Not every writer is a great reader. Within the past month, a variety
of authors have read in Seattle to varying degrees of success. Some of
them were engaging—David Sedaris had sold-out Benaroya Hall
audiences eating out of his hand two nights in a row—but others,
like Ben Greenman, reading in the basement of Elliott Bay Book Company
on a sunny Sunday afternoon, were more awkward. Greenman continually
pointed out how the book-tour model of promotion was a weird and
unsustainable one in the current economy and anathema to the “private
pleasure” of reading. Ultimately, his brainy resistance to the idea of
a reading, and his puzzled-but-willing-to-try-anything demeanor, proved
to be a winning, charming combination. He was so off-putting, it was
on-putting again.
Much less successful than Greenman was the KNOCK magazine issue 11
launch party last week at the Jewelbox Theater in the Rendezvous. A few
of the authors whose work appeared in the new issue of the
magazine—full disclosure: I have a piece about the imaginary body
of work of a pulp fiction author’s pseudonym in the new issue, and I
read at the launch party—were excellent performers (I give myself
a C-plus, as I may have confused someone). Jonathan Evison, the
Bainbridge-based author of All About Lulu, read a long, dialogue-heavy
scene about therapists in Los Angeles that was funny. But Bryan
Tomasovich, KNOCK‘s editor, was obnoxious. By the end of the reading,
he had insulted the audience several times, slurring at one point that,
if he really wanted to, he could have turned Evison into his opening
act. It was like an embarrassing wedding toast that just wouldn’t
end.
Local nonprofit arts organization Jack Straw Productions operates
under the assumption that while not every author can be a Sedaris-level
performer, they can be a little more comfortable—and
entertaining—while reading their own work. The Jack Straw Writers
Program annually selects local authors and introduces them to
live-recorded audio by training them in microphone technique and vocal
presentation. There are very few programs that do this; even expensive
creative-writing MFA programs pretty much abandon the writers to their
own devices when it comes to performance.
This year’s crop of Jack Straw graduates is performing over three
weeks this month. On May 21, the second reading will feature Alma
Garcia, Rachel Dilworth, Laura Hirschfeld, and Kim-An Lieberman.
Lieberman is already an emotive, relaxed reader of her own work, so it
will be interesting to see what Jack Straw can draw from her; certainly
her new, lighthearted poems created for the series—about Fu
Manchu flying coach, channel surfing for racist stereotypes, and
chimpanzees controlling robot arms with their brains—are quick
and smart enough to control a crowd. Hopefully, Lieberman and her
fellow graduates will learn that commanding an audience’s attention is
a vital, and wrongfully neglected, part of the writer’s craft. 
Jack Straw May Reading Series: May 15, 21, and 29 at Jack Straw
Productions, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, www.jackstraw.org, 7 pm, $5 suggested
donation.