49 Writers | Roundup for Literary Alaska


EVENTS and ANNOUNCEMENTS

– We are in the midst of planning our fall line up of classes and events and will announce options and open registration in the coming weeks.  

– We want your best 49 Writers photographs! We’re sprucing up; if you have quality, print-ready photos (or video, audio, courtroom-sketch-style workshop doodles, etc) from any point in our 6+ years history that 1) you’d like to donate and 2) you suspect we don’t already have, we’d love them! Email small doses to 49Writers@gmail.com, or get in touch about transferring large amounts. Thanks! 

SOUTHCENTRAL

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Celebration

ANCHORAGE | Friday, August 12 from 10 am through 5 pm at the UAA Campus Bookstore
Activities include:  Meet the Snowy Owl (noon-1 pm), Dramatic Readings with Toby WiddicombeSharon EmmerichsJennifer Stone—faculty from the UAA English Dept. and others (1:15-3:30 pm), Costume Contest, Sorting Hat Station, Trivia Contests, Cooking Demonstrations (10:30am-11:30am and 4-5 pm), Drowsy Wolf Specials, and more. Free parking at UAA on Fridays.

Ashley Sweeney Book Signings
ANCHORAGE | 1) Monday, August 15, 1-3 pm at the Anchorage Museum and 2) August 18th, 6-8 pm at Barnes & Noble. Author Ashley Sweeney will sign copies of her new novel, Eliza Waite. The book is part diary, part recipe file, and part Gold Rush. Sweeney did extensive research for this book at the Anchorage Museum. A native New Yorker, Ashley E. Sweeney lives and writes in La Conner, Washington. She is a graduate of Wheaton College in Norton, MA and is an award-winning journalist in Washington State. Included with Museum admission.

Alaska Writers Guild August Event 

ANCHORAGE | AWG will offer a sneak-peek into this year’s Conference for Writers & Illustrators. Wednesday, August 177-8:30 PM, Barnes & Noble. Free. 

Alaskan Author and Historian Dan O’Neill
PALMER | Saturday, August 20 at Fireside Books and Turkey Red. Reading at the bookstore at 4 PM, and dinner with the author at Turkey Red at 6 PM. 


ANCHORAGE | Sunday, August 21 from 1-3 pm at UAA/APU Consortium Library room 307

Dan O’Neill has written three books of literary non-fiction. A Land Gone Lonesome is literary travel writing centered on a canoe trip along the Yukon River. The Alaska Library Association selected it as 2006’s best book on Alaska, published anywhere, and The New York Times Book Review awarded it an “Editor’s Choice.” His first book, a political history called The Firecracker Boys, also won the Library Association’s best book award, and for it Dan was named Alaska Historian of the Year by the Alaska Historical Society. In between, he wrote The Last Giant of Beringia, which blends the biography of a unique scholar with an explication of his scientific work on the Bering Land Bridge. The Times (London) called it “a beautiful and engrossing book…a wonderful integration of science and history.” The University of Alaska Press has just released his first children’s book: Stubborn Gal: The True Story of an Undefeated Sled Dog RacerDan was born in San Francisco, educated at U.C. Berkeley, and moved to Alaska 40 years ago. There, he studied creative writing, worked construction jobs, built log cabins, hunted, fished, trapped, and ran dogs. He and his wife once ran their teams 800 miles to Nome. As research associate at the University of Alaska’s Oral History Program, he produced radio and television documentaries for public broadcasting. For several years he wrote a column of political opinion for the Fairbanks daily newspaper.

The “Female” in Indigenous and Pre Socratic Cultures
ANCHORAGE | Wednesday, August 24 from 4-6 pm at the UAA Campus Bookstore
Guest speakers include Dr. Jacqueline Rahm (UAF Dept. of Indigenous Studies), Dr. Rachel Mason, (UAA Anthropology Dept., NPS), Dr. Kirsten Helweg Hanson (UAA Philosophy Dept.), and Wolfgang Olsson (UAA Honor’s College graduate). This multi-disciplinary event will contrast theories that focus on the “female” and why the “female” has been suppressed and/or discarded over the years. Topics will include wisdom teachings, the Goddess, the importance of Aspasia, and the fate of Feminist Anthropology. Free parking for this event in the South Lot, Sports Complex NW Lot, West Campus Central Lot, and Sports Campus West Lot.

John Luther Adams 

ANCHORAGE | The Alaska Humanities Forum will welcome John Luther Adams for a series of events as part of the Pulitzer Prizes Centennial Campfires Initiative to celebrate excellence in journalism and the arts. 


John Luther Adams is a composer and author whose life and work is deeply rooted in the natural world—especially in Alaska, where he lived for forty years before moving to New York City in 2015. Adams was awarded the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for music for his symphonic work Become Ocean, and a 2015 Grammy Award for “Best Contemporary Classical Composition.” He has taught widely, including at Harvard University and the Oberlin Conservatory, and served as composer in residence with the Anchorage Symphony, Anchorage Opera, Fairbanks Symphony, Arctic Chamber Orchestra, and APRN.  
The public is invited to a series of three free events during John Luther Adams’ visit to Anchorage; you can also tune in to 106.1 FM KONR to listen to selected works from september 1-7.

READING AND BOOK SIGNING | Thursday, September 1, 6-8 pm at Cyrano’s Playhouse. Adams will read from his upcoming memoir, Silences So Deep: A Memoir of Music and AlaskaPassages reflecting on his friendships with poet John Haines and composer Gordon Wright have been excerpted in the New Yorker and Alaska Quarterly Review.

ARTIST’S TALK & RECEPTION | Friday, September 2, Talk: 7 P.M | Reception 8 P.M. at  Anchorage Museum. A growing number of geologists believe we have entered a new period – the Anthropocene – in which the dominant geologic force is humanity itself. What does this mean for a composer, or for any creative artist working in any medium today?

VEILS AND VESPER INSTALLATION | Friday & Saturday, September 2 & 3 | 6 P.M. – midnight. Veils and Vesper is a series of distinct but related electronic pieces written

by Adams in 2005. When the pieces are installed together, listeners are able to create their own ‘mix’ and experience the music by moving through an immersive environment.


INTERIOR 
FAIRBANKS | Fairbanks Arts Association hosts the oldest literary reading series in the state. 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. Upcoming: 
SeptemberUAF Faculty Reading
OctoberTBA
NovemberTBA
DecemberRosemary McGuire
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). 
SOUTHEAST 

JUNEAU | Introducing Juneau’s anonymous poetry publication, MYTH Zine, currently available at The Rookery Café, Kindred Post, Alaska Robotics, The JACC, Rainy Retreat Books, The Goldtown Nickelodeon, and High Tide Tattoo. Send your poetry, prose, philosophical wonderings, or love letters to myythzine@gmail.com


                                                                   SOUTHWEST 
NA
ARCTIC 
NA

OUT OF STATE

EAST COAST and UK | After launching her new book, To the Bright Edge of the World in Palmer, Eowyn Ivey headed to the west coast to promote her book. She’s made it to the east coast, now, and soon heads to the UK on a whirlwind book tour. Full schedule here


BOTHELL, WASHINGTON | A Cirque reading will be held on August 19, 5:30 pm, at Tsuga Gallery on Main Street. more info  

BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON | A Cirque reading will be held at the Mount Baker Theater, Encore Room, August 28, at 3 pm. more info   
CONFERENCES, RETREATS, and RESIDENCIES


Woosh Kinaadeiyi’s Summer Writer’s Retreat 

JUNEAU | Woosh Kinaadeiyí presents a SUMMER WRITER’S RETREAT, a unique opportunity for those who yearn for an immersive and inclusive experience. Build community and delve deeper into your own writing through guided activities and time away from your busy lives. Set in a waterfront house off the beaten path from 3 pm on August 20th until 11am on August 21st, space is limited. $45.00. Click here for the application

2016 Tutka Bay Writers Retreat
September 9-11th, 2016 
TUTKA BAY LODGE | This 49 Writers program takes place at the fantastic Tutka Bay Lodge. Faculty instructor award-winning writer Debra Magpie Earling will lead fiction writers in an in-depth writing workshop. Emphasizing in-class writing supportiveness, collegiality, and a constructive atmosphere, the engaged student will emerge with improved techniques for further work. Sold out and waitlisting. 


2016 Alaska Writers Guild Annual Conference for Writers & Illustrators
September 24th plus optional intensives and roundtables on Sept. 23rd.
SCBWIAlaska Writers Guild
ANCHORAGE | This year’s conference is a partnership between Alaska Writers Guild, 49 Writers, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. This all-day event takes place at the BP Energy + Conference Center and includes keynotes and panels, as well as writing craft, marketing, traditional publishing, self publishing, children’s literature, illustration tracks. Sign up for optional Intensives or Roundtable Critiques, or take advantage of One-on-One Manuscript Excerpt Reviews. Early bird discount extended until July 31st at only $95 for AWG/49 Writers/SCBWI members or $145 for non-members. More info and registration here.  

The North Words Writers Symposium has announced their 2017 dates: May 31-June 3rd, which should better accommodate educators. More details to come. 
OPPORTUNITIES and AWARDS for WRITERS
Rasmuson Foundation Artist Residency Program application period is open until August 15, 2016. Eligible creative writers or media artists are invited to apply for fully-funded, two-month-long writing residencies in 2017 at Djerassi Resident Artists Program in the Santa Cruz Mountains near San Francisco. Alaska writers who have received the award in prior years include Arlitia Jones, Christine Byl, Ernestine Saankalaxt’ Hayes, and Rosemary McGuire. Artists of other disciplines are eligible to apply for residencies elsewhere, too. Learn more and apply.   

The Alaska Literary Awards are open to poets, playwrights, screenwriters, writers of fiction and literary nonfiction, writers of multi-genre, cross-genre, or genre-defying work. Any Alaska writer over 18 who is not a full-time student is eligible to apply. Quality of the work is the primary consideration in determining who receives the awards. $5,000 awards will be given, all from privately donated funds. Apply at www.callforentry.org by Sept. 1, 2016 at 9:59 AKDT. 


The Anchorage International Film Festival Screenplay Competition | AIFF is making a second Call for Entries for independent Features, Documentaries, Shorts, Animation and our “Made in Alaska” categories. Their first annual Screenplay competition is also open. Regular deadline to submit is August 12, with final deadline on September 5, 2016. More information: www.anchoragefilmfestival.org

In early August, the Alaska State Council on the Arts will seek nominations for the 
2017 Governor’s Awards for the Arts, as well as the next Alaska State Writer Laureate.
 The deadline for nominations for Governor’s Awards for the Arts is September 15, 2016 and nominations for State Writer Laureate will be accepted through October 3, 2016This year, the categories for the Governor’s Awards for the Arts are: 
Arts Education, Individual Artist, Arts Organization and Alaska Native Arts. The Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Humanities ceremony will be held in Juneau on Thursday, January 26, 2017Visit ASCA’s website here for information about last year’s Governor’s Awardees, and here for the Alaska State Writer Laureate program.

Ghostwriting opportunity | A search is underway to find an experienced ghostwriter to write a series of twelve non-fiction articles for publication. These articles will be about the history of an immigrant family arriving in Alaska in the late ’40s. The selected ghostwriter will be expected to agree on the proposed content and timeline for a series of articles and then interview the client and develop the articles from the interviews. Interested writers are invited to provide a CV, recent examples of work as a ghostwriter, demonstration of the ability to write in the client’s voice, examples/references which show an ability to meet deadlines and communicate effectively and efficiently, references which show an ability to work well with a client to enable a sharing of ideas, fact checking and research skills, pay rate, ability to discuss ideas and research with the client in a non-judgmental way; description of process to give the client the opportunity to approve, ask questions and give feedback on the material, and agreement to sign a nondisclosure a
greement. If interested, please send questions, documents, and/or your rates to 13gwriter13@gmail.com by Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Thank You for Your Support!
49 Writers members and donors make this blog possible, along with our workshops, Crosscurrents events, readings and craft talks, and other programs. Not a member yet? Join Us 
Have news, events, or opportunities you’d like to see listed here? Email details to 49roundup (at) gmail.com. Your message must be received by noon on the Thursday before the roundup is scheduled to run. Unless your event falls in the “Opportunities and Awards” category, it should occur no more than 30 days from when we receive your email.

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