Mass Balance The sum of accumulation and loss IN THE MINERVA Jones Bible Study, shapes sliced through God’s word like cookies cut from dough. Squiggly lines for actions. Rectangles for results. You yourself got a star, while God, three in one, was contained in a triangle. A short, chipmunk-faced woman, Minerva wore at her neck […]
Alaska Shorts: “Cold Comfort,” excerpted from Cold Spell by Deb Vanasse Read More »
Ann Eriksson and Gary Geddes I was an undergrad studying creative writing at Western Washington University in Bellingham. He was Gary Geddes, renowned Canadian poet, writer, scholar, and teacher, about to Trojan Horse our unsuspecting campus with a pile of Canadian lit and sensibility… and puns. I like to imagine him stealing across the border
Jeremy Pataky: Crossing Borders Read More »
For those of you not sauntering down the Homer spit for the Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference, there will be plenty of events to wet your literary whistle. Of course, when I say, “plenty of events,” I mean, “Go to Homer!” It may be summer, but we still have lots going on at 49 Writers. If you’re a
Weekly Round-up of Alaska Writing News and Events Read More »
Sunrise at Tutka Bay Writers Retreat Sleep on your writing; take a walk over it; scrutinize it of a morning; review it of an afternoon; digest it after a meal.” ~A. Bronson Alcott Like a note held long in a song, a pair of eagles glides effortlessly across a crisp September sky as sixteen writers
Deb: Treat Yourself to a Writing Retreat Read More »
The Bunnell Street Art Gallery faces Kachemak Bay and the southern sky. On May 21st, the light went on and on, shining on three musicians as they opened the evening, shining on the audience seated early in their eagerness to hear Eva Saulitis read from her latest book of poetry—Prayer in Wind (Boreal Books, 2015).
Linda Martin: A Poetry Reading in Homer Read More »
AFTER THE LAST fisherman’s funeral, I decided water around here is best when it’s frozen. As I help my youngest daughters into their ice skates, I hum the old carol “In the Bleak Midwinter”: “Earth stood hard as iron, / Water like a stone.” The afternoon is so perfect; it’s like a big exhalation, throwing
I figured I had graduated from cheechako status when I could correctly pronounce Tuntutuliak and Kwigillingok, after visiting these places in Alaska, and when I could accurately pronounce Tlingit and Inupiaq. I’m not sure when a cheechako becomes a bona fide Alaskan. Maybe it’s after the first winter when a newcomer becomes “broke in.” Alaska
Lois Paige Simenson: The Alaska Way Read More »
“Knowing what scenes are required in a novel is at the heart of the fictional art. The author has to write the obligatory scenes so that nothing of importance happens offstage. She must write the pivotal scenes and make quick expository moves from scene to scene. We can’t have three paragraphs to get the character
Andromeda: Making A Scene Read More »
Thirty-five years ago, I was thirty-five years old. If some prescient being had told me then that the University of Alaska Press would publish my first book of poetry in the year 2015, I don’t know which part of the prediction would have shocked me most. Maybe the idea of being seventy years old would
Linda Martin: A Poet Looks at Seventy Read More »
by Olga Alvord In December of 1994, a direct Aeroflot flight brought me over the North Pole from Moscow, Russia, to Anchorage, Alaska. Only nine hours separated two entirely different worlds. I thought I was ready for my new work assignment: I’d researched Alaska and studied American culture and English for many years. In reality,
Anchorage Remembers: What is Heaven? Read More »
