Literary Roundup | June 2-15, 2017

Have news, events, or opportunities you’d like to see listed here? Email details to info (at) 49writers.org, preferably with “Roundup” as the subject. Items might get edited for length. Your message must be received by close of business the Wednesday before the roundup is scheduled to run at the latest. Unless your event falls in the “Opportunities and Awards” category, it should occur no more than 30 days from when we receive your email. Thanks! 49 Writers Statewide Roundup appears biweekly, on the first and third Friday of each month. If your short-notice event occurs between a missed deadline and an upcoming Roundup, email us a heads up anyway, and if we can help spread the word in other ways, we will.  

 EVENTS and ANNOUNCEMENTS

Anchorage | Tuesday, June 6, 4-6:00 pm, UAA Campus Bookstore presents Bonnye Matthews: How to Sell to Libraries and Readers in the Digital Age | How to Sell to Libraries and Readers in the Digital Age shows how to set up email systems for libraries from an online source and another for readers from emails gathered at book signing events.  The number of libraries is a large one. It is a wonderful place to market books, but for the author new to this attempt, it can be daunting. Bonnye Matthews found a way to reach librarians who would forward her email to their acquisitions people. This book cannot guarantee a library will buy your books, but it will give you a solid path through the maze and with a huge effort, you can develop an email list that you can use for book after book you write. Bonnye Matthews is the author of the award winning Winds of Change novel series on the peopling of the Americas before the last ice age glaciation. Her current research focuses on archaeological sites in the Americas before the end of the last ice age glaciation. All UAA Campus Bookstore events are free, open to the public. Free parking for this event in the South Lot, Sports Complex NW Lot, West Campus Central Lot, and Sports Campus West Lot.

Seward | June 8, 2017, 7 pm | Seward area writers will host a Writers’ Showcase at Zudy’s Cafe, 501 Railway Ave in Seward. Anyone interested in reading can contact Dan Walker dlwalker@gci.net.

Anchorage | Friday, June 9, 2017 from 12-2:00 pm, UAA Campus Bookstore | Major General Kenneth Privratsky, USA Retired, presents The Falklands Today: 35 Years After the War. For over 175 years, an archipelago, known as the Falkland Islands to the British and the Malvinas to Argentines, has been a source of tension. Some in Parliament were pushing for a shared agreement for the islands, when Argentina’s military Junta surprised the world by invading the Falklands in 1982. Under Margaret Thatcher’s leadership at the time, the British military overcame tremendous challenges to retake the islands, which led to the collapse of the Junta and restoration of democracy in Argentina.  Yet today, 35 years after the surrender, tensions over sovereignty remain. This lecture will highlight the long-standing dispute, summarize what happened during the war in 1982, and discuss the situation today. Major General Kenneth Privratsky, USA Retired, served in the infantry in Vietnam before becoming a logistician. He taught at West Point, was a National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and commanded organizations supplying U.S. forces worldwide. In civilian life, he was an executive in the ocean transportation industry. He has lectured on military subjects to both national and international audiences and is the author of the book Logistics in the Falklands War, now in its third printing. He lives in Anchorage. All UAA Campus Bookstore events are free, open to the public. Free parking across UAA on Fridays.

Valdez | Monday, June 12, 2017, 3:45 pm | Complete read of Juneau member Maureen Longworth’s play “Fairies out of Alaska”, Last Frontier Theatre Conference.

Anchorage | Wednesday, June 14, 2017 | Reading featuring Rachel Rose, Ismet Prcic, and Joan Naviyuk Kane.

Anchorage | Monday, June 19 from 4-6:00 pm at the UAA Campus Bookstore | Author Sheila Kelly presents Treadwell Gold An Alaska Saga of Riches and Ruin. Sheila Kelly has spent decades researching her family’s history and the people of Treadwell for her book, Treadwell Gold, An Alaska Saga of Riches and Ruin. In the early 1900s, her father and four aunts were born and raised in Treadwell, Alaska, a hard rock gold mining town on Douglas Island across the Gastineau Channel from Juneau. Treadwell became the largest gold mining operation in the world–one that created much more wealth than the infamous Klondike Gold Rush. Then in 1917, catastrophe hit when the mines caved in, flooded, and closed. Today, one hundred years later, only remnants of buildings along the Treadwell Mine Historic Trail remain. Treadwell Gold, published by University of Alaska Press, includes numerous historical photos. All UAA Campus Bookstore events are free, open to the public. Free parking for this event in the South Lot, Sports Complex NW Lot, West Campus Central Lot, and Sports Campus West Lot.

Palmer | Monday, June 19 | Fireside Books presents 1) a signing with authors Mike Dunham and David Ramseur at 4 pm and 2) a Russian dinner at Turkey Red with author David Ramseur at 6 pm. More info.

Anchorage | Wednesday June 21, 2017, 7 pm at Anchorage Community Works | Hear and Now 907: Stories of Leadership presented by Leadership Anchorage and Alaska Humanities Forum. Seven Leadership Anchorage alumni will share surprising, touching, and interesting stories of leadership in celebration of 20 years of the program. This event is being held with support and partnership from Story Works Alaska. $10 Admission – tickets & info at akhf.org/leadershipanchorage.

Anchorage | Friday, June 23, 2017 from 12-2 pm at UAA Campus Bookstore | Author David Ramseur discusses Melting the Ice Curtain: The Extraordinary Story of Citizen Diplomacy on the Russia-Alaska Frontier. In 1988, David Ramseur helped organize the Alaska airlines “Friendship Flight” between Nome, Alaska and Provideniya, Russia, which reunited indigenous peoples of common languages and cultures for the first time in four decades.  Melting the Ice Curtain explores how inspiration, courage, and persistence by citizen-diplomats bridged a widening gap in superpower relations. David Ramseur managed federal grants for academic exchanges between Alaska and the Russian Far East for the UAA American Russian Center. He served as press secretary, communications director, chief of staff, and foreign policy adviser to Alaska Governors Steve Cowper and Tony Knowles and to Anchorage Mayor and U.S. Senator Mark Begich. In addition, he has visited the Soviet Union and Russia more than a dozen times. Melting the Ice Curtain is published by University of Alaska Press. Free parking.

Anchorage | Sunday, July 9 through Tues, July 18, 2017. Public reading series from UAA’s creative writing MFA program. Public reception with Jo Ann Beard on Saturday, July 15. Details to come.

INTERIOR 

Fairbanks | The next Fairbanks Arts Association literary reading will be June 3, 7 pm in the Bear Gallery, featuring Frank Soos and Rosemary McGuire. No FAA literary reading for the month of May, in lieu of A Fairbanks Arts Gala: Golden Anniversary Fundraiser.

Denali National Park | July 21 – 23 – My Wilderness: Storytelling Workshop, a field course offered by Alaska Geographic through the Murie Science and Learning Center. Do you have a story to share about an experience in Denali or another wild land? Join expert story coaches from Anchorage storytelling program ARCTIC ENTRIES as they reveal the secrets to capturing and keeping an audience’s attention just by talking about yourself! Your story can be funny, inspiring, humbling, or something else entirely. Immersed in the wilderness of Denali, we will explore storytelling principles, share our own stories, and learn how to make our story the best it can be. The workshop will culminate with a group storytelling performance — starring you — on the final evening of the course, on the theme of “In the wilderness: stories of being outside, finding yourself, and the trail less traveled.” Course will stay at a field camp located 29 miles inside Denali National Park along the Teklanika River. The Field Camp includes rustic tent cabins and a common dining tent. All meals, accommodations, transportation, and instruction are included in the $400 course fee ($360 for Alaska Geographic members). Professional development credit is available through UAA. For more information or to register, go to http://akgeo.org/field-courses/, email courses@alaskageographic.org or call 907-683-6432.

SOUTHEAST

Juneau | Sealaska Heritage will sponsor a new workshop on digital storytelling this summer for Alaska Native students in grades 8-11. It will cover film production techniques including interviewing and stop-motion animation. All supplies will be provided and there is no charge. The Voices on the Land Digital Storytelling Workshop is scheduled 9 am-4 pm, June 26-30, at the Vocational Training Resource Center in Juneau. Apply: goo.gl/forms/0R97lbfGmp6TYDCR2 Flyer: https://goo.gl/Ap7orp

Juneau | June 28 & 30, 2017 | Free public stage readings of selected scenes from Maureen Longworth’s play “Fairies out of Alaska” during June LGBT History/Pride month in conjunction with SEAGLA Pride Art show. JACC Gallery, June 28, Wednesday at 6:30 pm and again on Friday, June 30 at 4 pm at the SLAM Auditorium. Actors Patricia Hull, Zeb Bodine, and Brandon Demery and maybe others. The Juneau Pride Chorus sings immediately following at 5 pm 6/30 in the SLAM pavilion as kick off for Fourth of July weekend followed by Juneau Marching Band.

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ARCTIC 

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CONFERENCES, RETREATS, and RESIDENCIES

2017 Kachemak Bay Writers Conference will occur June 9-13, 2017 in Homer, Alaska. Keynote speaker will be Jane Smiley. Details and more.

Food writing retreat with Julia O’Malley and NYT’s Kim Severson at Tutka Bay Lodge, July 21-23, 2017. $875 inclusive. Details.

The Wrangell Mountains Center presents Writing on the River: RiverSong from July 26-31, 2017, a six-day, five-night adventure in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. This year’s workshop will feature river sprite and musical poet David Grimes, songwriter and journalist Brad Warren, and workshop director Nancy Cook. Together we will explore the ways wilderness can help inspire songs, stories, poems, and essays. Activities include an opening reading/performance and craft sessions in the comfort of the Wrangell Mountains Center’s facility in McCarthy, followed by three nights and four days of creative inquiry along the Kennicott, Nizina, Chitina, and Copper Rivers. Space is limited to nine student writers/ songwriters. More info

2017 Writers Tutka Bay Writers Retreat with Louise Erdrich will occur September 10-12, 2017. More.

OPPORTUNITIES and AWARDS for WRITERS

What’s missing? Submit your event or announcement by May 30 to appear in the next Roundup, scheduled to post June 1. Send an email with “Roundup” as the subject to info@49Writers.org. 

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