History & Founders

History.

How does a reading series on work come to be? Co-owner and manager of Office Nomads Susan Dorsch set up self-employed writer Michelle Goodman with then un-employed ex-fisherman poet Sierra Golden on a reading series blind date, and within a few weeks Working Stiffs was born. Both had harbored ideas of a work reading: Michelle because she has written about work for much of her freelance career, and Sierra because manual labor filled many of her poems about fishing.

Our first reading took place on March 13, 2014 and featured Maged Zaher, Peter Mountford, Matthew Nienow, Jane Hodges, Michelle Goodman, and Sierra Golden. Working Stiffs now presents several readings a year and has been featured at Lit Crawl Seattle. Our January 19, 2016 reading was a "special edition" all-women lineup presented in collaboration with Hedgebrook.

Founders.

Michelle Goodman is the award-winning author of The Anti 9-to-5 Guide and My So-Called Freelance Life, both published by Seal Press. Her essays and journalism have appeared in dozens of publications, including the New York Times, Salon, Vice, Bust, Bitch, The Bark, Seattle Times, Seattle magazine, and several anthologies.

Sierra Golden received her MFA in poetry from North Carolina State University. Winner of the 2015 Rane Arroyo Chapbook Prize, Golden's work appears in literary journals such as Prairie Schooner, Permafrost, and Ploughshares. Although she calls Washington State home, Golden has spent many summers in Alaska, working as a commercial fisherman. She now works in communications and was a 2015-2016 Made at Hugo House Fellow.

History.

Founders.

Past Readers