Jan. 3, 2019–Jamey Bradbury–Cornered, Stuck, and Stymied: How Limitations Make Us More Creative
Jamey Bradbury of Anchorage will discuss creativity and her acclaimed book The Wild Inside. In a review of her recent book, John Irving wrote: “The Wild Inside is an unusual love story and a creepy horror novel — think of the Brontë sisters and Stephen King.” Jamey’s fiction has appeared in Black Warrior Review, Spark […]
Dec. 6, 2018–Rich Welliver–Becoming Santa Claus: Embracing the Persona and Lessons I’ve Learned
The son of a professional Santa Claus, Rich Welliver somewhat reluctantly inherited the suit in 2005 with the death of his father. That same year, Rich took a motorcycle trip to Alaska and decided to move here when he retired. The Santa Clause role started as a few appearances for friends, but soon was much […]
Nov. 1. 2018–Dawnell Smith–The Writer’s Block: A Community Word Hub…a look at the many ways words fill our space, to build and share community
Dawnell Smith is a founder and co-owner of Writer’s Block Bookstore & Café. She has lived in Alaska for 30 years and worked as a brewer, journalist, nonprofit administrator, communications strategist, and mom, among other things. She currently makes a living in the nonprofit and gig economy. On the rare occasion she’s not working, she […]
Oct. 4, 2018–Kathleen Tarr–We Are All Poets Here
Kathleen Witkowska Tarr’s book We Are All Poets Here (VP&D House, 2018) is narrative nonfiction, part-memoir, part-biography, which involves Thomas Merton and his 1968 surprise sojourn to Alaska. Alaska was one of the last places the Trappist monk and spiritual thinker saw before he met his tragic, accidental death in 1968. Kathleen is a long-time […]
Sept. 13, 2018–Keenan Powell–Writing What Matters: how a real life murder mystery inspired me to spend hundreds of hours writing a manuscript with no reason to believe it would ever be published
After illustrating Dungeons and Dragons, I ditched art for law school, and moved to Anchorage the day after graduation. As a young pup, I associated with M. Ashley Dickerson, Phillip Weidner, and Edgar P. Boyko, and then went out my own, providing criminal defense representation including the infamous walrus round-up case and the murder trial […]