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Mia Tong’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a mythology-inspired Young Adult adventure duology. The story revolves around a young adult named Vana, her caretaker who contracts an illness, and Vana’s journey to find a cure in a vast country she knows little about. In her conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they […] The post The Parasol Maker – Mia Tong appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Mateo Bracken’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a manuscript of Auburn, Washington’s settler colonial history in verse. In his conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they discuss where he turned for information on the history of Auburn, the multiple meanings of the name “Slaughter,” and why he’s called to write about Auburn’s […] The post A Town Called Slaughter – Mateo Bracken appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Connor Watkins-Xu’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a book of poems covering themes of trauma, depression, and struggling with faith, which he hopes will “carry emotions and revelation.” In his conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they discuss his journey from Alabama to Washington State, some of the poets who’ve influenced him, […] The post Reruns – Connor Watkins-Xu appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Hillary Behrman’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a novel called All Over the Place and a collection of short stories called Lake Effect that explore human care and intimacy in a world that breeds doubt and isolation. In her conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they discuss some of the themes of […] The post All Over the Map – Hillary Behrman appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Nhatt Nichols’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a non-fiction graphic novel about the history of the Białowieża Forest, a World Heritage Area that sits between Poland and Belarus, and how the forest and humanity influence each other. In her conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they explore how she first became interested […] The post The Forest Bison – Nhatt Nichols appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Sigrun Susan Lane’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a collection of poems about her immigrant family and their origins in Iceland. In her conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they discuss Icelandic folklore such as the little people, the influence of Icelandic poet Jakobína Johnson on her life, and the importance of […] The post When Mother Took Her Hair Down – Sigrun Susan Lane appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Jenny Harrington Lill’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a memoir about her late son, Ewan, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2018.  In her conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they discuss Jenny’s writing style, her scientific background as a cell biologist, and her essay titled […] The post How to Write a Eulogy for a 10-Year-Old – Jenny Harrington Lill appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Asha Dore’s  project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is an autoethnography titled Gravity that focuses on weird crime in Florida, class, and neurodivergence.  In her conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they discuss why her father became involved with a Colombian cartel, what her hometown of Pensacola, Florida is like, and why poetics is […] The post Gravity – Asha Dore appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Bill Hollands’s  project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a collection of poems that incorporate pop culture elements from his childhood. In his conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they talk about the ’70s television shows that Bill watched as a kid, gay representation in popular culture, and how the book The Art of […] The post Distance – Bill Hollands appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Gabriel Moseley’s project for the 2024 Jack Straw Writers Program is a speculative fiction novel set at a fundamentalist Christian camp in the Olympic Peninsula, where the revelation of a child’s healing abilities leads to devastating consequences. In his conversation with curator Nisi Shawl, they explore how the genre of science fiction allows him to […] The post The Godspore King – Gabriel Moseley appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Stacy Nathaniel Jackson’s project for the 2024 Jack Straw Writers Program is a novel that he describes as “Epic, leaning speculative fiction, with a horror lens.” The Dim centers on a headhunter who has a genetic mutation that causes his sense of physical pain to be dimmed and how that lack of pain affects him. […] The post The Dim – Stacy Nathaniel Jackson appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Catherine Denardo’s project for the 2024 Jack Straw Writers Program is a piece of nonfiction narrative writing that celebrates the sounds of the Southern Residents, a community of endangered killer whales located in coastal waters of British Columbia and Washington State. In her conversation with curator Nisi Shawl, they delve into the importance of scientific […] The post A Killer Whale Calls – Catherine DeNardo appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Jarrett Ziemer’s project for the 2024 Jack Straw Writers Program is a multimedia project, a collection of poems paired with short films where he uses personification and the conflation of identities to tell introspective stories. In his conversation with curator Nisi Shawl, they delve into how he first became aware of his use of personification […] The post Remora – Jarrett Ziemer appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Amontaine Aurore’s project for the 2024 Jack Straw Writers Program is an autobiographical coming of age novel set between 1963 and 1974, when her family moved to and lived in an all-white neighborhood in Seattle. The novel focuses on her search for a Black identity during a time of cultural, political, and social upheaval and […] The post The Memoirs of Ruby Lovestone – Amontaine Aurore appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Becca Rose Hall’s project for the 2024 Jack Straw Writers Program is a family epic novel set in the Pacific Northwest, homing in on the town of Home, Washington, an anarchist colony founded in 1896 on the Kitsap Peninsula. The novel switches between a homesteader living  in Home and her great granddaughter, who in the […] The post Summer Thinking – Becca Rose Hall appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.