Round Up of News & Events

EVENTS IN ANCHORAGE

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! Kicking off February 20th and 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

• The Raven’s Gift Reader’s Theatre, Loussac Library-Wilda Marston, March 12, 7pm 
• Book & Brew Rondy, Anchorage Community Works, March 13, 8pm 
• Author Talk, Loussac Library-Wilda Marston, Thursday, March 19, 7pm 

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: 49 Writers Classes. Find full information on the 49 Writers website.

• 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

Poet Kevin Goodan will be in Homer to open an exhibit with Adam Ottavi called Let That Fire Catch Me Now. The photographs are paired with Kevin’s poems. The opening is Friday, March 6, 5-7pm at Bunnell Arts Center. Kevin will then have a reading on Saturday, March 9 at 1pm at the Bunnell gallery. After the reading we’ll take a little break and then Kevin is willing to sit down and talk poetry with us, like a salon at the gallery.

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

BookTalk/Reading: Join author Dave Atcheson as he discusses his latest book: Dead Reckoning, Navigating a Life on the Last Frontier, Courting Tragedy on its High Seas

• Ketchikan AK, at Parnassus Books, Sun. March 8 4pm 
• Sitka, AK, at Old Harbor Books Mon. March 9, 6pm 

Jeremy Pataky Book Tour to celebrate publication of his poetry book Overwinter.

• Haines Borough Public Library, March 20: 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. 

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WRITERS

PUBLICATION & PRODUCTION OPPORTUNITIES

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 is March 21st (the equinox). The submission address is cirque.submits at gmail.com.

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.

CONTESTS & GRANTS

2015 Public Invitation for a Poem in Place: For the third and final project year, Poems in Place 2015 seeks one poem to place in Fort Abercrombie State Historical Park in Kodiak, and one poem forCaines Head State Recreation Area in Seward. Submissions accepted Feb. 1 – April 1.

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

Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference, Homer, AK, June 12-16, 2015: 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.

Summer Residency Opportunity for young writers in Sitka – application deadline March 29, 2015 The Sitka Fellows Program, now in its fourth year provides a fully-funded, seven-week residency at the Sheldon Jackson campus for anyone under the age of 30. Past participants have included social entrepreneurs, theoretical physicists, as well as musicians, poets, cartographers, and cartoonists. The residency includes six fellows and a facilitator. The program wants 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. It’s seven weeks of time and space, in Sitka, Alaska of all beautiful places, to dedicate yourself to a project — any project — that will change the world in ways big, small, or subtle.

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.

Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference: Minneapolis, April 8-11. Imagine 12,000 writers in one place!

Volunteer with 49 Writers

Interested? Contact Morgan via this form.

Anchorage Opportunities
· Alaska Book Week Team (April-October, 1-10 hours/month)

· AV Specialist (2-3 hours/event during season)

· Bookkeeper (3-4 hours per week)

· Event Promotion (1 hour per week, fall-spring)

· Outreach Assistant (1-4 hours/month during program season)

Anywhere Opportunities
· Blog Advertising Coordinator (4-5 hours per month)

· Blog Calendar Coordinator (1 hour per week)

· Blog Interview Coordinator (2-4 hours/month, ongoing)

· Blog Interviewer (1-2 hours each plus reading time for book)

· Blog “Weekly Round-Up” Coordinator (3-4 hours per week)

· Community Liaison (1-2 hours per month; more if involved in event planning)

· Facebook Discussion Group Moderator (1-2 hours/month, ongoing)

· Grantwriter (time is variable, depending on scope of grant and deadlines)

· Registrar (1-2 hours per week, September-April)

· Social Media Maven (time varies depending on need)

· Volunteer Coordinator (1-2 hours per week)

· Website Assistant (time varies according to need)