Book Bag Fundraiser: New titles are being added each day as new donations continue to roll in. We’re halfway to our goal of selling fifty bags. $80 for a great bag of four to five books. Please order soon and thanks if you’ve already done so! http://www.49fundraiser.blogspot.com/. Coming in less than one week: our online literary auction, starting on Black Friday. It’s going to be really fun.
Join Anchor Park Reading Group for a discussion of this month’s selected book, “This is not Civilization” by Robert Rosenberg, on Tuesday, November 23rd, from 7:00 to 8:00 pm. Although most of us have no idea of what’s going on in our heads, brain scientists have figured out a lot about how the brain works. John Medina explains what scientists know… Barnes and Noble, 200 East Northern Lights Blvd, Anchorage, AK.
Gulliver’s Books in Fairbanks is having their 25th Anniversary Celebration book signing next weekend, November 19th-21st. Featured authors are: Friday November 19th, 4-6pm, Glenda Field, “Aliska, Alaska, Charlie’s in Alaska,” Saturday, November 20th, Noon-2pm, Sue Ann Bowling, “Homecoming,” Saturday, November 20th, 3-5pm, Annie Tupek, “Pacific Northwest Reader, Courting Morpheus,” Sunday, November 21st, 1-3pm Debbie Miller, “Survival at 40 Below.”
As part of the Arctic Refuge’s 50th anniversary celebration, a play titled “Wild Legacy” (based on the writings of Margaret Murie) is touring Alaska in December. While here in Anchorage, the theater troupe will lead a “sense of place” workshop, intended to “provide participants with fresh ways to investigate the staging of written texts and personal narrative” particularly as it relates to experiences in the nature. Limited to 25 participants, the workshop will take place Saturday Dec. 11, from 10 a.m. to noon (Location tba). Anyone who is interested should contact Maureen Clark at 786-3469.
The 2010 ENDEAVOUR AWARD WINNER is Mind Over Ship by David Marusek, who received a $1,000 grant and an etched glass plaque produced by Kent, Washington, artist Ashley J. Harper. The award is for a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book written by a Pacific Northwest author or authors and published in the previous year. The award represents a collaboration between writers and fans of Science Fiction and Fantasy to encourage the growth of literature in the field and recognize works of excellence. It is named for H.M. Bark Endeavour, the ship of Northwest explorer Capt. James Cook. The award is announced annually at OryCon, held in Portland, Oregon.
Congratulations to UAA MFA Fiction candidate Heather Lende, who has been writing and publishing stories about small town life in Haines, Alaska, for many years, first as a columnist for the Anchorage Daily News, and then as an author of two nonfiction books. And now, millions more will have a chance to gain some fresh perspective on this phenomenal place because Heather has become a national columnist for Woman’s Day Magazine! Heather will be contributing many more pieces to Woman’s Day throughout 2011.
Congratulations to Heather Lende! I look forward to her down-to-earth stories of real life in Alaska, and am glad they will be read by so many Americans!