Tired of working conventional hours? Yearn for the flexibility of working from home or your favorite coffee shop? Dream of meeting and getting to know respected Alaskan writers and distinguished visiting authors? Have we got the job for you! 49 Writers is seeking an energetic, enthusiastic executive director to fill the shoes of current leader Linda Ketchum, when she departs for distant shores at the end of this year. For the job description and information on how to apply, go to the 49 Writers website or click the logo at the top of the blog sidebar. We know you’re out there! Our state is brimming with hidden talent, so don’t be shy–step forward.
Thank you to the 35 people who came out last night for Susanna Mishler’s reading and craft talk on the topic of “can a poem be a machine?” Especially the students from Kate Partridge’s class! It’s always heartening to see young people in the audience who are fully engaged with the program (they definitely deserve that extra credit). Susanna advanced thoughtful arguments, drawing on the work of many writers, and delighted us with her closing abecedarian poem about the workaday tools from her trade as an electrician. Hooray as always to Great Harvest Bread for the venue and the treats: folks, it’s pumpkin bread season so don’t miss the Nov. 13 Reading & Craft Talk with Lee Goodman.
The 49 Writers annual membership drive is in full swing! If you enjoy following this blog and even if you check in only occasionally, please consider becoming a member if you haven’t already made a contribution. Member donations help us keep supporting writers around Alaska, and many of you tell us how much you value the blog. We hit more than 30,000 page views in the last month (more than double from a year ago), so we must be doing something that resonates with you, our beloved community of writers. Help us keep on keeping on! Membership starts at a modest $49.
Deb Vanasse and Don Rearden report that they had a great trip to the Kenai Peninsula last weekend, when they featured in a reading and each taught a workshop at Kenai Peninsula College in Soldotna. There was a wonderful turnout at the evening event and engaged and insightful students attended the craft workshops. There were many requests for more author events and classes! We’ll see what we can do. Kudos and thanks to 49 Writers member and KPC host Dave Atcheson (Dead Reckoning).
Alaska Book Week is over, after months of planning by the committee, and we are delighted that so many people and organizations came together to celebrate Alaska’s authors and their books. If you held an event or mounted a special display, do remember to sent details and photos to ABW coordinator Jathan Day at akbookweek (at) gmail (dot) com, so he can feature your activities on the website and give people ideas for next year. Special thanks to Jathan, Sara Juday, Lila Vogt, Vered Mares, Rayette Sterling, Stephanie Schott, and Patience Frederiksen, for serving so ably on the committee. And thanks also to the Alaska Writers Guild, for collaborating with Loussac Library to stage a very successful second annual Great Alaska Book Fair last Saturday.
- Saturday, Nov. 1, 10am-1pm, 645 W. 3rd Avenue, Anchorage: Complex and Conflicted Characters, creative writing workshop with Don Rearden (The Raven’s Gift). This workshop was popular with writers in Juneau and Soldotna, so sign up now!
- Thursday, Nov. 13, 7pm, Great Harvest Bread Co., Anchorage: Reading & Craft Talk with Lee Goodman (Indefensible)
- Saturday, Nov. 22, 9am-12pm, 645 W. 3rd Avenue, Anchorage: Composition by Juxtaposition, creative writing workshop with Caroline Goodwin (Trapline), Alaska-born Caroline moved from Sitka in 1999 to attend Stanford as a Wallace Stegner fellow in poetry. She is currently serving as the first Poet Laureate of San Mateo County, CA and teaching in the MFA Writing program at California College of the Arts in San Francisco.
- Monday, Dec. 1, 6-9pm, Juneau (location TBD): Composition by Juxtaposition, creative writing workshop with Caroline Goodwin.
NOTE: We have missed listing some events recently because we didn’t know about them! Do email us your announcements and/or posters (in jpeg format, please) and we’ll line them up for you.
Thursday, Oct 23, 7pm, Loussac Library, Wilda Marston Theater: A community conversation on Truth & Propaganda. Investigative journalist and author of Camp 14, Blaine Harden, will be interviewed by Don Rearden, board president of 49 Writers and author of The Raven’s Gift, Free and open to the public. Join the conversation!
Tonight, Friday, Oct. 17, 7pm, Juneau Arts & Culture Center: Woosh Kinaadeiyí will host their annual Grand Poetry Slam competition that includes a slam competition featuring winners from the past season. The poets will perform original work and are judged by members of the community. The winning poet will receive $50 and the 2014 Grand Slam Award. Competing in the slam are David Parish, Michael Christenson, Max Suzuki, Nathan Block, and Bill Merk. The event will also include opening performances by Katie Bausler, Gemini Waltz, Anna Hoffman, Miguel Rohrbacher, Henry Melville, Robert Stephenson, and Ziggy Unzicker as the 2013 Grand Slam Champion and Sacrificial Poet. The show will be hosted by Christy NaMee Eriksen and Conor Lendrum, with DJ Manu. The event is pay as you can, with a suggested donation of $5-10. Click here to learn more. Contact: Christy NaMee Eriksen, Woosh Kinaadeiyí President, christynamee@gmail.com,
Tonight, Friday, Oct. 17, 7pm, Murie Auditorium, UAF: Sherry Simpson, author of Dominion of Bears and two essay collections, will be reading her work for the Celebration of Writing on. Parking on campus is free after 5pm and there are lots adjacent to the Murie Building. This event is free and open to the public. Sherry will be holding a craft talk in Gruening 202 at 3pm this afternoon. Those of you interested in attending dinner please contact emparker2@alaska.edu.
Friday, Oct. 31, 6pm: The Canvas in Juneau is holding its annual Halloween Party, and they are looking for experienced story tellers to participate in the campfire ghost stories, an integral part of the event. There will be about thirty minutes of scheduled storytelling and then a 30-minute open mic. If you know anyone who would be interested, contact Kelly Manning at the Canvas, 586-1750.
Author News
Rasmuson Foundation has announced the selection of four artists from Alaska who will each spend eight weeks in residence at acclaimed Lower 48 arts organizations as part of the 2015 Artist Residency Program. Ernestine Hayes, a writer in Juneau, will be at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program near Woodside, CA. She will focus her energy on various ongoing fiction projects, and immerse herself in aspects of the traditions of ancient Chinese poets, contemporary American ghazals and the lyricism of oral history. Congratulations, Ernestine! The other artists are Linda Lyons, a visual artist and painter in Anchorage, who will be in residence at the Santa Fe Art Institute in Santa Fe, NM, in partnership with Institute of American Indian Arts, Mary Matthews, a visual artist and art therapist in Fairbanks, will be in residence at the McColl Center for Art + Innovation in Charlotte, NC, and Michael Walsh, a media artist and filmmaker in Homer, will be in residence at Zygote Press in Cleveland, OH. Click here to learn more about the Artist Residency Program.
Early Bird Preregistration for next year’s AWP conference ends Oct. 31. Register today for #AWP15, which runs from April 7-11, 2015, at the Minneapolis Convention Center and the Hilton Minneapolis Hotel. The early-bird registration period offers the more significantly discounted rates for North America’s best-attended and most dynamic literary conference.
Young Emerging Artists, Inc. is happy to announce that registration for the Alaska Region of the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition is now open to students in Grades 7-12 in public, private or home schools throughout the entire State of Alaska. Students must submit their work no later than Dec. 20, 2014. If you have questions please contact the President of YEA, Ben Ball, at ben.ball@yeaalaska.org or, if you have a contest specific question, write to contest@yeaalaska.org. Students and teachers register at http://www.artsandwriting.org.