Mid-February to mid-March, I'll be zipping around the country reading from and yapping about Daughters of the Air (yay!). While I'm at it, I'll be teaching a couple one-day classes on one of my favorite topics: writing contemporary fairy tales. In both classes we'll short-short stories by masters of the form, Angela Carter and Kate Bernheimer, and write our own retellings and original tales.In Portland: Sunday, February 18, 10 am-2 pm at Literary Arts. Bring lunch! Register here.(N.B.  I'll be reading at Powell's City of Books the next day, February 19 at 7:30 pm, in conversation with another fan of fairy tales, Susan DeFreitas, author of Hot Season. Here is a conversation between us on fairy tales on the Powell's blog.)In Chicago:Monday, March 5, 6:30-9 pm at StoryStudio Chicago. Register here.(And my Chicago reading will be at The Book Cellar on Saturday, March 3 at 6 pm, with Gint Aras, author of The Fugue.)

---

---

---

All of my upcoming readings are here.All of my upcoming classes are here.Want short & sweet once-a-month updates on readings, classes, publications, and bits on art, writing, food, and cities? Subscribe to my newsletter here. It's like this blog but less often and right in your inbox! You can check out previous newsletters here. Past highlights include pictures of ponies, fruit pyramids, giants, and odd winged creatures.

Hugo House's fall course catalog is now available. I'm teaching three classes, listed below. Scholarships are available and applications are due August 24. Hope to see you around Hugo House soon!

• All Talk: Dialogue Intensive, a one-day class, meeting September 26, 1-5 pm.
• Second Helping: How Food Improves Your Fiction, a one-day class, meeting October 24, 1-5 pm.
• Visual Inspiration, a six-week class at the Henry Art Gallery, meeting Thursdays, 6-8 pm, September 17-October 29 (no class October 22--that's Lit Crawl!)

I'm also happy to offer writing coaching. If you're interested, email me at anca (dot) l (dot) szilagyi (at) gmail (dot) com, and tell me what you're working on and what kind of coaching you are looking for, and we'll go from there.

In the spring, I'm teaching a new class at Richard Hugo House, Intro to the Fiction Workshop. Exciting! This 10-week class will lay out a solid foundation for students interested in workshopping their stories but who have never taken a workshop or who want to brush up on giving constructive criticism. Workshops can be intimidating at any level; this one will be both welcoming and rigorous.  And fun! The class runs Thursday nights, 7:10-9:10 from 3/20-5-22. Registration opens 2/11 for Hugo House Members, and 2/18 for the general public. Scholarship applications are due 2/18.

October in Seattle will be brimming with literary events. Between Arts Crush, City Arts Fest and a whole slew of other goodies, I'll be glad I went back to drinking coffee and taking my multivitamins! Here are a few events I'm involved with, one way or another:

• Wed. Oct. 3, 6-7 pm. The Furnace Reading Series Presents "The Last Night at Manuela's" .What happens when a stage play is adapted for radio? That's what Buffy Aakaash has done with his award-winning play, which is set in Mexico on the Day of the Dead. Come watch it live as it's broadcast on Hollow Earth Radio! We'll have hot chocolate on hand (just sayin'). This is a free and featured Arts Crush event made possible with support from the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs. Hosted by Corinne Manning. (Nb: I kicked off this free quarterly series in August and now help to coordinate it.) Facebook Twitter

• Sun. Oct. 6, 6-7 pm. Sunset Reading on the Melrose Promenade. An evening of poetry and sunset-gazing featuring the fabulously talented poets Brian McGuigan, Elizabeth Cooperman, and Katherine Ogle, plus one of the best views in Seattle.  One of a string of events promoting the Melrose Promenade project, which is working toward making Melrose Avenue Seattle's next great open space.

• Sat. Oct. 27, 1-5 pm. Found Stories at Richard Hugo House. I'm teaching a one-day class using found objects as generative material for new fiction. Fun! And then, right afterwards...

• Sat. Oct. 27, 6 pm. Long Talking Bad Conditions Blues reading series at Liberty Bar in Capitol Hill. I'm thrilled to be reading with Eugene Cross, Jane Wong, Katherine DeBlassie, Matthew Nienow, and Suzanne Morrison. Hosted by Zachary Watterson.

Then of course, there's the marathon Seattle Lit Crawl on Thursday, October 18, meandering from First Hill to Capitol Hill from 5 to 10 pm at which many of my talented writer friends will be reading.Whew! I think in November I might need a nap.

I'm looking forward to teaching Found Stories, a one-day class at Hugo House this October 27 aimed at generating new fiction using found objects. There will be some very essential and very fun pre-class homework: I'm asking students to bring in objects that they find - post-it notes, mittens, music boxes - anything that will be helpful in generating stories, which, really, could be anything. I'll be bringing in a few of my own artifacts, and until class, I'm also keeping an eye out for goodies left on sidewalks, yard sales, and the like. But I'm really curious about what else people will bring. What stories catch your eye when you see something left behind - discarded or forgotten?In the meantime, here's a great story Andrei Codrescu told on NPR today about two items he found while moving: a box of chocolates wrapped in miniature covers of one of his poetry books and a bag of petrified pretzels. And here's a bit about Joseph Cornell, an artist I've been slowly reading up on who used found objects in his dreamy work .

I'm delighted to be offering a six-week creative writing class through the Hugo House and the Henry Art Gallery this summer. Here's the course description:Meeting at the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, this class will use visual art as a springboard for writing. We’ll mine a range of media (photographs, paintings, sculpture, textiles, etc.) to unearth new prose projects or add depth and breadth to works in progress. To help with the creative percolation, we’ll read short published works that have been inspired by visual art. Exercises, readings, and discussions will cover process, character, story, landscape (internal and external), and style. Students will be able to workshop one short-short story or essay. Optional text: Looking Together: Writers on Art, ed. Rebecca Brown and Mary Jane Knecht (Frye Art Museum & University of Washington Press). Co-Presented with the Henry Art Gallery.The class will meet Thursday evenings, 5-7 pm, from July 12-August 16, and we're going to have a fabulous time looking at art and writing!You can register online, by phone (206-322-7030), or in person at Hugo House.Related content:

1. Writing from Art
2. Filtering
3. The Work of Writing