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EVENTS and ANNOUNCEMENTS
Registration is underway now for 49 Writers classes and workshops, both in Anchorage and online. Learn more and register here.
Best American Poetry 2016 features Anchorage-based Olena Kalytiak Davis’s poem “On the Certainty of Bryan”, previously published in Alaska Quarterly Review. Also, Best American Short Stories 2016 features Daniel O’Malley’s story “Bridge” and Raul Palma’s story “Eminent Domain” is cited as a Distinguished Story of the year. Best American Essays 2016 features an essay by Ela Helen Harrison.
Thanks to everyone who came out to the Alaska Writers Guild conference, the 49 Writers salon at Martha Amore’s place in Anchorage, Kitty Morse’s lecture offered in partnership with BP Energy Center, and the other events offered with the visiting cohort of visiting Adventures by the Book authors. If you’ve got any photos you care to share, send them to info@49Writers.org! (Have we mentioned we joined Instagram?)
Congrats to Anchorage-based Bryan Allen Fierro on the release of his debut book of stories, Dodger Blue Will Fill Your Soul (University of Arizona Press). Stayed tuned: we hope to substantiate rumors of his upcoming appearances through 49 Writers pretty soon.
The Fall 2016 issue of Alaska Women Speak features cover art by Linda Lyons and drops this coming week.
Wasilla, Alaska has a new public library! Congrats.
Faculty announced for the 2017 Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference!
SOUTHCENTRAL
Alaska Book Week is October 1-8, 2016! Check out the following happenings:
ANCHORAGE | October 1, 2016, UAA Campus Bookstore, 1-3 pm. Authors and illustrators associated with Publication Consultants come together to discuss writing memoir, the ins and outs of publishing, and the process of creating children’s books. Eva Baker (Martha and Eva), Maggie Holeman (Women in the Locker Room) and children authors and illustrators La Von Bridges (Alaska Animals, We Love You) and Betty Hedstrand and Chris Floyd (Clever Little Bird). FREE
ANCHORAGE | Censorship and Diversity in YA Literature panel, October 4, 2016, 7 pm, Mountain View Public Library. FREE
ANCHORAGE | October 5, 2016, UAA Campus Bookstore, 5-7 pm. Alaskan author Lizbeth Meredith, Pieces of Me, shares her emotional international journey to rescue her kidnapped daughters. Within her quest, the unveiled truth within abusive relationships is explored as she traverses the challenges of her story, mirroring her own childhood experiences. FREE
ANCHORAGE | Publication Consultants, in association with Alaska Book Week, is hosting the Great Alaska Book Fair sponsored in part by The Mall at Sears and Anchorage Public Library. They suggest that anyone interested in participating in The Great Alaska Book Fair respond before all tables are reserved. Concurrent event will include: a Farmer’s Market, a Sidewalk Sale and the Better Business Bureau’s Shred Day, and a Financial Fitness Fair; it’s the same day that The Mall at Sears features an annual sidewalk sale to coincide with the release of Permanent Fund Dividends. If you’re interested you can sign up for a table here. Book fair hours are 10 AM to 6 PM on Saturday, October 8, 2016. Tables will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis. Authors are responsible for their own sales—and pocket all the money. There will not be a central check out register. There is a charge of $50 per table. Authors may share tables if they’d like.
49 Writers presents Crosscurrents | Tales of the City: Writing from Alaska’s Urban Hubs
ANCHORAGE | October 13, 2016
5-6:45 pm – Building Fires in the Snow meet-and-greet at MUSE
7-8:30 pm – Crosscurrents event in the Anchorage Museum auditorium
ANCHORAGE | October 19, 2016, 7 pm at 49th State Brewpub. Find Your Park. Share Your Story. Storytelling Event in the style of Arctic Entries. Tickets are $12 at the door or in advance at the Alaska Geographic Store at 241 North C Street. Facebook event.
INTERIOR
FAIRBANKS | October 1, 2016, Children’s Book Day with Beth Peluso Grassi, Cherie B. Stihler, and Cindy Allaud, 3-5 pm, Noel Wien Library
FAIRBANKS | Building Fires in the Snow: Presentation, Reading
Friday, October 7, 2016, 5:30–7:30pm, Gulliver’s Books, 3525 College Rd. Tales of the City: Writing from Alaska’s Urban Hubs | Modern Alaska life exists in the dichotomy between what some call the Great Land—majestic lands teeming with wildlife—and the goings-on of our mostly urban people. How does this dichotomy affect urban Alaskans and the stories they tell? Join Martha Amore and Lucian Childs, editors of Building Fires in the Snow: A Collection of Alaska LGBTQ Short Fiction and Poetry, along with featured anthology anthology contributors, as they explore these topics and read from work in the anthology. Building Fires in the Snow is a path breaking anthology that opens a window onto the diverse lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Alaskans. A Question and Answer session and book signing will follow. FREE
FAIRBANKS | Fairbanks author and wilderness guide Michael Engelhard will sign copies of his new book American Wild: Explorations from the Grand Canyon to the Arctic Ocean and also introduce Ice Bear, his cultural history of the polar bear, on Friday, October 7th from 5-7 pm at the Fairbanks Art Association’s Bear Gallery. This First Friday event will be part of the opening of the 64th Parallel exhibit, and a watercolor artist will be present as well.
FAIRBANKS | Fairbanks Arts Association hosts the oldest literary reading series in the state. Every month, writers reading their own work publicly at a community meet-up where people can connect with other lovers of literature. Readings are held on the day after First Friday, usually the first Saturday of the month at 7 pm. Most reading are held in the Bear Gallery in Pioneer Park, although occasionally in the summer (June, July, and August) the weather is beautiful reading are held outside to another spot in Pioneer Park. Upcoming:
October: Susheila Khera
November: Nicole Stellon O’Donnell
December: Rosemary McGuire
Additional readings and events may be held, but the First Saturday Literary Reading Series is monthly at 7 pm the day after First Friday (except February).
ANCHORAGE | Alaska Quarterly Review presents A VOICE AGAINST THE CULTURE OF RAPE on Friday, October 7 at 7 PM in the Anchorage Museum auditorium. The evening features Anchorage-based actress Sarah Baird reading Eliese Goldbach’s courageous personal essay, “White Horse,” about campus rape and its aftermath (read the essay here). A distinguished panel of experts provides insights from scholarly, legal, advocacy, and artistic perspectives following the reading. Free.
SOUTHEAST
SITKA | October 1, 2016, Children’s Book Day with Debbie S. Miller, 10:30 am, Sitka Public Library
JUNEAU | October 7, 2016, 7-9 pm. Informal 49 Writers meetup at Sarah Isto’s place. Email 49writersjuneau at gmail.com for info.
DOUGLAS | October 13, 2016, 7:30-9:30 pm. Post-show chat with playwright Allison Gregory following pay-as-you-can preview of Not Medea, a story of modern motherhood. Perseverance Theatre.
SOUTHWEST
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ARCTIC
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CONFERENCES, RETREATS, and RESIDENCIES
The entirety of Southeast Alaska is encompassed by the Cascadia bioregion. The fourth Cascadia Poetry Festival occurs November 3-6, 2016 in Seattle, Washington. http://cascadiapoetryfestival.org/
OPPORTUNITIES and AWARDS for WRITERS
360 North Writer’s Showcase is accepting short stories and creative non-fiction for their November 17th episode of Writers’ Showcase—the 360 North statewide public television program that highlights work by Alaskan writers. Pieces should be between 5- and 15-minutes long when read aloud. Unfortunately, they don’t have a budget to pay, but your work will be read by a professional actor (think PRI’s Selected Shorts) and distributed on statewide public TV for eternity! Please send questions or submissions to arts [at] ktoo [dot] org by October 17.
In early August, the Alaska State Council on the Arts will seek nominations for the 2017 Governor’s Awards for the Arts, as well as the next Alaska State Writer Laureate. This year, the categories for the Governor’s Awards for the Arts are: Arts Education, Individual Artist, Arts Organization and Alaska Native Arts. The Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Humanities ceremony will be held in Juneau on Thursday, January 26, 2017. Visit ASCA’s website here for information about last year’s Governor’s Awardees, and here for the Alaska State Writer Laureate program.
Thank You for Your Support!
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