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Real West, True North: Reading Beyond Literary Myths by Christine Byl

February 17, 2026 / By 49 Writers

When my first novel, Lookout, was released in 2023, the cultural zeitgeist tilted toward nuance and diversity. Remember those days? Arts boundaries and literary archetypes were being pushed and expanded. Why should we be hemmed in by stereotypes when we could have multi-racial Shakespeare casts, trans superheroes, a Black woman winning country album of the […]

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Gratitude to those who gathered us by Barbara Hood

January 13, 2026 / By 49 Writers

It was ten years ago this month, in January 2016, that I found myself drawn to a former adult bookstore on Spenard Road in Anchorage for a poetry reading. A shabby building in a neglected part of town, the building represented the dream of a small group of writers – Vered Mares, Teeka Ballas, and

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AVP 28: Eowyn Ivey, Author, Black Woods, Blue Sky

December 3, 2025 / By 49 Writers

Our latest episode was recorded with the keynote speaker for the 2025 Northwords writers conference in Skagway, Alaska. Pulitzer prize nominee Eowyn Ivey talks with guest host Summer Christiansen about her writing discipline, the challenges and joys of writing from rural Alaska and why her latest book, Black Woods, Blue Sky, is her most personal yet.

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A Day in the Life of UA student and intern by Amy Kelleher

December 3, 2025 / By 49 Writers

During my final semester at the University of Alaska Southeast, I was offered the opportunity to complete an internship with Tidal Echoes. I had heard of the literary and arts journal during my previous years at UAS, but this was my chance to complete both a Bachelor of Arts degree and also peek behind the

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Choosing Between Projects: Fun Thought Experiments by Andromeda Romano-Lax

November 17, 2025 / By 49 Writers

When anyone asks me if I’m “writing something at the moment” I have a hard time not looking taken aback. Writing something? I’m always writing something! If I’m not actively accumulating wordcount, I’m researching and brainstorming something—or better yet, many somethings. If your gears are constantly spinning the way mine are, then you may find

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In Praise of Chipmunking by Richard Chiappone

October 14, 2025 / By 49 Writers

About 4:00 this morning, I was sitting alone in the dark living room, laughing. My wife and the cat were in our bed (and I use the word “our” to include the cat’s proprietary attitude about household furnishings and everything else in this place). I was having trouble sleeping—imagine that: a writer with bad sleep

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Bushwhacked by Anette Coggins

October 6, 2025 / By 49 Writers

Something was missing in my story. It all just read like bla…bla, and it felt flat and dull. I was working on my nonfiction book, memoirs of Alaska, and many of my adventures were half a lifetime ago—like my trip to the Brooks Range in the summer of 1990. Back then, Angela and I had

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Bloom Again–a novel that sees collaboration as the seed of hope

September 9, 2025 / By 49 Writers

by Dawnell Smith Some of my friends steer clear of tough subjects when choosing books, at least some of the time. They want light reading to escape the real world and have some fun. (Strangely, some of these books involve mysterious dark forces and blood-sucking romance with a lot of bloodshed, but who am I

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Catching up on new books by Alaska authors–Just Like a Soldier and What Turtle Blood Tastes Like

September 2, 2025 / By 49 Writers

Just Like a Soldier: A Memoir Write up by the author Robert Stark Excerpt “I have no background as a farmer. In fact, the largest garden I ever kept was a small community garden plot at my college campus in Olympia, Washington where I grew food to donate to the local food pantry for college

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An ode to writer’s events

August 27, 2025 / By 49 Writers

Or how I learned to stop grumbling and love the conference (and workshops, open mics, and lectures) By Lauren Cusimano I hate writers’ conferences. Or, at least I did until very recently. For years, something about them made me grumpy (please note, I am often grumpy by default). It was maybe the overall message that,

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