Have news, events, or opportunities you’d like to see listed here? Email details to info (at) 49writers.org, preferably with “Roundup” as the subject. Items might get edited for length. Your message must be received by close of business the Wednesday before the roundup is scheduled to run at the latest. Unless your event falls in the “Opportunities and […]
Literary Roundup | April 21-May 4 Read More »
This was originally published last week in the Anchorage Press, the first in a new column there called Yeah Write. April’s half spent, early gulls have been showing up, and the sun is off and running on its night-eating, post-hibernation binge that will last till solstice. Proper spring’s not here yet, but it’s coming on fast. Gravel-crusted
Jeremy Pataky | Once Upon Right Now Read More »
As a poet, I am endlessly fascinated by questions of how to create poetry that has mystery without obscurity, how to be plainspoken without being prosaic. How do we give the reader room for thought but not leave them lost in confusion? This will be the focus of my craft talk later this month. In
Guest Blogger Julie LeMay | Don’t Slam the Door on Your Way Out Read More »
We originally published this post on March 7, 2012 It’s about 11 am, and I already have several things to forgive myself for. I intended to get cracking on a novel revision by 9 am. (First draft completed on Dec 31, and two months later, I still haven’t finished even the first round of editing
Andromeda Romano-Lax | Forgiveness, redux Read More »
March slips out a snow-dumped, slightly shivering lamb—and the cruelest month is all but here. Here’s a little known alternative fact for you. T.S. Eliot was talking about April in Alaska for that section of The Waste Land. Didn’t know that did you? Although he died 17 years before the first dividend payment, and despite the
Guest Blogger Don Rearden | Avoid the Wasteland: Pick.Click.Give. More Read More »
What is a poetic line, exactly? What difference does it make where the line “breaks?” When we look at words on a page we can instantly identify a poem because a poem is lineated. Lines (or their conspicuous absence) are a large part of what makes a poem a poem. How does a poet decide
Susanna J. Mishler | Line, Please! Read More »
We’re excited to announce a new series at 49 Writers, Active Voice: Writers Respond, that will call on you, the Alaska writing community, to react, reflect, and respond to current events. The opening months of 2017 have been tumultuous and unprecedented. The cultural, societal, and civic direction of our nation is being challenged under the new
Charles Boyle | Active Voice: Writers Respond Read More »
This short piece reprises part of Daryl Farmer’s talk earlier this month in Anchorage, part of 49 Writers’ Reading & Craft Talk Series at Indigo Tea Lounge. The event was occasioned by his new book of stories, Where We Land. Tension, I tell my students. Dramatize, give your characters conflicts for them to resolve. This
Daryl Farmer | Writing the Indelible Moment Read More »
When I was a little girl, my mother remembered me carrying around little notebooks for my “pomes” and pictures, filling them with words and pencil drawings. Most have now gone missing. During college, I kept occasional journals filled with sketches and poems of longing and love, much of it unrequited. Most of these, embarrassingly, survive.
Barbara Hood | An Invitation: Savor the Rising Words Poetry Broadside Exhibit Read More »
Lots of good reasons could justify short wintertime trips to Juneau, but I felt lucky that poetry was the reason behind last week’s trip. Julie Hungiville LeMay and I were invited by Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA) to serve as judges for this year’s Alaska Statewide Poetry Out Loud Competition there, a fun
Jeremy Pataky | Juneau Out Loud Read More »
