Writer Lindy West is Developing her own Fairy Tale

Arts news by Diane Urbani de la Paz

It all began in Seattle, where she was raised by a show-business father and a reserved Norwegian mom. 

When Lindy was a baby, the West family bought a log cabin in the woods of Jefferson County. 

“This is what we did for vacation. It’s a very meaningful place to me,” West said in an interview from that very cabin. Forty years after her folks found the cabin, she and her husband, Ahamefule J. Oluo, became full-time residents here, and West joyfully identifies as a “female woodsman.” 

West’s move coincided with her creation of a show about her own journey from childhood dreams to adult disillusionment and, eventually, joy. The show, titled “Every Castle, Ranked,” uses castles as a jumping-off point on a romp through West’s life. At 7 p.m. this Friday, February 6, West will bring it to Field Arts & Events Hall in Port Angeles. 

The performance could also be called “Every Castle, Evolved.” Those who attended the 2023 Thing festival in Port Townsend had a chance to see West perform an early version of the show. Obviously a lot has happened since then—for all of us—so she says the 2026 version has plenty of new material. 

West, like many American children, swooned for castles and princes. She remembers thinking: “I don’t want to read about real stuff. I want to read about magic stuff. There’s enough of real life in real life.”

Reality, dang it, can purge the dreams right out of you, West says. A parent passes away, a beloved pet dies. And it becomes clear that those castles are damp, smelly military installations built to buttress the patriarchy. 

Yet West, at age 40-something, found ways out of the disillusionment and into joy on her own terms.

And that, she said, is what “Every Castle, Ranked” is about. 

For those who know West for her writings about feminism and popular culture—in her memoir, “Shrill,” and the Hulu series based on it—she promises something else on Friday night. 

“It’s just a really funny comedy show. We’re going to have a lot of fun,” she said. Rather than a feminist lecture, “it’s mostly just me being silly, talking about my life, and making fun of myself. There are little surprises throughout,” with emotions stirred in to add depth and recognition.

Her dad, Paul West, always encouraged her to become a performer—“and I always fought it,” she remembers. He was a jazz piano player in the 1950s and ‘60s, the guy who arrived at your party and entertained everyone. He went into writing and performing advertising jingles in the 1970s and ‘80s.

His young daughter was a shy kid, though. She took after her mother, the Norwegian. West didn’t want anyone talking to her or looking at her, but she also had a big desire to create things and make them hilarious.

In the past few years, West has worked her way into herself, into her own story. Her father didn’t live to see her do “Every Castle, Ranked,” but she talks about him in her show. She is thankful for his influence, which included his reading “Lord of the Rings” to her when she was little. 

About one month following the Field Hall performance of “Every Castle,” West will set out on yet another chapter in her personal tale: a book tour of her own making. 

“Adult Braces,” the true-life story of West’s drive from Washington state to Key West, Florida, comes out March 10, so she’s off to promote it. She did in fact have braces on her teeth—noncosmetic, to correct a crossbite—during the Covid pandemic. 

During that period she also confronted feelings of claustrophobia-midlife-crisis-marital issues-depression. 

“I didn’t want to do anything anymore,” she said. 

So West rented a van and took a month for her transcontinental drive. And it was magic.

“I felt like it aged me in reverse. I felt alive again, and less anxious, and so much more comfortable in myself and being out in the world,” she said. 

“My braces became sort of a metaphor: If you’re willing to endure pain and embarrassment, you can adjust your life to be in a healthier shape,” much like orthodontia gradually moves your teeth into a better position. 

“When I did the road trip, it was so transformative,” so West convinced her publisher, Grand Central, to approve a book tour from early March through early April, Seattle to New York and “winding my back pretty much everywhere.” 

And thus West is crafting her happily ever after. 

Tickets are at fieldhallevents.org, with prices ranging from $16 to $32, and financial assistance available on the website.