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Ryan Boudinot, the local author who has volunteered to serve as executive director for Seattle's bid to become an official UNESCO City of Literature, posted a letter to the new Seattle City of Literature website asking for your help. For a few reasons, the city's bid to be recognized by the Creative Cities Network as a City of Literature in 2014 will not be successful, but Boudinot is already hard at work on the 2015 application. Last month, Boudinot and Seatle City of Literature Managing Director Rebecca Brinson attended the annual Creative Cities convention in Chengdu, China, where they networked with attendees from all over the world—from Baghdad to Buenos Aires. (You can see photos of the trip on their website.)

Something that maybe hasn't been emphasized enough is the fact that though the City Council unanimously supports our bid to become a City of Literature, and though Mayor Murray publicly supports the bid, Boudinot has pretty much funded everything himself. Now, as Boudinot leads City of Literature into a 2015 bid, he's asking for your help. Boudinot is asking concerned parties to send an e-mail to the City Council asking for their help during the budget process. A few thousand dollars would go a long way toward ensuring that this year's bid to UNESCO is a successful one—it would enable Seattle to send people to visit other Cities of Literature to garner support, among other necessities. This should be a no-brainer for a council which voted to unanimously support the City of Literature program, but it's always helpful to remind elected officials that you're watching and that you care. If you'd like to see Seattle receive international attention for our amazing literary scene, you should visit this page and send an e-mail.