Spokane Campfire Stories
Spokane, Washington, where I live, is a great town to be a writer. There is such an amazing and supportive writing community here. We have some wonderful nationally known writers like Jess Walter, Sharma Shields, Travis Baldree, Stephanie Oakes, and Laura Senf (the list could go on). But the writing bench goes deep, and it spreads across all genres. In Spokane other writers will show up for you and support you, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned, published pro. It’s a generous place with a lot of talent and a lot of opportunities.
One of my favorite Spokane writing traditions are the local anthologies. A little over a decade ago, I was lucky enough to be one of the writers chosen for an anthology called Spokane Shorties put together by Kevin Taylor. Not long after that, Sharma Shields edited four volumes of Lilac City Fairy Tales, which are filled with poetry and stories inspired by our area. There have been anthologies put together by Spark Central, and one by former Spokane Poet Laureate Chris Cook. And there are definitely more I’ve missed in this short article.
One of the most recent ones is the Spokane Campfire Stories, put together by Banana Slug Books. This anthology, full of stories both heartbreaking and hilarious, was a collaborative effort created by some remarkable young writers and editors with support from Spokane Arts, which has three rounds of SAGA Grants opportunities each year. I was lucky enough to land a story (“The Monkey Room”, about a real hotel in Spokane that used to have live Gibbons in their Tiki Lounge) in Spokane Campfire Stories and read part of it at an evening reading in Manito Park this summer. It was great to sit on the grass with other readers and writers and hear tidbits of the wonderful stories in this anthology. And it was a great reminder of how much fantastic work can be done when a community works together to support each other and build a framework for everyone to find their way to creative work.
