richard Hugo House offers classes, residencies and events. Through our classes, including our flagship program, Hugo Writing Classes, we provide opportunities for writers from age eight to eighty to practice and build their writing skills in supportive, creative and stimulating classrooms. Our residencies offer established writers stipends and/or space to support their work; in exchange, these writers hold office hours and consult free of charge with anyone in the city and region who seek their expertise. Events include our annual Hugo Literary Series, which invites established and up-and-coming writers to create new work and debut it here; the Hugo Writers Fund, a granting program that provides new and emerging writers with space and/or honoraria to produce their own events and premiere new work; and the Hugo Zine Archive and Publishing Project, which maintains a library of over 11,000 handmade and independent publications.

They are looking for someone with the following qualifications:

• A demonstrated passion for the arts and a love of literature;
• A proven ability to lead and mentor staff with integrity, enthusiasm and a commitment to results;
• A minimum of four years of progressively responsible management and supervisory experience;
• Strong communication, listening and relationship-building skills;
• A demonstrated ability to raise funds from a range of sources, most notably individual donors and foundations;
• A solid grasp of human resources and financial management practices and concepts;
• An understanding of marketing, outreach and communications concepts;
• An appreciation for collaborative decision-making processes coupled with the ability to be decisive when required;
• Knowledge of nonprofit board structures and principles of governance;
• The ability to work a flexible schedule to accommodate the organization’s schedule of events; and
• An appreciation for community-based organizations and the organization’s relationship with the greater Seattle community.

Follow this link for the full job description.

Hugo House commissioned a story from my husband, Matt Ruff, for the October 2008 Hugo Literary Series event on the theme “Road Trip.”

I will be teaching a “Research for Writers” class on May 9th for Hugo House’s spring quarter. I’ll post the details and registration information soon.

1000 Novels

This week the Guardian newspaper’s website has been publishing a series called “1000 novels everyone must read.”

The books are briefly described and appear in lists divided by category (science fiction & fantasy, state of the nation, family & self, comedy, crime, love, war & travel). There are also special lists within each category, such as the best novels about madness, the best dystopias, etc.

I’ve only just started to browse my way through the series, but already I like the fact that I’m seeing books from the 17th through the 20th centuries.

My thanks to Cheryl Morgan for pointing the way.

Update: The Guardian has posted an explanation of how the books were chosen, and they compiled the titles into one long list for easier browsing. They are also accepting reader nominations of books left off the list.

“These things are old. These things are true.”

From Barack Obama’s inaugural address:

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many.

They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America – they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted – for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things – some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom…

Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America…

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake…

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends – hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism – these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship…

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed – why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

“Let it be told to the future world…that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive…that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].”

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

By the way, it was Thomas Paine’s December 1776  first American Crisis essay that George Washington ordered read to his troops at Valley Forge before Battle of Trenton. It famously begins: “These are the times that try men’s souls….”

Nicely done, Mr. President.

Obama’s “appreciation of the magic of language and his ardent love of reading…”

There’s a fascinating article about Barack Obama’s love of reading and the books that influenced him in today’s New York Times:

Much has been made of Mr. Obama’s eloquence — his ability to use words in his speeches to persuade and uplift and inspire. But his appreciation of the magic of language and his ardent love of reading have not only endowed him with a rare ability to communicate his ideas to millions of Americans while contextualizing complex ideas about race and religion, they have also shaped his sense of who he is and his apprehension of the world….

Mr. Obama tends to take a magpie approach to reading — ruminating upon writers’ ideas and picking and choosing those that flesh out his vision of the world or open promising new avenues of inquiry….

What’s more, Mr. Obama’s love of fiction and poetry — Shakespeare’s plays, Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick” and Marilynne Robinson‘s “Gilead” are mentioned on his Facebook page, along with the Bible, Lincoln’s collected writings and Emerson’s “Self Reliance” — has not only given him a heightened awareness of language. It has also imbued him with a tragic sense of history and a sense of the ambiguities of the human condition….

This makes me very happy.

As we count down to Inauguration Day…

I offer this quote from Thomas Jefferson’s first inaugural address, March 4, 1801:

About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our Government, and consequently those which ought to shape its Administration… Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations…; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burthened; the honest payment of our debts…; the diffusion of information and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety.

Good advice from writers to start the new year

Welcome back. Now that we’ve all finally escaped from 2008, I wanted to start 2009 with some good advice from interesting and talented writers.

In September 2008, Nicola Griffith posted on her blog her list of “twelve daily deeds of delight for health and happiness.” Here are a few highlights:

• eat a piece of fruit (I mean fruit, a whole something you could pick from a tree or vine: an apple, a nectarine, a pear; not juice; not sorbet; not a disgusting frozen pie; a plump ripe luscious piece of mouth-watering fruit grown without herbicides or pesticides)
• have a conversation (I don’t mean an information exchange about who’s cooking dinner tonight; I don’t mean a shouting match or politely modulated torment about politics; I don’t mean an angsty confession about childhood trauma, or a monologue about javascript; I mean a relaxed, lively, back-and-forth exploration of what gives each of you joy; maybe combined with eating vegetables and drinking wine)
• get out in the fresh air (walking from the office to the car doesn’t count; I’m talking about the park, the beach, the city at one o’clock in the morning: breathe deep of cool, living air)
• look at something with attention–a bird or a beetle, the back of your hand or a glass of water, a shoe or a pencil–until you see something new (newness is all around us; trust me, this one puts a sparkle around your day for hours, and it’s a must for beginning artists)

For those of you who like to make New Year’s resolutions, I suggest that you read her original blog post and either incorporate her list into your daily life or make your own list to live by.

Kelley Eskridge posted on her blog an excellent essay for aspiring pro writers.

Justine Larbalestier has been writing an entertaining series of blog posts with her advice on writing.

In February 2008, John Scalzi wrote a fantastic blog post titled “Unasked-For Advice to New Writers About Money.” This should be required reading for every writer, artist, freelancer, or self-employed person.

This year you’ll get more advice from me on research and related subjects, and tips for aspiring writers from my husband, Matt Ruff.