This week saw the last of our 2014 Resolve to Write gatherings and the first get-together of 49 Writers members and other writers in Mat-Su. Members from Houston, Wasilla, Chickaloon, and Palmer gathered at the welcoming home of Debra McKinney and Paul Morley for an informal potluck and to share of the joys and challenges of the writing life. We have a dedicated and diverse group in Mat-Su that is eager to keep the momentum going. They will continue to meet, so if you want to learn more and become part of this community of writers, contact us and we’ll let you know when the next gathering is scheduled.
- Tuesday, Feb. 4, 7pm, Anchorage Museum: Crosscurrents with poets Camille Dungy and Sean Hill, “Writing the Whole Environment”
- Wednesday, Feb. 5, 6-9pm, Anchorage Museum: workshop with Camille Dungy, “How to Write a Poem: Make a List”
- Thursday, Feb. 6, 1-4pm, 645 W. 3rd Avenue: workshop with John Straley, “Lessons from a Life of Crime”
- Thursday, Feb 6, 7pm, Great Harvest Bread Co: Reading & Craft Talk by John Straley, “Lessons from a Life of Crime”
- Saturday, Feb. 8, 10am-12pm, 645 W. 3rd Avenue: class with Lynn Lovegreen, “Journey of a Novel”
- Tuesday, Feb. 11, 6-8:30pm, Sheldon Community Arts Hangar, Talkeetna: workshop with Christine Byl, “The Good, The Bad, and the Buggy”
- Saturday, Feb. 15, 9am-1pm, 645 W. 3rd Avenue: workshop with Christine Byl, “Lyric Tinkering: The Poem as a Tool for Prose Writers”
For anyone in the Homer area who can’t make it to Anchorage for the Feb. 4 Crosscurrents, you can catch Sean Hill (Dangerous Goods) later in the month, when he teaches a short form poetry class at KPC’s Kachemak Bay Campus, February 21-23. Call 907-235-7743 for registration information. He will also give a public reading in Homer on Friday, Feb. 21.
Membership in Juneau has doubled since October–it’s great to see the surge in interest from writers in the community. Big thanks to Juneau board member Joan Pardes for organizing a writers group for local members of 49 Writers, and to Sarah Isto for hosting their first meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 7-9pm. For more information, email 49writersjuneau@gmail.com. Potluck with program of short readings by participants. We are continuing to plan some Juneau workshops for 2014 and look forward to receiving your responses to the short survey sent out yesterday.
Our first weekend memoir workshop for the 49 Writers Anchorage Remembers Centennial project is already full! The four-session class kicks off Saturday, Jan. 25, 1-3pm at the Pioneer School House in downtown Anchorage, led by local writer Judith Conte. We are now taking registrations for the next weekend memoir workshop series, which starts Saturday, Feb. 22, 1-3pm. It’s filling up fast, so don’t delay if you want to take advantage of this opportunity. More details and free registration on the homepage of the 49 Writers website.
In partnership with the Alaska Writers Guild, we’re pleased to offer the following workshops with Ali McCart to our own members at the AWG member rate. Both workshops are limited to only twelve attendees, so register early! $45 Alaska Writers Guild and 49 Writers Members/$60 Non-Members. We hear slots are going fast so don’t delay if you’re interested.
Wednesday, Feb. 19, 6-9pm, Alaska Pacific University: Nonfiction Platforms, Proposals, and Pitches that Turn Heads. Writing a nonfiction book proposal and submitting it to publishers is a lot like sending an audition video to a reality TV show — a daunting task. In this 3-hour roundtable intensive, editor Ali McCart will address all your questions and more. You’ll learn how to evaluate a proposal from a publisher’s perspective as well as how to write the various aspects of your own proposal, as we workshop your own work and others’. Click here for more information and to register.
Thursday, Jan. 30, 5-7:30pm, UAA Campus Bookstore: Resonating Wisdoms: Early Confucianism Dialogue with Yup’ik and Inupiaq Cultures. At this event, Kristin Helweg Hanson, Phyllis Fast and UAA presenters Josephine Hishon and Brittany Burns examine and contrast Chinese and Alaska Native classical and traditional world views. The Chinese culture and the Yup’ik and Inupiaq cultures have existed for more than 4,000 years. Given their markedly different environments and contrasting status on the world stage, what dialogue would classical Confucian philosophy have with equally ancient Inupiaq and Yup’ik constructs? What insights emerge when Confucian and Inupiaq/Yup’ik cultures are juxtaposed? These intriguing questions will be the topics for this fascinating event which contrasts classical and traditional world views. This event sponsored with UAA Ethics Center and UAA Philosophy Department.
Monday, Feb. 10, 5-7:00pm, UAA Campus Bookstore: The past comes to life with music, food and frolic! The story of Fools Gold is presented by author Lynn Lovegreen featuring live music with High Lonesome Sound. “Alaska’s gold rush is no place for a lady, but that doesn’t scare Ellie Webster. Ellie travels with her younger brother to the wilds of the Klondike gold rush to save the family farm. She’s prepared for hardship on the trail, but not for the sparkling blue eyes of Duke Masterson, a charming saloonkeeper. And Duke is surprised to find that Ellie and her apple pies are more valuable to him than all the gold nuggets in Skagway, Alaska. Now if he could only overcome Ellie’s fear of losing her newly-found independence and win her heart. Together they must defeat the conman corrupting the town and make their fortunes before the last steamship of the season heads south.”.
F Magazine is seeking judges for this year’s Alaska Statewide Youth Art & Writing Competition. If you are interested, please contact Teeka Ballas at FHideout@gmail.com. Judging must be completed by February 15.
Poems in Place, a unique collaboration between Alaska Center for the Book, Alaska State Parks, a steering committee of poets and writers, and residents of Alaska, will place a poem written by an Alaskan writer in each of the seven regions of the Alaska State Park’s system in the coming years. From January 15 to March 15, 2014, Poems in Place will be accepting poems, both original work and nominated poems written by Alaskan writers and submitted by appreciative readers, for Independence Mine State Historical Park, near Palmer, and Aleknagik State Recreation Site/ Wood Tikchik State Park, near Dillingham. No submission fees. An honorarium will be paid to the winning poets. For more information, contest rules and entry form please visit Poems in Place at: http://www.alaskacenterforthebook.org. To see examples of current Poems in Place signs visit the Alaska State Parks website.
Short Stories Wanted! The Writers’ Showcase is looking for short stories on the theme of “Awakenings”. If you have a piece, know of a piece, or want to compose a piece that is 5-12 minutes long when read aloud, please send us something to arts@ktoo.org. Submissions should include a brief explanation of publication history, and rights as applicable. Longer pieces may be considered. Stories will be read aloud before a live studio audience on March 6th, and will later broadcast on 360 North statewide TV and public radio stations in Alaska. For more information on the series, click here:http://www.360north.org/arts360/