Wow. What a week. Dana Stabenow inks a deal with Evergreen Films toward a TV series featuring her Aleut PI, and Joan Kane earns a hugely prestigious Whiting Award. Front page of the Anchorage Daily News, two days running. Of course we covered the big news for Dana and Joan, too. Well done, Alaskan authors.
So let’s ride the wave, starting with submissions for ICE FLOE, the celebrated and award-winning journal of circumpolar poetry, which will return in the fall of 2010 as an annual book series published by the University of Alaska Press. Subsequent volumes will be forthcoming in 2011, 2012, and 2013. ICE FLOE founders and Alaskans Shannon Gramse and Sarah Kirk will edit these anthologies in collaboration with an international editorial board of scholars, translators, and poets representing the world’s northern nations.
The University of Alaska Press is currently seeking poetry to be considered for inclusion in ICE FLOE 2010. Poets residing in Alaska, Northern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Northern Russia are encouraged to submit new, original work. Poetry will be printed in its original language and in English translation. The only criterion is excellence; any language, style, or subject matter is welcome. Please submit no more than five poems. Simultaneous submissions will be considered, as will previously published work if accompanied by appropriate permissions. If possible, please provide English translations when appropriate and a brief paragraph of biographic information, also in English. Contributors will receive two copies of ICE FLOE. Electronic submissions (either in the body of an email message or as an attached MSWord .doc or .rtf file) are preferred and may be sent to icefloe@uaa.alaska.edu. The submission deadline for ICE FLOE 2010 is January 1, 2010.
Of interest to Anchorage booklovers and writers: Special Collections Librarian Michael Catoggio is hosting an insider’s tour of the treasures of the Alaska historical collection in the Loussac Library. Meet at the Main Reference Desk, level 3, on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 3 p.m. Having made good use of this collection while researching Picture This, Alaska, I can attest that it’s a real treasure trove.
Looking for a Halloween splurge? Alaska Sisters in Crime members Kimberley Gray and Elisa Hitchcock of OutCast! Productions are among the sponsors of an overnight adventure of Mystery, Fun and Suspense on October 30 at the Historic Anchorage Hotel. The History: On February 20, 1921, at 9:15 pm, Anchorage’s first Police Chief John J. “Black Jack” Sturgus was found shot in the back with a bullet from his own gun, steps away from the Historic Anchorage Hotel. It is rumored that his ghost returns to the scene of the crime each year, haunting the location of his untimely death, seeking justice for a crime still unsolved to this day. For $239 per couple, (includes room for two, evening appetizers/light meal, cash bar, and breakfast the following morning), you can become part of this meticulously researched mystery, wining and dining with the famous and infamous characters of a much younger Alaska. For details, call 272-4553 or 800- 544-0988.
With November closing in fast, it’s time to say thanks to poet John Morgan for his guest posts as October’s featured writer and to welcome another poet, Ken Waldman, as featured author for November. Looking ahead, watch for guest posts by Marilyn Sigman and Nancy Lord as well as an interview with Joan Kane. And remember to check the blogroll and author sites in our sidebar for all of the best in Alaskan (and Northern) authors and books