Event

"My Avatar"

Thanks to virtual worlds, identity is more mutable than ever. Technology allows us to create simulacra of ourselves, but then our new selves take on a life of their own. So a 10th-grade math nerd transplants her brain into the body of a seductive super-assassin in heels. Or an FBI agent with male-pattern baldness appears online as a 13-year-old school girl, luring the pedophile who is posing as a teen-age boy. Stories converge in the virtual world now where newly minted identities are fuzzed, dolled-up, altered, masked, dangerously and comically mobile.

The Hugo Literary Series concludes with "My Avatar" on Friday, March 20, 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall Seattle, featuring new writing from performance artist Christa Bell, memoirist Jennifer Finney Boylan and novelist Vikram Chandra with new songs by country rockers The Maldives.

Individual tickets for "My Avatar" include admission to the Saturday programming, a panel curated by Christa Bell. Classes with Jennifer Finney Boylan and Vikram Chandra are not included with the cost of the ticket; a separate registration and fee are required. To register, call (206) 322-7030

For more information about the Hugo Literary Series, complete line-ups and artist bios, visit www.hugohouse.org.