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EVENTS and ANNOUNCEMENTS
Congrats to Alaska authors, new Alaska State Writer Laureate Ernestine Hayes and Distinguished Service to the Humanities award winner Heather Lende, for their upcoming Governor’s Awards, which will be presented at The Governor’s Awards ceremony in Juneau on January, 26, 2017. It’s open to the public to attend. Further details and tickets are available at www.akgovawards.org.
Eowyn Ivey‘s second novel, To the Bright Edge of the World, was shortlisted in the UK for the Edward Stanford awards. She was also featured on KTUU’s Cover 2 Cover.
More than fifty plants will be featured in a new book on Alutiiq plant use traditions currently under production at the Alutiiq Museum. More info here.
David Stevenson will be honored by the American Alpine Club in February with the H. Adams Carter Literary Award, which was established to recognize excellence in alpine literature. His most recent book is Warnings Against Myself (University of Washington, 2o16). He’s the director of the Creative Writing and Literary Arts Department at the University of Alaska Anchorage and author of the short fiction collection Letters from Chamonix, winner of the Banff Mountain Festival Fiction Prize.
Eva Saulitis‘s powerful collection of essays, Becoming Earth (Red Hen Press, 2016), is longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay (which aims to preserve the dignity and esteem that the essay form imparts to literature). Becoming Earth was published shortly before Eva died last January.
Debbie Clarke Moderow of Denali Park and Anchorage was listed on the 35 Over 35 list. Her book Fast Into the Night was also awarded a National Outdoor Book Award for Outdoor Literature.
SOUTHCENTRAL
ANCHORAGE | Saturday, January 14, 2017, TapRoot. Book launch party for Where Water is Gold: Life and Livelihood in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. Presentations by Vic Fischer, Alaska Constitutional Convention Delegate, commercial fishermen, contributing writers, and photographer Carl Johnson. Details
HOMER | Kachemak Bay Campus presents a community conversation and readings celebrating the fundamental ideals of democracy, Monday, January 16, 6:30 pm. 
ANCHORAGE | Anne Caston will be featured at the next Poetry Parley on January 18, 2017, 7 pm at Becky’s Gallery, 701 W 36th Ave. Caston selected Marie Howe as the marquee poet and all are welcome to share in reading Howe’s work. Send ad note to poetryparley at gmail.com to sign up. Anne Caston is core faculty in the UAA low residency MFA program in Creative Writing and Literary Arts and the author of Flying Out with the Wounded (NYU Press, 1997), Judah’s Lion (THP, 2009), and Prodigal (Aldrich Press, 2014).
ANCHORAGE | 49 Writers Reading & Craft Talk Series presents Lizbeth Meredith | Balancing Now and Then: How Much Backstory Makes A Memoir Shine? 7 pm, Thursday January 19, 2017, Indigo Tea Lounge. Come early to order tea, snacks, and get comfortable. In Pieces of Me: Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters, Lizbeth Meredith writes about her two year struggle to recover her daughters from a foreign country after they were kidnapped and taken there by her ex husband. These events echoed family violence and kidnapping incidents in her own childhood. Managing to write her story with ample detail and satisfying pacing proved to be a challenging task. After a short reading from the book, Meredith’s talk about her own process will explore important questions pertinent to all memoir writers. Lizbeth Meredith is an Anchorage-based writer with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in psychology. She has worked as a domestic violence advocate, a child abuse investigator, and a juvenile probation supervisor with at-risk teens. Her memoir was a USA Best Book Award Finalist for 2016.
ANCHORAGE | Alaska Quarterly Review presents Gary Holthaus: A Retrospective Celebration | 1976-2016. Thursday & Friday, January 26 & 27, 2017. Poetry reading and Q&A on Thursday; prose reading and Q&A on Friday; both events 7-8 pm at Great Harvest Bread Co. This AQR event is co-sponsored by 49 Writers and Alaska Humanities Forum.
ANCHORAGE | Nature and Travel Writing Class led by Anchorage essayist and author Bill Sherwonit runs for 12 weeks beginning Jan. 25 in the Sierra Club office downtown. Participants in this workshop-style class will explore and refine their own writing styles, with an emphasis on the personal essay form. The class will also read and discuss works by some of America’s finest nature and travel writers, past and present. The cost is $240. To sign up for this Wednesday night class (7 to 9:30 p.m.), or for more information, contact Sherwonit at 907-245-0283 or akgriz@hotmail.com.
ANCHORAGE | Unbound: Conflict in Romance presents at 6 p.m., Friday, February 10, at the Anchorage Museum, featuring Alaska Romance Writers for readings and literary experiments. Lifelong Alaskan Lynn Lovegreen taught for 20 years before retiring to make more time for writing. Her young adult/new adult historical romances are set in the Alaska Gold Rush. Palmer writer Jackie Ivie branched into the paranormal romance genre after publishing several award-winning historical romances. She received the 2016 International Digital Award for best paranormal short story with the debut of her dark angel series, “The Hunted.” She’s currently researching, writing, and dreaming about the “Vampire Assassin League,” a series where only the luckiest vampires find their mate, the “Chronicles of the Hunter” where dark angels get another chance, or her newest time travel series “The Portals of Time.” Included with museum admission.
ANCHORAGE | March 31-April 1, 2017 | Organized by the graduate students within the University of Alaska Anchorage English department, the Pacific Rim Conference on English Studies invites submissions in literature, rhetoric and composition, linguistics, anthropology, history, journalism, gender studies and other related fields. See the call for proposals here.
EAGLE RIVER | The Living Room Reading Series, every 2nd Wednesday 7-9 pm at Jitters, featuring writers and book lovers. Sign up to read, or come listen. More
INTERIOR
FAIRBANKS | Fairbanks Arts Association hosts the oldest literary reading series in the state. Nearly every month, writers reading their own work publicly at a community meet-up where people can connect with other lovers of literature. Readings are held on the day after First Friday, usually the first Saturday of the month at 7 pm. Most reading are held in the Bear Gallery in Pioneer Park, although occasionally in the summer (June, July, and August) the weather is beautiful reading are held outside to another spot in Pioneer Park. Additional readings and events may be held, but the First Saturday Literary Reading Series is monthly at 7 pm the day after First Friday (except February).
FAIRBANKS | University of Alaska Press seeks a Director and Acquisitions Editor to head the department. This is a term funded, full time position. More
SOUTHEAST
JUNEAU | January 6-February 25, 2017 | An exhibition by poets Aleria Jensen and Jonas Lamb featuring a collection of original broadside poems on parenting and place, paired with montages of artwork by their children. The writing in this exhibit explores moments and musings that inform the experience of raising family in Southeast Alaska. These pieces are windows into family life and parenting against the backdrop of culture and community in Juneau, as well as the marine rainforest environment we call home. Juneau-Douglas City Museum, 114 West 4th Street.
JUNEAU | On January 15th, 1-4pm, at the Mendenhall Valley Public Library, Woosh Kinaadeiyí will host a Spoken Word Workshop themed around poetry. The workshop will be led by local poets and Woosh Kinaadeiyí board members Christy NaMee Eriksen of Kindred Post and Dee DeRego. If you made an intention for the New Year to use your voice more, write more, express yourself more, engage with community more, or try something you hadn’t considered before, this Spoken Word Workshop will help you greet that intention. The admission fee to take the workshop is a sliding scale of $10-25 (pay as you can), but if you are unable to financially contribute, send Woosh Kinaadeiyí an email at juneaupoetryslam@gmail.com or message WooshKinaadeiyí on their Facebook page to discuss other ways to contribute. Spaces are first come first served, and Woosh Kinaadeiyí encourages anyone who is interested to RSVP to save their spot at juneaupoetryslam@gmail.com.
JUNEAU | Save the dates: March 10 & 11, 2017! We’re bringing author Brian Castner to Alaska to teach and read in Juneau and Anchorage. More details to come.
SOUTHWEST
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CONFERENCES, RETREATS, and RESIDENCIES
North Words Writers Symposium will be May 31-June 3, 2017 in Skagway, Alaska. This year’s keynote speaker is world world travel and fiction writer Paul Theroux. After writing nearly fifty books of nonfiction and fiction set in the most exotic of locales, America’s greatest travel writer is finally headed for one of Alaska’s most notorious: Skagway. Paul Theroux will lead a faculty of seven acclaimed authors at the 8th annual North Words Writers Symposium. A maximum of 50 registrants at the 2017 North Words Symposium will also engage with a faculty of Alaskan writers that includes John Straley, Sherry Simpson, Deb Vanasse, Tom Kizzia, Andy Hall, and Lenora Bell. Learn more and sign up soon; 50 participants max. northwordsinfo@gmail.com
2017 Kachemak Bay Writers Conference will occur June 9-13, 2017 in Homer, Alaska. Keynote speaker will be Jane Smiley. Details and more.
2017 Writers Tutka Bay Writers Retreat will occur September 10-12, 2017. Faculty to be announced soon. Details.
The Alderworks Alaska Writers and Artists Retreat in Southeast Alaska is now accepting applications for its summer 2017 cabin residencies. Three log cabins will be available as residencies for two 4-6 week periods in early and late summer. The application period for these residencies began on November 15, 2016 and will end on February 15, 2017. The retreat is located nine miles from historic Skagway at the northern end of Lynn Canal. Situated on a five-acre homestead along beautiful West Creek at the end of the Dyea Road, the retreat is within the Dyea-Chilkoot Trail unit of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Dyea (pronounced Die-eee) was a jumping off point for young Jack London and other stampeders in 1897-98. For hundreds of years leading up to that event, Dyea was a Tlingit fishing and trading village. Testimonials, a photo gallery, cabin descriptions, residency guidelines, and information about how to apply online may be viewed at www.alderworksalaska.com. The cabins are best suited for writers, artists working in small mediums, and acoustic singer-songwriters. All residents must have a degree of self-reliance, as they will be doing their own cooking and working on their own schedule. In their vision statement, the Bradys state, “The idea is simple enough: give writers and artists a quiet, beautiful spot to create or enhance their works, and wonderful things will happen.”
Storyknife Writers Retreat now accepting applications for June, July, August, and September 2017. On ten acres of view property just outside Homer, Alaska, Storyknife will be one of the very few residencies for women writers in the English-speaking world. Eventually, the facility will include six private cabins, a main house, and a garden. Currently, one fully-equipped writers’ cabin has been built with a stunning view overlooking Cook Inlet, Mount Iliamna, Mount Douglas, and Mount Augustine. Women writers over 21 years of age are invited to apply for a residency in the Storyknife cabin. This residency will can be 2-4 weeks, and for each week she is in residence, the resident will receive a $250 stipend to cover food and transportation costs. Applications will be accepted until January 27, 2017 through Submittable. The vision of award-winning novelist Dana Stabenow, Storyknife seeks to support women writers by providing uninterrupted time for development of their craft. In 1989, Stabenow won a residency at Hedgebrook, a retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island in Washington. The profound impact of that residency, and the fact that Hedgebrook receives many more applications that they have spots to host writers, has inspired her to develop such an opportunity for women writers on property outside of Homer, Alaska. More: https://storyknife.org/
OPPORTUNITIES and AWARDS for WRITERS
The Permafrost Book Prize in Poetry welcomes manuscripts from any writer, including non-US citizens, writing in English. No past or present editorial staff members of Permafrost or the University of Alaska Press or current faculty or student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks will be eligible for the prize. $1000 prize plus publication. Deadline January 15, 2017. More info.
The Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Humanities ceremony will be held in Juneau on Thursday, January 26, 2017. Visit ASCA’s website here for information about last year’s Governor’s Awardees, and here for the Alaska State Writer Laureate program.
23rd annual Statewide Poetry Contest now accepting entries. Deadline: 6 pm, February 1st, 2017. Administered by the Fairbanks Arts Association, this year’s contest will be judged by Jeremy Pataky. Cash prizes. Details
Rasmuson Foundation applications for Individual Artist Awards are open until March 1, 2017. The Foundation will host a series of workshops to provide an overview of the grant options and to answer application related questions. More info and a link to apply is available here.
The US Forest Service, National Park Service & US Fish & Wildlife Service partner to sponsor artist residency programs open to writers in wilderness area. Learn more here. Deadlines: March 1, 2017.
University of Alaska Press seeks a Director and Acquisitions Editor to head the department. This is a term funded, full time position. More
35th annual UAA/Alaska Dispatch News Annual Creative Writing Contest is accepting entries. Deadline: 5:30 pm, February 12, 2017. Over $800 is cash prizes. Details
Storyknife Writers Retreat, a women’s writing residency program in Homer, Alaska, seeks to raise $250,000 to build their main house, which they’ll name “Eva’s House” in honor of Eva Saulitis. Details
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