EPISODE SUMMARY Beth Ann Mathews, her husband Jim and nine year old son Glen were living a full and vibrant life in Alaska’s capital Juneau, which, as she describes lies, “between the ocean and a retreating glacier, a dynamic landscape that challenged and nurtured us.” She could not have imagined the challenges the family …
Acclaimed author Melinda Moustakis on her debut novel, Homestead. In this first 49 Writers Active Voice Podcast taped LIVE, we go back in time to the last years before Alaska became a state, and the tumultuous relationship of unlikely homesteaders. Inspired by the story of the author’s grandparents, Homestead was reviewed “absolutely remarkable” by the …
Tommy Orange on his commended debut novel “There, There”, which tells the intertwining stories of Native Americans en route to a pow wow in Orange’s hometown of Oakland, California. He discusses what to expect from the highly anticipated sequel, the current reckoning of the past genocide of Native Americans, white supremacy and the quest for …
Linnea Lentfer reads passages from and discusses her debut novel. “Hold the Tide” is told by a young girl who like Lentfer, is raised hunting deer and gathering berries in remote and wild Southeast Alaska. Unlike the author, her protagonist grew up in a prior century, the child of a shunned and threatened single mother. …
Ohio author Bonnie Proudfoot discusses and reads passages from her debut novel with Active Voice host and producer Katie Bausler. Goshen Road is told through the alternating voices of a working class family in rural Appalachia over the course of a generation. The book holds stories of a far from easy life in a time …
“Last year felt like we were all going through a bunch of rainy days,” Erin Heist told Active Voice host Katie Bausler. When the pandemic shut down life as we know it, this Alaskan singer-songwriter had a ready outlet, a songwriting project complete with an online writing group and deadlines. The result is her debut …
AVP 17: Erin Heist, Singer-Songwriter on her debut EP, “Another Rainy Day” Read More »
Emily Wall is a poet and professor of English and Creative writing at the University of Alaska Southeast. Our conversation was recorded on a mild day in April 2021 on the patio of her family home overlooking Gastineau Channel in Douglas, Alaska. In conversation with Active Voice host and producer Katie Bausler, Emily Wall touches …
AVP 16: Emily Wall, Poet and Professor of English and Creative Writing Read More »
Kathryn H. Ross on her journey confronting racism as a young, black woman after a relatively discrimination-free childhood, and her debut essay and poetry collection, Black Was Not A Label, “a heart song of who I am, what I’ve gone through and my hope for the future.” Writers and artists discuss their work in these …
AVP 15: Kathryn H. Ross, Writer, Author of “Black Was Not a Label” Read More »
In 2018, Vered Mares and partners opened the Writer’s Block bookstore and café’ in Anchorage, Alaska. It quickly became a vital gathering space for writers and artists. Also since 2018, Katie Bausler has hosted this 49 Writers forum for exploration and discussion with writers and artists in these challenging and changing times. We’ve reached a last straw in …
AVP 14: Vered Mares, Writers Block Bookstore and Cafe’ Read More »
Environmental Historian and author Bathsheba DeMuth explores the past to better understand the present. As the COVID-19 pandemic settles in for the foreseeable future, the Brown University Professor and host Katie Bausler look back to the flu pandemic of 1918, and infectious diseases brought by European explorers that devastated indigenous peoples going back hundreds of …
AVP 13: Bathsheba DeMuth, Environmental Historian Read More »
