Imagine Alaska without books. No The Snow Child. No The Way Winter Comes. No The Cormorant Hunter’s Wife and no Ordinary Wolves. No Blonde Indian. No Winter News. No Two Old Women, nor The Firecracker Boys. No Where the Sea Breaks Its Back. No Leaving Resurrection or Prayers in Wind.
You know that books sing, slap, slake, spark. The written word transforms the world we share and our own inner worlds. Every writer is a distinct seed sewing empathy, imagination, understanding, attention. Every reader completes an ecology that would otherwise fall fallow. Without the poets, novelists, memoirists, nonfiction authors, playwrights, songwriters, journalists, and readers, how would we really know where we are or who each of us is? Who would any of us be without welcoming other voices into the privacy of our minds?
49 Writers is obsessed with connecting, with sense-making, with meaning. We’re in love with process and craft and books, and the frisson between a well-wrought story, poem, play, or novel and a thoughtful reader. We’re charged by the arcing we see again and again when writers and readers—beginning or advanced—gather together.
We’re humbled to approach our imminent ten-year anniversary knowing the milestone stems from the support of individuals across Alaska and beyond—people like YOU whose care for the written word is a fundament of their care for each other and our places. 49 Writers presented another incredible year of programming, serving Alaskans far and wide, and even ran our first out-of-state program in Seattle, in partnership with Hugo House. Please make an end-of-the-year gift to 49 Writers today and help us keep the literary fires lit. Thank you!
Make Literary Events Possible | A significant portion of our revenue comes from individual donations. Without that support, we could not offer nearly as many classes, workshops, Reading & Craft Talk Series and Crosscurrents events, and more. We couldn’t plan member events, house salons, retreats in Juneau or Tutka Bay Lodge, nor poetry readings. We couldn’t help partners launch AQR issues or conduct the statewide Poetry Out Loud competition. We couldn’t have organized programs in Cordova or Seattle – firsts for us this year – or published emerging and mature writers online.
Imbue Alaska with a Literary Soul | Books are as much “about” readers as they are writers. All of us – writers or not – live among communities whose sense of place is limned by a growing literature, with sensibilities shaped more and more, whether we’re aware or not, by the collective effort of generations of writers and counting. 49 Writers honors and encourages writing with respect and trust for the complex positive impacts it has on our shared world.
Support and Grow Alaska’s Writers | Solitary writer myths aside, writers need each other, writers need readers, and writers need help. We serve beginning and experienced writers at all stages of the writing process with classes, workshops, resources, connection, training, promotional opportunities, and more. We network and partner with other organizations and agencies to bring writers to the table and position the literary arts among other disciplines in our richly artistic state.
Build connections in state and beyond | Our members hail from the southmost tip of the Southeast Panhandle on up through the Inside Passage, from Cordova out to Kodiak, all over the Anchorage Bowl and the Mat-Su, to points north and east. We’ve watched friendships and book groups, pen pals and collaborations develop over the years among Alaskans we’ve helped to connect. We’ve developed a number of partnerships with agencies and organizations and leveraged our resources creatively to maximum benefit, and we’re building bridges between Alaska and the Yukon, Alaska and British Columbia, Alaska and Seattle, Alaska and New Mexico, and counting.
Reap Your Member Benefits | We honor our supporters with discounted class rates, free or affordable programing, exclusive access to occasional salons and special author events, timely info (often breaking literary news), and more. Our supporters know they belong to a growing group investing in a creative, literary, complex Alaska. And we will soon roll out new member benefits that include discounts at partnering businesses.
We are so grateful for your support!
49 Writers could not exist without you.
Please make a year-end, tax-deductible donation to 49 Writers now, or start your sustaining membership by initiating automatic monthly gifts of $5, $10, $20, $50 or whatever amount you choose. It’s easy to give online through our secure payment page, or you can mail a check to PO Box 140014, Anchorage, Alaska, 99514-0014.
