{"id":2245,"date":"2026-03-29T12:13:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T19:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/?p=2245"},"modified":"2026-03-31T07:48:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:48:47","slug":"fiction-writer-kirsten-sundberg-lunstrum-to-be-featured-in-the-cascadia-writers-in-conversation-series-april-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/?p=2245","title":{"rendered":"Fiction Writer Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum To Be Featured in the Cascadia Writers-in-Conversation Series April 9"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Novelist & Short Story Writer<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

author of<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Elita<\/a><\/em> and Outer Stars<\/a><\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

in conversation with series host<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Michael N. McGregor<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
author of The Last Grand Tour<\/a><\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

& An Island to Myself: The Place of Solitude in an Active Life<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

6:00 p.m., Thurs., April 9<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Cascadia Art Museum<\/a>, 190 Sunset Ave, Edmonds, WA 98020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(To order tickets through the Cascadia website, click here<\/a>)<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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Version 1.0.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum<\/strong> is the author of four short story collections and the novel Elita<\/a><\/em> (TriQuarterly\/Northwestern University Press, 2025), praised by author Laura van den Berg as a \u201cbrooding, atmospheric tour de force of psychological suspense.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Focused on a professor, researcher, and mother’s relationship to the discovery of a feral girl on an island in Puget Sound, Elita<\/em> received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews<\/em> and was named one of \u201c50 Noted Works of Fiction from 2025\u201d by the Washington Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just months after her novel came out, Sundberg Lunstrum published her latest collection, Outer Stars<\/a><\/em>, which won the 2025 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction. Her three previous books are Swimming With Strangers, This Life She\u2019s Chosen, and What We Do With the Wreckage<\/a>, <\/em>winner of the 2017 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sundberg Lunstrum\u2019s stories and essays have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Conjunctions, The Sun, Prairie Schooner, McSweeney\u2019s, Ploughshares<\/em>, North American Review<\/em>, One Story<\/em>, The American Scholar<\/em>, Michigan Quarterly Review<\/em>, Southern Humanities<\/em> Review<\/em>, and Willow Springs. <\/em>She\u2019s the recipient of a PEN\/O. Henry Prize and fellowships from MacDowell, the Sewanee Writers Conference, and the Jack Straw Writers Program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sundberg Lunstrum has taught creative writing and literature at both the high school and university levels. She’s currently a writing mentor for Whitworth University\u2019s new, low-residency Master of Fine Arts program and lives with her family in Edmonds, WA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can read more about Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum and her work at kirstensundberglunstrum.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/a> to read my review of Elita<\/strong><\/em>. And here<\/a> to read my comments on one of Sundberg Lunstrum’s recent short stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~ ~ ~ ~ ~<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Purchase Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum’s books online at the Edmonds Bookshop<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~~~~<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the Cascadia Writers-in-Conversation Series<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

On the second Thursday of each month<\/strong>, host Michael N. McGregor<\/a><\/strong> brings one Northwest writer in front of an enthusiastic audience for a brief reading, a discussion of the author\u2019s work, and a question-and-answer session with engaged literature lovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The series showcases the wealth of writing talent in the Pacific Northwest<\/strong> by featuring writers from different genres at different stages of their careers who may have been overlooked rather than those readers already know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writers who appear in the series are also featured on WritingtheNorthwest.com<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The series offers a unique chance to hear talented writers speak in-depth about what it means to be an author in the Northwest and why and how they create their works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The conversations take place in one of Cascadia\u2019s beautiful galleries, with Northwest art lining the walls.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cascadia Art Museum<\/strong><\/a> is the only museum dedicated to artists and their works from the Pacific Northwest. Focused on visual art and design from 1860 to 1970, it is committed to the belief that recognizing previously neglected artists who made significant contributions to the region\u2019s cultural identity gives us a fuller and more comprehensive understanding of Northwest art history. The Writers-in-Conversation series signals the museum\u2019s desire to highlight underappreciated Northwest artists in literature as well. The series is co-sponsored by the Edmonds Bookshop<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael N. McGregor<\/strong><\/a> is Seattle-based author whose book <\/em>Pure Act: The Uncommon Life of Robert Lax<\/strong><\/a> was a finalist for a Washington State Book Award. After living his early life in Seattle, he spent 17 years as an award-winning professor of creative writing at Portland State University, where he helped found the MFA in Creative Writing program. A former member of the Advisory Committee for the Oregon Book Awards and Fellowships, he holds a BA in Journalism from the University of Oregon and an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in New York. His first novel, <\/em>The Last Grand Tour<\/a><\/strong>, and his first memoir<\/em>, An Island to Myself: The Place of Solitude in an Active Life<\/strong><\/a>, were published in 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: I\u2019m an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local bookstores. If you buy a book through a click on this website, I\u2019ll earn a small commission that helps defray the costs of maintaining WritingtheNorthwest.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum is the author of four short story collections and the novel Elita (TriQuarterly\/Northwestern University Press, 2025), praised by author Laura van den Berg as a \u201cbrooding, atmospheric tour de force of psychological suspense.\u201d <\/p>\n

Elita received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and was named one of \u201c50 Noted Works of Fiction from 2025\u201d by the Washington Post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_swt_meta_header_display":false,"_swt_meta_footer_display":false,"_swt_meta_site_title_display":false,"_swt_meta_sticky_header":false,"_swt_meta_transparent_header":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[482,99,103],"tags":[115,428,580,581,425],"class_list":["post-2245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cascadia-writers-in-conversation-series","category-latest-posts","category-nw-people","tag-cascadia-art-museum","tag-cascadia-writers-in-conversation-series","tag-flannery-oconnor-award","tag-katherine-anne-porter-prize","tag-northwest-writers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/event_2558944.png","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/event_2558944.png",512,512,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/event_2558944.png",150,150,false],"medium":["https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/event_2558944.png",300,300,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/event_2558944.png",512,512,false],"large":["https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/event_2558944.png",512,512,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/event_2558944.png",512,512,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/event_2558944.png",512,512,false],"mailpoet_newsletter_max":["https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/event_2558944.png",512,512,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"michael n. mcgregor","author_link":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/?author=1"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum is the author of four short story collections and the novel Elita (TriQuarterly\/Northwestern University Press, 2025), praised by author Laura van den Berg as a \u201cbrooding, atmospheric tour de force of psychological suspense.\u201d Elita received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and was named one of \u201c50 Noted Works of Fiction from…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2245"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2263,"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245\/revisions\/2263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}