If you are a young writer or know one, don’t miss today’s deadline, March 23, for our second WYAK contest – Flash Fiction! It’s easy to submit online. We are also accepting submissions from young writers for a print anthology that will be published in early summer.
Coming up on Sunday, March 5, 1:00-4:00 pm, the Third Annual Alaska Poets in Late Winter Web-chat will take place via the comments section of this blog. This year, the online conversation will feature poets Tom Sexton, Gretchen Diemer, Kelsea Habecker, and Nicole Stellon O’Donnell, each of whom has a recently published collection. The poets will be posting introductory comments and you can post responses in the comments section as you feel moved. Sandra Kleven will facilitate the discussion. No sign up necessary, and participants may come and go as they please.
On Saturday, March 31, 10:00-1:00 pm, parents and students at Kasuun Elementary will be doing battle in the second annual Parent vs. Student Write-on! This year there are more than 70 participants and special mention goes to Teeka Balla and Kelsea Habecker, who visited the classrooms recently to teach feature writing and poetry as part of our Writers in the Schools program.
Registrations are coming in daily for our popular Tutka Bay Writers’ Retreat, September 7-9. If you are planning to participate and would prefer a private room, don’t delay because availability of these is limited.
Participation in our anniversary fundraiser, the 2012 Write-a-thon, is also growing! Register now to maximize your fundraising opportunities. There will be a prize awarded to the top fundraiser. If you consider yourself creative (and even if you don’t) why not make a writer action doll for the silent auction to be held the evening of the event? There will be a People’s Choice award for the favorite! Contact us if you’d like to contribute a doll.
Alaskan Writing Residency opportunity in Sitka. The Island Institute’s Writer Fellowships provide opportunities for writers, both promising and published, to each spend a month in Sitka, Alaska, pursuing their own work while getting to know this unique island community in the forested coastal mountains of Southeast Alaska. Because the Institute’s central interest is the nature of vital communities, we select residents who share that interest and will enjoy engaging with Sitkans during their stay. Residents’ time if largely their own, but each person is expected to take part in five community activities such as readings, discussions, and radio interviews. Each resident is provided living accommodations (including a kitchen) and a stipend for food costs. There is a single application deadline of April 15 for positions in September of that year and January and April of the following year. Visit the Island Institute website for more information and to download an application.
Alaska writer Lesley Thomas (Flight of the Snow Goose: A Story of the Far North) found herself in illustrious company recently when Austrian newspaper Die Presse mentioned her in the same article as Mark Twain, Henry James, and Patricia Cornwell as a writer whose work you should read to find out what makes Americans tick. Here’s a translation of the paragraph about Lesley: Is it remote? Alaska! James A. Michener immortalized it in the bestselling novel of the same name, in which he takes the reader from ancient time up to Eisenhower. Whoever wants to get closer to the present, without having to meet Sarah Palin, should consider “Flight of the Goose” (2005) by Lesley Thomas. She writes about issues in the Arctic Circle in the seventies that are still relevant today. Writers just never know where their names are going to pop up.
Today, Friday March 23, 2pm, the UAA Campus Bookstore presents National Book Award Nominee Debby Dahl Edwardson, author of Whale Snow, Blessing’s Bead, and My Name is Not Easy. She will read from the latter book at this event, and discuss how she became a writer, the challenges of describing life in AK, and what she is working on now. Cosponsored with Native Student Services. Free and open to all, with free parking in the South lot.
Tomorrow, Saturday March 24, 10am, a Writers Critique Group will meet at Title Wave Books, Northern Lights Mall, Anchorage. Open to any type of writing or genre; all levels welcome. For more information, call Mary at (907) 569 5075.
Also Tomorrow, Saturday March 24, 7pm, there will be a special literary reading at the Bear Gallery, Pioneer Park, Fairbanks. Four Alaska writers will read from their new books. Free and open to the public. The writers are Joan Kane, Amber Flora Thomas, Nicole Stellon O’Donnell, and Pat Lambert will read from Marjorie Kowalski Cole’s final (posthumously published) book, The City Beneath the Snow.
Also Sunday, March 25, 2pm, Organic Oasis will host #5 of the six V.O.I.C.E Youth Open Mic’s. Ethan Korpi Love will feature.
On Monday, March 26, 6pm, Fireside Books in Palmer is taking part in an international Vigil commemorating the 70th anniversary of the first transport of women to Auschwitz, and celebrating the strength of the human spirit. 720 S. Alaska St, Palmer
On Tuesday, March 27, 7pm, join nationally acclaimed poets G.C. Waldrep, of Bucknell University, PA, and our own Joan Kane of Anchorage for a reading, book signing, and no-host after party. Free admission, but donations welcome. Anchorage Museum.
Also on Tuesday, March 27, 7pm, the Anchor Park reading group will meet at the Barnes and Noble Fireplace to discuss this month’s book, The Maharajah’s Box: An Imperial Story of Conspiracy, Love, and a Guru’s Prophecy, by Christy Campbell. Barnes and Noble, 200 E. Northern Lights, Anchorage.
Next Friday, March 30, 7pm, the UAF English Dept. will present poet G. C. Waldrep as part of the 2011-12 Midnight Sun Visiting Writer Series. Wood Center Ballroom, UAF Campus.
Next Saturday, March 31, 11.30am, Moose Jaw Seims, the writer and performer of rhyming Alaskan tales, will be at Fireside Books to perform poems from The Ballads of Moose Jaw Seims. 720 S. Alaska St., Palmer.
The community of Anchorage writers is invited to come read and discuss Russian literature in English translation. In the fall semester, UAA will be offering an experimental class, “Survey of Russian Literature.” Taught on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 7.15pm, the class will introduce students to the Russian literary tradition, starting with Pushkin’s witty and sparkling novel Eugene Onegin and ending with contemporary prose and poetry. Olga Livshin, a poet and UAA professor of Russian, teaches the class. Registration opens on March 30 (priority registration for current students) and on April 16 for the public.
Registration has opened for third annual North Words Writers Symposium in Skagway, Alaska on May 30-June 2, 2012
Scott Silver co-wrote “The Fighter”. The script was nominated for best original screenplay for the 2011 Oscars. It also was nominated for a BAFTA, WGA, and Critic’s Choice Award. Silver also wrote “8 Mile” and is currently working on an adaption of “The Imperfectionists” by Tom Rachman for Plan B, and “Floor of Heaven” by Howard Blum for Fox 2000 and Chernin Entertainment. Silver is married, raising two children, living in New York City.
He will be joined by several Alaska writers on the faculty including Lynn Schooler, Deb Vanasse, John Straley, Heather Lende, Seth Kantner, Kim Heacox, Nick Jans, and Dave Hunsaker.
In addition to engaging in panel discussions about writing and publishing, registered symposium participants will get to participate in several activities in and around historic Skagway and nearby Dyea.
Registration is now open on the symposium website, www.nwwriterss.com. A maximum of 50 participants will be accepted for this year’s symposium. Cost has been dropped to $300 for the four days.
North Words Symposium offers a unique opportunity for writers to nurture interrelationships with other writers and thinkers in a spectacular place. We aspire to build upon a tradition of literature that reflects language and life on the frontier.
The event is sponsored by the Muncipality of Skagway Convention and Visitors Bureau with generous support from Alaska Magazine, The Skagway News Co., and Sgt. Preston’s Lodge.
Contacts:
Buckwheat Donahue, 907-983-2854 or carlin_donahue@hotmail.com
Jeff Brady, 907-973-2354 or wjbradyak@me.com or skagnews@aptalaska.net
The Ketchikan Area Arts and Humanities Council requests concept proposals for three distinct locations within the new Ketchikan Public Library (KPL). The budget amount of $67,900 is intended to purchase artwork for all three locations, including 1) a suspended piece over entrance lobby, 2) the fireplace area, and 3) six I-beam columns along the hallway of the main library area. Proposals by both a single artist and/or teams of artists will be accepted for the suggested locations. Preference will be given to Southeast Alaskan artists. For the entire RFP plus plans, visit: http://ketchikanarts.org/2012/03/public-art-request-for-proposals-ketchikan-public-library Proposal deadline is April 16.
Presenters sought by April 6 for October 5-7 “Writers on the Sound” in Edmonds WA (200 max participants.) There is an honorarium (2011: $134 for 75-minute, $161 for 90-minute workshops), and a stipend is available to those traveling more than 100 miles. Please submit a current resume, including other courses/lectures you have given and where; 2 or 3 references; and a description of one or more classes you would like to teach (75 or 90 Min). Information about the conference and a click-through to the PDF flyer for this Call for Presenters is at http://bit.ly/xd5vSX . If you are interested in presenting at the event, please send email to wots@ci.edmonds.wa.us or write to WOTS Presenters, 700 Main St, Edmonds, WA 98020, or call 425 771 0228. Possibility of accommodation for one in private home. View a copy of the 2011 brochure at: www.writeonthesound.com
April 26 will be “Poem in your Pocket” day. Carry a poem with you that day to share with friends.
http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/406
Alaska writer Clif Bates shares this link, featuring the launch of poems written on paper airplanes around the world. Alaska is one of the launch locations! http://www.donotlookatthesun.com/
F Magazine is hosting their second annual statewide writing competition, titled F’Air Words, open to all writers, ages, and genres, from all parts of AK. The deadline is May 1 for mailed entries; May 15 for electronic submissions. This year, there is a submission fee of $15, but there will also be cash prizes. Winning entries will be published in the June issue and distributed to publishers and writers nationwide. For rules and guidelines, visit www.fhideout.org/writing-