5 Facts About the Seattle 7 Writers

The Bushwick Book Club is pretty pumped to be working with the Seattle7Writers for our  next show. Authors and collective members Timothy Egan, Nancy Horan and Garth Stein will be on hand as the Bushwick artists perform original music inspired by their work. I, being unfamiliar with the Seattle7Writers, went on a quick Internet fact-finding mission and thought I’d share those results with you here.

1. They love to read local!

Seattle7Writers is a collective of authors from the Pacific Northwest bent on supporting literacy organizations in our communities (Hey, that’s Bushwick!) to foster relationships and connections between writers, readers, booksellers and librarians. They want everyone who likes reading and writing to know each other and read local.

2. The group contains more than seven writers.

Despite being called Seattle7Writers, there are actually way more than seven members of the group. The group has seven board members and over 70 author members. Whoa! That is a lot. I had no idea the PNW was filled with so many successful published authors.

3. They wrote a book that has 36 authors!

One of the group’s projects is the book Hotel Angeline. This novel was written by 36 of the Seattle7Writers’ authors in a week-long writing marathon live on a stage. Authors had two-hour blocks to add their own words to the book and at the end of the week the book was completed.

4. There are New York Times bestselling authors in their midst.

Collective board member, Garth Stein wrote New York Times bestseller, The Art of Racing in the Rain.  The book stayed on the bestseller list for more than 156 weeks. Stein used his own race car driving experience as the basis for the main character’s career. (Sidenote: This is one of the few Seattle7Writers books I have read so far and I highly recommend it. Warning though, it may make you cry.)

5. Their authors have also won major awards.

Another Seattle7Writer author member, Timothy Egan won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2006 for his book The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl. He has also written six other books including The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America which was adapted into a PBS special that will air in February.

I am pretty excited about Bushwick’s new ongoing partnership with the Seattle7Writers. I’m looking forward to learning more about the organization and reading more of their authors’ books.

Do you know more about the Seattle7Writers? If so, feel free to drop some knowledge in the comments.