Literary Roundup | September 28-October 4, 2018

49 Writers CLASSES

49 Writers is offering classes this autumn 2018 in Anchorage, Juneau, and online. For more information and to register, visit the class catalog on our web site.

• Online | This is Your Year to Get An Agent with Andromeda Romano-Lax: Sept 22-30, 2018 plus additional session October 6-14 | online, asynchronous, ~ 8 hours
• Beyond Hooked: What We Can Learn from the First Paragraphs of Compelling Novels and Narrative Nonfiction with Andromeda Romano-Lax. Members or full time students: $39 | General enrollment: $48
  • Juneau: October 16, 2018, 6-9 PM | Location: Mother Kathleen Library at Holy Trinity, 415 Fourth Street
  • Anchorage: October 20, 2018, 1-4 PM| Location: Anchorage Community House, 3502 Spenard Road, 99503(located behind/west of Church of Love~plenty of off-street parking)

More classes will be announced soon!

SOUTHCENTRAL

ANCHORAGE | College Admission Essay Writing Workshop | Saturdays Sept 29, Oct 6, and Oct 13, 10 AM-12 PM | Story Works’ upcoming workshop still has spots left! Over three sessions, students bring essay drafts for review and have time to work on revisions. Volunteer writing coaches from Story Works Alaska read the essays and offer in-person suggestions and guidance. Free snacks available. More info and registration here.

GLENNALLEN | Thursdays, October 4, 11, and 18, 2018, from 6-9 PM | Writing Memoir Using the Windshield and the Mirrors. Join us for Writing Memoir course with Mary Odden at Copper Basin Extension Center. Fee: $100. Located at the Prince William Sound College: Copper Basin, 1976 Aurora Dr. Virtual conferencing option is available. For more information and to register, see their Facebook page and website.

ANCHORAGE | Saturday, October 6, 2018 at 7 PM | Alaska Quarterly Review’s “Here & Over There,” an evening of readings and discussions with Alaskan poets at The Writer’s Block Bookstore & Café. The event will feature the launch of AQR’s 36th anniversary edition and the Alaska premieres of two new award-winning books of poetry: Tara Ballard’s House of the Night Watch, and Chaun Ballard’s Flight. Co-sponsored by 49 Writers to help kick off Alaska Book Week.

ANCHORAGE | Thursday, October 11, 2018 from 7-8 PM | Voices of the Region: The Alaska Women Speak Journal 2018 Fall Reading Series will feature Alaska women reading their own works. Reading to be held at Writer’s Block. For registration to read your work, see the OPPORTUNITIES section below or see their website page here.

ANCHORAGE | Wednesday, October 10, 2018, 7 PM| History, Poetry, and Creativity with Nicole Stellon O’Donnell | JZ Loussac Public Library, 3600 Denali St. Anchorage, 99503. History, poetry, the past and the future blend in a discussion led by award-winning Fairbanks poet Nicole Stellon O’Donnell during the Friends of the Library annual meeting Wednesday, Oct. 10. O’Donnell is the author of Steam Laundry, the 2018 Alaska Reads selection featured by libraries and book clubs across the state. Book sales and a book signing will follow the talk. This presentation is part of Friends of the Library’s annual meeting, held in the Ann Stevens Room of Z.J. Loussac Library, 3600 Denali St. in Anchorage. A reception is set for 5:30-6 p.m., followed by the annual meeting and a “State of the Library” report at 6 p.m. O’Donnell’s talk is at 7 p.m. The public is welcome and admission is free.

ANCHORAGE | Friday, October 12, 2018 from 1-7 PM | Alaska Native Book Fair with panel discussions from 4-6 PM. Located at the ANTHC COB Atrium, 4000 Ambassador Dr.

HOMER | Registration Deadline: October 10, 2018 | Class on Saturday, October 13, 2018 from 10 AM-3:30 PM | Writing the Inscrutable: a workshop with UAA professor and MFA Director David Stevenson. During the workshop, students will do readings and writings “in which we will valorize making beauty over making meaning.” Fee: $40. Information and registration here. Workshop located at the Kachemak Bay Campus of Kenai Peninsula College. Also: Public Reading with David Stevenson on Friday, October 12, 2018 at 6:30 PM. Contact 907-235-7743 or kbcinfo@alaska.edu for more information.

ANCHORAGE | November 12, 2018 at 6 pm |Danger Close Finale Celebration | FREE, Location: The Writer’s Block Bookstore and Café 3956 Spenard Rd, Anchorage, AK 99517. To celebrate the finale of the 2018 season, author and 49 Writers board member Matthew Komatsu and a selection of writers from the season will present work at The Writer’s Block.

SOUTHEAST

WRANGELL | Flying Island Writers & Artists group meets every other Monday 6:30-8 PM. Contact Vivian Faith Prescott for more information contact doctorviv@yahoo.com 

JUNEAU | Thursday, October 18, 2018 from 7-8 PM | Voices of the Region: The Alaska Women Speak Journal 2018 Fall Reading Series will feature Alaska women reading their own works. Reading to be held at Hearthside Books. For registration to read your work, see the OPPORTUNITIES section below or see their website page here.

SKAGWAY | Author and poet John Straley will be reading at the Skagway Public Library on Sunday October 21, 2018 at 2 p.m., followed by a library open house. John is being hosted by Skaguay News Depot & Books and the library. Straley has two new books out this year: the mystery Baby’s First Felony and 100 Poems of Fall.

JUNEAU | November 23-24, 2018 | APK Marketplace: a venue for authors and artists to sell their work. For more information, visit foslam.org/market or call Sarah at 907-209-5970.

INTERIOR

FAIRBANKS | Saturday, October 6, 2018 from 7 PM, Bear Gallery (3rd Floor of the Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts) Pioneer Park, 2300 Airport Way) | Literary Reading with Linda Schandelmeier. She’ll also sign books the night before, October 5, from 5-7, also in the Bear Gallery. Linda Schandelmeier grew up on a family homestead six miles south of Anchorage in the 1950s and 60s. Her new collection of poems, Coming Out of Nowhere, is part memoir and part historical document. The poems celebrate the unique and nurturing aspects of homestead life, but do not shy away from unpleasant family details. Linda has one other collection, Listening Hard Among the Birches. Her poetry has been awarded numerous prizes and distinctions, including an Artist-in-Residence at Denali National Park in 2012, a Rasmuson Individual Artist Project Award in 2006, and an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Alaska State Council on the Arts in 1984. She is the winner of the Midnight Sun, Fejés, and Anchorage Daily News-UAA prizes for poetry. Linda’s poems have been set to music in three song cycles, one of which, “Poem Against the Cold”, by British composer Corey Field, was performed at Carnegie Hall. A retired biologist and elementary school teacher, and an active master gardener and political activist, Linda lives near Fairbanks, Alaska.

FAIRBANKS | Saturday, November 3, 2018 6:30-8 PM | Voices of the Region: The Alaska Women Speak Journal 2018 Fall Reading Series will feature Alaska women reading their own works. Reading to be held at the Fairbanks Arts Association in the Bear Gallery. For registration to read your work, see the OPPORTUNITIES section below or see their website page here.

OPPORTUNITIES and AWARDS for WRITERS

ANCHORAGE, JUNEAU, FAIRBANKS | 2018 | Voices of the Region: Alaska Women Speak is looking for Alaska women writers to read their work. Part of the Alaska Women Speak Journal 2018 Fall Reading. Complete the web registration form here to speak.

• Juneau form due by Friday, September 21.
• Fairbanks form due by Friday, October 5.

Alaska Writers Guild‘s quarterly writing contest, open to members and non-members alike, is open for poetry through November 16, 2018. Sadly, submissions for fiction and children’s lit are closed. More details: https://www.alaskawritersguild.com/writing-contest

Wildheart, an Alaskan women’s magazine, is accepting submissions through October 14, 2018 for their Winter issue. The theme will be Change: stories of weather, scenery, mind, mood, and heart. See their website for details and to submit.

Hometown Reads is in Anchorage! A website dedicated to locating authors near you, Hometown Reads has a section for Anchorage. Sign up to have your book displayed and join the Facebook page to brainstorm ways to advertise and sell books locally. Check it out at https://hometownreads.com.

What’s missing? Submit your announcement for the next Roundup. Send an email with “Roundup” as the subject to 49blog@gmail.com 

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