Bumbershoot arts lineup: Tom Robbins, writers of 'The Onion' and 'The Simpsons,' more

SEATTLE -- Novelist Tom Robbins and writers of The Onion and The Simpsons! will be featured among the arts lineup for the Bumbershoot Festival on Labor Day weekend this year, it was announced Wednesday night.

Writers of the satirical The Onion will host "Tu Stultus Es: The Onion Explains Why You Are Stupid." (Photo: Bumbershoot)

“I've published 11 books, all of them written in or around Seattle," Robbins said in a statement. "My idea is to read aloud the openings of each one of those books. In both content and style, these prefaces, introductions, or initial pages invoke the essence of the narratives that are to follow, yet are lively, provocative — and I believe entertaining — enough to stand alone. Thus, my appearance at Bumbershoot would provide a survey, a summation of sorts, of my life  — literary and otherwise — in this damp thigh of the woods.”

Writers of the satirical The Onion will host "Tu Stultus Es: The Onion Explains Why You Are Stupid."

In addition, 74-time Jeopardy! winner/novelist Ken Jennings and former TV writer George Meyer (The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live) are hosting Needle Party!!!, local photography rockstar Lance Mercer’s Before Seattle NW Music Retrospective exhibit, the cabaret-style theatre of Fussy Cloud Puppet Slam and Smrt Talk With Writers of The Simpsons.

For a complete list and full descriptions of Words & Ideas, Visual Arts, and Theatre programming, please visit bumbershoot.org/lineup.