Ela: 49 Writers Weekly Round-up

June is a great month for Alaska’s writers. The North Words Writers Symposium wrapped up in grand style, with talk of it doing a stint at Denali next year, and the Kachemak Bay Writers Conference is about to get underway. In Anchorage, we’re looking forward to meeting nationally-acclaimed author Bruce Hale, who’s teaching “Funny Business: Seven Secrets to Writing Humor” on June 16. If you’d like to join us for an informal potluck with Hale prior to the class, email 49writers@gmail.com – there’s limited seating.

Giveaway!!! To the next person who registers for Memoir Weekend with Kim Rich: Alaska Then and Now: Anchorage, Fairbanks & Juneau, courtesy of Thunder Bay Press. It’s likely you’ll hear Alaska author Kim Rich (coming to us via her new home in Texas) on KSKA’s Radio Rambler June 27, the day she wraps up her Memoir Weekend in Anchorage.

And one more June date to remember: young writers ages 10-14 who’d like full or partial funding to attend East Coast travel writer Jenna Schnuer’s workshop Your Alaska Online Travel ‘Zine need to get their scholarship applications in by June 26. Help us spread the word on this great opportunity for literary kids!

The Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference, featuring keynote speaker Rita Dove, starts today Friday June 10 (registration begins at 3pm). The Festival of Readings associated with the Conference is free and open to the public, as follows: On Saturday, June 11 at 8pm, Rita Dove will present at the High School, Mariner Theater, Homer.

The Festival of Readings continues on Sunday 12th, 8pm at Alice’s Champagne Palace, Homer, featuring Nickole Brown, LeAnne Howe, Heather Lende, Peggy Shumaker, Frank Soos and Sherry Simpson, and on Monday 13th, at 5.15pm at Land’s End Resort, Homer, featuring Mike Burwell, Rich Chiappone, Ann Coray and Nancy Lord, and at 8pm featuring Brenda Miller, Hannah Tinti, Eva Saulitis, Donna Jo Napoli, Rigoberto Gonzalez and Matt Roesch.

Also associated with the Conference is Ann Coray’s Youth Writing Workshop on Friday June 10 at 9am, at the Kachemak Bay Campus, Homer, aimed at students entering 10th, 11th or 12th grade.

On Saturday June 11 at 1pm, the Pulpwood Queens share another storytime at Barnes and Noble, 200 E. Northern Lights, Anchorage.

On Monday June 13 at 1pm, Marianne Schlegelmilch will be talking about her newest book, Two Tickets and a Feather , at Fireside Books in Palmer.

Wednesday June 15 at 7pm is Poetry Parley: the featured poet of the month is Rumi. Contact Jonathan Minton for more information.

The 2011 Fairbanks Film Festival is seeking submissions for entries. Deadline: midnight July 15. The showing and award ceremony will take place October 15, 7pm in the Theater at the Pioneer Park Centennial Center for the Arts. Click here for the prospectus and entry guidelines.

The Northern Review is sending out a call for papers on Tourism and Travel in the Circumpolar North. Essays attempting to put in perspective the positive aspects of the influx of tourism to this region over the past two decades, together with the potential downsides, has been underway for at least two decades. (See their website for some bibliography.)

Issues of interest include, but are not limited to: Economic, regional, community and sustainable development; place-based and other planning approaches; Identity; Climate Change; Northern and Indigenous Cultures and Communities; The Social Economy and Creative Economies; Gender.

Recent back issues of the journal are available online at http://journals.sfu.ca/nr Manuscripts received before midnight August 15, 2011 will be considered for publication in Number 36 (Spring 2012). Send submissions or queries to Guest Editor Suzanne de la Barre, PhD care of managing editor, Deanna McLeod. Please visit the website for submission guidelines.

Congratulations to Lucian Childs, whose short story “Hit Me Back” has been published in the Compass Rose Journal.