Our first Crosscurrents Event, “Environmental Writing & Activism,” was a big success: stimulating conversation, 59 attendees, many books sold and new friends made. Thanks to our authors and co-sponsors. Audio content will be available as a web extra on the KSKA website soon; we’ll let you know when it’s up. The next Crosscurrents Event will be in April, so watch for it.
But of course, you don’t have to wait long for our next online literary event. Just show up here this Sunday from 2 to 5 pm for “With Poets in Winter,” an online discussion organized by Sandy Kleven and featuring poets Peggy Shumaker, Vivian Prescott, Zack Rogow, and Mike Burwell.
On February 2nd, noon to 1:30, and February 8, 5:30 to 7, in Anchorage, the Alaska State Council on the Arts (161 Klevin Street, in Mountain View) will be hosting a conversation about arts funding that is part of their 5-year strategic planning process. If you plan on attending, please rsvp to: christa.rayl@alaska.gov. They are having conversations elsewhere in Alaska as well. Check their website for full schedule [http://www.eed.state.ak.us/aksca/] And remember: if writers don’t speak up, we may continue to be underrepresented in general arts funding. Let state funders know you care about literary funding.
Just under three weeks until the Fiction Workshop course with Mattox Roesch and Deb Vanasse begins, and following that, we have a class about the Graphic Novel with Lee Post, and AK Screenwriting 101 with Don Rearden. Registration open now at www.49writingcenter.org. By the way, those latter two classes are open to ages 15 and up. Will you help us spread the word to talented teens about these new
opportunities?
Finally, please join us at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art for our First Friday book-signing, next Friday February 4th, 5.30-7.30pm, with Marybeth Holleman
If you’re in Homer, tonight, Friday January 28 at 7pm, is another chance to hear Nancy Lord and Marybeth Holleman at the Kachemak Bay Campus of Kenai Peninsula College, Homer, in a reading and conversation moderated by historian Mike Hawfield about their environmental writing.
Join Anchorage Public Library for a book club open house to kick off the 5th annual Anchorage Reads. This year’s selection is the thought-provoking The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Meet other book club members, exchange reading suggestions, success stories and dismal failures. Get tips for engaging members in stimulating book discussions. Sponsored by Target; co-hosted by Alaska Center for the Book.
Tuesday, Feb. 1, 5:30-7pm Z. J. Loussac Public Library, 3600 Denali Street, in the Ann Stevens Room, level 3
For more information:
Sherri Douglas
Anchorage Public Library
3600 Denali Street
Anchorage, AK 99503
(907)343-2840, (907)343-2820 – fax
On Sunday February 6th, 2.30-5pm, APU Liberal Studies presents Charles Wohlforth for a talk, Q&A and reception. Carr-Gottstein building, room 102.
See the new University of Alaska Press catalog, which includes our own Deb Vanasse’s new title, Lucy’s Dance, as well as several other new books by Alaska authors, including Tom Sexton.
A collection of John Morgan’s essays, “Forms of Feeling: Poetry in Our Lives” has been accepted for publication by Salmon Poetry, the Irish press that did “Spear-Fishing on the Chatanika.” It should be out in about a year and has pieces that originally appeared in Manoa, Fourth Genre, The North American Review, and Writers’ Chronicle, as well as several that were posted on 49writers.
The Island Institute’s Resident Fellows Program provides opportunities for at least four writers to each spend a month in Sitka, Alaska, pursuing their own work and getting to know this unique island community in the forested coastal mountains of Southeast Alaska. Residents’ time is largely their own to pursue their work, but each person is expected to take part in four community activities (more if desired). These include two public readings (one at the beginning and one at the end), a writing workshop, and a community discussion on a theme/topic of mutual interest to the writer, the Institute, and the community. Other activities might include talks to school or
college classes and radio interviews.
The residency program aims to encourage the work of both promising and published writers who share the interests of The Island Institute–the nature of vital communities, the social and ethical web of human relationships and connections to the natural world, the global effort to shape sustainable human cultures.
The next application deadline is April 15, 2011 for positions in September, 2011 and January and April 2012. See their website for full details on how to apply.Each resident is provided living accommodations including a kitchen and a stipend of $75/week toward food costs. Travel to and from Sitka, as well as all other incidental costs, are the responsibility of the resident. Three positions are filled by application. There is a single application deadline of April 15 for positions in September of that year, and January and April of the following year. The November position each year is reserved for an international writer who comes to Sitka from the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.
college classes and radio interviews.
The residency program aims to encourage the work of both promising and published writers who share the interests of The Island Institute–the nature of vital communities, the social and ethical web of human relationships and connections to the natural world, the global effort to shape sustainable human cultures.
The next application deadline is April 15, 2011 for positions in September, 2011 and January and April 2012. See their website for full details on how to apply.Each resident is provided living accommodations including a kitchen and a stipend of $75/week toward food costs. Travel to and from Sitka, as well as all other incidental costs, are the responsibility of the resident. Three positions are filled by application. There is a single application deadline of April 15 for positions in September of that year, and January and April of the following year. The November position each year is reserved for an international writer who comes to Sitka from the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.