Meet our summer intern, Kayla Beth Moore

We're thrilled to welcome Kayla Beth Moore, 49 Writers summer intern.  You'll be hearing more from her in the next several weeks as she assists with several projects here at the 49 Alaska Writing Center.

The godsend that is Google landed me on the 49 Writers website. I was sitting at a computer desk in my school’s library doing what I spend most of my time in the library doing, procrastinating. I had been trying my best to figure out what I might do with my last summer as a college student, and every rabbit trail I’d chased had resulted in a dead end. Once I found the 49 Writers website and blog my heart began to race a bit and I immediately sent an email inquiring as to whether the center would be open to accepting a rookie, non-Alaskan, summer intern— not in those exact words, granted. After a few more emails back and forth and a submitted resume, this shot in the dark became a reality when I booked my ticket for Anchorage. I have been thrilled about making the journey to Alaska and the 49 Writers community ever since.

I am an east Tennessean, born and raised in and around the Smoky Mountains. I lost my brother to The Last Frontier about three years ago and ever since then I have been anxious to see for myself the incredible Alaskan landscape he can’t seem to stop talking about. I double major in English and Religion at Carson-Newman College, a small liberal arts school in Jefferson City, TN. I am a rising senior and I don’t exactly have a plan for after graduation yet. I’ve just finished a term of study at Regent’s Park College of Oxford University where I did some research in church history (I won’t bore you with the details) for a thesis I’ve been working on for a while. Oxford was great but I got sick of the bowties really quickly and I spent the five days I had back in Tennessee soaking in the humidity and eating my body weight in blackberries to make up for lost time. I love academia but I also have a deep love for creative writing and I’m thrilled about transitioning away from academics for a while. 

Right now, some of my favorite books are Lawrence Booth’s Book of Visions by Maurice Manning, Thirst by Mary Oliver, A Mercy by Toni Morrison, and Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger—although, isn’t that one of everyone’s favorite books? I’m currently reading Will in the World by Stephen Greenblatt and Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. A lot of my own writing has to do with travel and sense of place. Right now I’m working on a collection of poems called “Wayfarer” which documents some experiences I’ve been lucky enough to have in Panama, Thailand, and India. When I’m not studying or writing I love to be outside and I spend as much time as I can outside: kayaking, hiking, and biking with my friends.

What I most hope to gain from an internship this summer is insight into how a community of writers work in support of one another’s craft and also reach out to their community. I want to watch and learn how the 49 Writers community operates and functions, and jump in and help wherever I can. I am honored to have been given this opportunity and look forward to meeting the faces of the 49 Writers community very, very soon.