And now for the non-personal stuff, all of it good:
Gail Palmer of Art Services North is looking for Alaska authors wanting to do readings at a major public celebration of Alaska statehood, on January 3, 2009. She writes: “The Anchorage Commission, 50 Years will be coordinating entertainment (including the author readings) for one of three buildings on the afternoon of January 3, during which the entire downtown convention district – andthen some – will be open and free to the public. From 3-7pm we will be presenting 8-10 stages of free entertainment. All stages will culminate in some form of drumming which will lead the tens of thousands of people in attendance down to the Delegate Procession (a parade of delegates from every city, town, and village in Alaska). The procession will end with a lighting of a specially designed cauldron in honor of our statehood.” Sound like something you’d like to be part of? Contact Gail at 279.7500 or email gail@artservices.com.
It’s time to plan ahead for the Kachemak Bay Writer’s Conference, June 12-16 this year in Homer. The keynote speaker will be poet Li-Young Lee. See the website for other faculty and event details. Here at “49 writers,” one of our new bloggers, Jeremy Pataky, has promised to write a post about Li-Young Lee, to help get the less-poetically-educated among us (that would be me) get up to speed.
The new short film “Read with Me” is being released into the community on Friday, November 14, at 6:30 p.m. at the Z. J. Loussac Public Library’s Wilda Marston Theatre. The public is invited to attend the launch of a community–wide effort aimed at inspiring reading volunteerism throughout our city and state. In an event co-sponsored with the Anchorage Public Library, Affinityfilms, Inc. will release “Read with Me,” a first-ever call to action DVD about the importance of supporting young readers. The DVD features students from Russian Jack Elementary and reading volunteers from our community in a 12-minute short film based around the popular book, A Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo. The DVD was created by Anchorage Producer/Director Mary Katzke and her crew, the Affinityfilms’ board of directors, and lead volunteer, Greta Artman, with production design by Deborah Schildt.
The Alaska Writers Guild monthly meeting for Tues, Nov 18 at 7:00 pm will feature guest Evan Swenson — a well-known local outdoors writer, editor, and owner of Publication Consultant, an Alaskan publishing company. His talk is called “From writer to author and how to get there.” Meetings are held at the Anchorage Barnes & Noble and the general public is welcome.
Phew — that was a lot of catching up to do!