All my life, people have told me, “You need to read this.” I’m going to tell you a secret. On the one hand, I like book recommendations and I seek them out, as well as make them. On the other hand, the moment they’re too strong or the same few books get mentioned over […]
Don’t Tell Me What to Read Read More »
Do Not Confuse News with Fiction by Anne Coray Like many of us, I’ve been thinking a lot the past few years about truth and fiction. With the rise of questionable news sources and conspiracy theories, one has to ask whether fiction can stand on its own anymore. The idea of “fake” news somehow
Do Not Confuse News with Fiction: Anne Coray Read More »
Rosy Posits Birds. Words. We search for both. Sometimes we find them. And occasionally they are rather good ones, subjectively at least. I like my taste in the birds I see and hear, and I’ve learned to value every word that I write. But when the object is for many to enjoy as well, there’s
Rosy Posits: By Sean Ulman Read More »
This May 15-18 will mark the return of the Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference after a year’s hiatus. For nineteen years, the conference has brought together hundreds of writers from around the state and the country to learn from nationally-renowned faculty. Over the past year, the newly expanded Advisory Committee has been discussing how to help
Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference Evolving: By Erin Hollowell Read More »
This blogpost, in slightly different form, appeared on the blog in 2016. The author has since resettled back in a northern clime, in Canada. A person very close to me is dying. But that is personal, and hard to discuss, even parenthetically.So I begin – I must begin – with ants. Not one but three
The Ants but not Only Ants, By Andromeda Romano-Lax Read More »
As the pandemic worsened in early 2020, Juneau’s Burn Thompson Writing Group, like so many others, shifted from in-person to ZOOM meetings. Our routine had been that each of the 6-10 attendees at twice-monthly gatherings passed out copies of their work, then read it aloud. The others then offered suggestions and asked questions, often marking
Writing in a Time of Pandemic: Richard Stokes and Juneau’s Burn Thompson Writers Read More »
The poet and memoirist Carolyn Forché joined the book club in the Copper Valley via Zoom on January 30 to talk about What You Have Heard is True, her experiences in El Salvador careening toward its 12 years of civil war. Her grace in spending time with us, and what she shared, will be with us
Truth From Poets: A review of Carolyn Forches’ “What You Heard is True” by Mary Odden Read More »
Two weeks ago, a gang of angry folks followed the request of our out- going president and broke into the U.S. Capital Building. They trashed the place, attacked police, killed one. Others were injured. Brave guards slowed them down long enough for congressmen and senators to be moved to safety. As the smoke cleared and
Carrying Forward our Family Love: By Dan Branch Read More »
Last month, I wrote about things you can do—like developing relationships with other authors and engaging authentically on social media—one to three years before your book is published. Today I’m going to talk about a narrower yet still significant opportunity window, up to a year before pub date and for many months after. Obviously as
Debra Gwartney is the author of I am a Stranger Here Myself, a memoir published in 2019 for which she was awarded the River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize. Last year she won the WILLA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction from Women Writing the West. She has also been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pacific Northwest
