Jane Wong | Kristen Millares Young

There comes a time when we must stand for our beliefs.

On Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, I joined thousands of writers around the world to celebrate the ideals of a free, just and compassionate democracy. More than 100 readings took place in small towns and global cities on Sunday, January 15th, all part of an international artistic uprising called Writers Resist.

Our Town Hall Seattle reading drew 850 people for a fiery night in the best traditions of the First Amendment, according to the Seattle P-I. The Seattle Review of Books interviewed me and Sam Ligon about co-organizing Seattle’s celebration of free speech in support of the ACLU of Washington, which is holding the front lines. Get involved.

I felt changed by being in a room with so many people who care about democratic ideals, including fellow readers Daniel James Brown (The Boys in the Boat), G. Willow Wilson (The Butterfly Mosque), Jess Walter (Beautiful Ruins), Elissa Washuta (My Body is a Book of Rules), Robert Lashley (The Homeboy Songs), Jane Wong (Overpower), Samuel Ligon (Wonderland), Bruce Barcott (Weed The People), David Laskin (The Children’s Blizzard), Claudia Castro Luna (This City, Seattle’s Civic Poet), Tod Marshall (Bugle, Washington State Poet Laureate), Angel Gardner (Seattle’s Youth Poet Laureate) and Doug Honig (On Freedom’s Frontier).

Town Hall Seattle recorded our performances of works by Malcolm X, Primo Levi, Sojourner Truth, Abraham Lincoln, Michelle Alexander, MLK, Umberto Eco, Jill McDonough and William Butler Yeats, to name a few. NPR station KUOW 94.9 FM broadcast our performance on their Speakers Forum series, where it is available as a podcast. In tribute to Dr. King, I read from Elizabeth Alexander’s inaugural poem.

ACLU founder Roger Baldwin was right when he wrote, “No fight for civil liberties ever stays won.” Speech must remain free so we can defend what we hold dear. As Writers Resist founder Erin Belieu said, “This is only the starting point in raising our voices in defense of democracy.”

Many thanks to Ana Cristina Alvarez for making this poster, to Erica Sklar for seeing the need and having them printed, to Kirsten Lunstrum, Erin Sroka and Erica for helping me post them all over town, and to Philip Shaw for designing the programs for the reading.

Most of all, thanks to my co-organizer, the inimitable Sam Ligon, a mentor I am lucky to call my friend, and to Town Hall Seattle for giving civic discourse such a stage.

KMY at Seattle Writers Resist.jpeg

Before I told the world that I wanted to be an author, I didn’t know there were people who would put together a podcast of my thoughts and work, who would write a song based on my book and invite me to sing, and who would plan dozens of readings to give my writing a platform and an audience. I didn’t think the central branch of the Seattle Public LIbrary — a place I have visited with awe and joy — would feature me as a reader and record my performance.

In the seven years I have spent researching and writing my first novel (now in its seventh draft), I finally mustered the courage to disclose my hopes. So many good folks, like the crew at the Jack Straw Writers Program, have sustained my daily dedication to this dream. Thank you.

I am grateful to Jack Straw curator Felicia Gonzalez, who took time from her own writing to bring a diverse group together for a yearlong series of performances from Portland to Vancouver, including major Seattle venues such as the University Book Store, Elliott Bay Book Co, the Jack Straw Cultural Center and Richard Hugo House. I was in good company with Laurel Albina, Claudia Castro Luna, Margot Kahn, Loreen Lilyn Lee, Susan Meyers, John Mullen, Michelle Peñaloza, Gigi Rosenberg, Raúl Sánchez, Anastacia Tolbert and Jane Wong.

With the generous support of Jack Straw executive director Joan Rabinowitz and administrative coordinator Levi Fuller, we honed and shared our writing all year long. 2015 holds many more such collaborations: please check my events page for details.

Kristen Millares Young

Author & Journalist

Tag Archives: Jane Wong

Writers Resist: A Celebration of Free Speech

2014: The Year of Jack Straw