49 Writers Weekly Round-Up

Tired of all the press on Sarah’s new book? We got some nice press of our own this week at 49 Writers. This month’s Alaska Magazine has a nice large write-up on our Ode to a Dead Salmon contest, including a big ugly picture and a quote from the winning entry, with a link to the finalists on their website. Way to go, 49 Writers. Okay, it’s not Oprah, but we’re happy.

How much of ex-Gov Sarah Palin’s multi-million dollar advance will actually hit her bank account? Not as much as you think. For the low-down on what a writer actually makes on a book, check out urban fantasy author Carrie Vaughn’s tell-all, The Reality of a Times Bestseller. Of course, Palin does get that bus painted with the cover of her book, which should help her numbers over the average Jane Author’s.

As Bill Sherwonit mentioned in yesterday’s guest post, Publisher’s Weekly reports that Graphic Arts North and Alaska Northwest Books are liquidating under Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Ingram continues to distribute the company’s titles, and the court will appoint a trustee to oversee the liquidation process, including the sale of some 350 active backlist titles. Now don’t I feel small for fussing over my scrawny check from Carus Publishing, which I did finally receive, by the way, ten months after publication.

From the happily solvent University of Alaska Press comes Linda Johnson’s Kandik Map, exploring how Athabaskan Indian Paul Kandik and French Canadian explorer Francois Mercier surveyed the upper reaches of the Yukon River and its tributaries, creating the earliest known map of the region. The map, which lacks the international border, is a reminder that the inhabitants of the region were one people before being separated by an artificial boundary. Linda Johnson was director of library, archives, and records management at Yukon College, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada.

Another new U of A release: James Wickersham’s 1938 memoir, Old Yukon, based in large part on his diaries, newly edited by historian Terrence Cole. The publisher notes, “In this humorous and upbeat memoir, James Wickersham describes his career as a pioneer judge in the undeveloped Alaska territory and later as Alaska’s sole congressional representative. It is considered by many to be one of the best descriptions of the gold rush period.”

The U of A Press also reports The Alaska Journal of Anthropology (vol. 7, no.1 – 2009) has posted laudatory reviews of An Aleutian Ethnography and Wildflowers of Unalaska Island. An Aleutian Ethnography by Lucien M. Turner, edited by Raymond L. Hudson, was praised for the ethnographer’s investigation of life on the Aleutian Islands in the late nineteenth century that uniquely lets the voices of the Aleut people shine through and for the editor’s contribution. The reviewer of Wildflowers of Unalaska Island by Suzi Golodoff reports that the book will appeal to a wide range of readers, including those interested in Alaska Native ethnobotany.

As a follow-up to last week’s thought-tickling MFA discussion (many thanks to all who took the time to weigh in), Barrow author Debby Dahl Edwardson notes that she also shared her MFA experience in an interview at Cynsations, a well-read blog on young adult books.

Author Bradford Matsen will be speaking about his new book Jacques Cousteau: The Sea King on Thursday, December 3 at 7 p.m. at Elliott Bay Books, First Avenue and South Main Street, Seattle.

Alaskan author Dana Stabenow guest blogged on Lipstick Chronicles about the not-so-dreaded rise of the eReader, declaring ‘You don’t scare me, Kindle.’ On November 30th she’ll be guest blogging on Murder by 4 about the genesis of the Kate Shugak television series.

A couple of on-topic but personal asides: in the mash-up of Sarah Press this week, I hope you caught my brother’s live blog of the Oprah interview for The Awl. I admit to some bias, but there are some great one-liners. And in another item on which I’ll devote a full post or two down the road, the illustrator for my 2011 (University of Alaska Press) picture book Lucy’s Dance is posting weekly blogs of her sketches, with students and others from Stebbins weighing in with their comments and thoughts. Inspired by my visit to Stebbins last spring, Lucy’s Dance is the story of how one child inspires a revival of an cultural tradition. Stop by and have a look.