Round Up of News & Events

EVENTS IN ANCHORAGE

49 Writers Spring Classes: Anchorage. You can still register for classes starting this week! Find full information on the 49 Writers website.

• Writing the Three Dimensional Novel or Memoir with Rachel Weaver. Saturday, February 28, 9am-4pm at 161 E. 1st Ave., Door 15. $95 member/$115 nonmember.

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

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 7 pm, doors open at 6:30.

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 2, 5-7pm: Argumentation: How People Comprehend & Evaluate Argument with Yasuhiro Ozuru
• 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

EVENTS AROUND ALASKA

Fireside Books invites you to Dinner with Rachel Weaver at the Turkey Red Restaurant, February 27, 2015, 6:30 PM. Meet Rachel Weaver, the author of Point of Direction, a pulse-pounding story set in Southeast Alaska. Point of Direction earned an “Indies Introduce” designation by independent booksellers from around the country. It was also featured in Oprah magazine. We find it beautifully written as well as gripping! You can hear Rachel Weaver talk about her novel while enjoying a fine dinner at Turkey Red! We’ll also enjoy live music with the Feral Cats!
Get your tickets here for $25.00 — or at Fireside Books. If you are a member of the new “Read Alaska Rewards Club” you can buy a ticket with your voucher — on a first-come/first-serve basis of course.

Juneau & Southeast

49 Writers Events

• Literary Happy Hour with Rachel Weaver. March 1, 4:30-6pm at Coho’s 51 Egan Drive, Juneau. Reading, craft talk, and libations. Rachel discuss “Revising Efficiently: Some Techniques to Save Time.” 
• Writing the Three Dimensional Novel or Memoir: Essential ingredients to Capture Your Reader and Engage an Audience: A 49 Writers Class with Rachel Weaver. March 2-3, 6-9pm at UAS Egan Classroom 221. Free to current UAS students; $95 members of 49 Writers/$115 nonmembers. Registration and Full info on the 49 Writers website.

Woosh Kinaadeiyí Open Mic and Poetry Slam: Friday, February 27th at 6:30pm at Centennial Hall, Juneau. The event, co-sponsored by Woosh Kinaadeiyí and the Alaska Library Association 2015 Conference, will be hosted by Christy NaMee Eriksen, Conor Lendrum, and Jonas Lamb, with DJ Manu. This month’s theme is “Volumes.” It is open to the public, and poets of all ages and abilities are encouraged to perform. Sign up to read at 6 pm.
Woosh Kinaadeiyí is a local nonprofit committed to diversity, inclusive community, and empowering voice. The organization hosts monthly poetry slams and open mics throughout the community. Learn more at www.facebook.com/wooshpoetry.
More information about the Alaska Library Association 2015 Conference can be found here:http://akla.org/juneau2015/
Contact: Christy NaMee Eriksen, Woosh Kinaadeiyí President, christynamee (at) gmail.com

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

Writers’ Showcase at 360 North, KTOO, Juneau is accepting submissions for their March show. The theme is Journeys. Deadline is February 27.

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.
It’s Always Something Teen Writing Contest deadline is March 20, 2015. More information on the contest and the submission form at www.gildasclubseattle.org.

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.

Wrangell Mountain Meg Hunt Residency Program Application Deadline: March 5, 2015
Artists and writers of all genres and at all stages in their career are encouraged to apply for one of several two-week residencies. Selections will be made through a competitive admissions process. They encourage emerging and mid-level career voices as well as mature professionals. Selected artists will receive room and board for their entire stay in exchange for community outreach or the donation of artwork as a result of the residency. During the residency, the artist will be asked to share their experience with the public by demonstration, talk, or other means.

Summer Residency 0pportunity 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.

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.

Ketchikan Teaching Artist Academy:The Ketchikan Area Arts & Humanities Council is offering a Teaching Artist Academy via the OWL Network. Sessions will be held on Saturday, March 7th from 10am to 6pm at OWL sites in Ketchikan, Craig, Thorne Bay, Petersburg, Wrangell, Cordova, Metlakatla and Hollis. This workshop is meant to support the professional development of currently working teaching artists, and professional artists exploring the addition of teaching artist work to their art practices. For complete information, and registration, visit the Ketchikan Area Arts and Humanities Council website athttp://ketchikanarts.org/events-programs/arts-education. If you have any questions about the Teaching Artist Academy or the Artist in the Schools program, contact Christa Bruce, Education Director atchristab (at) ketchikanarts.org or 907.225.2211.

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.

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

The Muse & the Marketplace 2015 May 1st – 3rd, 2015, sponsored by Grubstreet in Boston.

Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference, June 20-26, 2015. Scholarship deadline: March 15.