I was at the Columbia City Theater, waiting for The Blow to play, when Christopher Frizzelle complimented my earrings. To which I responded with a story, of course.
He made me write this article about it.
Feature in The Stranger
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Announcing the WITS ‘Wild’ Contest Winners!
So PROUD of my student Lily Williams at Washington Middle School – opening for Cheryl Strayed!
This winter, WITS invited students in grades K-12, participants in our partner public schools throughout the Puget Sound region and at Seattle Children’s Hospital, to submit an original piece of writing inspired by the theme of “wild” and Cheryl Strayed’s book of the same title.
After reading submissions of poetry, essays and stories that considered ideas of wildness varying widely, from trips to the zoo to ruminations on the Seattle Seahawks, WITS is pleased to announce sixth grade student Lily Williams’s poem “Them” as the contest winner. This year, Lily worked with WITS Writer-in-Residence Rachel Kessler, at Washington Middle School. The contest judges were moved by the poem’s vivid portrayal of a sense of inner wildness. Lily read her poem with confidence and poise, to a sold out crowd of hundreds last Thursday night, before Cheryl Strayed took the stage.
We are also happy to announce our honorable mentions in the…
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What is Scary
By Rachel Kessler, WITS Writer-in-Residence
This fall, I have been a writer in residence at Washington Middle School, in Seattle’s Central District. Inside the school’s deceptively low-slung building, approximately 1,200 students who reflect the ethnic, cultural and economic diversity of Seattle move between classes through labyrinthine hallways that always smell faintly of donuts (Franz bakery churns them out next door). Navigating these bustling halls, I am greeted by friendly shouts of, “MS RACHEL!” and “POETRY LADY!” Even students who have no idea who I am kindly offer to help me find my way to a remote portable when I look lost, which is often. My own experience of middle school was one of terror and angst – I vividly remember being bullied and writing a sad poem (anonymously, of course) on the girl’s bathroom wall. All these years later I am astounded by the warm, trusting atmosphere of the…
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Shiny new illustrated essay reading
I’m working on a new series of cartoons and words to present at this very fun event. The last time I performed at the SIX PACK SERIES I made sock puppets in Miranda July and my likenesses to help move the story along, and then a young woman stood up and proposed to her girlfriend! Not because of the puppetry, but this gives you an idea of what sort of shenanigans to expect. I also expect this to be EXTREMELY ADVANCED FEMINISM, as in don’t bring the kids. Like this:
From the Facebook invite:
Washington Ensemble Theater presents SIX PACK SERIES: Too Feminist To…
Tuesday, January 27 at 7:30pm – 9:30pm
Trigger Warning: hilarity, political correctness, issues (serious ones)
The cool kids at Washington Ensemble Theatre bring you another stupid smart Six Pack Series! Hold onto your (insert non-binary exclusive interior sex organs here) because we are bringing you “Too Feminist To Come Up With a Name That Respects All Intersectional Minorities While Still Remaining Irreverent and Funny.”
We have invited some of our fav female identifying writers to write and read and talk and think about feminism (insert joke re: Riot Grrrl, Lena Dunham, Beyonce, Sisterhood, and the Nuva Ring here).
There will be no damn misogyny, bigotry, slut shaming, tone policing, or hurtful coded language allowed at this event. . . But there will be jokes.
Our All Female Identifying Line Up Includes:
Cienna Madrid
Kim Selling
Avalon Willows
Rachel Kessler
Ava Lou
Bryn Santillan
With your hosts: Samie Spring Detzer and Kaillee Coleman
Post a picture of the most feminine object you can imagine to this invite for a FREE ticket! Or, pay the standard snooze-worthy $6 at the door.
“What Dad Said” in Narrative Magazine
My poem “What Dad Said” is featured as Narrative Magazine’s Poem of the Week. Thank you to poetry editor Michael Wiegers, and everyone at Narrative.
Nancy Guppy interviews me on a trampoline for Seattle Magazine
Nancy Guppy and I ate blueberry lavender lemon pancakes and looked at the sky through the tree branches and talked about writing and religion. Here is a quote from the interview that Nancy Guppy did not use:
Nancy Guppy: What is your book about?
Rachel Kessler: It’s a series of essays about my vagina.
All kinds of love from Seattle Magazine!
The Stranger Suggests
The Stranger recommends Christian Charm Workbook reading and slideshow extravaganza Tuesday, Oct 7, 7:00 PM at the Hugo House. Never-seen-before slideshows with poets Rebecca Hoogs, Sierra Nelson, Jason Whitmarsh, and Kevin Craft! My brand new puberty cartoons!
Christian Charm Workbook: Rachel Kessler Does Everything Wrong
(Zacchaeous in the Tree Halloween Costume, circa 1981)
I will read from my work-in-progress memoir Christian Charm Workbook, (previously titled Hack) illustrated with my cartoons, old photos, maps, charts, and graphs at the Hugo House. Local literary luminaries Rebecca Hoogs, Sierra Nelson, Jason Whitmarsh, and Kevin Craft will each perform a poetry PowerPoint presentation, Pecha Kucha-style. This multi-media project is supported by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and 4Culture. Free and open to the public, it all takes place on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 at 7:00 PM at the Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, Seattle. The bar will be open! We’ll eat some cake! And maybe have a sing-along?
Literary Death Match at Bumbershoot
I’ll be judging, along with David Schmader, W. Kamau Bell, and Michelle Buteau, the Literary Death Match of authors Sara Benincasa, Rachel Shukert, Jamaal May, and Peter Mountford this Saturday, August 30, at 1:45 PM at Bumbershoot. Stop by the Words & Ideas stage at the Charlotte Martin Theatre and check out literary funtimes, judgement and death.
What is Literary Death Match? I am excited anytime I smell wrestling in the air. Here’s a description from the website:
Literary Death Match, co-created by Adrian Todd Zuniga, marries the literary and performative aspects of Def Poetry Jam, rapier-witted quips of American Idol’s judging (without any meanness), and the ridiculousness and hilarity of Double Dare.
Each episode of this competitive, humor-centric reading series features a thrilling mix of four famous and emerging authors (all representing a literary publication, press or concern — online, in print or live) who perform their most electric writing in seven minutes or less before a lively audience and a panel of three all-star judges. After each pair of readings, the judges — focused on literary merit, performance and intangibles — take turns spouting hilarious, off-the-wall commentary about each story, then select their favorite to advance to the finals.
The two finalists then compete in the Literary Death Match finale, which trades in the show’s literary sensibility for an absurd and comical climax to determine who takes home the Literary Death Match crown.
It may sound like a circus — and that’s half the point. Literary Death Match is passionate about inspecting new and innovative ways to present text off the page, and the most fascinating part about the LDM is how seriously attentive the audience is during each reading. We’ve called this the great literary ruse: an audacious and inviting title, a harebrained finale, but in-between the judging creates a relationship with the viewer as a judge themselves.
Our ultimate goal is to perform the Literary Death Match all over the world, and to continue to showcase literature as a brilliant, unstoppable medium.
Two New Poems in Poetry Northwest
My poems “Mice at the Jazz Concert” and “I Hate the Dancer” appear in the latest issue of Poetry Northwest!
(From “The Mouse & Mt St Helens” by Rachel Kessler, 1981)
Rachel Kessler 