Deb: 49 Writers weekly round-up

Above: Agent Kendra Marcus of Bookstop Literary will be in Fairbanks on Monday, March 1 for a FREE session with writers. RSVP requested. Details below.

That old expression of March coming in like a lion resonates with our writing community this year. March 1 is the opening day of our 49 Writers online book club discussion featuring Rock, Water, Wild, the latest by Alaska's State Writer Laureate Nancy Lord. That's three reading days left! Stop by the blog on Monday and Tuesday, March 1 and 2, to leave comments. Nancy will drop in a few times to answer questions as well, so you'll have a chance to dialogue with the author as well as with other readers.

Then there’s this great opportunity for writers in Fairabnks: Agent Kendra Marcus of Book Stop Literary will be in town visiting family and has offered to meet with local writers to field questions on publishing. She’ll be at the College Coffeehouse at 3677 College Rd. (374-0468) from 10 a.m. until noon on Monday, March 1.

While Marcus represents writers of YA and children’s books – former Fairbanksan Claire Rudolf Murphy among them – she’s happy to meet with all writers, agented or not. This type of session with a respected literary agent doesn’t come often (especially in Alaska, without charge), so do consider attending. Note that this group session does NOT include one-on-one pitches or manuscript consultations. Please RSVP by 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28 to debv@gci.net so I can let Kendra know how many to look for.

Not in Fairbanks? Don't despair. On Monday, March 1 at 1 p.m., you can join former Alaska Writer Laureate John Haines for "Tea with Poet John Haines" at the UAA Bookstore. Everyone is invited to stop by for good conversation and tea. John's book, Descent, has just been released by Cavankerry Press and the bookstore hopes to have it in stock. John Haines is in Anchorage to attend the bookstore event called "Rosa Luxemburg Remembered" which will start at 5:00 p.m.

In other publishing news, 40 Below Ink, billed as an independent press with an Alaskan attitude, is pleased to announce that the print version of Alaska Virgin Air by Izzy Ballard is now available at Barnes and Noble. Order information for print or eBook versions: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ and http://www.40belowink.com/.

Also, former Alaskan Ann Chandonnet's article "Dating Old Cookbooks" appeared in the Winter 2010 issue of the newsletter of the Historic Foodways Society of the Delaware Valley. The society has members in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsyvlania.

I arrived home today to one of a writer's greatest pleasures: an advance copy of my latest book, Amazing Alaska: A Raven's Eye View. There's nothing quite like holding the finished copy in your hands, especially when incredible illustrations like those of K.E. Lewis bring it to life. In terms of readers, this middle grade (ages 7-11) title cements my Alaskan generalist niche (yes, that's an oxymoron): I now have published a book for every age group, from read-alouds through adults.

Have you seen the charming video advertising the UAA low-residency MFA program? Check it out at the UAA/MFA website or on YouTube.

Bites, Kites, and Light -- The Third Act: A Guest-post by Mary Katzke

Screenwriter Mary Katzke, our February featured writer, is adapting Kathyrn Harrison's The Seal Wife for the screen -- a process she has been describing in her weekly guest-posts.

We left off in the middle of the second act. The second act is always the hardest because one usually knows where to start a story and where to end it -- but the niggling second act has way-laid the best of them. This week I am finishing the first draft of the full script. This is driven by deadlines, both real and self-induced. Then it’s time to go back in and work the scenes so they each have an arc. I’ve decided to add some voice over -- sparingly -- like good seasoning. This is tedious work, nothing like the breezy first pass. We are done with ski camp and into our routine. This is not all good, not all bad. I find I get far more done when removed from the daily grind, even with the chaos of moving around and packing. Then again, there is no place like my writing spot at home, early spring sun spilling in on the chaise. Pillows, comforters, coffee mug, phone in the nest -- all set.

There is a war going on in the world. Bigelow is being stalked by a mute musician. A seal has bitten our hero. A nasty bite needing medical attention.

Not something I’ve heard of happening in Alaska, so again I ask the Kathryn, the author.

I think of the woman, the seal that bites Bigelow, and the kite as three expressions of the same thing: Bigelow's attempt to possess a kind of sublime and maybe unknowable, un-possessable, female deity. He reaches, and fails, and tries again. The kite is as much an attempt to perceive the divine as it is a scientific pursuit.

I asked her how much of the weather information is accurate and was informed that if it isn't accurate, it's plausible, and based on real research. The idea of predicting weather by mathematical calculation was a viable one around 1900. The army signal corps was the origin of NOAA.

Then she tells that while she didn’t intend all this meaning in her writing, it was more like one might be able to interpret a dream after waking.

That makes sense -- kind of like coming out of a fog, and finding meaning in vague shapes once you can see them more clearly. Anchorage will never feel exactly the same again to me. I have this tiny feeling of “missing” the work when I save and close for the day -- it is getting inside me now. I am bonded and invested and all that good stuff. The music score is tinkling in the background --folk music of that era with big screen airiness. Bigelow has also entered my dreams. That is something that happens deep into nearly every writing project. While writing Dancing for the Hunter, I spent a night on some attic stairs, captive of my strippers. They wouldn’t let me out of the attic until I finished. Bigelow is behaving more like a gentleman.

I like the flow and feel of the script. It is very arty as one might imagine and has every opportunity for a fresh new way to look at Alaska. Casting will be critical because so much is done without speaking. Ada will need to have a “talking face” as we say. Many locals could play the bit parts and have fun doing it. A major actor for Bigelow would complete the formula for financing. Probably a negative pick up deal. Perfect for the Alaska film incentives program.

Time to polish, get feedback, polish more, then put the pen down…and put on the producer’s hat.

Somebody in the other room has a dream to tell me about. It has to do with flying, only this time, with one arm -- he is carrying me. I tell him this is a big dream, a dream about growing up and becoming a man. It’s such a nice moment.

Mary Katzke has produced over 30 documentaries and feature films. She was interviewed at 49 writers a year ago about her recent film, About Face.

Andromeda/Your Turn: Ten Rules for Writing Fiction

Kay pointed us toward this article in the Guardian, in which many wonderful writers were asked to submit their rules for writing.

Anne Enright: "The first 12 years are the worst." I've also heard, from Stephen King and others: don't worry too much about the first million words. Puts it into perspective, doesn't it?

Richard Ford : "1. Marry somebody you love and who thinks you being a writer's a good idea." I agree. "2. Don't have children." Uh-oh.

Jonathan Franzen: "8. It's doubtful that anyone with an internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction." So that's how he wrote The Corrections, and the rest of us didn't. Darn.

Neil Gaiman: "5. Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong."


Kay asked Deb and me what our rules are. A few from my own list that come instantly to mind:

1. A variation on Ford's: Surround yourself with people who believe in you as a writer. Distance or protect yourself from those who don't.

2. Develop a serious reading plan. Log it, including books to read and brief responses to what you've read. Follow the map of influence from a writer you love to the writers that influenced him and her, and the books that influenced those writers, and so on. (This applies to genre books, as well as literary classics.) Take pleasure in being part of a long-running literary/cultural conversation. Become an expert auto-didact.

3. However -- don't let reading be a substitute for writing. If you're only reading, fiction looks easy. If you're reading great fiction while also stuck in the middle of your own thorny set of plot, character, and POV problems, you can bounce between the two modes and get more from each.

4. Aside from the occasional, necessary freelance job, put your main writing energies into something you're passionate about. If the subject seems obscure or your personal interest is an idiosyncratic one, all the better.

5. Be patient. It's a long road that seems even longer after the first 10 years, when it strikes you with full force how much there is left to learn.

6. E.M. Forster said it best: "Only connect." It's a good antidote to the stress and anxiety of developing a career, dealing with markets and publication, and charting one's own path to self-improvement.

7. Reward yourself memorably along the way. I have two favorite ceramic serving dishes, each one purchased during important turning points in my writing life. When I need a pick-me-up, I serve something on them and am reminded of previous successes.

Anyone else?

Deb: 49 Writers Interview with Jeremy Pataky, Wrangell Mountains Center

It's that time of year when we beat winter blahs by planning for summer, and it's tough to imagine anything more invigorating than a chance to work on your writing in the heart of the Wrangell Mountains at the Wrangell Mountains Writing Workshop (WMWW); this year, it's July 17-24, and scholarships are available. As part of our continuing series on organizations and opportunities for writers, we offer this interview with Jeremy Pataky of the Wrangell Mountains Center.

For those not familiar with the Wrangell Mountains Center (WMC), tell us a bit about what it is and how it came to be.

The Wrangell Mountains Center is a private nonprofit institute which fosters understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of wildlands and mountain culture in Alaska through scientific and artistic inquiry in Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve. We provide residential and walk-in experiential education programs that foster discovery through direct contact with diverse environments. Our programs provide students, local citizens, scholars, and travelers with an increased understanding of complex natural processes and a changed view of the human place in the natural environment.

The Wrangell Mountains Center was incorporated in 1986, having grown out of activities dating back to the early 70s, well before the establishment of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The WMC is headquartered in the "Old Hardware Store," a historic building which originally served as a general store for boomtown McCarthy during the copper mining period of the early-20th century. Built in 1908 and abandoned in 1938, the structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places after former board member Sally Gibert initiated ongoing stabilization and restoration efforts in 1976, after several years of base-camping there with students. What was once a store, family living quarters, and rooming house is now an active solar-powered educational center, with a library, seminar room, program office, equipment storage for rafting and mountaineering expeditions, workshop, office/studio space for visiting scholars and artists, a cooperatively-run kitchen, flower, vegetable gardens, and a small green house. By joining a learning community at the Hardware Store, participants from all backgrounds have the opportunity to experience a self-contained and largely sustainable living system.


How and when did the WMC decide to start hosting summer workshops for writers? Was there a particular niche you were hoping to fill?

A woman called Nancy Cook has been the driving force behind summer writing workshops at the Center. A student in our Wildlands Studies Program years ago, she fell in the love with the Wrangells and with the Center. She felt the power of writing in the field right away as a student at the Center, and eventually she came to live in Alaska, where she earned an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from UAF, worked as a ranger for the National Park Service, and eventually worked as an instructor in our college program. She also taught a three-week long program for the Center on sketching and writing in the field, accredited by San Francisco State University.

She directed the first Wrangell Mountains Writing Workshop, which was offered 13 years ago, featuring visiting writer and instructor Gretchen Legler. The workshop filled up, as most of them have – many of our students end up coming back again and again. Since then, we have had a number of great visiting writers teach the workshop in partnership with Nancy Cook herself, who has taught writing at Prince William Sound Community College and University of Alaska Fairbanks, and who is currently a full time faculty member at Clatsop Community College in Astoria, Oregon. She owns a cabin near McCarthy.

In addition to our annual Writing Workshop, we have offered raft-based writing workshops on the Copper River, with faculty including Sherry Simpson, as well as a number of readings and literary events as part of our Summer Arts and Lectures Series out in McCarthy/Kennecott. Also, the Wrangell Mountains Center’s annual fundraiser in McCarthy has a bit of a literary twist – the Tall Tales Contest and silent auction, a fun night hosted by the McCarthy Lodge, awards the winner a $500 cash prize and is usually held on the last Saturday in August.


How do you choose the theme and presenter(s) for each summer’s workshop?

Many of the instructors hired to teach the Wrangell Mountains Writing Workshop (WMWW) have come to us at the recommendation of previous instructors or at the request of students. We have been lucky to host Kathleen Dean Moore, Gretchen Legler, Robert Michael Pyle, Seth Kantner, Sandra Alcosser, Scott Russell Sanders, Frank Soos, and many others. It means a lot to us when they go home and call their writer friends and say “Can I put you in touch with the Wrangell Mountains Center? You would love to teach in their workshop.” The themes are often formulated by the writers themselves or in collaboration with Nancy Cook, the Workshop Director.


Describe a typical day at the WMC writing workshop.

The WMWW is very much a writing workshop, as opposed to a writers conference – we emphasize the production and revision of original work over the course of the week. We also foster a true writing community, immersing participants in an environment dedicated and conducive to the practice of writing. That practice is stimulated by morning writing circles with a prompt, daily craft talks, one-on-one critique sessions, group workshops, discussion of readings from a reading packet, and excursions in the field to the toe of the Kennicott Glacier and even a guided hike on the inspiring Root Glacier. Meals are provided by the staff of the WMC, who don’t just prepare and serve but grow much of the food in our organic garden.

One night of the workshop is opened up to the public for a literary open mic night in the Hardware Store’s Great Room, which is always a great time. We also hold a participants-only reading on the last night of the week, giving students a chance to share revisions of their work in progress generated during the workshop; another public reading featuring the visiting writer and the Program Director is held in the historic Kennecott Recreation Hall. Many participants attend multiple times, and it is also very common for writers who meet each other in McCarthy to maintain their new friendships and to share their work long after the end of the workshop.


How have the WMC writing workshops evolved? What changes might we expect in the future?

As we become more known within Alaska and throughout the U.S., more and more students have been coming to us from the Lower 48 as well as from throughout Alaska. We also have a scholarship program in place now, which enables some to attend who might be otherwise unable. We are negotiating an expansion of our residential space, which will enable us to possibly offer multiple programs per year. We also are planning a writer-in-residency position that would not be tied to the Writing Workshop.

This year’s 13th annual WMWW, however, probably marks the biggest change the program has seen yet. Creative Cross-pollinations, the theme for this year’s workshop, will feature visiting writer Frank Soos. He collaborates regularly with Margo Klass, a mixed media construction artist, and both of them will be teaching this year. Nancy Cook will direct the program as usual before taking a sabbatical next year from the program that she has founded and nurtured for over a decade. Those three will also be joined by writer, artist, and scholar Jonathan Gray and quilt artist and writer Maria Shell, for a total of five instructors. We have added an extra day to the program and reduced the number of participants. As usual, this will be a writing workshop taught by writers, but this time there will be many optional opportunities for interdisciplinary work, for “cross-pollination” with some of the best visual artists in their field, available for those who are interested in exploring new dimensions of their creative process. The introduction of the visual arts to a decidedly literary context is an exciting new page in an ongoing evolution of one of Alaska’s most unique and exciting writing workshops. And we are lucky to have both Frank Soos and Margo Klass, both well-respected and productive artists and teachers in their own right as well as fluent trans-disciplinary collaborators, to expand our writerly horizons.


Anything else you’d like us to know about how the WMC works with writers?

Our Kennicott Summer Arts & Lectures Series is well-attended by both locals and visitors in the heart of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. I would love to hear from writers whose work is relevant to the mission of the Wrangell Mountains Center who might be interested in offering a reading, a talk, or class in the future. It is also worth noting that we try to assist, insofar as we can, with logistics between Anchorage or Fairbanks and McCarthy, pairing passengers with drivers who are attending the summer workshop. With meals included and a variety of free, cheap, or comfortable but inexpensive lodging options available nearby, the WMWW is a bargain. I encourage writers to explore our website as well as our Facebook site to learn more about the Center and the Wrangell Mountains Writing Workshop. Also, our scholarship deadline is March 15, 2010 – don’t miss it!



Several participants in the 2009 Wrangell Mountains Writing Workshop explore the Root Glacier with WMC staff while other participants explore the nearby Kennicott National Historic Landmark or work on their writing projects back in town.

Quick question: AWP Conference

Andromeda here, wondering: Are any other Alaska writers out there planning to go to this April's AWP Conference in Denver? If so, could you let me know, either here (by comment) or by email at lax@alaska.net? Thanks!

Deb: 49 Writers Interview with Victoria Lord, Rasmuson Foundation

Rasmuson Individual Artist Award applications are due one week from today. Read on for details from Victoria Lord, Rasmuson Program Associate.

While our readers may be familiar with Rasmuson’s Individual Artist Awards, some may not know what the Foundation is or how it came to be. Could you briefly enlighten us?

The Rasmuson Foundation was created under a declaration of trust in May of 1955 by Jenny Rasmuson to honor her late husband, "E.A." Rasmuson. E.A. Rasmuson immigrated to the United States from Sweden and eventually found himself in Yakutat working as a missionary of the Swedish Covenant Church. It was there that he met and married Jenny Olson, a Christian education worker who had been with the mission for more than a year.

E.A. Rasmuson assumed leadership of the Bank of Alaska in 1918 in the midst of the financial disruption caused by World War I and accepted the challenge of reviving a bank in serious financial trouble. E.A. never lost his faith in the Bank of Alaska, or the territory it served. Jenny Rasmuson served on the board of directors of the growing bank and shared her husband's dreams for Alaska. Together, they tirelessly promoted the growth of the Territory and the development of its rich natural resource potential.

E.A. Rasmuson died in 1949 and left the bank to his son, Elmer. Elmer was involved in the Foundation from its modest beginnings (the first Foundation grant was $125) and became the driving force behind its growth. When Elmer died in December 2000 at age 91, he left his personal fortune of more than $400 million to charity, much of it to the family foundation.

Elmer's vision for the Foundation was to support projects of lasting impact for the public benefit of all Alaskans. Today, Elmer's three children, Edward, Lile and Judy, his widow Mary Louise, daughter-in-law Cathryn, and grandchildren Adam Gibbons and Natasha von Imhof serve on the Foundation's 12-member board of directors and carry on his legacy.

In 2003, the Rasmuson Foundation convened a panel of arts leaders and artists from around Alaska to discuss the state of the arts in Alaska. Out of that conversation, the Rasmuson Foundation Arts and Culture Initiative was born. The Initiative provides support to Alaskan artists and arts organization in four focus areas: Arts Education, Creative Ventures, Organizational Advancement, and Design and Public Art. The Individual Artist Award program was launched in 2004 as part of the Creative Ventures.

With regard to writing, how does the Foundation handle the sometimes fuzzy distinction between literary and commercial work?

The recipients of the literary arts/scriptworks awards are artists writing fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, screen plays, and/or scripts for the stage. These artists may complete a novel, publish work, and/or promote a published work that may result in a financial return. However, work that is solely factual and/or written for news outlets is considered commercial and not the type of creative work funded through this grant program. There may be an ‘art’ to being a serious journalist, but these grants are intended to support original artistic work.

Where does the Foundation find judges for awards in the literary arts?

Rasmuson Foundation staff receives recommendations through a vast network of colleagues throughout the United States and Canada. Those selected to participate in the literary arts application review panel process are writers, small press owners, editors, and/or educators and come to the process with lots of experience and an open mind.

What are some of the typical reasons one grantee is chosen over the others?

A strong, compelling work sample is the primary reason. (Hint: spelling errors and typos from literary arts applicants are not a good thing!) Applications for a Project Award should reflect a relevant project that will truly benefit the artist at whatever stage in their artist career they are, and the work samples must demonstrate the artist’s ability to complete the project.


What advice do you have for writers who want to apply for one of the Rasmuson awards?

We call these grants the ‘selfish’ awards. Applicants should reflect on where they are as artists, what they would really like to accomplish, and what resources (financial, time, commitment, etc.) are needed to get there. The process of filling out the Individual Artist Award applications has proved beneficial to those who have taken the time to approach it honestly and thoughtfully.

Rasmuson took some hits when the economy floundered. What do you foresee for future Rasmuson efforts in the arts?

Throughout the economic decline, the Rasmuson Foundation Board of Directors were steadfast in their support for Individual Artists Awards and the budget for the program was held steady. In December, the Board decided to continue robust support for the Art and Culture Initiative for the next three years.

We’ve focused mostly on awards. Is there anything else we should know about how Rasmuson supports writers and writing?

One way that we try to follow through on our belief in supporting work by Alaskan artists is the feature Glimpses of Who We Are on the Rasmuson Foundation website. These are stories commissioned from Alaskan writers that describe the Alaska non-profit world and how nonprofits benefit Alaskans. I know of many folks outside of Alaska who have been reading and sharing the stories to discover the ‘real’ Alaska. We also support the efforts of the Alaskan writing community by participating in conferences, attending meetings, and responding to requests like this one. Thanks for the opportunity 49 Writers!

Deb: 49 Writers weekly round-up

A week from Monday, on March 1, our 49 Writers online book club discussion begins.  If you haven't picked up your copy of Rock, Water, Wild, there's still time.  I read mine at the cabin last weekend, enjoying the expansive scope of the book along with the crisp writing and detail.  It's far from your typical Alaskan memoir.  That's all I'll say now - no spoilers.

In Fairbanks, award-winning writer Perry Glasser will read tonight, February 19th at 7 p.m. at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. Part of the Midnight Sun Visiting Writer series, this is a FREE event, open to all students and the public. Glasser's book Dangerous Places, winner of the 2008 G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize, will be for sale at the event. He is also the author of three collections of short fiction.

AlaskaDispatch.com, the state's online news source, announces the launch of TundraTelegraph.com, a new Web site entirely dedicated to Alaskans to tell their stories through words, videos and photos.  Editor Jennifer Canfield, who worked previously as news director at 90.3 KNBA-FM in Anchorage, is actively seeking content.  Recognizing a lack of media coverage in rural Alaska, Canfield and the Dispatch staff promise storytelling guidance and training so locals can cover their own community news in the tradition of citizen journalism. 

John Morgan's Spear-Fishing on the Chatanika is now up and available to order at the publisher's website: http://www.salmonpoetry.com/.  The cover features a painting by Alaskan artist Jim Orvik (pictured below). 

Also,Vol. III, "The Tragedies" is the latest release from iUniverse in the "CloudDancer's Alaskan Chronicles" series.

Angles, Eroticism, and Mirrors -- Almost Halfway If Only I Could Stop Eating : A Guest-post by Mary Katzke

Screenwriter Mary Katzke, our February featured writer, is adapting Kathyrn Harrison's The Seal Wife for the screen -- a process she has been describing in her weekly guest-posts.

Is eating constantly really healthier than cigarettes? Maybe it’s just the lack of any good choices in my hero’s world-- he’s always hungry. Where did I get the idea that watching a torchlight parade with champagne in hand would somehow not detract from the mission of writing a screenplay over break, or that moving out of one place into another, then back again, packing lunches, keeping track of a 10-year-old’s gear wouldn't interfere?

Meanwhile, silicon-like snow powder has fallen on the already slippery parking lots and we are at the bottom of a hill -- trudging up in ski boots because, yes, he’s lost another pair of snow boots. Argh. He tells me as we’re slipping and sliding that the “mean boy” in his class shared that his father awoke him at 6 AM New Year’s Day to drive in from the Valley for ski class (round trip each day?) and that when he fell back asleep, his father exploded and couldn’t stop yelling -- all the way from Wasilla to Alyeska. Corin shook his head like, things could be worse, Mom -- and I’m inwardly reviewing my grumpy early morning behavior wondering if there is a hidden message in there somewhere for me. I’m realizing my son is a nicer person than I am. Instead of hammering home a point, he just gently shares a story. Wow. I am so humbled, I splurge on hand warmers for him.

The Girdwood Public library is a hidden gem. Very, very nice for such a tiny community-- and free Wi-Fi. Not that one should need Wi-Fi when writing. Right. “Cleats at the door” it says, and so with arms full of computer, book, purse, keys, coffee, I slip out of my shoes and pad across the carpet. Today we are on page 37 -- of the script -- but halfway through the book. This is a problem. Just speaking in rough mathematical terms, I should be on at least page 50 by mid-book. I’m starting to add more dialog, more descriptions -- it is going to get wide and soft in the middle here if I’m not careful. Thoughts of the old fall back – voiceover -- start to enter my mind.

Now about all these women who are mute for one reason or another…first the mysterious Aleut, then the prostitute who uses a gag so she doesn’t upset Bigelow by talking too much, and finally, the manipulative mute pianist. Just what is UP with this? Why is it that all the women in his life have trouble communicating with him? Isn’t trying to figure out the weather enough of an elusive mistress? While silent women can be a dreamy, philosophical symbolic concept for literature, it might be hard to write and even harder to put on film. So I break down and ask the author, Kathryn Harrison, to please help me out here.

She is swift and scholarly in her reply.

The point of view of the novel belongs to Bigelow, so I know only what he knows. It's my guess that she "suffers" what would be called "elective mutism" -- she chooses (perhaps unconsciously) not to speak. As a speech-oriented person who is familiar with the limitations of speech, as well as its power, I wanted to explore a character who refused to communicate verbally. I intended the ending to be guardedly optimistic. The novel is one -- or was intended to be one -- that explores the nature of romantic love, in which the love object provides a mirror to the lover. Falling in love can be a process that ignores the loved one's true nature, so I wanted to leave Bigelow always in a state of torment, wondering how much of what he perceives is real, how much is what he wants to believe, i.e., his desire projected onto a possibly unwilling object. She needs to convey erotic power and self-possession.

This is a powerful and useful insight and now I have the responsibility of using it with the reverence and skill it deserves. I stop for the day on Page 47. I need time to digest and incorporate this information. She also shares that Bigelow is her great-grandfather.

In the time remaining for writing today, I apply for three grants -- Cinereach, Puffin Foundation, and Sloan Foundation via Tribeca Film Center. He’s a scientist, right? Weather man = scientist, right? I want to find a way to take time away from paying work and carry this further into the realm of immersion -- and not give up things like ski lessons for Corin. My life is all about the angle sometimes, searching for the right angle, combining personal and professional for the best outcomes, whether it’s to film, or to approach a tough situation, or even to tilt the computer screen to get just the right amount of light... but not too much.

Mary Katzke has produced over 30 documentaries and feature films. She was interviewed at 49 writers a year ago about her recent film, About Face.

Andromeda/Your Turn: Why not try for a Rasmuson grant?

There are two more weekends left in February, and that means two more weekends to fill out an application for a $5000 Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Award, open to all artists -- including writers -- at all career stages. Project Awards of up to $5,000 will support short-term projects that have a clear benefit to the artist and development of their work.

I've blogged before about the grant-application process, which yields benefits whether or not you end up receiving an award. Just forcing yourself to fill out an application can help you:

Kick-start, revive, or focus a writing project.

Create a timeline.

Create a budget.

Produce a clean writing sample that can be used for other kinds of applications.

Make you answerable to the most important person: You.

But that's my take on it. What's yours?

Over the next few days, I invite all comments, tips, questions (we'll help if we can) and excuses. (Though you know we aren't really going to believe the excuses.)

Deb: 49 Writers Interview with Rachel Epstein, UAA Bookstore

As part of our ongoing discussion on local readings and author events, we asked Rachel Epstein, Special Events Coodinator at the University of Alaska Anchorage bookstore, to give us her take on the subject. Worried about parking for UAA Bookstore events?  Wondering how many people typically show up?  Considering how to make the most of a UAA Bookstore event? Read on!

Tell us about author readings at UAA. How many does the bookstore typically host in a year? What kind of space should authors expect? How are they advertised? Who, and how many, generally attend? How did you arrive at the usual 5-7 p.m. time slot? And what about parking?

Approximately 30 special authore events are held at the bookstore. Most events are theme-related, which can include questions about writing and publishing. Events are informal. Themes have ranged from poetry, history, Alaska Native topics, the environment, globalization, classics, and UAA faculty research and generally about Alaska issues.

Special events are held upstairs in the Campus Bookstore where the TechZone is. Eighty chairs can fit in the space. For smaller groups chairs can be arranged in a semi-circle. There are cushioned chairs that are quite comfortable. The space is equipped for PowerPoint presentations; blinds can shut out the light. A lectern and mic are on hand too.

There is no advertising budget so I rely to PSAs to broadcast the events. Events are posted on internal UAA listserves, Green & Gold Daily, Northern Light Newspaper, KRUA radio and a bookstore email list. Posters are designed, printed and distributed on campus and at various locations in Anchorage.  I can only make guesses when it comes to attendance. Anywhere from two to 75 people may show up, usually 15-40:  one-third from UAA and the rest from elsewhere. Age and gender vary.

The 5:00 p.m. -7:00 p.m. timeslot seems to be the most convenient for people coming from Anchorage. The Campus Bookstore hours are Monday-Thursday from 8:30 am-7:00 pm and Friday from 8:30 am - 6:00 pm. Other times have been tried with less favorable results. (The exception is UAA Chef Vern’s Chocolate presentation). If there is a public demand to have an event scheduled for a different time, I can gladly discuss it with the bookstore staff, but is expensive to open the store on the weekends given staffing and utility costs.

All events are free and open to the public. People who attend a bookstore event do not have to pay for parking. If they receive a ticket they can return it to me within two weeks and I will take care of it. If someone pays for parking, I cannot reimburse him or her.

What ratio of local to Outside authors does the UAA bookstore host in a typical year? How is this balance struck?

I do not know what the ratio of local to outside authors would be. Having such a balance is not a consideration. The issues are attendance, themes, and quality of discussion. I rarely schedule a book signing alone. I discuss with the Trade Book Buyer, Carol Stephan, what new books are on the horizon and then attempt to invite authors to the bookstore. I have no funds available to offer guest speakers, unless there is another group interested in cosponsoring an event.

Garry Utermohle at University of Alaska Press has been a wonder to work with. He has helped to keep the UAA Campus Bookstore on the radar when it comes to authors coming to Anchorage. UAA faculty from the UAA CWLA Dept, English Dept. Languages Dept and History Dept, in particular, have engaged in many events at the bookstore over the years.

To what extent do readings generate enough sales to justify them from strictly a retail perspective? What less tangible but perhaps more significant benefits do a store and an author derive from readings?

The UAA Campus Bookstore is a self-supportive, non-profit department under Business Services at UAA. Although retail is key to the bookstore’s survival, we cannot compete with other retail operations in Anchorage, or advertise a sale to the public. The goals of special events at the UAA Campus Bookstore are to encourage people to come to the bookstore that might not consider visiting the store, connect with the public square mission of the university and encourage discourse from a variety of perspectives. It is important to increase book sales through special events held here, but this is not the heart of the matter, since events are held that do not have a book or author highlighted. I want everyone to feel welcome and have a good time. If people want to return to the store purchase clothing or a book from our general book section or faculty author section, so much the better.

As online book promotion increases, how do you see local book events changing?

The UAA Campus Bookstore website is a constant work in progress. The Special Events link on the left, and then the Past Events link include practically all special events that have been held at the UAA Campus Bookstore since 2000. Word of mouth support for bookstore events and book sales can go together.

My main concern is having a place for freedom of expression, in a shared space, where people can ask questions. This can happen online; however, I think many people hide behind online ways of communication. And I think people can become obsessed with online promotion using all sorts of media without getting to the text itself.

The UAA homepage has a link for Podcasts. Since there are many events held at UAA, not all events can be taped. I have received requests to have a live web stream of events, in real time. This may be in the near future. Technical details have to be worked. If this does get underway in the future, the meaning of local may expand to include people at UAA campuses: Kodiak, Homer, Kenai, Mat-Su, Valdez.
I’d like to add that people coming together at a bookstore event creates a unique, informal environment. One never knows what will happen, what will be said, or who will be there. I suggest people come and see what might unfold, without expectation. Maybe with an overload of online information and promotions more people will want to come to the bookstore.

As Title Wave, billed as Alaska’s largest independent bookstore, returns to mostly used book sales with a potentially drastic cutback in readings, in what ways might UAA pick up the slack?

The UAA Campus Bookstore may be able to pick up the slack by increasing our new hard cover book selection and promoting new books through more author events. It depends upon what people want.   The bookstore has a very tight inventory/sale system for general books and the other retail areas of the store. Besides space constraints, the life of a book depends upon sales. Special events are one way to have more titles in the store that otherwise may not be ordered.

What should authors know about promoting their books at the UAA bookstore?

To promote books at the UAA Campus Bookstore I suggest the authors decide how they want to present their work, and question whether reading their book or giving a craft talk is the best way to go. Another question is whether the author would be better represented if he or she joined others in a panel discussion, or had a book theme that can be elaborated on instead of focusing solely on their book.

From my experience the most amazing events did not occur because of the size of the audience or how many books were sold. When Joan Kane read her poetry is was amazing. But what really has stayed with me was Joan speaking about living and writing in New York when compared to Anchorage. This type of experience is what I strive for. And we had great book sales!

I encourage authors to attend bookstore events, decide if this is where they want to be, and give me a call at 786-4782.

Deb: 49 Writers Interview with Nancy Lord, author of Rock, Water, Wild

On Monday and Tuesday, March 1 and 2, 49 Writers hosts an online book club discussion of Alaskan author Nancy Lord's Rock, Water, Wild.  In preparation, we asked Nancy to tell us about the book and discuss what it takes to write and publish literary nonfiction.  If you have questions for Nancy, she'll be "stopping by" our discussion that begins two weeks from today.

How did writing and assembling this collection of essays differ from your previous nonfiction endeavors?

I had a lot of essays and articles that I’d published in various places over the last decade or so and wanted to give them another life. (I also had a few pieces that, for one reason or another, I hadn’t published but were—I thought—deserving of at least one life.) It seemed to me that collected together they formed a kind of memoir. So I went through what I had and picked out the pieces that still seemed current and fit what I wanted to compile as a body of work. Then I did quite a bit of work revising them for shape and tone—to try to get them to fit together in one narrative of my life and with a similar tone. (Some had been more journalistic, and I tried to make them more essay-like.) I also updated some information, cut out redundancy, and added personal and thematic information to consolidate the narrative. And I wrote several new pieces to fill the book out with some of my more current concerns and life experiences.

I assembled the whole not chronologically but into three thematic sections—my beginnings as an Alaskan and a writer in the first part, then pieces specific to Alaska, then wider-ranging (geographically and otherwise) in the third. In the end, in a piece about my father, I tried to close the circle with a return to my beginnings.

This is a different kind of project than starting a book from scratch, with an idea of a singular narrative. It was very much a case of rewriting and assembling, assessing my life through what I’ve been driven to write.

How did Rock, Water, Wild find its home with University of Nebraska Press?

My agent was not enthusiastic about this project. She finds it hard to sell books of essays (even though I tried to convince her it was a memoir). Agents need to make a living, and they can’t do that on fifteen percent of nothing, so I understand her reluctance. But basically I was left on my own with this book.

I had read several books from a series called American Lives, published by the University of Nebraska Press, and loved them all. Some of them were similar to my book, in the sense that they were memoirs made up of essays. One of the latest in the series was Peggy Shumaker’s memoir (really an assemblage of prose poems), Just Breathe Normally. I knew that Peggy had had a good experience there and that she thought very highly of the editor, Ladette Randolph. Peggy encouraged me to submit to Ladette.

Ladette did accept the book—not in the American Lives series that I coveted but as part of the general list, and for a tiny advance—and she was great to work with. She went on to a new job before the book came out (a not uncommon experience at any press, especially these days, with so much upheaval in the industry), but others at the press carried on. This was my first experience with a university press, and it was generally a good one. They did an excellent job on the production side and, while they (university presses in general) can’t do much for promotion, they were supportive of my own efforts and helped where they could (fliers, posters, etc.) One distinct advantage of university presses is that they keep books in print for a long time instead of pulping them in a year or two.

How has teaching contributed to your growth as a writer?

I teach about one class a year at the Homer branch of the University of Alaska Anchorage and as an “associate faculty” in UAA’s low-residency MFA program. It’s a smallish teaching load, which suits me. Teaching really does help me as a writer, as it forces me to keep up with various craft books and anthologies and to articulate what I think about craft and process. I really enjoy my students and feel that I’m learning right along with them as we all study the masters and critique student work together. I wouldn’t want to teach full-time, as I know I’d end up writing almost nothing if I did. I admire writers who can both teach and write, but there’s certainly a tension in trying to do both well.

What advice do you offer on publishing literary nonfiction?

It’s hard. Know that it’s hard to publish literary nonfiction and expect to get plenty of rejections. There are hardly any mainstream magazines that publish literary work anymore. There are more opportunities with small literary journals, although there’s little to no pay involved and small readerships—smaller usually than the number of people submitting their work. It’s really the same situation with literary fiction and poetry. If I have any advice it’s to pursue those small journals and hope that someone who sees your work there will help propel you into more opportunities, such as a full book. As an example, the writer Heather Sellers submitted an essay about her “face blindness” (prosopagnosia—look it up) to Alaska Quarterly Review. Ron Spatz, the editor there, not only accepted it but raved about it and nominated it for “best” collections. It won a spot in The Best Creative Nonfiction. That became chapter one of Heather’s latest book, Face First, due out later this year from Riverhead Books. Heather has written on her website, “I am grateful to Ron Spatz at the Alaska Quarterly Review for first publishing the chapter and giving me such strong support early on.” (Ron has also been very supportive of my work, for 25 years, and stories and essays first published in AQR have later reappeared in several of my books.)

There is of course the obvious advice—write a really compelling story, and write it really, really well.

Anything else you’d like readers to know as they consider Rock, Water, Wild?

Just that I’m very flattered to have it chosen for the book club. I’d like it if readers would read the preface first, as that lays out a little background and context. Then they should feel free to skip around in the book. I look forward to the discussion March 1 and 2 and will be checking in during those days.

Deb: 49 Writers weekly round-up

There's still time to pick up a copy of Nancy Lord's Rock, Water, Wild and join in our 49 Writers online book club discussion on March 1 and 2. Watch for an interview with Nancy next week.

Looking ahead, David Vann, whose Legend of a Suicide we’ll be discussing (with input from the author) here at 49writers in May, is currently the toast of Europe. Le Figaro called Vann “one of the best writers of his generation” and about his latest work, The London Observer raved, “Nothing quite like this book has been written before.” Legend of a Suicide is currently a bestseller in France and has now hit 25 "best books of the year" lists in the US, UK, Ireland, and Australia. It comes out in paperback March 16. We’re just thrilled we snagged Vann as a guest-blogger before the rest of the world started competing for his attention. (If you’re thinking -- ‘Remind me – what’s the Alaska connection?’ – Vann was born on Adak Island. He now lives in the San Francisco area. Legend of a Suicide and his current work-in-progress feature Alaskan settings.)

If you’re anywhere close to Fairbanks tomorrow (Saturday, February 13), you won’t want to miss Writing in the Dark, a writing retreat featuring David Marusek on Flash Fiction. As Marusek noted in a recent 49 Writers interview, “The Fairbanks Arts Association’s annual retreat is a great chance to mingle with other writers during the dark days of winter. It takes place in the beautiful conference setting of the Four Winds Foundation. We’ll start the all-day event with continental breakfast. Then I’ll be sharing some of my favorite flash fiction discoveries to illustrate storycraft, with examples of both popular and literary styles…Workshop participants will then take time to try their hand at writing their own stories.” The cost is $35 at the door and includes continental breakfast and lunch. For more information, call 907-456-6485 x227.

At Poetry Parley (presented at Out North Theatre in Anchorage) on Wednesday February 17 at 7 p.m., local poet Gail Palmer will present from her Slam Poetry, including the three pieces used to win the 2009 Alaska Writer’s Guild Slam Poetry Competition. In honor of the event’s Dr. Seuss theme, Palmer will read her new poem “Slam I Am.” Palmer will also read two pieces by her grandmother, including her last poem written at age 94, a witty insider’s look at life in a nursing home. Poetry Parley, a free event, is held on the third Wednesday of every month, celebrating both a well-known poet and a local poet reading original work. If you are interested in being a reader for Poetry Parley, or if you would like to submit your own work, email poetryparley@gmail.com.

Also, Gail Palmer’s article “The Cons” has been published at This Arctic Life.  She recommends first reading “Booking Malta” (article one at the same site). Articles by other local writers include Cliffhanger by Kelsey Gray, Do You Know Your Neighbor’s Name by Jude Lyon, and This Arctic Sex by Dee K. DeVille.

Poet Elizabeth Bradfield will be in Anchorage for one night only to read from her new poetry collection, Approaching Ice, on Wednesday, March 3, at 7:30 p.m. in UAA Arts #116. Bradfield’s Approaching Ice (Persea Books, 2010) featuring poems on Arctic and Antarctic exploration was a finalist for the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. She also wrote Interpretive Work (Arktoi Books/Red Hen Press, 2008) which won the Audre Lorde Award and was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award. In 2005, Bradfield founded Broadsided, a grassroots, virtual, collaborative press bringing words together with the energy of original visual art. Her visit is sponsored by the UAA Creative Writing and Literary Arts Department, the Low-Residency MFA Program, and the College of Arts Sciences Arts Council, Experience the Arts 2010. UAA’s Campus Bookstore staff will be on-hand to sell Bradfield’s books at the March 3rd event.

If you write middle grade or young adult fiction, check out the "Dear Lucky Agent" Contest on the Guide to Literary Agents blog.  This contest will be live for approximately fourteen days - from Feb. 7 through the end of Sunday, Feb. 21, EST. To enter, email the first 150-200 words of your unpublished, book-length work of middle grade or young adult fiction, along with a title and one-sentence logline. Prizes include free critiques of manuscript partials and free books from Writer’s Digest. To be eligible to submit, you must mention and link to the contest twice through your social media - blogs, Twitter, or Facebook, or mention it once and post a permanent link to the site.

The Palmer Arts Council is requesting poetry submissions for a Palmer Poetry Anthology titled Voices Between Mountains, Echoes of a Discontinuous Present. The deadline for submissions is March 1st. The four themes of the anthology include: 1. Walking the land—the wind, the water, the wilderness (nature poems) 2, Imagination and desire—the road we have traveled (people poems) 3. A place of belonging—coming home (contemporary musings) 4. Mountain horizons—possibilities and perspectives (a look at the future). Poems may be submitted to poetry@thepalmerartscouncil.org.

The Rasmuson Foundation is now accepting online nominations for its Distinguished Artists Award.  Artists may also nominate themselves. The number of times an individual is nominated does not affect their chances of being selected. Nominations may also be sent in by mail by downloading and completing the form. The postmark deadline for all Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Awards, including the Distinguished Artist Award, is Monday, March 1, 2010. Online nominations must be submitted by 5 p.m. No late applications will be accepted. To date, Rasmuson Foundation has invested $1.2 million directly into the creative work of 167 Alaskan artists.

Rich Chiappone alerted us to this job opportunity: The Sun needs a full-time digital-media director in their Chapel Hill, North Carolina, office to enhance the magazine’s presence in the online realm. The job requires editorial and/or project-management experience, a thorough understanding of social media, and html skills.

Sidetracks to Greatness -- Is God in my orange juice? A Guest- post by Mary Katzke

Screenwriter Mary Katzke, our February featured writer, is adapting Kathyrn Harrison's The Seal Wife for the screen -- a process she began describing in her last blogpost. In today's post, we get another peek into the process...

There is a most annoying drip coming from the bath in this cheapest condo available. Corin has made surprisingly grown up sounds while attempting to ferret its source, thumping tile and scritching porcelain about the small room. Alas, it is not an easy, and so we solve it by closing the door and laying a towel in the crack on the floor. He is awake early with excitement and questions, like “If God is everywhere, then is he in my orange juice?” The ice in the parking lots down here is ridiculous. I look like one of those old women with cleats who hobbles among the boarders and skiers whose effortlessness is stinging. But I will not be flattened without health insurance, no sir. Pride aside, I shuffle him to class each morning and hide my delight at releasing him into the capable hands of some young squirt from Utah.

See you at 4, unless you call.

So back to 1912 Anchorage. Amazing things were happening then, like entire loads of caterpillars and road graders lost to misunderstood tides in our inlet. Whore houses on every corner filled with women with names like Moosehide Annie, Bunch Grass, and Nellie the Pig. Nail pounding contests feature said whores where bets were wagered. And there is our tender Bigelow, so shy and unsure of the insistent, unrelenting drive that propels him to Ada’s legs, only to be swatted away again and again. When he is not trying to understand this mysterious woman, he is building the world’s first weather kite. A magnificent 12 foot square fabric masterpiece to be launched from the bluffs, now called Government Hill. His world is about deciphering. Deciphering women who do not speak, weather which is erratic, with uncharted patterns. I’m savoring the parallels.

Today I had to move out of our condo as it is not available tonight. I am working in a coffee shop with children crawling around at will, mothers talking loudly, Dads popping by with boys and toy robots. I like the blurry bustle of sound and activity- it is comforting. Bigelow has just launched his amazing kite, and his hands are bloodied from the wind ripping the cords from his hands. He has a new object of affection- the tent movie theatre’s organist. Anything to get over the Aleut woman. She is protected by a zealous father, and together they will play a mean trick on him soon. Bigelow is horny, all the time.

I remember being 26. I remember coming to Alaska and falling in love with the light even before the plane landed. That rising feeling that I was onto something exciting and that Minnesota would just never be the same again. I remember wild and eager men. How to capture this spirit on film?

And each time I glance up at the mountain and see a speck of a child swooping toward me, I wonder if it is my son, who asks me each night if he can “fly in my dreams tonight?” And I tell him the same thing every night. “Of course you can- there are no rules in dreams.”

It reminds me of the gigantic magical kite my hero is building. A visual representation of his dreams, his quests.

Mary Katzke has produced over 30 documentaries and feature films. She was interviewed at 49 writers a year ago about her recent film, About Face.

Kachemak Bay Writers' Conference Preview: A Guest-post by Nancy Lord

The detailed program for this June’s (ninth annual!) Kachemak Bay Writers' Conference is now posted on the website, so check it out. It’s not too early to start making plans to come to Homer June 11-15 for your “fix” of sun-filled writing fellowship.

Here are a few highlights of what’s to come:

Keynoter

The featured writer this year is Michael Cunningham, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Hours (inspired by Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway), the genre-bending Specimen Days (involving Walt Whitman), and the stunning short story “White Angel,” (which some of you will remember we read together last summer in a workshop with Antonya Nelson.) His keynote is titled “Once You’ve Got the First Line, the Rest of the Novel is Easy.” (Do I believe that?) He’ll also be doing a reading, a Q&A, and a talk, “Starting Strong,” about opening your work with the kind of energy that ensures readers will want to keep reading.

Post-session Workshop

If you can spare a couple extra days, consider registering for the post-conference workshop with Bill Roorbach, “Person, Place, and Time: Storytelling, Image, and Ideas from the Wild Heart.” Roorbach is a fabulous writer of both fiction and nonfiction (steeped in the natural world—he’s from Maine) and a gifted teacher (editor of a text I’ve used, Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: The Art of Truth). As a (major) bonus, the workshop takes place at Kachemak Bay Wilderness Lodge, on China Poot Bay across from Homer, where you get to stay in the very lovely cabins, eat great meals prepared by the lodge staff, and wander through woods and along beaches. How often do you get to feel like a fancy lodge guest while filling your head and notebook with inspired writing? (Many thanks to Diane and Mike McBride for making this possible.) Be advised--this workshop is limited to 15 and filled up early last year.

Readings

Something new this year: a different scheduling of faculty and open-mic readings. In the past readings by faculty have been scheduled simultaneously at three in-town venues and open to the public. None of us are magical enough to be in three places at once, and so it’s been a bit frustrating to miss out on so many great readings. This year there will be two evenings of faculty readings, Sunday night at Alice’s Champagne Palace and Monday night at Land’s End, with five readers each night (and still open to the public.) Another four faculty (from among the “core faculty” that participate each year) will present their readings during the conference as “craft readings;” that is, they’ll talk about the genesis of the work at hand, challenges they encountered, and methods and craft applied. The open mic (in two sessions) will also be moved to daytime hours. (But don’t worry—the traditional beach bonfire and spontaneity will still take place Monday night.)

Faculty

The writing faculty this year is outstanding (as always). Check out all their bios and scheduled presentations on the website. I intended to highlight my favorites here, but then I realized I would need to include the whole list, because I’m excited about every single one of them. As always, it will be tough to make choices among the three or four concurrent sessions. I always try to get (and read!) some of the faculty’s books ahead of time so I can have a better appreciation for their work and what I can learn from them. The faculty also includes editors (Jennifer Pooley from Harper Collins/William Morrow, Elisabeth Dabney from the University of Alaska Press, and Dinty Moore from the on-line journal Brevity and an agent (April Eberhardt from the agency Reece Halsey North in California).

First Pages

One of my favorite parts of every conference is First Pages, when editors/agents look at the first page of book-length work submitted (anonymously) by conference participants and react to it (what grabs them, what doesn’t, whether they’d want to read page two.) I’m always surprised at how few participants take advantage of this opportunity to get a frank assessment from several professionals. Be brave!

The Usuals

The 2010 conference has all the other usual options as well—manuscript reviews with faculty, consultations with agents/editors, guided writing circles, yoga, end-of-day receptions, book table hosted by the Homer Bookstore, inspiring panel presentations, included meals and snacks (afternoon chocolate!), a Sunday boat trip on the bay, a chance to sun on the Land’s End deck while otters or possibly whales swim past. Some of these have limited enrollment, and the conference itself has filled to capacity the last couple of years, so don’t wait too long to register!

Thanks Due

Many thanks to Carol Swartz, director of the Kachemak Bay Campus of UAA, who organizes the conference every year (and who was just honored with a literacy award from the Alaska Center for the Book for the conference); to the late Caroline Coons, who endowed the conference and made it possible for it to even begin; and to all the sponsors who help fund and support what has become a yearly highlight of Alaska’s literary scene.

And, of course, to all the writers, in every stage of their craft, who gather together each summer to share their ideas and enthusiasms with one another.

Deb: Have you spotted these writers?

While assembling an interview with Alaska State Writer Laureate Nancy Lord, author of our next 49 Writers online book club selection Rock, Water, Wild, I got to wondering:  What has become of some of our former writer laureates?

According to the Alaska State Council on the Arts website, the Alaska State Writer Laureate is an honorary appointment with a two-year term commitment, though it appears that in years past either the terms varied in length, or there were terms left unfilled.  Based on nominations (not yet open for this year's October 1 appointment), the Council facilitates the selection of the writer laureate based on exemplary professionalism, literary excellence and a commitment to the advancement of literary arts in Alaska.

Looking over the list of former laureates, I know what John Straley, John Haines, Richard Nelson, Tom Sexton, and Sheila Nickerson have been up to.  On the others, I'm fuzzy.  Help me out.  If you're a former Alaska State Writer Laureate or you've had a recent sighting of one, leave a comment to fill me in.  The complete list:

Alaska State Writer Laureates


2008 - Nancy Lord
2006 - John Straley
2004 - Jerah Chadwick
2002 - Anne Hanley
2000 - Richard Nelson
1995 - Tom Sexton
1988 - Joanne Townsend
1981 - Richard Dauenhauer
1977 - Sheila Nickerson
1973 - Ruben Gaines
1969 - John Haines
1965 - Oliver Everette
1963 - Margaret Mielke

News flash for former Graphic Arts authors

This appeal comes from frequent contributor Bill Sherwonit, who can be contacted via his website. Some authors may have received this in email form, but in the interest of locating anyone who might be affected, we've decided to print it here as well.

By now, many and perhaps all of you who lost royalties when GACPC went out of business have received a letter from the Ingram Book Group, offering to pay thirty percent (30%) of the royalties you are owed. Several of us in that circumstance have discussed the offer and believe it is unfair for any number of reasons; chief among them, perhaps, is that if Ingram has indeed assumed "various contracts of Graphic Arts" and is continuing to distribute and sell Graphic Arts titles, then it is legally and morally obligated to fully reimburse the authors who are owed money. It's still unclear whether Ingram will seek out another company and sell the "rights" to GACPC's titles, or in fact choose to set up its own publishing arm to continue to publish, sell, and distribute such titles. In either case, we believe Ingram is obliged to to honor any and all contracts between GACPC and its authors, photographers, etc. Several of us have decided to say NO to Ingram's offer, but we also believe we will have a greater position of strength if as many authors as possible join this "NO THANKS" movement and demand full compensation. We are the ones who have done the work through which GACPC and now Ingram have earned their profits. It is only fair and honorable that we be paid what we are owed.

The letter states "While Ingram is not under obligation pay this amount [30% of owed royalties] to you due to the filing of the bankruptcy, we are offering to make this payment as a good faith effort to provide some of the past amounts owed to you by Graphic Arts . . ." In fact we -- and some attorneys -- believe Ingram's interpretation of bankruptcy law and/or rules is wrong and it is obliged to pay full royalties, in assuming GACPC's assets and liabilities. We also believe a good faith effort would be to pay no less than 100 percent of royalties we are owed.

Ingram is trying to move quickly on this, requesting a response within two weeks. Don't let pressure tactics force your hand. Give this some thought and seriously consider saying "NO" for yourself and other authors. And if you know others who have titles with GACPC, please pass this along.