Humankind has gathered around the fire to narrate and listen to stories since the dawn of time. It's an instinctive desire that more often than not also includes sharing food and drink as well. Even now in a modern age we gather with complete strangers in a dark room, munching on salty and sweet snacks to watch the latest film -- or perhaps we cozy up to loved ones, pull up Netflix and gorge ourselves on pizza.

Creative Colloquy recognizes this need and aims to fuel it with the fifth annual Creative Colloquy Crawl Tuesday, Oct. 1, 6-9 p.m. The vision is to present a matrimony of the written word, music and art to celebrate our rich creative culture. The idea is also to support and highlight storytellers in the South Sound by shining a spotlight on the diverse community that weaves compelling narratives in the form of poetry, oral tradition, film, short literary fiction, music and plays. Heck, even game show-styled festivities go down this year.

Venues include King's Books, Doyle's Public House, The Mix, Stink, The Grand Cinema and Stadium District Anthem Coffee. With five different events happening within a walkable neighborhood, each hour at 6, 7 and 8 p.m., the organization challenges the notion that literary gatherings have to be stuffy and boring with a room full of intellectuals droning on and on. While many events are hosted at 21 and up establishments, several are all-ages AND the event is FREE to attend (save for those who indulge in snacks and libations during their adventure).

As an attendee, your challenge is to craft your own word journey by selecting which reading or performance you wish to sit in on most of all. Community curators and partners include King's Books, Drunken Telegraph, the Tacoma Women of Color Collective, Malicious Wallydrags, UWT and Tacoma's poet laureate, Abby E Murray. Meet fellow lovers of the written word and rub elbows with the performers and volunteers at an after-party hosted at King's Books immediately following the Crawl at 9 p.m. (A gathering generously sponsored by Heritage Distilling Company).

CREATIVE COLLOQUY CRAWL, 6-9 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 1, various locations, Free, creativecolloquy.com/creativecolloquycrawl