Each semester, Alaska Quarterly Review co-sponsors readings and workshops that have included outstanding writers and poets such as Alan Lightman, Amy Bloom, Jane Hirshfield, N. Scott Momaday, Sherman Alexie, Francine Prose, Tracy Kidder, Richard Ford, Jane Smiley, Michael Ondaatje, Tobias Wolff, Bret Lott, Patricia Hampl, Stuart Dybek, Rosellen Brown, William Gass, Carolyn Kizer, Gary Snyder, John Haines, Alice Fulton, David Wagoner, Robin Becker, Joy Harjo, Roland Flint, William Kittridge, Paula Gunn Allen, Robert Hedin, Jim Heynen, Al Young, Valerie Miner, Gerald Vizenor, Nora Dauenhauer, Gary Holthaus, Peggy Shumaker, Bill Holm, John Straley, Richard Chiappone, Marybeth Holloman, Sherry Simpson, Nancy Lord, Richard Nelson, Mary Robison, Toi Derricotte, Alberto Rios, Olena Davis, Jerah Chadwick, Seth Kantner, Sarah Birdsall, Susie Silook, and Ron Carlson.
AQR also sponsors a monthly FIRST FRIDAYS SERIES bringing together vital, creative voices in the visual, performing, and literary arts. Events feature local and visiting artists.