We’re post-equinox now in Alaska,
and the increasing light boosts everyone’s energy. If you’re a writer itching
to get out there and do something during these fabulous spring days, you’re in
luck. There’s lots to do in Alaska, and beyond, in the upcoming weeks and
months. Though she’s not exactly replaceable, I’m happy to fill in for Linda
Ketchum for the round up blog while she cavorts her way around Europe. Please
do send your event announcements to roundup@49writingcenter.org.
and the increasing light boosts everyone’s energy. If you’re a writer itching
to get out there and do something during these fabulous spring days, you’re in
luck. There’s lots to do in Alaska, and beyond, in the upcoming weeks and
months. Though she’s not exactly replaceable, I’m happy to fill in for Linda
Ketchum for the round up blog while she cavorts her way around Europe. Please
do send your event announcements to roundup@49writingcenter.org.
For starters, register for the 2014
Write-a-thon at Snow City Café on Friday, April 11, 6-10:30pm. This
fundraising event is off to a great start as donations continue to climb
towards our goal of $8,000. There are already three teams in place: Writing
Warriors, Use Your Words, and Elite Scribblers. The team that raises the most
money will receive some very cool prizes from Raven’s Brew Coffee, the 49
Writers java sponsor. Top individual fundraisers in various categories will
also receive gifts from our loyal sponsors, such as Snow City Café and Spenard
Roadhouse. Doors open at 5:30pm, when you will sign in, get settled into a cozy
writing spot, and then load your plate with delicious nibbles from the buffet:
roasted vegetables, artichoke and crab dip, spicy noodles, smoked salmon
cheesecake, and mushroom tart. Yum! Regular joe will be served at no charge
throughout the event, and designer coffee is available for purchase. I’m
psyched that I’ll be in Anchorage that week and plan on participating. I mean,
smoked salmon cheesecake?! It’s like happy hour for writers.
Write-a-thon at Snow City Café on Friday, April 11, 6-10:30pm. This
fundraising event is off to a great start as donations continue to climb
towards our goal of $8,000. There are already three teams in place: Writing
Warriors, Use Your Words, and Elite Scribblers. The team that raises the most
money will receive some very cool prizes from Raven’s Brew Coffee, the 49
Writers java sponsor. Top individual fundraisers in various categories will
also receive gifts from our loyal sponsors, such as Snow City Café and Spenard
Roadhouse. Doors open at 5:30pm, when you will sign in, get settled into a cozy
writing spot, and then load your plate with delicious nibbles from the buffet:
roasted vegetables, artichoke and crab dip, spicy noodles, smoked salmon
cheesecake, and mushroom tart. Yum! Regular joe will be served at no charge
throughout the event, and designer coffee is available for purchase. I’m
psyched that I’ll be in Anchorage that week and plan on participating. I mean,
smoked salmon cheesecake?! It’s like happy hour for writers.
Registration for this year’s Tutka
Bay Writers Retreat with Carolyn Forché, Sept. 5-7, has passed the
half-way mark. Click here
for more information and to register while space is still available. See more
of Carolyn in this video,
in which she delivers the Blaney Lecture on the Poetry of Witness at Poets
Forum 2013.
Bay Writers Retreat with Carolyn Forché, Sept. 5-7, has passed the
half-way mark. Click here
for more information and to register while space is still available. See more
of Carolyn in this video,
in which she delivers the Blaney Lecture on the Poetry of Witness at Poets
Forum 2013.
49 Writers author events coming up in
April and May
April and May
•
Monday, Apr. 7, 7pm, Wilda Marston Theatre, Loussac Library: Crosscurrents event
with Luis Alberto Urrea and Bryan Fierro, “Universal Border: From Tijuana
to the World.” Luis Urrea will be in Fairbanks and Homer the weekend prior
for a series of events: details below.
Monday, Apr. 7, 7pm, Wilda Marston Theatre, Loussac Library: Crosscurrents event
with Luis Alberto Urrea and Bryan Fierro, “Universal Border: From Tijuana
to the World.” Luis Urrea will be in Fairbanks and Homer the weekend prior
for a series of events: details below.
•
Thursday, Apr. 24, 7pm, Great Harvest Bread Co., Anchorage: Reading & Craft Talk
with Elise Patkotak, “The World of Self-Publishing and Why.”
Thursday, Apr. 24, 7pm, Great Harvest Bread Co., Anchorage: Reading & Craft Talk
with Elise Patkotak, “The World of Self-Publishing and Why.”
•
Saturday, Apr. 26,
9am-12pm, Anchorage:
Digital tools for the Creative Writer, a class with Lawrence Weiss. See
Monday’s interesting post by Weiss, Rogna and the Wax Cylinders, for some
background information on this course. Do it!
Saturday, Apr. 26,
9am-12pm, Anchorage:
Digital tools for the Creative Writer, a class with Lawrence Weiss. See
Monday’s interesting post by Weiss, Rogna and the Wax Cylinders, for some
background information on this course. Do it!
•
Tuesday, May 14 & Saturday,
May 17, Anchorage
Museum: “The Pressure is Off: Indpendent Publishing Options for Writers” with
Dana Stabenow and Deb Vanasse.
Tuesday, May 14 & Saturday,
May 17, Anchorage
Museum: “The Pressure is Off: Indpendent Publishing Options for Writers” with
Dana Stabenow and Deb Vanasse.
Only 3 days left to file for your
PFD: the application period ends March 31.Why not Pick.Click.Give. this
year, and your name will be entered into the Sweepstakes for another
dividend! If you’ve already filed but didn’t donate, it’s not too
late: click here for
all the details. Ten lucky people will double their dividend. Add or change your PFD application here.
PFD: the application period ends March 31.Why not Pick.Click.Give. this
year, and your name will be entered into the Sweepstakes for another
dividend! If you’ve already filed but didn’t donate, it’s not too
late: click here for
all the details. Ten lucky people will double their dividend. Add or change your PFD application here.
Tonight,
Friday, Mar. 28, 7-9pm, APU presents Speed Dating
with Alaskan Authors, in the Carr-Gottstein Building, CMH2Hill Boardroom. You
don’t have to be single to meet some of Alaska’s finest fiction writers and
enjoy an opening talk by Martha Amore, APU’s Spring 2014 Writer-in-Residence.
Featured authors include Don Rearden, Mei Mei Evans, Deb Vanasse, Lee Goodman,
and Kris Farmen. Publisher Vered Mares of BP&D House will also be available
for questions.
Friday, Mar. 28, 7-9pm, APU presents Speed Dating
with Alaskan Authors, in the Carr-Gottstein Building, CMH2Hill Boardroom. You
don’t have to be single to meet some of Alaska’s finest fiction writers and
enjoy an opening talk by Martha Amore, APU’s Spring 2014 Writer-in-Residence.
Featured authors include Don Rearden, Mei Mei Evans, Deb Vanasse, Lee Goodman,
and Kris Farmen. Publisher Vered Mares of BP&D House will also be available
for questions.
Tuesday, Apr. 1, 5-7pm, UAA Campus Bookstore: Literal and Visual
Storytelling. Panelists include performance artist Jack Dalton, artist
Susan Share, quilter Sierra Mills (UAA Care Team), and Bosco’s Eric Hirsch and
John Weddleton. Topics include art and book forms; quilt making and
autobiography; written plays and performance; and the role of text in graphic
stories. The writer as artist and performer and the various ways we tell each
other stories are themes for this event.
Storytelling. Panelists include performance artist Jack Dalton, artist
Susan Share, quilter Sierra Mills (UAA Care Team), and Bosco’s Eric Hirsch and
John Weddleton. Topics include art and book forms; quilt making and
autobiography; written plays and performance; and the role of text in graphic
stories. The writer as artist and performer and the various ways we tell each
other stories are themes for this event.
First Friday, Apr. 4, 8pm, AnchorageCommunity Works: Don’t miss the the Termination Dust book
release party, when local poet Susanna J. Mishler will give a reading from
her recently published collection. A book signing and screening of two video
poems will follow. Live music will be performed by Anna Lynch and new artworks
by Ruby Suzanna will be on display. Food and a cash bar will be provided. Come
meet the poet and get a signed copy of Termination Dust!
Friday Apr. 4, 7pm, UAF Wood Center: Reading by Luis Albert Urrea. A prolific
and award-winning writer, Urrea is a master of laanguage and a gifted
storyteller who uses his dual-culture life experiences to explore greater
themes of love, loss and triumph. As a young man he served as a relief
worker among people living in the Tijuana garbage dumps prior to receiving a
teaching Fellowship to Harvard University. “The border” has defined
his life and colored much of his writing. Regarding this point he once said
“the border is simply a metaphor that makes it easier for me to write
about the things that separate people all over the world, even when they think
there is no fence.”
and award-winning writer, Urrea is a master of laanguage and a gifted
storyteller who uses his dual-culture life experiences to explore greater
themes of love, loss and triumph. As a young man he served as a relief
worker among people living in the Tijuana garbage dumps prior to receiving a
teaching Fellowship to Harvard University. “The border” has defined
his life and colored much of his writing. Regarding this point he once said
“the border is simply a metaphor that makes it easier for me to write
about the things that separate people all over the world, even when they think
there is no fence.”
Saturday, Apr. 5 & Sunday, Apr.
6, 2-5pm, KPC Kachemak Bay Campus: Don’t
miss a workshop with Luis Alberto Urrea, “The Theory and Practice of
Trust.” Registration fee $85. Registration deadline, March 30.
Call 235-7743 for more information or go to www.kpc.alaska.edu/kbc.
6, 2-5pm, KPC Kachemak Bay Campus: Don’t
miss a workshop with Luis Alberto Urrea, “The Theory and Practice of
Trust.” Registration fee $85. Registration deadline, March 30.
Call 235-7743 for more information or go to www.kpc.alaska.edu/kbc.
Saturday, Apr. 5, 7pm, KPC Kachemak Bay Campus: Luis Alberto Urrea will give a public
lecture on “The Writing Life.”
lecture on “The Writing Life.”
Sunday, Apr. 6, 5pm, KPC Kachemak Bay Campus: Luis Alberto Urrea will give a public
reading and talk entitled “Universal Border.”
reading and talk entitled “Universal Border.”
Attention poets and
poetry lovers: Poems in Place is
extending their open call for poetry until April 30. Poems in Place is a unique collaboration between Alaska Center for the
Book, Alaska State Parks, and a committee of poets, writers, and Alaska
residents. The project will place a poem
by an Alaskan writer in each of the seven regions of the Alaska State Park’s
system in the coming years. Both original work and nominated poems submitted by
appreciative readers will be considered for Independence Mine State Historical Park, near Palmer, and Lake Aleknagik State Recreation Site/ Wood
Tikchik State Park, near Dillingham. No submission fees. An honorarium will
be paid to the winning poets. See http://www.alaskacenterforthebook.org for more information, contest rules and entry form. To see examples of
current Poems in Place signs visit the Alaska State Parks website:
http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/misc/poemplace.htm
poetry lovers: Poems in Place is
extending their open call for poetry until April 30. Poems in Place is a unique collaboration between Alaska Center for the
Book, Alaska State Parks, and a committee of poets, writers, and Alaska
residents. The project will place a poem
by an Alaskan writer in each of the seven regions of the Alaska State Park’s
system in the coming years. Both original work and nominated poems submitted by
appreciative readers will be considered for Independence Mine State Historical Park, near Palmer, and Lake Aleknagik State Recreation Site/ Wood
Tikchik State Park, near Dillingham. No submission fees. An honorarium will
be paid to the winning poets. See http://www.alaskacenterforthebook.org for more information, contest rules and entry form. To see examples of
current Poems in Place signs visit the Alaska State Parks website:
http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/misc/poemplace.htm
The Alaska State Council on the
Arts, in partnership with the Alaska Arts & Culture Foundation, is holding
its 2014 statewide arts conference, Latitude: 2014
Alaska Arts Convergence on May 1-3 in Anchorage. This
conference will offer opportunities for artists and arts professionals from
throughout Alaska to network, learn valuable skills, participate in artistic
activities and think big about the future of the arts in Alaska. This
convergence is for arts professionals, artists, arts educators, volunteers,
board members, and cross-sector leaders interested in how the arts can support
Alaskans and Alaskan communities. Early Bird Registration rate is $175 and
available until Monday, Mar. 12. After that, registration will cost
$250.
Arts, in partnership with the Alaska Arts & Culture Foundation, is holding
its 2014 statewide arts conference, Latitude: 2014
Alaska Arts Convergence on May 1-3 in Anchorage. This
conference will offer opportunities for artists and arts professionals from
throughout Alaska to network, learn valuable skills, participate in artistic
activities and think big about the future of the arts in Alaska. This
convergence is for arts professionals, artists, arts educators, volunteers,
board members, and cross-sector leaders interested in how the arts can support
Alaskans and Alaskan communities. Early Bird Registration rate is $175 and
available until Monday, Mar. 12. After that, registration will cost
$250.
Don’t forget to register for Kachemak Bay Writers Conference,
June 13-17. This year’s post-conference workshop at Tutka Bay Lodge,
Personal Stories and Great Realities, will be led by Scott Russell Sanders, June
17-19.
June 13-17. This year’s post-conference workshop at Tutka Bay Lodge,
Personal Stories and Great Realities, will be led by Scott Russell Sanders, June
17-19.
The Northwoods Book Arts Guild of
Fairbanks is hosting a group exhibition, June
6-28, Books As Art: Structure, Image, Text, in the Bear Gallery of the
Fairbanks Arts Association. All Alaskan artists are invited to join the
exhibition. The Guild is a community of artists learning about and creating
artist books. They promote all aspects of book arts through education,
participation in exhibitions, and community outreach.
Fairbanks is hosting a group exhibition, June
6-28, Books As Art: Structure, Image, Text, in the Bear Gallery of the
Fairbanks Arts Association. All Alaskan artists are invited to join the
exhibition. The Guild is a community of artists learning about and creating
artist books. They promote all aspects of book arts through education,
participation in exhibitions, and community outreach.
If you fancy traveling a little
farther afield, at this year’s Minnesota
Northwoods Conference, June 22-28, poet Camille Dungy, who
recently visited Alaska, will be leading a five-day workshop. For a schedule
and descriptions of the workshops to be taught by the distinguished
faculty, please visit www.northwoodswriters.org.
The deadline for applying for the conference is May 1. Scholarships are
available, but the scholarship deadline is Monday, Apr. 7, so apply today.
farther afield, at this year’s Minnesota
Northwoods Conference, June 22-28, poet Camille Dungy, who
recently visited Alaska, will be leading a five-day workshop. For a schedule
and descriptions of the workshops to be taught by the distinguished
faculty, please visit www.northwoodswriters.org.
The deadline for applying for the conference is May 1. Scholarships are
available, but the scholarship deadline is Monday, Apr. 7, so apply today.
It’s not too early to plan for summer writing fun in the mountains. The Wrangell Mountain Writing Workshop presents: True Story, July 22-28, with Tom Kizzia, Frank Soos, and Nancy Cook. Living in Alaska is a constant reminder that truth is often stranger than fiction. During this five day workshop, writers will explore the craft of creative nonfiction: drafting compelling narratives that tell true stories. How can writers craft a meaningful, readable page-turner while working in the confines of the frequently controversial truth of “what actually happened.” Visit the Wrangell Mountain Center website for more details.