The 49 Writers elves are hard at work behind the scenes in their quest to bring you the gift of a sensational spring season! We will announce the full schedule here next week and open registration on December 28. Meanwhile, we can tell you that the lineup includes a new course in spiritual writing from Kathleen Tarr, whose class two years ago proved very popular with you. After a successful online pilot this fall with Your Novel Now, Andromeda Romano-Lax will return in spring with not one but three online classes! Poetry lovers will have the opportunity to take a class with Sandra Kleven, editor of Cirque and organizer of Poetry Parley. Author Rachel Weaver (Point of Direction), long-time instructor at Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, will teach in Anchorage and Juneau. Larry Weiss will return with lots more information about tools and resources for writers. And Bryan Fierro, our moderator for the Luis Urrea Crosscurrents, will bring you a class on how to write sparkling dialogue. The Juneau season is still taking shape and we plan to offer at least three creative writing classes in spring. Stay tuned!
As for author events, we look forward to announcing the lineup for the Reading & Craft Talk and Crosscurrents series before the end of December. Thank you to all the elves involved: not just Linda and Morgan, but also our instructors, our hosts at Great Harvest Bread and the Anchorage Museum, and our volunteers: Juneau board member Joan Pardes, author event coordinators Dan Brinker and Kate Partridge, and graphic designers Lucian Childs and Mariah Oxford.
49 Writers Happenings
TONIGHT, Friday Dec. 12, 7pm in Juneau: Jimmy Riordan presents Le Roman du Lievre (The Romance of the Rabbit). We’re excited to announce another unique opportunity for the Juneau 49 Writers community in the form of a potluck event hosted by Sarah Isto (1718 Willow Avenue).
It’s our pleasure to announce that 49 Writers Board President Don Rearden’s novel, The Raven’s Gift, has been selected as the featured book for Anchorage Reads 2015, a program of Anchorage Public Library. Look for more information soon about February’s program of events.
Looking for the perfect gift for a writer friend this festive season? Why not surprise them with a 49 Writers membership? A Matanuska membership costs only $49 for 12 months! Click here to purchase a gift voucher.
Wednesday, Dec. 17, 6-8:30pm, Loussac Library, Ann Stevens Room: Join the Alaska Writers Guild for their Christmas Mix & Mingle, where you will get to know local authors, listen to a few poetry readings, and enjoy some snacks and awesome company.
Monday, Dec. 22, 4-6pm, UAA Campus Bookstore: Kseniya Melnik presents Snow in May, which introduces a cast of characters bound by their relationship to the port town of Magadan in Russia’s Far East, a former gateway for prisoners assigned to Stalin’s forced-labor camps. Comprised of a surprising mix of newly minted professionals, ex-prisoners, intellectuals, musicians, and faithful Party workers, the community is vibrant and resilient and life in Magadan thrives even under the cover of near-perpetual snow. Born in Magadan, Melnik moved to Alaska in 1998. She received her MFA from NYU. Snow in May was short-listed for the International Dylan Thomas Prize and long-listed for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award.
Sunday, Dec. 14, 4pm, Kindred Post, Juneau: A book release party will be held for Ishmael Hope, whose first book of poetry, Courtesans of Flounder Hill, has been published by the Ishmael Reed Publishing Company. Hope will read selections from Courtesans, and his deeply respected friends and colleagues Nora Dauenhauer and Christy Namee Eriksen will read their poetry too.
Author News
Check out Healy author and 49 Writers instructor Christine Byl’s contribution to The Common: A Modern Sense of Place, where she’s featured in their Ask a Local series.
Congratulations to poet Kate Partridge, 49 Writers instructor and Crosscurrents coordinator, who began a three-month research and writing residency at the Anchorage Museum began in Fall 2014 as part of the Polar Lab Project. Click here for more information about her work.
Continuing the successful run of Alaska’s poets, Front Porch has nominated Alyse Knorr’s “Jane and Then-Jane dance in their bodies” for a Pushcart Prize! Read her poem here.
Shopping for an aspiring writer, established author, student, teacher, or a lover of literature? Maybe you’re on the market for a little something just for you? Discounted preregistration rates for #AWP15 are available until Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015. Register a colleague, friend, loved one, or yourself today! Join us in Minneapolis from April 8-11, 2015, at the Minneapolis Convention Center and the Minneapolis Hilton Hotel for North America’s best-attended and most dynamic literary conference.
Since 1981 writers of every age from every part of Alaska have participated in the annual UAA/Alaska Dispatch Creative Writing Contest. For several past winners, this contest was the first public recognition of their work and helped launch successful writing careers. We are pleased to announce this year’s contest is open for submission. Go to adn.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.
Jan. 1, 2015 Fairbanks Arts Association will begin accepting entries for the 2015 Statewide Poetry Contest, deadline 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. Visit www.fairbanksarts.org for more information.
Jan. 31, 2015 Ooligan Press is proud to announce their seventh Write to Publish conference, to be held 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.