Article on the Richard Hugo House

Located on Seattle’s colorful Capitol Hill, the Richard Hugo House is a cultural oasis designed to support, promote, and inspire writers. The spacious Victorian house, gray with teal trim, was built in 1902 and has been a 4-unit apartment building, a funeral home, and a cutting-edge theatrical venue, among other things. As one enters the recently renovated, soothingly genteel structure, one sees a cozy cabaret-style performing space with a grand piano and a nearby (spacious) kitchen. The first floor also contains an 150-seat theater, a reception desk, and some "sitting" or "study" spaces. Upstairs are the library and Writers' Room – available to members only. They are geared towards providing resources (both traditional and electronic) for emerging writers. There are also several special collections, including the Library of Journals, Notebooks and Diaries (by writers and other artists); a Northwest writers collection; and a Richard Hugo Archive. Lurking in the basement is the Zine Archive Project, which boasts an international collection of 2,500 handmade magazines; titles range from Neurotic Filth to Nancy’s Magazine.

On the first floor is a cozy, cabaret-style performance space.			Upstairs are the library and Writers' Room.

But that’s not all! The Richard Hugo House offers fellowships, writing classes, and internships; and it has two Writers-in-Residence: Joan Fiset and Charles Mudede. Events include a new play competition, an annual Cultural Dilemma Event, various staged reading series, and just about any workshop, seminar or program that anyone in the community can dream up and present to the program committee (such as Stage Fright, a bimonthly youth open mike). The space is also available to both members and non-members for presentations of their work – the schedule is usually full to the brim. For information on events and membership, call (206) 322-7030 or visit www.hugohouse.org or drop by 1634 11th Avenue on Mondays from 5:00 to 9:00 PM or Fridays from 1:00 to 5:00 PM. Question: How, when, and by whom was this haven of literacy created? Slightly longwinded answer: Novelist Linda Jaech attended an Atlanta writing conference in 1995 where she met representatives of the Poet’s House in New York, the Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio, and The Loft in Minneapolis. Inspired, she returned to Seattle and contacted her friends (and fellow writers) Andrea Lewis and Frances McCue; together they set the wheels in motion for a literary arts center in Seattle. They chose to call it after a Seattle poet that they all admired, Richard Hugo, a man who shattered all of the traditional "poetic" stereotypes.

		Hugo was a sturdy, outgoing man who drove a Buick convertible and loved baseball, fishing, and alcohol in addition to poetry. He grew up in a rough neighborhood, flew in aerial combat missions in World War II, and spent over ten years as a technical writer for Boeing before becoming a successful poet and teacher (at the University of Montana).
Hugo's poetry often celebrated the "beauty" of obscure and unappetizing locations. The house named for him, which deserves neither of those adjectives, is a tribute to his memory and a rich resource for writers living in or visiting Seattle. Let me end with a quote. "Writing is a way of saying you and the world have a chance." —Richard Hugo, The Triggering Town