Washington – the only state named after a president – is home to some of the nation’s best known literature, music and film. The state is ensconced in the North West corner of the United States; it borders Canada to the North and shares many characteristics with its northern neighbour.

Tom Robins’ Another Roadside Attraction is an oddball take on Washington culture in the late 1960s. Douglas Coupland’s Microserfs engages with the nascent computer technology industry which existed in Washington in the years before the dot com boom. Set prior to the global Windows 95 frenzy Douglas Coupland’s book could be considered an important part of technological history as it predicts the rise of the IT sector.

Starring Pierce Brosnan and directed by Roger Donaldson, Dante’s Peak was set in a fictional town in Washington and tells the dramatic story of a volcanic eruption. Lars von Trier set his film Dancer in the Dark in the state; it is a musical drama about a Czech migrant - played by Icelandic singer Björk – who is gradually losing her sight.

Washington is also the home of many renowned American rock bands and was the cradle of the ‘Grunge’ scene in the early 90s which brought such acts as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden to prominence.