Alaska Book Week
Alaska Book Week is a statewide celebration, coordinated by the Alaska Center for the Book, that annually celebrates the multi-faceted ways that we appreciate books, from readings to panels, lectures, discussions, and youth activities. Alaska Book Week takes place around the first week in October.
We have begun programming events for Alaska Book Week 2024 and information will continue to appear here as we receive it. To participate in Alaska Book Week or for more information contact the Book Week Coordinator at akbookweek@gmail.com
This event is part of the Annual Fall Conference for Writers and Illustrators, October 4th and 5th. The panel will be held during the main part of the conference on the 5th. Find more about the conference here.
Debut Authors Panel
Come meet local debut authors, Jena Benton, Susan Pope and Neva Post as they share their journey into publishing in the current market. both traditional and self-published. Bring questions and prepare for your own publishing journey by learning about what they wish they knew then that they know now. Jena Benton is a traditionally published picture book author of Kauai’s Call, Island Heritage Press 2024. Susan Pope is a traditionally published memoir author of Rivers and Ice, Riddle Brook Publishing 2024. Neva Post is a self/independently published author of Alaska Yeti Series, Icicle Ink 2023/24.
Click author photo for biography.
UAA Graduates Poetry Reading
Saturday, October 5, Noon to 1:00 pm
Writers Block Bookstore
Keila Aurelio and Katalyna Moua, UAA English Department graduates, read from their chapbook projects.
Katalyna Moua graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage with a BA programmatic honors in English in 2024
Keila Aurelio graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage. She received a BA with programmatic honors in English in 2024.
Link to this video
on YouTube here.
Writers with New Books
Author David Stevenson interviews four writers with newly published books. This interview features
Rich Chiappone, Judith Lethin, Lisa Roderick, and Jon Waterman.
Click author photo for biography.
The link for this video of Mary Jones reading her poetry will be available here on Sunday, October 6.
Mary Jones is the author of the short story collection The Goodbye Process (Zibby Books 2024). Of the
collection, Mary Otis observed that “In these exquisite and emotionally distilled stories, Jones illuminates
the mysterious corners of grief and grace with poignancy and spiky humor.” Aimee Bender added that
she was “moved and wowed by how much Jones packed into a moment, how swiftly she could conjure a
person. That “her words have these subtle magnets in them, drawing a reader close. Thrilling abundance
here.” In addition to Alaska Quarterly Review, her stories and essays have appeared in many journals
including Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, Subtropics, EPOCH, Epiphany, Santa Monica
Review, Brevity and elsewhere. The recipient of a summer prose fellowship from The University of
Arizona Poetry Center, her work has been cited as notable in The Best American Essays and appeared in
The Best Microfiction 2022. She teaches fiction writing at UCLA Extension.
Click photo for biography.
Sunday, October 6,
6:00 – 8:00 pm
Writer’s Block Bookstore
Rich Chiappone Reading Places Characters in a Vast and Unforgiving Arctic Wilderness
Rich Chiaponne will read from his new book Uncommon Weather: Alaska Stories. This book is “an eclectic mix of character-driven stories that deliver a panoramic picture of Alaska— from the cold city streets of Anchorage to picturesque but emotionally treacherous small Alaska towns; from the rough-and-tumble commercial fishing world of the distant Aleutian Islands to a remote river in the Brooks Range, where the vast and unforgiving Arctic wilderness puts romance to a severe test.” Link to publisher.
Trekking the Brooks Range and Embracing Wilderness with Michael Engelhard
In this podcast produced by 10 Adventures, Michael Engelhard, author of Arctic Traverse: A Thousand Mile Summer of Trekking the Books Range, talks about the beauty, challenges, and significance of hiking the almost uninhabited wilderness of Alaska’s Brooks Range.
Trained as an anthropologist with a degree from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Michael
Engelhard worked for twenty-five years as a wilderness guide and as an outdoor instructor in youth
programs. The editor of four anthologies and author of Ice Bear, a cultural history of the polar bear, he has won three Alaska Press Club Awards and a Rasmuson Individual Artist Award. His recent books include the memoir Arctic Traverse as well as the Grand Canyon essay collection No Walk in the Park. Articles by him have appeared in publications from Outside to Sierra to National Parks, with more than a hundred in Alaska magazine. A one-time Nome resident, Engelhard is currently writing a book about the Bering Strait seen through the lens of that storied city.
October 8
6:00 – 7:00 pm
Wasilla Public Library (500 N Crusey St., Wasilla AK)
An Evening with Tricia Brown in Honor of The Queen of Fairbanks
Moderator: Carol Sturgulewski
Sponsored By: 49 Writers, Mat-Su Health Foundation, Friends of Wasilla Public Library, Wasilla Public Library, Alaska Center for the Book
About the Book: Irene Mary Sherman (1911-1995) was America’s northernmost bag lady for decades, walking or pedaling the streets of the town she loved while spreading her unique brand of friendship. Born into a pioneer gold-mining family, Irene was terribly burned in a cabin fire at age five, and she bore those scars—physically and mentally—for life. A picture of resilience as she marched around town in many layers of old clothes, Irene was warmly applauded on her three-wheeled cycle in the annual Golden Days Parade. In this frontier town known for its individualism, Irene’s story embodies the grace and goodness of its people. More…
This event is free and open to the public; pre-registration is encouraged.
John Straley is the author of thirteen previous crime novels. He is a former Alaska Writer Laureate. He has won a Shamus Award and a Spotted Owl. His books have been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and
on Fresh Air with Terry Gross. He has worked professionally as a wilderness guide, a horseshoer, and for thirty years as a private investigator in Alaska.
A Conversation with John Straley
Join Nancy Lord and John Straley for a discussion of John’s books and career. John’s forthcoming novel, Big Breath In, features a retired marine biologist turned amateur sleuth.
Note: This program will be pre-recorded. Check here for the link when it becomes available. You may send questions before September 9 to njlord250@gmail.com.
Big Breath In
Diagnosed with terminal cancer, retired marine biologist Delphine is on the brink of throwing in the towel. She has outlived her PI husband and worries she’s become a burden to her son and his growing family. One night, while contemplating how to go on, Delphine witnesses a violent argument between a man and his girlfriend. When Delphine discovers the woman has gone missing along with her young child, Delphine embarks on a quest to find them. More…
Nancy Lord is a former Alaska Writer Laureate and author of ‘Early Warming,’ ‘Rock, Water, Wild’ and other books of fiction and nonfiction.
Meet Local Author Joe Jackson
Joe Jackson, author of It’s Only Fishing, will read from his recent book Chasing The Dark and discuss the adventures and misadventures he experienced while “chasing the dark and seeking the fins, furs, and flurries of wings beyond it.”
Joseph Jackson is a social studies teacher and outdoor writer in Alaska. His work has appeared in many publications such as Gray’s Sporting Journal, Fly Fisherman, The Drake, Alaska Magazine, and others, where his wife, Emmie, also publishes much of her photography. When he’s not getting up early to chase rainbow trout or hunt ptarmigan, he’s learning how to be a father to the world’s next greatest fly-fisherwoman.
Thursday, October 10,
5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. @ Title Wave Books
The link for this video of Erin Coughlin Hollowell reading her poetry will be available here on Friday, October 11.
Erin Coughlin Hollowell is the author of the poetry collections Pause, Traveler (2013) and Every Atom (2018), both published by Boreal Books, and Corvus and Crater published by Salmon Poetry in 2023. Her work was featured in an exhibit at the Anchorage Museum entitled Water Stories: Visual Poetics and Collective Voices by artist Andrea Wollensak. In addition to Alaska Quarterly Review, she has appeared in Poetry Ireland Review, Orion Magazine, Terrain.org, Prairie Schooner, and featured on the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day website. Hollowell’s poetry has been recognized by awards from the Rasmuson FoundaMon, a Connie Boochever Award, and an Alaska Literary Award. She directs the Storyknife Writers Retreat and the Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference. Of her poetry, Luis Alberto Urrea said this: “There comes a moment in every Erin Coughlin Hollowell poem when the heart threatens to burst open and spill light.”