“The second I step up onto the tundra bench I realize my mistake. I forgot to shout, ‘Hey bear!’ like I normally do when beaching the raft, to avoid nasty surprises. Right now, this slip of attention could get me killed. Not 20 yards away, a grizzly stands up in the grass, fixing me in […]
Spotlight on New Books: What the River Knows by Michael Engelhard Read More »
Summertide blew us away! No, seriously. Gusts of wind and pelting rain whooshed against the southside Anchorage home where folks hung out in a cozy living room talking about writing and reading their work. Longtime members and newbies alike cycled from writing prompt to writing prompt at tables spread throughout the house. For nourishment, they
Summertide Blew Us Away Read More »
“. . . In the years to come I saw the river frozen featureless white, saw it running water over the ice in a January thaw; saw it frozen to glass under a February moon when we skated two or three miles straight line before turning around to let a cold breeze blow us home;
Spotlight on New Books: Waiting For The Weather by Eric Forrer Read More »
Victor Hugo used to start his writing day by taking off his clothes and handing them to his valet, who wasn’t supposed to give them back until Hugo had finished his day’s work. That’s how the story goes, anyway. Now, some of that story may not make perfect sense—um, didn’t Victor Hugo have another set
Carrots and Stickks by Andromeda Romano-Lax Read More »
Author Kim Heacox’s 2023 novel, On Heaven’s Hill (OHH), has been described by novelist Kimi Eisele as “…the kind of story the planet needs right now.” It depicts a small town in coastal Alaska where a group of war veterans form an unlikely alliance with feisty schoolchildren to help defend a pack of wolves. It
A 49 WRITERS INTERVIEW WITH KIM HEACOX Read More »
Why did the joke not cross the road? Because only the people on this side got it. When I first started writing, back in the 1980s, I was mostly re-examining some disturbing times from my own life by recreating them as fictions. I’d give my fictitious characters my troubles and see if they handled them
On Humor and Parochialism by Richard Chiappone Read More »
In this month of Independence Day, it is relevant to consider our intellectual freedom. It is the “rights of library users to read, seek information, and speak freely as guaranteed by the First Amendment,” according to the American Library Association. If intellectual freedom is too much of a mouthful, you can just say the right
Intellectual Freedom and Writers by Lynn Lovegreen Read More »
When my first creative book, a travelogue called Searching for Steinbeck’s Sea of Cortez was published a million years ago, I was already working on the first chapters of the next book—not because I knew it’s good to be in the middle of one new thing to distract yourself from the sales and review outcomes of the
Reading & Conversation Series: Monica Hall Recorded Wednesday, June 26 Content Warning: This reading contains references to sexual assault. Monica Hall is a writer, speaker, coach, and entrepreneur. In addition to working as a business consultant, Monica has founded several companies, including an eponymous skincare line and a successful business centered on natural, chemical-free body care,
Reading & Conversation: Monica Hall Read More »
This February it was dark and sprinkling rain and I was walking up a steep hill in Wallingford from the Burke-Gilman Trail pushing the silver Gary Fisher mountain bike that my sister-in-law bought in 1994. In fact, she and I bought the same bike, the same week, back when she was my brother’s girlfriend, now
Still Calling Me Daughter: an essay in my late 40s by Jessica Cherry Read More »
