Congratulations to Maeva Ordaz from West Anchorage High School, who is Alaska’s Poetry Out Loud state champion! Congratulations also go to the runner up, Victoria Moloney from Ben Eielson Jr/Sr High School in Fairbanks. Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure similar to spelling bee competitions; the first level of competition begins at the classroom level, with winners advancing to school-wide competition, then on to regionals and the state finals. The competition concludes with National Finals, which will be held in Washington D.C. on April 28-29, 2015. The Alaska State Poetry Out Loud Competition will be archived by 360 North at http://www.360north.org/poetry-out-loud-2015/.
Let’s celebrate National Poetry Month beautifully! Great Harvest Bread Co. and 49 Writers are looking for beautiful words/beautiful images for Savor the Rising Words Poetry Broadside Invitational in honor of National Poetry Month. Submission deadline is March 20.
Happy Writing!
Morgan
EVENTS IN ANCHORAGE
March 13th: Jeremy Pataky presents his new book. Hugi-Lewis Studio, 1008 W Northern Lights Blvd. Live poetry from Overwinter, music by Molly McDermott, and book signing. Hors d’ouevres and cash beer + wine bar. Live music and poetry start at 7pm, doors open at 6:30.
We hope you will enjoy the next installation of The Living Room: Stories for Grownups, Friday, March 13 , 7pm at Jitters in Eagle River. You will hear stories and poems from people in our community who love all things literary. The program is free, with refreshments served afterwards. Come mingle with other writers and readers. Sign up to read or just come and listen. For more info, call Monica Devine at 444-4633.
Be a part of Anchorage Reads 2015! Running through March 20th, Anchorage Reads is a one-book/one community reading program promoting literacy, love of reading and facilitating community discussions. The Raven’s Gift by local author Don Rearden is this year’s selection. Events include
- Book & Brew Rondy, Anchorage Community Works, March 13, 8pm
- Author Talk, Loussac Library-Wilda Marston, Thursday, March 19, 7pm
Poetry Parley has moved to the 3rd Thursday of each month. In March, at the Hugi-Lewis Studio, Egan Millard debuts as the local poet. Egan Millard’s poetry has appeared in Cirque, The Worcester Review, Used Furniture Review and elsewhere. Originally from New York, he lives in Anchorage, where he is an editor for Alaska Dispatch News. He is the host and founder of The Siren, a poetry and music show in Anchorage. Egan has picked Elizabeth Bishop as the marquee poet. Her work will be read by those who sign up by sending an email to poetryparley@gmail.com. There is a new show up at Margret Hugi-Lewis and Rod Sisson’s studio and refreshments are always remarkable. See you there, March 19, 7 pm.
UAA Bookstore events in March. All events at the UAA Campus Bookstore. There are many more events on a wide variety of topics at the bookstore: Click here for details.
- March 16, 5-7pm: Logistics in the Falklands War by Kenneth L. Privratsky
- March 20, 4-6pm: Local Writers Discuss their Works in Progress with Lizzie Newell, Mel Green, Jessica Ramsey Golden, Sheila Sine, Deb Ginsburg
- March 23, 5-7 Alyse Knorr and Kate Partridge present Time Travel Poetry Coming in April:
- Historical Research Sources for Writers with Lawrence Weiss, April 4, 9-12pm. Explore online and local sources for historical research of narrative material and images. The focus will be on Alaska materials, but many of the resources are national in scope. We will review national newspaper archives, UAA and State of Alaska historical holdings, federal holdings, community museums and historical societies, interview techniques, and other sources for historical material for writers. Our priority will be free and low-cost resources.
- How to Publish Your Book on Kindle with Lawrence Weiss, April 18, 9-12pm. A practical review of how to format a book for publishing on Kindle, how to submit the book for publication, and how to monitor the book once published. We’ll start with a brief overview of the world of electronic publishing. We will also discuss how to format for Smashwords and how to submit. Smashwords is kind of a “middleman” broker that then gets your book onto itunes, Barnes and Noble, and several other sites world-wide. Finally, we will spend a little time discussing marketing your ebook.
- New class: Writing in 360 Degrees with Don Rearden, April 23, 6-9pm. No one lives in a setting, a life doesn’t happen in a setting. Learn how to advance your fiction andn non-fiction to the next level by giving your writing a 360 degree transformation. In this workshop you’ll be guided through a series of fun writing prompts that will help you understand and see the world your characters live in a new light. Learn how to craft complex and detailed environments and watch your characters come to life within their new realm of existence.
EVENTS AROUND ALASKA
ONLINE CLASS SCHEDULE
Revision Intensive with Andromeda Romano-Lax. Sunday, April 5–Saturday, May 16. Online, asynchronous. Register here.
SOUTHCENTRAL, MAT-SU, KENAI PENINSULA
Fireside Books in Palmer has some fun events planned:
- Friday, March 13, 4 PM: Lizzie Newell, author of Sappho’s Agency. In the tradition of Robert A. Heinlein and Ursula K. Le Guin, Sappho’s Agency explores sexuality on a planet much like Alaska but with three women for every man. The novella is the first of a series of adult oriented Science Fiction novels.
- March 14, 3 PM: Second Saturday is here! Downtown Palmer is celebrating National Women’s Month with activities spread throughout! At Fireside Books, we’re also celebrating the glory days of the Iditarod, with lots of the “Old Iditarod Gang,” all of whom contributed to this new commemorative book, Iditarod: The First Ten Years. Stop by and meet the gang, including Jon and Jona Van Zyle, Raine Hall and Alan Rawlins; Jo and Al Crane ; Walt and Gail Phillips.
Don’t forget to register for Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference, June 12-16. 2015’s keynote speaker is Andre Dubus III, and there are a host of amazing writers on the faculty this year (as there are every year). This year’s post-conference workshop at Tutka Bay Lodge, Finding the Geography of Our Work, will be led by 2014 Kingsley Tufts Award winner Afaa Weaver, June 16-18
SOUTHEAST
Jeremy Pataky Book Tour to celebrate publication of his poetry book Overwinter.
- Haines Borough Public Library, March 20, 6:30. Reception followed by Reading in the Round and Book Signing. Free.
- Skagway Public Library, March 22, 3 pm: Craft Talk and Book Signing. Free.
- Juneau, Heritage Coffee Roasting Co., March 19, 6 pm: Reading and Signing with Emily Wall. Free.
- Juneau Arts & Humanities Council, March 24, 6-8pm, Workshop: A Reader’s Approach to Poetry. $30 for 49 Writers members/ $35 nonmembers. Register online. “Reading poetry is an adventure in renewal, a creative act, a perpetual beginning, a rebirth of wonder,” says the poet Edward Hirsch. Poems require different reading strategies than other kinds of writing. In this short course, we’ll ask not what poems mean, but how they mean, as that common dictum prescribes. We’ll explore the concept of “slow reading” and consider its power in an increasingly fast-paced world. This reading course is suited for non-writers and writers alike. Anyone with a genuine interest in poetry is encouraged to participate.
PUBLICATION & PRODUCTION
Fairbanks Drama Association and The Looking Glass Group Theatre invite Alaskan residents to send their best 10-minute plays to be considered for the 15th Annual 8X10 Festival of New Alaskan Plays. Eight ten-minute plays will be given rehearsed staged readings at the Festival, which will be held April 24 & 25, 2015, at FDA’s Hap Ryder Riverfront Theater in Fairbanks. Submission deadline: March 15.
2015 Statewide Poetry Contest: Fairbanks Arts Association is now accepting submissions for the Statewide Poetry Contest. Deadline: March 16th, 2015 at 6 PM. This year’s Poetry Contest Judge is Alaskan author, Joan Kane. Joan Naviyuk Kane is the author of The Cormorant Hunter’s Wife and Hyperboreal.For more information about Joan Kane and her work, visitwww.thejoankane.com
Registration and Payment can be completed online here. For further instructions or to print out the flyer, please click here. Divisions & Awards: Adult 1st Place $150 | 2nd Place $100 | 3rd Place $50High School 1st Place $100|2nd Place $50 |3rd Place $25 Middle 1st Place $75 | 2nd Place $40 | 3rd Place $20Elementary 1st Place $50 | 2nd Place $30 | 3rd Place $15
Savor the Rising Words: Poetry Broadside Invitational in honor of National Poetry Month, April 2015. Submit poetry broadsides for display at Great Harvest Bread Co. throughout the month of April 2015 in honor of National Poetry Month. Featured poets will be encouraged to read their works during a public event at the bakery at a date and time to be determined. Broadsides in the exhibit will be available for sale and proceeds will be donated to 49 Writers; those not sold will be retained by 49 Writers for future displays or events. Submission deadline: March 20. Click here for full details.
Cirque was founded to give writers (and artists) of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest more places to publish their work – and as a vehicle to bring the best writing of the region to the world. The next Cirque deadline: March 21st (the equinox). The submission address is cirque.submits@gmail.com.
Fourth Genre Steinberg Essay Prize Accepting Submissions: We think of creative nonfiction as flexible, fluid, and expansive, and so we’re looking for essays—lyrical, graphic, familiar, humorous, personal, environmental, travel—that are exploratory, innovative, self-interrogative, meditative, whimsical…in short, work that knocks our socks off. The 2015 judge is Kate Carroll de Gutes, whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Review, Pank, Gertrude, Fourth Genre, and other publications. The winning author receives: $1,000 and publication in an upcoming issue. $20 per entry, up to 6,000 words. Reading period has been extended to March 31; entries must be postmarked by March 31. Send submissions to: Fourth Genre Steinberg Essay Prize, 434 Farm Lane, Rm. 235, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1033. Detailed submission guidelines available at www.msupress.org/journals/fg
Arts Northwest Booking Conference Showcase Applications Open. Deadline: April 6, 2015. The Arts Northwest Juried Showcases are renowned for the commitment to quality and diversity, as well as its reputation as one of the most effective methods for artists to increase their visibility with presenters in the west.The performing artists/ensembles are selected by a peer panel process to present a 12-minute excerpt of their work during the annual conference. These showcases are highly sought after and extremely competitive. Performance disciplines are music, dance, physical theatre/comedy, theatre/storytelling/poetry, multidisciplinary, and youth/family.
2015 Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) Artist Fellowship. Deadline: April 6, 2015, 5 pm PST. The coveted NACF national award includes support ranging up to $20,000 per artist. Awards will be made in six artistic disciplines, including: performing arts, filmmaking, literature, music, traditional arts and visual arts. To apply, artists who are members of federally and state-recognized U.S. tribes, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian communities can review criteria and complete an application at http://your.culturegrants.org. The foundation will announce award recipients in August 2015. For questions and technical support, contact Program Officer Andre Bouchardat andre@nativeartsandcultures.org or (360) 314-2421.
Northern Speculative Fiction is all about Speculative Fiction produced in Alaska and Yukon. Here’s where to find out who’s writing SF in the northwest corner of North America. Check them out on the web at http://www.northernspecfic.org/ or Facebook.
Last Chance: TentSquare Monologue Challenge. Submit up to two monologues, 250 spoken words or less on the theme of “Love Letter.” Deadline: March 13. Opportunities for actors, too.
Win $500 to Attend a Writer’s Conference, Festival, Center, Retreat, or Residency. AWP offers three scholarships of $500 each to emerging writers who wish to attend a writers’ conference, center, retreat, festival, or residency. Enter via Submittable by March 30, 2015 deadline.
CONFERENCES, RETREATS & RESIDENCIES
The Sitka Fellows Program, which awards six residency fellowships to the most promising national and international applicants under the age of 30. Did you know that an Alaskan has never participated in this terrific program? Applications are strongly encouraged from Alaskans, so if you or someone you know is a visionary thinker under 30, please apply! The deadline is March 29th. As posted on their web site: The Sitka Fellows Program brings together some of the most exciting, promising talent across all fields and disciplines to spend a summer residency at the Sheldon Jackson Campus in Sitka, Alaska. We look for visionaries of all stripes: frame-busting, independent thinkers who wish to immerse themselves in their work alongside smart, enthusiastic young people from radically different backgrounds. Residents will live for seven weeks on Sitka’s 137-year old Sheldon Jackson Campus, a National Historic Landmark. Residents receive studio and research space, food, and a community environment in which they can interact with each other as well as with Sitkans. In sum, residents will be free to dedicate themselves to their work and their ideas. This year’s residency will run from July 15-August 30. To learn more and apply, go to: http://www.iialaska.org/programs/sitkafellows
Going to AWP in Minneapolis? Please make room in your schedule for an exciting reading. On Thursday, April 9 at 5pm, The Great Land: Alaskan Writers & Presses, offsite reading, featuring Linda Martin, Jeremy Pataky, Adam Tavel, Sherry Simpson, Eva Saulitis, David Stevenson, and Deb Vanasse. At the Minneapolis Community & Technical College on 1501 Hennepin Avenue, Room L3000. Free and open to the public. What a great way to start your AWP off with a flourish. Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference: Minneapolis, April 8-11. Imagine 12,000 writers in one place!
5th Annual Nonfiction Writers Conference, May 6-8. This is a virtual event featuring 15 speakers over three days, all conducted by teleseminar (no travel required!). This year’s opening keynote speaker is Julia Cameron, renowned author of “The Artist’s Way” and “The Right to Write.”
North Words Writers Symposium, May 27-30, Skagway. Keynote speaker is Mary Roach, plus a bevvy of Alaska’s best authors. North Words Symposium offers a unique opportunity for writers to nurture interrelationships with other writers and thinkers in a spectacular place. They aspire to build upon a tradition of literature that reflects language and life on the frontier.
Hi Ben