During an early February walk in the Chugach Front Range, a skier said to me while passing, “Hey, I like your writing. I’ve enjoyed your articles for forty years.” I naturally thanked the skier for his appreciation of my work. But his comments also prompted me to do some mental calculations. It turns out that […]
A Brief Look Back at 40 Years of Writing in Alaska by Bill Sherwonit Read More »
Used with permission of Alaska Department of Fish & Game Excerpted from The Nature of Cities website which seeks to promote worldwide dialog and action to create green cities that are sustainable, resilient, livable, and just. Bill Sherwonit lives and writes in Anchorage. Not only do hundreds of moose inhabit the city’s landscape, most of the
Alaska Shorts: Bill Sherwonit’s Close Encounters of the Moose Kind Read More »
Linda Ketchum and I have been working all month on our transition in the executive director position here at 49 Writers. Linda’s worked diligently to orient me to the responsibilities of the job and the incredible amount of work she does behind the scenes. I’m trying to keep up and keep track of the details.
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Frank Soos teaches the Art of the Essay We were delighted by the announcement that Frank Soos has been selected to serve as the next Alaska Writer Laureate. Frank has worked with many of our writers over the last year, helping them to to develop their work and ‘the art of the essay.’ He has
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Six weeks ago we announced that current Executive Director Linda Ketchum will be leaving 49 Writers at the end of December, and that the Board of Directors was seeking the right person to take over leadership of our small but rapidly growing nonprofit. We focused on recruiting someone from our literary community who could hit
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Photo courtesy of Lila Vogt Yes, the fall season of author events is officially over and plans are already underway for the spring program! Thank you to the warm crowd who turned out last night at Great Harvest Bread to hear Anchorage author Lee Goodman read from his new work and talk about his attempt
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Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s membership drive! You helped us to meet and exceed our goal of 100 new members in 2014–we’re at 106 and counting. We also appreciate the support of everyone who donated part of their Permanent Fund Dividend to 49 Writers this year through Pick.Click. Give., our first
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A Message from Don Rearden, 49 Writers Board President It’s hard for me to believe that five years ago I sat across from Andromeda Romano-Lax and Deb Vanasse at a Kaladi Brothers table, sipping a mocha, listening to them pitch to me their shared vision for a statewide writing organization. Already over my head with
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Printed copies of Animal Stories are now in warehouses scattered across the U.S. (and also available in electronic form). And so it begins: the selling of Animal Stories. Actually, the selling—or marketing—of the book began months ago, even as I was working with a copy editor on polishing and improving the manuscript. One of the
Bill Sherwonit: The Selling of Animal Stories Read More »
Earlier this month, on returning home from a trip to Denali National Park, I got some exciting news: one of my stories, “Of Waxwings and Goshawks and Standing Up to Power,” has been named a “Notable Essay” in this year’s Best American Essays anthology (joining two other 2014 Alaskan notables, Eva Saulitis and David Stevenson).
