Step 1: READ YOUR BRAINS OUT Move to a town famous for its writing culture. Maybe there’s a fancy MFA program you wouldn’t even try to get into, or a local history of invested writers, and nearly every barista slinging lattes and croissants has published a volume of poetry. Immerse yourself in the regional literature, …
How to Write a Novel in 25 Years or Less by Christine Byl Read More »
“Guess what, Auntie C?” my niece tells me on the phone. “My class visited Emily Dickinson’s house in Amherst! We saw her room—her bed and her desk and everything. It was amazing.” Tamar is 13, an avid reader, and one of my favorite people. I ask her if she’ll go again with me when we …
Guest Blogger Christine Byl | Investigating Emily Read More »
On a recent road trip to visit family in the Southeast, a rural church billboard caught my eye: “Grateful people are happy people.” I don’t generally look to church yard proclamations for advice, but this quote stayed with me. It’s far from a novel idea—myriad scientific studies support the correlative relationship between articulated gratitude …
Guest Blogger Christine Byl | Thanks & Giving for the Arts Read More »
In graduate school, I began annotating the books I read. Unlike lots of things from graduate school that I should still be doing, this habit stuck. I do it to this day. I love making that short entry in my tiny notebook when I finish reading something—an intentional assessment of resonance, failings, delights—and I find …
Guest Blogger Christine Byl | What Shall I Read Next? Read More »
“My Annual Reading Report,” by Christine Byl, 43rd grade. 2016 was a tough year for many reasons (wretched politics, climate change in the Arctic, bigotry and sexism, deaths of dear human and canine friends, no more Leonard Cohen albums). A combination of mental restlessness, depth avoidance, and periods of grief meant I didn’t read as …
Christine Byl at a reading event; photo by Mollie Foster Near top the list of my greatest riches is the gang of artists I call friends: poets and painters, musicians and quilters, collagists and photographers. Our conversations, across medium and genre, stimulate me to consider the world at angles skew to my default impulses, and …
Christine Byl: Shelf Promotion: Trading Commerce for Art Read More »
It has been a momentous week for Alaska literary news, one that has evoked emotions veering from elation one moment to deep sorrow the next. Richard Dauenhauer at the 2014 Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Humanities(photo courtesy of Alaska State Council on the Arts) The whole literary community is in mourning for Richard Dauenhauer, …
Many thanks to all the writers who submitted to the Anchorage Remembers anthology! We received more than 40 stories, which the selection committee will start reviewing soon. The majority of those stories came from writers who participated in one of the four memoir workshop series offered by this official Centennial project. Stay tuned for details, …
Moderator and panelists for Home/Land: Peggy Shumaker, Scott Russell Sanders, Debby Dahl Edwardson, Eowyn Ivey, Richard Chiappone Yes, Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference is over. For four intense pre-solstice days, 150 writers soaked up the wisdom of faculty, made new writing friends and caught up with old, enjoyed a variety of readings from aspiring and established …
FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 6-10:30pm. It’s Write-a-thon time! Save the date and get the details here. This is our premiere fundraising event of the year and a great way to show your support for the literary arts in Alaska, while working on your own contribution to the state’s growing body of literature! It was such a treat …
