MFA in Creative Writing Program
In 2005, City Lights will publish my tenth book of prose, The Last Time I Saw You. In 2003, my books The End of Youth, (City Lights) and Excerpts From A Family Medical Dictionary (University of Wisconsin Press) were published. Excerpts was published by Granta, UK in February of 2004. I am also the author of six other books of fiction including The Gifts of the Body, The Terrible Girls, Annie Oakley's Girl, The Haunted House, The Children's Crusade, and What Keeps Me Here. My work has been awarded the Boston Book Review Award for fiction, The Lambda Literary Award, The Pacific Northwest Booksellers' Award, and a Washington State Governor's Award. It has been widely anthologized, including stories in the Norton Anthology of Literature by Women. It has been published in Great Britain and translated into Danish, Norwegian, German, Italian and Dutch. Four of my books have been translated into Japanese where they are published to much acclaim. I am part of a group called the Seattle Research Institute that does readings, lectures and publication. I co-edited, with Robert Corbett, our second book, Experimental Theology, an anthology that contains poetry, fiction, essays, academic stuff and theater. I have recently been appointed the Creative Director of Literary Programs at Centrum, an arts center in Port Townsend, Washington.
I have currently been collaborating a lot with artists in different disciplines. Right now I am working with BetterBiscuitDane Company, for whom I am writing a liberetto--a dance opera that will premier in 2005. Also in 2005, my first two act play, The Toaster, will premiere at the New City Theater in Seattle. My book The Terrible Girls was adapted for theater by About Face Theater in Chicago and performed there in 2001. The Los Angeles New Short Fiction Series adapted four pieces from The End of Youth for performance in November 2003. I also do a series of irreverent public talks sponsored by the Seattle Opera that offer pop culture/feminist/literary and goofy analysis of opera. With painter Nancy Kiefer, I am doing a book of text and image called Woman in Ill Fitting Wig. I have read on book tours across the USA and in Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Austria and Japan. I have taught for several years in numerous settings including the University of Washington, Extension, Pacific Lutheran University, Naropa University in Colorado, prisons, senior citizens' homes, libraries, and bars.
For two years I was Writer-in-Residence at the Richard Hugo House Literary Center in Seattle where I served as Senior Teacher, met community members for writing consultations, and curated an eclectic reading/performance series. I have also curated readings for The Jack Straw Foundation, Red and Black Books, and my local NPR affiliate. I have served on selection panels for the Millay Arts Colony, The King County Arts Commission, the Bumbershoot Arts Festival, and the Washington State Arts Commission where I have championed the work of both traditional and non-mainstream writing. I have been awarded residencies at the Yaddo Colony, the Hawthornden Castle Writing Retreat in Scotland, the MacDowell Colony, Centrum, The Millay Colony, and Hedgebrook Cottages for Writers. For many years my criticism, reviews, and essays appeared in the Seattle-based arts weekly The Stranger. I have lived in London and Italy and now make my home in Seattle with my spouse, our cats, and an impressive collection of rock-n-roll, classical, and weird CDs.
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Rebecca Brown, MFA