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
We’re putting together our upcoming season of workshops, classes, Reading & Craft Talk Series and Crosscurrents events, and special events. Stay tuned!
SOUTHCENTRAL
ANCHORAGE | September 6th, 2017, Wendy Williamson Auditorium, 7 pm | 49 Writers, Inc. is pleased to present acclaimed novelist Louise Erdrich in Anchorage for a free public reading. Everyone is encouraged to attend. The free public reading is scheduled for UAA’s Wendy Williamson Auditorium from 7:00 – 9:00 PM. No tickets needed. | A private ticketed reception for Louise with 49 Writers members and supporters will precede the reading, and will take place backstage at the Wendy Williamson from 5:00 – 6:30 PM. A limited number of tickets for that reception can be purchased online now at http://49writers.web907.com/
HOMER | Louise Erdrich will also offer a free public reading in Homer on Thursday, September 7th, 6:30 PM at Kenai Peninsula College’s Kachemak Bay Campus.
Louise Erdrich grew up in North Dakota and is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. She is German, French, and Anishinaabe. Her first book, Love Medicine, received the National Book Critics Circle Award, as did her latest novel, LaRose. Her book The Round House, a crime novel about a boy who tries to protect his mother, a victim of sexual violence on an Ojibwe reservation, won the National Book Award. She wrote about the German side of her family in The Master Butcher’s Singing Club. Louise has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist, received many other honors including the Library of Congress Award, and she owns a small independent bookstore, Birchbark Books, in Minneapolis. She lives in Minnesota with her daughters
Erdrich’s appearances come in advance of the 8th Annual 49 Writers Tutka Bay Writers Retreat, led this year by Erdrich.
ANCHORAGE | Thursday, September 7 from 5 – 7:00 pm, UAA Campus Bookstore | Author Heather Lende discusses The Local and Community in Small Town Alaska Politics | Heather Lende is a dedicated member of the Haines community and serves on the Haines Borough Assembly. Since 1996, she regularly posts obituaries and a social column for the Chilkat Valley News. Her nationally acclaimed books include If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name (2006), Take Good Care of the Garden and Dogs (2011), and Find The Good: Unexpected Life Lessons from a Small-town Obituary Writer (2015). A graduate from Middlebury College, Heather Lende earned a MFA degree from UAA.
ANCHORAGE | Monday, September 11 from 5 – 7:00 pm, UAA Campus Bookstore | Dr. Sharon Emmerichs presents The Kingdom of Our Own Language: Language as Space and Nation in Shakespeare | Dr. Sharon Emmerichs teaches Shakespeare in the UAA English Dept. Her published research examines the role of landscape in Shakespeare’s plays—how and when characters suffer moral degradation when they transgress the culturally known and accepted meanings of various landscapes. At this event, the relationship between national identity and language in Shakespeare will be addressed. Everyone is welcomed to attend. Dr. Sharon Emmerichs received her B.A. in English literature from the University of Oregon and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Missouri.
ANCHORAGE | Thursday, September 14 from 5 pm – 7:00 pm at UAA Campus Bookstore | Darrel Hess presents “Leave It To Beaver, Cocaine & God: My Journey to Community Engagement” ~ In Leave It To Beaver, Cocaine & God: My Journey to Community Engagement, Darrel Hess talks about growing up in the shadow of domestic violence, his arrest for selling cocaine to an undercover Alaska State Trooper, coming to terms with his sexual orientation, his relationship with God, and his struggles to find himself and his place in the world. Today, Darrel Hess works as Anchorage’s Municipal Ombudsman and is a member of the Advisory Council for UAA’s Center for Community Engagement and Learning. A pillar in the Anchorage community, Darrel Hess has served as Anchorage’s first Homeless Coordinator and was a member of the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission. He has served on the board of Identity, Inc. and is the recipient of the 2014 Alaska First Lady’s Volunteer of the Year Award. All UAA Campus Bookstore events are free and open to the public. There is free parking for events in the South Lot, Sports Complex NW Lot, West Campus Central Lot, and Sports Campus West Lot.
INTERIOR
FAIRBANKS | Pioneer Park Theater, Friday, September 22, 2017, 7 pm | Meanwhile, in Alaskaland… A Live Alaskan Storytelling Event and Fundraiser presents Animal Tales to support Loving Companions Animal Rescue, Inc. Happy Hour/Silent Auction starts at 6 pm. Storytellers wanted. email colleen@withheartproductions.com for details.
SOUTHEAST
JUNEAU | Friday, September 8 at the Walter Soboleff Building | Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has published four new culturally-based children’s books that reflect the Native worldview. The new series includes the ancient story Shanyáak’utlaax: Salmon Boy; and the original texts Let’s Go: A Harvest Story; Picking Berries; and Native Values: Living in Harmony. The books were illustrated by Tlingit artist Michaela Goade and Tsimshian artist David Lang. Authors include Hannah Lindoff (with Marigold Lindoff) and Rosita Worl. The text of Shanyáak’utlaax: Salmon Boy was edited by Johnny Marks, Hans Chester, David Katzeek, Nora Dauenhauer, and Richard Dauenhauer. More info
WRANGELL | Flying Island Writers & Artists group meets every other Monday 6:30-8:00 pm. Contact Vivian Faith Prescott for more information doctorviv@yahoo.com
SOUTHWEST
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ARCTIC
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CONFERENCES, RETREATS, and RESIDENCIES
2017 Writers Tutka Bay Writers Retreat with Louise Erdrich will occur September 10-12, 2017. Application period is closed. More. See above for details on public appearances in ANC and Homer.
2017 Conference for Writers and Illustrators, a partnership between Alaska Writers Guild, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and Romance Writers of America, begins Saturday, September 16 at the BP Energy + Conference Center in Anchorage, Alaska for an all-day event of keynotes and panels, as well as tracks specifically designed for writing craft, author marketing, traditional publishing, self publishing, romance, children’s literature, memoir, and nonfiction. Optional intensives and roundtable critiques are also available all day Friday, September 15. More
The Northern Pen Conference of Prose and Music is coming up October 12-15, 2017. It helps young writers and composers hone their crafts, develop as collaborative artists, and understand how they fit into the communities and natural environments that inspire them. The primary activity of the conference will be the creation of new works of prose and music. Students will enjoy time dedicated to writing in the beautiful natural environment surrounding the conference center. They will benefit from the personalized feedback of award-winning author Matthew Dickerson and composer Michael Dickerson, and they will gain new skills and perspectives through interactive workshops led by interdisciplinary artist Hollis Mickey. Finally, they will have opportunities to present their work during the conference in collaboration with their peers, as well as after the conference in radio broadcasts, museum performances, and gallery presentations. The Northern Pen will give young artists support as they define and realize their artistic visions. The conference center is nestled in the Matanuska Valley between the Chugach and Talkeetna Mountains, just ten minutes away from the spectacular Matanuska Glacier. There will be various activities and excursions to take advantage of the beautiful surrounding wilderness. Learn more.
OPPORTUNITIES and AWARDS for WRITERS
Alaska State Council on the Arts and the Alaska Arts & Culture Foundation present The Alaska Literary Awards, established in 2014 through a generous gift from Peggy Shumaker and Joe Usibelli. The awards recognize and support writers of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, playwriting, screenwriting, and mixed genres. Any Alaska writer over the age of 18 who is not a full-time student is eligible to apply. Quality of the work submitted is the primary consideration in determining who receives the awards. There are no restrictions on the writer’s use of the award and no formal report is required. A select number of $5,000 awards will be awarded annually. The Application Deadline is Friday, September 1, 2017 at 9:59 p.m. AKDT. Learn more and apply here.
Alaska Humanities Forum launches new social practice grant, called HUMAN:ties, offering $10,000 to activate the imaginations of creators statewide to build an advocacy project that defines and illuminates the fabric of homelessness in our state. The application for this grant opportunity is now open and available to all Alaskans. Please visit www.akhf.org/
Alaska Book Week will be October 1-7, 2017. Authors interested in participating are encouraged to contact Elizabeth Waetjen at akbookweek@gmail.com.
September 30, 2017 is the deadline to apply for a 2018 artist residency at Denali National Park. Visual artists, writers, and composers are eligible.
What’s missing? Submit your event or announcement to appear in the next Roundup. Send an email with “Roundup” as the subject to info@49Writers.org.
Thank You for Your Support! 49 Writers members and donors make this blog, our workshops, Crosscurrents events, Readings and Craft Talk series, and other special programs and activities possible. Not a member yet? Join Us
49 Writers, Inc. is supported, in part, by a grant from the Alaska State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
