Don’t mind that little snow squall in Southcentral yesterday; spring really is on the way, with summer close at hand. And no fooling, we’re celebrating with Susan Orlean’s “To Tell the Truth” Crosscurrents onstage conversation tonight, April 1 at 7 p.m. at the Anchorage Museum Auditorium (free to members; $5 suggested donation for non-members). And that’s only the start of the fun. We’ve also got:
- Beginnings, a course with Marybeth Holleman on those all-important first lines, paragraphs, and pages starts tomorrow, Saturday, April 2 at 1 p.m.
- Write-a-thon Friday, April 8, 5 p.m., Snow City Café. Help us meet our $3000 fundraising goal and get in a whole 4.9 hours of your own writing, too. And did we mention fun, food, and prizes? Ten dollars gets you in on it all!
- A Formal Feeling: Getting Started with Poetry, a course with Fairbanks poet John Morgan, will be on Saturday, April 16 at 1 p.m, followed by Land Beyond Landscape, a reading with Kelsea Habecker and John Morgan featuring a video tribute to John Haines at 7 p.m.
- On June 16 at 7 p.m., nationally acclaimed children’s writer Bruce Hale presents his two-hour course “Funny Business: Seven Steps to Writing Humor.”
- Memoir writers, here’s your chance to study with Kim Rich, author of Johnny’s Girl. She’ll be leading a writing “staycation” June 24-27: four full days for you to learn and write.
For details on any of these programs, click through to www.49writingcenter.org or email 49writers@gmail.com.
It’s First Friday, and Alaska Quarterly Review presents readings, together with musical guest Emily Kurn. Friday April 1st, 7pm; Jitters, 11401 Old Glenn Hwy, Eagle River.
Yet another First Friday event takes place in Juneau. April 1st, 4.30-7pm; Jim Fowler will be signing his new book, Patsy Ann
, at Hearthside Books, Nugget Mall.
, at Hearthside Books, Nugget Mall.Don Rearden will be signing copies of The Raven’s Gift at 11.30am on Saturday, April 2nd at Fireside Books, Palmer.
At noon on Saturday April 2nd, Jeff Brown will be signing books at Hearthside Books, Nugget Mall, Juneau.
Also in Juneau that evening, Saturday April 2nd at 7pm, is the launch of UA Southeast‘s Tidal Echoes series; Egan Lecture Hall EG112, featuring writer Heather Lende and artist Nicholas Galanin.
On Saturday, April 2nd at 2pm, author Lael Morgan will be at Barnes and Noble, 200 E. Northern Lights, Anchorage, to sign copies of her new book, Eskimo Star
.
.Also at Barnes and Noble on Sunday April 3rd at 2pm, New York Times food writer Kim Severson presents her memoir, Spoon Fed
.
.On Monday April 4th, from 5.30-7pm, Dr. Paul Dunscomb presents A Great Disobedience against the People: Japan’s Siberian Intervention, 1918-1922 at the UAA Bookstore.
Also at the Bookstore, on Tuesday April 5th, from 5-7pm, Mary Ann Poll presents Raven’s Cove–a mystery.
Author and adventurer Bill Sherwonit will give a slide show and talk about his solo trek through the Brooks Range wilderness and Gates of the Arctic National Park, Tuesday April 12th at Anchorage’s REI store (1200 W. Northern Lights Blvd.), from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Sherwonit will also happily sign copies of his book Changing Paths: Travels and Meditations in Alaska’s Arctic Wilderness. 
On Wednesday April 6th, at 6.30pm, the Gerrish Library at Girdwood will present “Welcome Spring!”–a storytime program for children up to grade 4.
Interior Alaskan visual artists are invited to apply to create original artwork based on the theme of The Art of Fire. Supported by the Joint Fire Sciences Program, the Alaska Fire Sciences Consortium and the Long Term Ecological Research stations at UAF, the goal is to integrate scientific and artistic perspectives on climate change in Interior Alaska as it relates to fire, fire management practices, and the resulting changes to ecosystems.
6-8 artists will be selected, and will be invited to join scientists and fire management personnel on field trips in the Fairbanks area during the summer of 2011. Each artist will create a body of work (up to 10 pieces) for exhibit in Fairbanks (at the Pioneer Park Bear Gallery) in August 2012. Providing artists with creative freedom is a top priority.
Each participant may also receive a small artist grant ($100-200 per artist), and funds may be available for printing a color exhibit, postcards and posters. Select works may be shown in Anchorage and/or elsewhere in Alaska.
Application deadline: April 15th
Notification of acceptance: April 30th
More information: Karen Franzen, 907 488 7641
Denali National Park and Preserve have announced that this year’s Writer in Residence will be Carolyn Kremers. Carolyn Kremers writes literary nonfiction and poetry, and teaches at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Her books include “Place of the Pretend People: Gifts from a Yup’ik Eskimo Village” and “The Alaska Reader: Voices from the North.” Essays and poems of hers have been broadcast on public radio and have appeared in numerous journals, magazines, and anthologies.
Artists interested in applying for the 2012 season are encouraged to visit the website http://www.nps.gov/dena/historyculture/arts-program.htm for information and to apply.