It
was great to see so many new faces at last night’s Reading and Craft
Talk by Kaylene Johnson. Many thanks to Kaylene for her engaging
presentation on the importance of story, and for sharing her perspective
on the writing process. We are grateful too for the generosity of our
hosts at Great Harvest Bread, and to coordinators Lucian Childs and
Lorena Knapp for organizing another fine event.
Today, November 16,
is the deadline for class proposals for our Spring 2013 Literary
Season. It’s easy to submit and we are always looking for faculty with a
strong writing and teaching background. You will find the
easy-to-use proposal form and instructor guidelines at www.49writingcenter.org /get involved /teach.
Last chance to register
for Don Rearden’s workshop, “Unleashing the Screenwriter in You,” the
last offering of our fall literary season. It’s tomorrow, Saturday, November 17, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm.
On December 3, 7:00 pm,
at Great Harvest Bread Company, celebrated Alaskan chef Kirsten Dixon
will give a Reading & Craft Talk entitled “Stirring Words” –a
discussion of how she brings all things culinary to the table and to her
writing.
On Wednesday, December 5, 7-9 pm, at Indigo Tea Lounge, 221 East 5th
Avenue, Anchorage, we are inviting anyone who participated in one of
our 2012 writing classes or the Tutka Bay Writers Retreat to read from
their published, completed or work-in-progress inspired by what you
learned. Look for an Evite soon.
November 11-17 is University Press Week.
The Association of American University Presses reminds us that “AAUP
member presses produce more than 12,000 works per year, in both print
and digital form; AAUP membership alone comprises 133 scholarly presses, found
in places ranging from Abilene to Toronto, from Kalamazoo to Hong
Kong,” publishing “everything from Christian thought to the geophysics
of fracking, from forensic psychiatry to pre-Columbian history, and from
poetry to the economics of food.” Here at 49 Writers we are especially
appreciative of our partner, University of Alaska Press, and their
exciting Alaska Literary Series.
Poems in Place,
a unique collaboration among Alaska Center for the Book, Alaska State
Parks, a steering committee of poets and writers and, ultimately, the
residents of Alaska, will kick off its next round of calls for poems
with an evening of poetry readings in Ketchikan and Fairbanks in the
next couple of weeks. The Poems in Place project will install a poem
written by an Alaskan in each of the seven regions of the Alaska State
Park’s system in the coming years, including Totem Bight State
Historical Park and Chena River State Recreation Area in 2013.
Information about the Poems in Place project – and how writers can
submit poems to the project – will be available following the readings
and through state wide media in December 2012.
On Thursday, November 29, 7 pm,
the Ketchikan Area Arts and Humanities Council will sponsor a poetry
event at the Main Street Gallery. Please join us to hear Ketchikan poets
Teague Whalen, Ray Troll, Evon Zerbetz, Keith Smith, Dave Kiffer,
George Pasley, Tom Fowler, and former-Ketchikanite Erin Coughlin
Hollowell read poetry inspired by Southeast Alaska. Hollowell is a
member of the Poems in Place committee. She’ll explain how anyone can
submit a poem to be placed in Totem Bight State Park. Refreshments and
conversation will follow.
On Wednesday December 12, 5:30-7 pm
in the Bear Gallery of the Fairbanks Arts Association, Poems in Place,
in collaboration with the Fairbanks Arts Association, will host an
informational gathering and poetry reading by some of Fairbanks’ best
known poets. Poets reading that evening will include John Morgan, Renee
Singh, Derick Burleson, Rebecca Morse, Nicole Stellon O’Donnell and Carolyn Kremers. For more information, contact the Fairbanks Arts Association at 907.456.6485.
We are pleased to announce that Kathleen Tarr’s essay, “Pasternak’s Tree,” has been accepted for publication by the Sewanee Review –America’s oldest literary journal (since 1892). Kathleen was a recent guest blogger for 49 Writers.
If
you have news to share of publishing success, a book signing, or any
other literary activity in your community, feel free to email us at 49writers@gmail.com and we’ll help to spread the word.
Children’s author Sherry Shahan is offering a free 30-minute Skype visit to schools and libraries that use her new Alaskan-based adventure book Ice Island
as part of an Alaskan unit or in conjunction with the fun reading
incentive program, Idita-READ. It’s a middle-grade adventure featuring
young teens and their sled dogs, with the information about the 1925
Serum Run and history of the Iditarod woven into the story. If you are
interested, please contact Sherry direct via her website. This
is a great way for remote schools and libraries to meet an author and
learn about the inspiration behind her adventure novels.
On Monday, November 19, 5-7pm, Photojournalist Jim Lavrakas presents his new book Snap Decisions: My 30 Years as an Alaska News Photogapher. UAA Campus Bookstore. Free and open to all, with free parking in the South lot. For more information, contact Rachel Epstein repstein2@uaa.alaska.edu or 907 786 4782
Poetry Parley is coming up on Wednesday November 21, ; 7pm at Out North, 3800 DeBarr Rd. Anchorage. The
featured ‘marquee’ poet will be e e cummings, and the local poet, DC
McKenzie. If you are interested in being a reader of some cummings
poems, contact poetryparley@gmail.com asap.
Due to Hurricane Sandy, the deadline for the 2013 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Contest has been extended to December 15, 2012.
The
contest is open to residents of Alaska who have never published a book,
or have published only one full-length book, of fiction or poetry. The
judges are Ann Napolitano for fiction and Afaa Michael Weaver for
poetry.
Download the guidelines and application form at at.pw.org/wexaward. Entries must be postmarked by December 15, 2012.
Questions? Contact Bonnie Rose Marcus, Director, Readings/Workshops (East) and Writers Exchange Award, at bmarcus@pw.org.