SEATTLE - Richard Hugo House is pleased to announce Tara Hardy as the new writer-in-residence of the Seattle-based nonprofit writing center.
Hardy is the working class queer femme poet who founded Bent, a writing institute for LGBTIQ people in Seattle. Her first full length book of poems, “Bring Down the Chandeliers,” was published by Write Bloody Press in the spring, 2011. She is a founding member of Salt Lines, the all woman performance poetry group that has toured the U.S. since March, 2009. By a vote of the people, the Seattle City Council named Hardy Seattle Poet Populist in 2002. She is the recipient of the 2011 Washington Poets Association Burning Word Award and has been a finalist on seven National Poetry Slam stages. Hardy’s work has been published in various journals and anthologies, including two anthologies by Seal Press, “Sex and Single Girls” and “Without a Net.” She holds a MFA in Fiction from Norwich University and a MA in Social Work from the University of Michigan.
As writer-in-residence, Hardy, a poet, memoirist and longtime teaching artist, will hold office hours (by appointment only) where she will mentor writers who seek advice on their manuscripts and other writing concerns, a service Hugo House offers for free to anyone in the community. About her role as a mentor, Hardy says, “People grow more quickly when they feel joy than when they feel shame. During the decade I spent teaching writing at Bent, I found that many people didn’t grow under the ‘care’ of harsh criticism. This is not to say that as a teacher I don’t offer criticism, more that I offer critical feedback in the form of what will strengthen what’s already working. In this way I encourage students to learn from themselves, to learn from what they’re already doing instinctively.”
In addition to mentoring writers, Hardy will work on her untitled memoir about growing up in a violent family, with the help of her editor, author Dorothy Allison, as well as collaborating with Hugo House staff on community outreach projects seeking to bring forward the stories of people that do not already have access to the arts.
A daughter of the United Auto Workers and activist in the Battered Women’s Movement, Hardy is committed to art as a tool for social change. She has been a keynote speaker and performer on hundreds of campuses for Take Back the Night, LGBT Pride, Women’s History Month, Trans Awareness Week, Kink on Campus, Women’s Studies and Lavender graduations, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, National Coming Out Day and various gender, sexuality, social class and poetry related events.
“My efforts towards community outreach will value the voices of people who haven’t yet made it to Richard Hugo House, but for which Richard Hugo House will be greatly enriched for having welcomed,” Hardy says.
Brian McGuigan, newly appointed Programs and Marketing Director, relishes the opportunity to work with Hardy whom he calls, “the poet laureate for queer writers in Seattle.” McGuigan says, “When I think about the future of Hugo House, I see a place where writers of all kinds can discover and hone their voices, take risks with their writing and share it with the community, something Tara has worked tirelessly towards in her role at Bent. She’ll play an integral role in expanding Hugo House’s reach and assisting us in connecting with communities who may not have access to the arts.”
Hardy will replace outgoing writers-in-residence Ryan Boudinot and Karen Finneyfrock, whose two-year terms ended in June, 2011. Boudinot, whose second novel, “Blueprints of the Afterlife,” mostly written at the House, will be published in 2013, continues to teach at Hugo House and facilitate the organization’s recently launched writing retreat program at Icicle Creek Music Center. Finneyfrock, whose YA novel, “Celia the Dark and Weird,” is near completion and will be published in 2012, is currently teaching in Hugo House’s summer camp for teens, Scribes, and facilitates Write Time, the weekly drop-in writing circle for teens, returning from summer hiatus in the fall.
Due to budget cuts, Hugo House was forced to reduce the residency program to one writer for 2012, but McGuigan insists it is “vital to the House’s mission and remains a program that we are committed to with the hope of returning to two writers in the future.”
Tara Hardy’s term as writer-in-residence begins September 15, and runs through June 2012 with an option to renew for an additional year. To make an appointment with Hardy, visit Hugo House’s web site in the fall.
The writer-in-residence program is one of the longest running programs at Richard Hugo House, beginning in 1999 with novelist Rebecca Brown. The writers-in-residence are selected on their strength as writers and teachers, their ability to engage in the writing community and act as ambassadors for Hugo House. Past writers-in-residence include Joan Fiset, Charles Mudede and David Wagoner.
About Richard 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 is located at 1634 11th Ave in Seattle.
Richard Hugo House receives funding from Amazon.com, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Washington State Arts Commission, the Hearst Foundation, ArtsFund, the Boston Foundation’s Sara Delano Redmond Fund, Wells Fargo, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, 4Culture, the Seattle Foundation, the Norman Hirschfield Foundation, City of Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, the Roberts Family Foundation, Suquamish Tribe, Fales Foundation Trust, US Bancorp Foundation, Maurer Family Foundation, KUOW and The Stranger.