A huge Alaska-sized thanks to all who’ve made this first-ever Alaska Book Week a huge success. Special kudos go to Barrow author Debby Dahl Edwardson who honored us with an Alaska Book Week post the day before the announcement that her new YA novel My Name is Not Easy has been chosen as a National Book Award finalist. Wow! We’ve also been giving away Alaska books all week through our Alaska Book Week website and our Facebook page. Remember to email us with a short write-up of how you celebrated, and we’ll archive all the activity at www.alaskabookweek.com .
We’re wrapping up the week with tonight’s Crosscurrents onstage conversation “Fictional Truth: The Relevance of Story” featuring Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction winners Melinda Moustakis (Bear Down Bear North) and Frank Soos (Unified Field Theory; Early Yet) at 7 pm in the Rasmuson Auditorium of the Anchorage Museum. A question and answer session and book-signing will follow. Copies of the Alaska Quarterly Review featuring a story by Moustakis will also be available. There is no charge for 49 Writers and museum members; a $5 donation is suggested for non-members.
Tomorrow (October 15) Moustakis, who was just named one of the National Book Award’s “five under thirty-five” to watch, will teach a three-hour course “Writing and the Creative Spark” at the 49 Alaska Writing Center. On October 22, Susanna’s Mishler’s “Poetry Toolbox: Lines and Tropes” begins, followed by “Perspectives and Viewpoints” with Andromeda Romano-Lax beginning October 25 and Fiction with David Vann on October 28. Registration today at www.49writingcenter.org.
It’s already time to start thinking about our 49 Writers spring course schedule. Course proposals are due November 1, with classes to begin in February. If you’ve got a course to propose, we’d love to hear from you. Of special interest would be a six-hour Elements course on story structure and plot, a submission workshop, a nonfiction apprenticeship, and any proposals for a “Publish and Promote” series.
Several working writers turned out for our first Writers Café open studio session last Sunday. Thanks to volunteer Anna Breuninger for hosting. Mark your calendars for the next open studio session on Sunday, November 13 from 1-4 pm at the 49 Writers Café at Out North Art House.
We’ve been busy mailing membership cards and coupons for free bread from the Great Harvest Bread Company to all who’ve joined and renewed memberships this month. If you haven’t already, please join in supporting our work on behalf of Alaska’s writers and books. Fulltime students take note: we now offer student memberships for only $20 per year.
Speaking of students, we had a great response to our first WYAK writers group, which met at Teen Underground last Monday. Young writers looking for a great way to spend your upcoming Friday holiday, look no farther than the free WYAK Jumpstart Your Writing workshop at Teen Underground on October 28 and 29. Want to add “radio broadcast” to your list of accomplishments? We’ve teamed with KSKA’s Kids These Days to offer a new contest for young writers. Aspiring writers ages 10-20 from anywhere in Alaska are invited to write about what it means to be a kid these days. Two winners (one from each age group) will get to read their work aloud on the air. The entry deadline is Oct. 21. Details are at www.wyakcontests.com.
Today, Friday, October 14, 4-5pm, Connie Mariano will talk and visit over her book, The Whitehouse Doctor, at the UAA Campus Bookstore. She will then give a more formal talk 6-8pm at UAA ARTS 150. Book signings will be held at both events.
Today, Friday, October 14, if you’re in Homer, come to the Kenai Peninsula College Campus Commons at 7pm for a Panel and Public Discussion on “The Books that Shaped Us,” featuring local authors Rich Chiappone, Erin Hollowell, Tom Kizzia, Nancy Lord, and Miranda Weiss. In celebration of Alaska Book Week.
Today, Friday, October 14, author Ana Maria Spagna will be reading and leading a discussion on her latest book, Potluck: Community on the Edge of Wilderness. 7pm, Juneau Public Library.
On Sunday, October 16, 3-5pm, National Book Award Finalist Debby Dahl Edwardson will be signing books at the Anchorage Museum. Check out Kirkus Review’s writeup of My Name is Not Easy, which will also be featured by the Junior Library Guild in February.
On Monday, October 17, 5-7 pm, Alaska historian Steve C. Levi presents Clara Nevada at the UAA Campus Bookstore. Free and open to all.
On Wednesday, October 19, 6.30-8pm, the Friends of the Library annual meeting will take place in the Ann Stevens Room, Loussac Public Library, Anchorage. A brief business meeting and awards ceremony will be followed by a talk with Mike Travis, author of Melozzi, a memoir of a young man’s introduction to remote Alaska.
On Thursday, October 20, fourteen local authors will share their work in (belated) celebration of Alaska Book Week. 6pm, Homer Public Library.
The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center is now accepting applications for the 2012 National Playwrights Conference and is particularly seeking representatives from Alaska. The deadline for Open Submissions is Friday, October 21. They are hosting two open Q&A’s about the conference on their Facebook page, and encourage those interested to contact them directly. Learn more at their website.