Anna M. Quinn

 INTERVIEWS/ESSAYS

The Lens Shifts; The Story Breathes

https://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/96-FE-Anna-Quinn.html

Thirteen Things I Learned From Owning A Bookstore

https://author-express.captivate.fm/episode/annaquinn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4C8Bfj7nO8

https://kptz.org/2018/01/03/anna-quinn/

https://www.kimmerymartin.com/single-post/2017/12/05/interview-with-anna-quinn-author-of-the-night-child

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/one-true-thing/201801/anna-quinn-when-memoir-becomes-fiction

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Kaleidoscope Open Mic for Prose and Poetry

hosted by Anna Quinn

Anna calls this open mic, Kaleidoscope, as with each turn of a kaleidoscope there’s a change of perspective, light, view and meaning. Like the kaleidoscope, this open mic will be a mixture of every genre, style, form, perspective and content from fiction to memoir to poetry, unpolished to polished, unpublished to published. Writers of all steps along the writing path are welcome! Please don’t be shy—we have the most wonderful, supportive audiences!

Names will be drawn out of a hat. Your name must be dropped into the hat by 2:50pm.

Please stick to five minutes or less. Time yourself prior. Time begins once you say, hi. So, if you’re going to talk about your piece, (which is totally cool), know that bit will be included in your time. 

Event is free and open to the public. Lots of parking. Venue is located at:

1841 Sheridan St, Port Townsend, WA 98368

Next Open Mic:

Sat., Apr. 18, 3-5pm@ The Meeting House,  1841 Sheridan St., Port Townsend, WA 98368

Our April 18th featured reading will be with Susan Rich, Stacy D. Flood, Sharon Carter, Pam Moore Dionne, and Risa Denenberg—all reading from the new anthology: Birdbrains: A Lyrical Guide to Washington State Birds. The anthology includes original pen and ink sumi-e paintings by artist Hiroko Seki, bird fact notes, and short poems/stories/memoir. Poems/prose are bird-focused rather than human centered. The bird notes include information about song, call, mating rituals, habitat, migration, climate, dark comedy, and fun facts.
 
Here’s a little more about each of the readers.
 
Susan Rich has authored nine books including Blue Atlas (Red Hen Press) and Gallery of Postcards and Maps: New and Selected Poems (Salmon Poetry). She is editor of the just released Birdbrains: A Lyrical Guide to Washington State Birds (Raven Chronicles Press). Winner of the PEN USA Award, Rich’s poems appear in Bennington Review, New England Review,  Ploughshares, and elsewhere. She is co-founder and current director of Poets on the Coast: A Weekend Writing Retreat for Women.
 
Stacy D. Flood’s work has appeared at ACT, Ghost Light Theatricals, Theatre Battery, and Theater Schmeater in Seattle, as well as in SOMA Magazine, Seattle Weekly. He has been a finalist in the Ashland New Play and Playwrights Foundation Bay Area festivals, and in addition, an artist-in-residence at DISQUIET in Lisbon and Millay Arts in New York. Flood’s play entitled The Optimist, or What Space Travel Means to Me will be featured as part of ACT Local, and published by Lanternfish Press, The Salt Fields is his first novella.
 
Risa Denenberg lives in Sequim where she works as a nurse practitioner and volunteers with End-of-Life Washington. She is a co-founder of Headmistress Press and curator at The Poetry Café Online. She has published eight collections of poetry, most recently, POSTHUMAN, finalist for the 2020 Floating Bridge Chapbook Contest, and Rain/Dweller, finalist for the Sally Albiso prize (MoonPath Press, 2023). She is currently working on a memoir titled, I’ll Look for You at Moonrise.
 
Originally from England, Sharon Carter relocated to Port Townsend a decade ago. Her poems have appeared in the Amsterdam Quarterly Review, Ars Medica, Quartet and One Art. Her visual art was published in the Raven Chronicles Anthology, Take a Stand: Art Against Hate. Sharon’s poetry books include Quiver, and Ekphrastic Pastiche. Most recently MoonPath Press released Mimosas at Sunset. She has a medical degree from Cambridge University.
 
Poet and visual artist Pamela Moore Dionne makes her home in Port Townsend Washington, the traditional home of the Chemakum and S’Klallam peoples. She was the founder and managing editor of Literary Salt, an online journal of art and Literature. Dionne earned a residency at Centrum Foundation and an Artist Trust GAP Grant as well as a Jackstraw artist support grant. Her chapbooks Paradox and Illusion and Taut Caesuras were published by Finishing Line Press. She earned an MFA in creative writing from Goddard College. 
 
Each featured reader will read for five minutes, and the open mic part of the program will follow.
 
Oh, and the optional topic is: birds!
 
Event is free and open to the public. Lots of parking. Venue is located at:
 
1841 Sheridan St, Port Townsend, WA 98368
 
 
 

AUTHOR UPCOMING EVENTS: 

https://centrum.org/program/writers-conference/

SUNDAY, JULY 13 – SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2025

Anna Quinn – From Skin to Soul: Deepening Character Interiority (Fiction) 

If writing a novel is an imaginative act, an allegory, a speculative dance, an archeological dig, then interiority is a deep dive into the hidden, messy, contradictory, nuanced, and sublime parts of a character’s psyche—the center and soul of story.  

In this workshop, you’ll write from within your characters and immerse yourself inside the truest part of their consciousness. Through a blend of discussion, literary analysis, writing exercises and constructive feedback, you’ll experiment with techniques that will take you beyond the expected and behind the hidden. We’ll work to develop complex characters who reflect the intricacies of their specific human experience—and why sometimes, what they say and do is so different from what they think and feel. Finally, we’ll look at how your particular voice and stylistic choices can express that interiority on the page and create an engaging narrative that fosters a genuine emotional connection for both the writer and the reader.  

Participants are encouraged to bring their novels in progress and two novels they love. 

 

 

PAST EVENTS

2024

Thurs-Sat. April 25-27th

Port Angeles, WA

Anna will be teaching at the Raymond Carver and Tess Gallagher Literary Festival:

Writing Festival 2024

Sat. March 2nd, 2-6 

Cloud and Leaf Bookstore Champagne Shindig: 20th Year Celebration. Cake, Champagne, Blues Music under a huge tent.https://cloud-leaf-bookstore.square.site

Signings by PNW authors; Rene Denfeld, Anna Quinn, Liz Prato, Carlos Reyes

 
 

2023

https://centrum.org/event/writers-conference-public-reading-series-2/

BARN: Bainbridge Artisan Resource, Bainbridge WA Saturday, Oct. 28th, 7pm https://www.create.bainbridgebarn.org/

Liberty Bay Books, Poulsbo, WA
Tuesday, May 23, 7pm
with Erica Bauermeister

Beach Books, Seaside OR 
Wed. May 31st, 6: 30 pm

Port Townsend Writers Conference, WA
July 16-27
Teaching and reading. Register here.

Chicago, IL
September 20-23
Presenting at the Women’s Fiction Writers Association 10th anniversary Conference

Los Angeles, CA
Fri., April 14, 6pm
Chevalier’s Books, w/Stacie Greason
133 N Larchmont Blvd
 
San Francisco, CA
Thurs., March 30, 5pm
Book Passage, w/Gemma Whelan
Ferry Building
 
Bainbridge Island, WA
Thurs., March 23, 7pm
Eagle Harbor Book Company, w/Jim Thomsen
157 Winslow Way
 

Oakland, CA
Sun., March 5, 12:30pm
Happy Women Dinners
Private home; visit happywomendinners.com for more info.

Port Townsend, WA
Tues., Feb. 7, 7pm
Hosted by Imprint Bookstore, Intro by Susan Brittain
Music by David Michael
Cotton Building, 607 Water Street

Seattle, WA
Wed., Feb. 8, 7pm
Elliott Bay Book Company, with Carol Smith
1521 10th Ave

Portland, OR
Thurs., Feb. 9, 7pm
Powell’s Books, w/Rene Denfeld & Gemma Whelan
1005 Burnside Street

Bellingham, WA
Thurs., Feb. 16, 7pm
Village Books
1200 11th Street

2020

 
ALONE TOGETHER: Love, Grief and Comfort in the time of Covid-19
Book Launch Discussion with authors Susan Henderson, Pam Houston, Anna Quinn, Jennifer Haupt, Carolyn Leavitt, Rubin Quesada, Kristen Millares Young. Hosted by Ron Block.
Thursday, September 3, 2020 at 4-5pm PDT
 

Orcas Island Literary Festival
(cancelled due covid19)

2019

Edmonds Bookshop, 111 Fifth Ave South, Edmonds, WA 98020
Saturday, March 16, 2019
Reading/Q&A/Signing.

Orcas Island Literary Festival, Orcas Island
April 5th-7th
Panel discussion, reading, signing

Eagle Harbor Bookfest with Seattle7 Writers
Sat. June 1, 2019
157 Winslow Way E. Bainbridge Is. WA 98110

Liberty Bay Books with Erica Bauermeister
June 3, 2019
18881 Front St. NE, Poulsbo, WA

Queen Anne Book Companywith Erica Bauermeister
Weds, June 5, 2019
1811 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA

Chaucer’s Bookstore with Eldonna Edwards
Monday, July 29, 2019
3321 State St. Santa Barbara, CA

Coalesce Bookstore with Eldonna Edwards
Tues, July 30th, 2019
845 Main Street, Morro Bay, CA

BookSmart of Morgan Hill with Eldonna Edwards
Weds, July 31st, 2019
421 Vineyard Town Center, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Books Inc with Eldonna Edwards
Thurs, Aug. 1, 2019
855 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA

Sat, Oct 5th, 2019
The Art of Writing Emotional Truth with Anna Quinn

2018

Port Townsend Launch, intro by Rikki Ducornet
Tuesday, Jan 30, 2018

Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA, intro by Erica Bauermeister
Thursday, Feb 1, 2018

Book Passage, Sausalito, CA
Weds, Feb 7, 2018

Powell’s Downtown, Portland, OR, intro by Lidia Yuknavitch
Friday, Feb 9, 2018

Eagle Harbor Book Company, Bainbridge Island, WA
Sunday, Feb 18, 2018

Village Books, Bellingham, WA
Sat. Mar 3, 2018

Phinney Books, Seattle, WA, with Jennifer Haupt
Thursday, March 15, 2018

Jefferson County Library, Port Hadlock
Weds, March 21, 2018

Tattered Cover, Denver, Colorado
Thursday, March 29, 2018

BookBar, Denver, Colorado
Friday, March 30, 2018

Brick and Mortar, Redmond, Washington
Weds, April 11th, 2018

Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, WA with Jennifer Haupt
Thursday, April 12, 2018

Parnassus Books, Nashville, Tennessee, with Kimmery Fleischli
Thurs. June 7th, 2018
Hillsboro Plaza Shopping Center, 3900 Hillsboro Pike #14, 

Astoria Public Library, Astoria WA
Wed, June 20th, 2018
450 10th Street

Cannon Beach Book Company, Cannon Beach, WA, with Jennifer Haupt
Thurs. June 21, 2018
130 N Hemlock St, Cannon Beach, OR 97110

Beach Books, Seaside, OR, reading with Jennifer Haupt
Friday, June 22nd, noon (Lunch in the Loft)

Bloomsbury Books, Ashland Oregon
Monday, June 25th, 2018

Warwicks, La Jolla, reading with Kimmery Fleischli
Monday, July 9th, 2018

Poulsbo Library, Poulsbo, WA.
Weds, July 25th, 2018
700 NE Lincoln Road. Friends of the Library Luncheon

Clovis Point Vineyard Wine and Book Pairing
1935 Main Rd., Jamesport, New York
Sunday, Aug 5th, 2018

Anderson’s Bookshop, Naperville, IL, in conversation with Leslie A. Lindsey
Tuesday, Aug 7th, 2018