Good morning. It's Friday, August 7, and we're ending the week with something special: a message from the novelist and journalist Kristen Millares Young, followed by a visual poem that is an excerpt from her debut novel Subduction.
Though Subduction came out April 14—not the best timing for a new work of art to enter the world—it is still getting amazing buzz. It's a Paris Review staff pick, the Washington Post called “whip-smart,” and Ms. Magazine called it “utterly unique and important.”
Local writers know Kristen as the prose writer-in-residence at Hugo House from 2018 to 2020. Her prize-winning investigations, essays, and reviews appear in the Washington Post, Literary Hub, the Guardian, and elsewhere. And she's the editor of the forthcoming anthology Seismic, a book from the Seattle City of Literature.
There's a transcript of her message this morning here.
You can buy Subduction at Elliott Bay or Third Place or wherever fine books are sold. Get it now so you'll have it on hand for its (now online) book launch party on October 2 at Hugo House.
As for Seismic, it will have its book launch on September 15, organized by Seattle Public Library.
In addition to all of these other accomplishments, Kristen was the researcher for the New York Times team that produced “Snow Fall,” which won a Pulitzer Prize. And from 2016 to 2019, she was board chair of InvestigateWest, a nonprofit newsroom she co-founded to protect vulnerable peoples and places of the Pacific Northwest.
Are you sensing how unbelievably amazing Kristen is? You can keep up with all her projects by following her on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
Thank you for your message today, Kristen. And for that reading. And for showing us what a "visual poem" looks like!
We can't wait to see you on September 15 for the Seismic launch and again on October 2 for the Subduction party.
Have a good weekend, everyone.
* *
Previously in this series:
