2021

Seven or eight years ago, I retired from a state job and spent years getting an MFA in writing from the University of Alaska, Anchorage. Then I dragged my feet for a few more years before publishing a book of essays. Many describe the lives of friends on the Kuskokwim River of Western Alaska. You […]

Andre Dubus III, author of The House of Sand and Fog, wrote that bestseller 17 minutes at a time. Employed as a teacher, and also busy as a husband and father of young children, Dubus had a twice-daily routine of stopping at a cemetery parking lot, to and from work. For less than twenty minutes

The day before a frost hit our garden, August 19, our friend Frank Soos was killed in a one-person bike accident on a road in Maine. Frank spent summers on the east coast with his wife, Margo, returning each fall to Alaska and his beloved ski trails. We didn’t hear about Frank’s accident until the

At 49 Writers, we are deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Frank Soos, beloved board member and program chair, whose contributions to Alaska’s writing community have been generous and sustained for over three decades. His wisdom, experience and steady guidance on the board were invaluable to us, and his loss leaves a big space

I just experienced a learning failure that makes me feel like a fish exposed to the air. That wasn’t really the first metaphor that came to mind but I wanted to share this idiom with you because Chinese idioms tickle me. In the story on which it’s based, river carp that are able to jump

It’s been more than seven days since we last received a Juneau Empire paper. It’s been a week since the newspaper’s delivery person has driven by. We’ve called the newspaper office every morning but they never call back. Folks over near the high school haven’t received a paper for seven days, nor have our closer

In addition to being a wise and skilled fisherman, poet, novelist, and short story writer, Rich Chiapponne has helped a lot of MFA students learn how to craft their words. The University of Alaska Anchorage is shutting down his program.That hadn’t stop Rich from sharing out at least one more little writing lesson before turning

The Montana weatherman promised near-high temperatures today. It’s mid-afternoon. If Miss Weather were right, I’d be inside the old ranch house, adjusting every fan to cool down the inside air. The clink and click of ice in my water glass might just block the sound of buzzing mosquitos. Thankfully, today, the weatherman is wrong. Rather

Rich Chiappone’s new book, The Hunger of Crows, will be published in November and is available now for pre-order. For the long-time Alaska writer, it represents a distinct swerve from realism into a more commercial style of thriller, albeit with literary dimensions. Beginning three years ago, I started to make the same mid-life turn toward