One wrote a classic and controversial book on Alaska and has another, featuring former Governor Sarah Palin, in the works. The other’s Alaskan title is drawing huge interest and acclaim overseas. Sponsored by the 49 Alaska Writing Center, both authors are slated for readings at Metro Music and Books in Anchorage in the next two weeks.
Joe McGinniss, author of Going to Extremes, will read on Thursday, August 26; David Vann, author of Legend of a Suicide, will read on Thursday, September 2. Free and open to the public, both readings will start at 6:30 pm, with book signings to follow.
So much going on at 49 Writers! Remember also to vote for your favorite bad writing in our Ode to a Dead Salmon bad writing contest – voting ends Monday (see sidebar, to the right). And it’s time to order your copy of Tanyo Ravicz’s A Man of His Village, our next 49 Writers Online Book Club selection, scheduled for Sept. 20 and 21. And of course registration for our fall term is in full swing.
The Alaska Writers Guild September Conference is coming up soon now! Check their website for full details and to register. They are also sponsoring a free webinar next Tuesday, August 24th at 6pm, titled ‘How to Sell Books to the Military, Government and Non-Profits’. Go to this link to sign up.
Also on August 24th from 6-7.30pm, Elizabeth Thompson will be hosting another ‘Mountain Muses Poetry Open Mic,’ at Terra Bella, 601 E. Dimond. You are invited to come and share either your own poetry or any other that stirs your soul, or the simple gift of your listening.
Join Anchorage nature writer and author Bill Sherwonit for a 12-week nature writing class, beginning September 23rd (Thursdays, 7-9pm) in the Sierra Club office downtown. In this workshop-style class, participants will explore and refine their own writing styles, with an emphasis on the personal essay form. Some of America’s finest nature writers, past and present, will also be discussed. Cost is $200. More instructor information can be found here.
Sandy Kleven has been on the road setting up readings for Cirque – after the reading at MTS Gallery in July, it seemed right to bring Cirque live to other West Coast cities – contributors to this issue can be found in Canada, Seattle, Portland and beyond. She already has a tentative date of November 15th for Bellingham, Washington, where she has met with writers Tanya Perkins (fiction) and Lee Gulyas and Rachel Mehl (poetry). Readings will include a screening of Kleven’s short film about Theodore Roethke, ‘To the Moon!’ to which her ‘The Canny Invention,’ published in Cirque‘s last issue, is a companion piece.
49 Writers reader and contributor Ann Chandonnet is publishing her second book this year – The Pioneer Village Cookbook
Ann encourages us to let people know about the Romance Slam Jam contest – $30 entry fee; Genre: Black Romance/Women’s Fiction. 1st Place: Manuscript reviewed by Editor Latoya Smith from Grand Central Publishing for possible publication. 2nd Place: Manuscript reviewed by Editor Selena James from Kensington Books for possible publication. 3rd Place: Manuscript reviewed by Editor Monique Patterson from St Martin’s Press for possible publication. Deadline: February 28th 2011. Anyone who has not yet published a full-length novel with a traditional publisher is eligible to enter, so, if your publishing credits are short stories, novellas, poetry, non-fiction and/or self-published, that means you!
Ann also draws our attention to a new quarterly, Explosion-Proof Magazine, by Alex Ludlum, Marian Leitner, Nick Greene and Colin Doherty. This magazine is aimed at calling attention to the absurdity of the times and world in which we live. Fiction and non-fiction, cartoons, photography, monologues, poesy, translations, drawings, rants all accepted – pretty much anything that fits. There’s no pay but it’s a print magazine.
Check out Ann Dixon’s new blog – http://kidlitnorth.blogspot.com/ – a blog about reading and writing children’s books in/from/about the North.
Fun stuff:
This site is too much fun not to mention: http://betterbooktitles.com/there must be some Alaskans with covers to submit!
And Merit badges for writers – http://badger.dinorodeo.com/