16 noted authors to give 9 evenings of free readings

By: Staff Jul 1, 2008

Writers of fiction, poetry, nonfiction will enthrall the public this month

ANCHORAGE, AK – More than a dozen of the biggest names in fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry will be in Anchorage next month to give a series of free public readings and talks.

The inaugural Northern Renaissance Arts and Science Series of public lectures at UAA begins Sunday evening, July 13, with noted novelist and short story writer Ron Carlson reading from his work. Altogether, 16 writers from Alaska and the Lower 48 will read for nine evenings, through July 22.

The Northern Renaissance Arts and Science Series of free public readings is part of the new Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts graduate writing program of the UAA Department of Creative Writing and Literary Arts (CWLA). The three-year low-residency MFA program includes a 12-day intensive summer residency at UAA, after which the student writers depart for their homes in Alaska and elsewhere to write and study under the guidance of individual writing mentors.

The public readings are scheduled for 7:45 to 9:15 each evening in Room 150 of the Fine Arts Building on the east side of the UAA campus. Doors will open at 7:30 p.m.

The schedule of readings and the writers who’ll give them follow.

Sunday, July 13 – Ron Carlson.
Carlson is the author of nine books of fiction, most recently the novel Five Skies, as well as a guidebook to writing fiction and other works that have appeared in dozens of anthologies. Director of the Graduate Program in Fiction at the Univ. of California, Irvine, he will deliver the Northern Renaissance Arts and Science Series keynote address at the residency and kick-off the public reading series.

Monday, July 14 – Laurie Wax and Derick Burleson
Wax is an MFA candidate in fiction in the CWLA program at UAA.

Burleson’s poems have appeared in numerous journals, including the Georgia Review, the Kenyon Review, the Paris Review and Poetry. He lives in Two Rivers, Alaska, and teaches creative writing and literature at UAF. His new book of poems is Never Night.

Tuesday, July 15 – Anne Caston and Judith Barrington
Caston is a poet and former nurse who teaches as a member of CWLA’s core faculty. She has published two books of poetry and is working on a book about growing up Southern, Deep Dixie, as well as a third collection of poetry.

Barrington is a memoirist, poet and teacher who was born in the U.K. and lives in Portland, OR. Her work has been published in many literary journals, and she gives memoir workshops in Europe and America. Her most recent book of poems is Horses and the Human Soul.

Wednesday, July 16 – Zack Rogow and Valerie Miner
Rogow has 13 published books, including five collections of poetry, three anthologies, four volumes of translation, and a children’s book, and has written two plays. His sixth book of poems, The Number before Infinity, is forthcoming from Scarlet Tanager Books in September. He teaches in the MFA in Writing Program at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

Miner is the author of 13 novels, collections of short fiction and nonfiction. Her new novel, After Eden, was published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Her work also has appeared in many literary journals, and her stories have been dramatized on BBC Radio 4. She is a professor and artist in residence at Stanford University.

Thursday, July 17 – Rich Chiappone and Linda McCarriston
Chiappone, who lives along the Anchor River near Homer, is the author of a collection of short fiction, Water of an Undetermined Depth (Stackpole Books 2003), and his stories and essays have appeared in a variety of national magazines and literary journals. He teaches at the Kachemak Bay Campus of Kenai Peninsula College.

McCarriston is co-founder of CWLA and has taught at UAA since 1994. Her three books of poems include Eva-Mary, short-listed for the National Book Award and the subject of interviews by Bill Moyers (The Language of Life) for PBS and by Terry Gross, for NPR. Her Class-Colored Glasses, a collection of essays and interviews, is forthcoming from University of Michigan Press. She now lives in Maine.

Saturday, July 19 – Oscar Kawagley
The Bethel-born Kawagley, who sits on the Alaska Native Science Commission, is the author of A Yupiaq Worldview: A Pathway to Ecology and Spirit and a researcher of the Yupiaq peoples’ language and culture who seeks to meld modern ways with the Yupiaq thought world. He is a retired professor of education at UAF, former president and CEO of an Alaska Native corporation, and former co-director of the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative.

Sunday, July 20 – Sherry Simpson and Ernestine Hayes
Simpson, a member of CWLA’s core faculty, is the author of two collections of essays, The Way Winter Comes and The Accidental Explorer: Wayfinding in Alaska, that explore how people use nature, wilderness, animals and cultural icons to define themselves and understand their world. Her nonfiction has appeared in anthologies and journals across the country. She is currently writing a book about people and bears.

Hayes, who teaches in Juneau at the University of Alaska Southeast, is the author of Blonde Indian, an Alaska Native Memoir, winner of an American Book Award, She is a member of the Wolf House of the Kaagwaantaan Clan of the Tlingit who has published work in fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction.

Monday, July 21 – Jo-Ann Mapson and Eva Saulitis
Mapson, a member of CWLA’s core faculty, has written nine novels, most recently The Owl & Moon Café (Simon & Schuster). Her second, Blue Rodeo, was made into a TV move starring Kris Kristofferson. She’s at work on a new novel and a memoir.

Saulitis teaches creative writing at the Kachemak Bay branch of Kenai Peninsula College, in Homer. Her essays and poems have appeared in numerous literary journals and several anthologies. She was trained as a marine biologist but turned to poetry and essays to develop a second language for addressing the natural world. Her new book is Leaving Resurrection.

Tuesday, July 22 – Peter Pereira and Nancy Lord
Pereira, a family doctor living in Seattle, has published three books of poetry, including What’s Written on the Body (Copper Canyon 2007), and given presentations at numerous medical and writing conferences. He’s a founding editor of Floating Bridge Press.

Lord, a long-time resident of Homer and winner of many honors and fellowships, is the author of three short fiction collections (most recently The Man Who Swam with Beavers) and three books of literary nonfiction (most recently Beluga Days). She fished commercially for many years and has worked as a naturalist and historian on adventure cruise ships. She teaches part-time at the Kachemak Bay Branch of Kenai Peninsula College and at UAA.

Books written by the speaker/writers will be on display and for sale in the Arts Building lobby.

More information about each of the writers, the CWLA low-residency program and the Northern Renaissance Arts and Science Series is available on the CWLA Web site, http://cwla.uaa.alaska.edu/.

For interviews and additional information, please contact Peter Porco at (907) 786.4840 or afpp@uaa.alaska.edu.