Weekly Round Up of News and Events

Hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday season and get a few days to rest up before returning to your regular activities.

It’s been a slow week here in Round Up land–for news and events, that is. Linda Ketchum and I have continued to work on the transition. Wednesday we met at Vagabond Blues in Palmer–what an unexpected experience to leave Anchorage’s balmy 41F and drive up in the rain on New Year’s Eve. The transition is now mostly complete. I officially took the reins on Jan. 1, and Linda is finishing up a few details.

We’ve got some great events coming up this year. Deb Vanasse will do a Reading & Craft Talk on Jan. 29. There are new dates (and a slightly reduced price) for Kathleen Tarr’s workshop The Spiritual in Writing. We’re hoping to get a Resolve to Write event together soon. And 49 Writers has been invited to participate in the Machetanz Festival at Mat-Su College in early summer. Stay tuned for details.

-Morgan Grey

Pick.Click.Give. to 49 Writers! PFD application time is right around the corner, and that’s your opportunity to Pick.Click.Give.! Your Pick.Click.Give donations support 49 Writers programs around the state. We received almost $2,500 in our first year as a Pick.Click.Give organization. You can help us double that in 2015. Plus, Pick.Click.Give.rs have a chance to double their dividends. It’s good for all of us.

To show our appreciation, 49 Writers is offering incentive gifts to donors:

$75 donors will receive an original Alaskan art card from Shorefast Editions in Juneau
$150 donors will receive an autographed book by an Alaskan author.

EVENTS IN ANCHORAGE

Nature and Travel Writing Class

Wednesday, Jan. 21, 7pm

Anchorage essayist and author Bill Sherwonit will teach a 12-week nature and travel writing class beginning Jan. 21 in the Sierra Club office downtown. Participants in this workshop-style class will explore and refine their own writing styles, with an emphasis on the personal essay form. The class will also read and discuss works by some of America’s finest nature and travel writers, past and present. The cost is $240. To sign up for this Wednesday night class (7 to 9:30 p.m.), or for more information, contact Sherwonit at 245-0283 or akgriz@hotmail.com. Further information about the teacher is also available at www.billsherwonit.alaskawriters.com.

Poetry Parley

Wednesday, Jan. 21, 7-8pm. Hugi-Lewis Studio, 108 E. Northern Lights Blvd.

Reading & Craft Talk with Deb Vanasse

Thursday, Jan. 29, 7-8:30pm: Great Harvest Bread, 570 E. Benson Blvd.

49 Writers Spring Classes: Anchorage
Registration Opens Monday, Dec. 29. Find full information on the 49 Writers website.

The Spiritual in Writing: Across Faith, Genres, and Time with Kathleen Tarr: NEW DATES: Wednesdays, Jan. 28, Feb. 4 & 11, Mar. 4, 11, and 18; 6-8:30pm. $240 members/$290 non-members. Do consider taking this class while Kathleen’s still in Anchorage, she’s a writer on the move!
‘What Chu Talk’n ‘Bout Willis?” with Bryan Fierro: Saturday, February 21, 9am-4pm. $95 members/$115 non-members.
Writing the Three Dimensional Novel or Memoir: The Essential Ingredients to Capture Your Reader and Engage an Audience with Rachel Weaver: Saturday, February 28, 9am-4pm, $95 members/$115 non-members.
Joining the Conversation: Engaging with Poets Past with Sandra Kleven: Thursdays, March 5, 12 & 19 and April 2, 9 & 16, 6-8pm. $190 members/$230 non-members.
Historical Research Sources for Writers with Lawrence Weiss: Saturday, March 21, 9am-12pm. $50 members/$60 non-members.
How to Publish Your Book on Kindle with Lawrence Weiss: Saturday, March 28, 9am-12pm. $50 members/$60 non-members.

Andromeda Romano-Lax will be offering three online courses this spring, expanding our offerings to writers across Alaska. These classes are asynchronous: that is, there are no scheduled meeting times but there will be weekly assignments and expectations, and everyone will complete the work on their own time. Interaction will utilize text-based formats such as discussion boards.

Point of View Intensive with Andromeda Romano-Lax: Sunday, February 8–Saturday, March 7, online, asynchronous. $195 members/$250 non-members.
Anatomy of Scene with Andromeda Romano-Lax: Sunday, March 8–Saturday, April 4, online, asynchronous. $195 members/$250 non-members.
Revision Intensive with Andromeda Romano-Lax: Sunday, April 5–Saturday, May 30. online, asynchronous. $295 members/$350 non-members.

EVENTS AROUND ALASKA

49 Writers classes in Juneau: We are still pinning down dates but can tell you that Rachel Weaver will reprise her class there on March 2-3, and poet Jeremy Pataky will be teaching for us in Juneau at the end of March.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WRITERS

AWP has a new mentorship program, Writer to Writer. The program works to pair emerging writers with published authors over a 3-month series. The program is free for AWP members, and mentors volunteer their time. They want to reach the segments of their membership who have never been associated with an MFA program and those writing from regions, backgrounds, cultures, and experiences that are not well represented in the literary world. They are looking for new writers who could use this kind of one-on-one mentorship, as well as published poets, fiction and creative nonfiction writers, or playwrights who are ready to be the mentor they always wished they had. Participants must be AWP members–and for potential mentors to have at least one published book.The application deadline for the winter session is January 5. More information is available at their website.

The Alaska Sampler is an annual ebook anthology of prose by Alaska’s finest contemporary authors. It’s free to the reader. For the author, it’s a proven discovery tool for increasing readership. Running Fox Books is currently seeking fresh fiction and non-fiction by Alaskan authors that reveal the unscripted, everyday Alaska. Works may be original or already published, whole or excerpted. Illustrations and photos for the cover are also being considered. Submissions must be received by Jan. 10, 2015. To learn more, visit http://www.runningfoxbooks.com/submit.html.

Ooligan Press is proud to announce their seventh Write to Publish conference, to be held Jan. 31, 2015, at the Smith Memorial Student Union located at 1825 SW Broadway, Portland, Oregon. Panel topics include how to write about difficult subjects, straight talk about contracts and rights, and how to create a professional platform. Workshops will feature editing and design tips. Authors will be able to sign up to pitch story ideas to publishers and agents.

The deadline for this year’s UAA/Alaska Dispatch Creative Writing Contest is fast approaching. Go toadn.com/content/creative-writing-contest-rules for complete rules, list of prizes, and submission guidelines and send us your best fiction, nonfiction or poetry. Deadline is Feb. 20, 2015, 5:30pm.Winners will be announced in mid-May.

Fairbanks Arts Association will begin accepting entries for the 2015 Statewide Poetry Contest on Jan. 1, 2015, Deadline is Mar. 1, 2015, 6pm (hand delivered or postmarked). Hand deliver entries to Fairbanks Arts Association, Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts, Pioneer Park, 2300 Airport Way. This year’s judge is Joan Naviyuk Kane, author of The Cormorant Hunter’s Wife and Hyperboreal. A 2014 recipient of the American Book Award, and Whiting Writers’ Award recipient, she’s on the faculty for the graduate creative writing program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Visitwww.fairbanksarts.org for more information.

Cirque was founded to give writers (and artists) of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest more places to publish their work – and as a vehicle to bring the best writing of the region to the world. The nextCirque deadline is March 21st (the equinox). The submission address is cirque.submits at gmail.com.

Dreaming of your own literary website? Larry Motschenbacher, owner of the website Alaska Books – Alaska Writers, let the site expire after moving out of state. He’d like to pass it along to someone who wants to take it over. He writes that he enjoyed the contact with and helping support Alaska authors. He states that he still has “all the ‘code’ and information that was formerly on that site. The site used very basic html and only requires very basic skills.” If interested, contact him at LarryNM at gmail.com, and put Alaska Books Alaska Writers in the email subject.