Spokane: a place to read

In 1980, the Spokane literary scene consisted of a few used and chain bookstores. By the end of that May, the downtown B. Dalton Booksellers had burned down and Mount St. Helens had blown up.

The events were most likely unrelated.

But that was the low point. Since then, Spokane actually has developed a literary life. And there are several reasons why.

Auntie’s Bookstore grew from a closet with bookshelves to a big-time independent bookstore that hosts the city’s only regular author readings.

Eastern Washington University developed a prestigious creative writing program , supported both the critically acclaimed literary journal Willow Springs and a university press that features a lineup of fine authors.

In the October, 2002, a consortium of area libraries, school districts and Auntie’s Bookstore initiated the Spokane Is Reading project.

And since 1998, there’s been Get Lit!

Book festivals exist everywhere. New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Bookfest in Seattle and Missoula’s Montana Festival of the Book just to name a few. But none of them boasts a higher level of quality authors than those who showed up for Get Lit! 2004.

After all, who’s bigger than Kurt Vonnegut? Add in Garrison Keillor , Dave Barry, Lynda Barry and Sarah Vowell , not to mention home-grown talent such as Chris Crutcher , Christopher Howell, Nance Van Winckel and Scott Poole , and what you had was the highest-profile literary lineup seen in Spokane for easily the past two decades.

For perhaps the first time, Spokane had no need to feel inferior to its bookish neighbors to the west, Seattle and Portland .

Question is, what’s next? Get Lit! has shown us what can be done with a little imagination and a lot of nerve. A little more marketing, plus better support from the community, and this could be just the beginning. I can see it now: Spokane, home of Get Lit!, the booklover’s best friend.

Don’t laugh. It could very well happen. They said Mount St. Helens would never erupt , and look what happened there?