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 […]
June 7, 2018–Laurel Bill–Aunt Phil’s Trunk history series provides entertainment, education and preservation of Alaska’s incredible past for adults and children alike
Third-generation Alaskan Laurel Downing Bill wrote and published the entertaining five-book Aunt Phil’s Trunk Alaska history series, winning the 2016 Literary Classics International award for best nonfiction series worldwide. She also wrote Sourdough Cookery, which features 100 sourdough recipes and a starter that began with her great-grandfather in 1896 Hope, Alaska. Laurel writes stories for […]
May 3, 2018–Ernestine Hayes, Alaska Writer Laureate–Our Histories, Our Future
Alaska Writer Laureate Ernestine Hayes belongs to the Kaagwaantaan clan of the Tlingit nation. Her first book, Blonde Indian, an Alaska Native Memoir, received an American Book Award and an Honoring Alaska Indigenous Literature (HAIL) Award. It was also a Native America Calling Book of the Month and finalist for the Kiriyama Prize and PEN […]