Archives for 2015

2015 Alaska Literary Awards Announced

July 4, 2015

The Alaska State Council on the Arts and the Alaska Arts and Culture Foundation recently selected four individuals to recognize for their outstanding literary work and receive the 2015 Alaska Literary Award. A select number of $5,000 fellowships for Alaska literary artists are awarded each fall. 2015 Alaska Literary Award Recipients: Christine Byl, Denali Park- non-fiction/fiction Alyse … Read More

Ernestine Hayes

July 3, 2015

2014 Alaska Literary Award Juneau Ernestine Hayes is a prolific, published writer in a variety of genres, including creative nonfiction, book-length nonfiction and creative nonfiction, poetry and prose-poetry, book-length fiction, and fiction essays. She is best known for her autobiography, “Blonde Indian, an Alaska Native Memoir,” which tells the story of the author's journey back home after a … Read More

Lance A. (X ‘unei) Twitchell

Literary Arts, 2013 Juneau Lance A. Twitchell carries the Tlingit names X̱'unei & Du Aaní Kawdinook, and the Haida name Ḵ'eijáakw. He is from the Tlingit, Haida, and Yup'ik native nations, and speaks & studies the Tlingit language. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in American Indian Studies from the … Read More

Lucas Rowley

Alaska Literary Award, 2016 Connie Boochever Award, Literary Arts, 2013 Lucas Rowley was born and raised in Homer, Alaska, and is of Inupiaq, Scottish and Italian descent. He is an award-winning playwright and science fiction author, and has had readings in the last five years in Anchorage, New York City, Los Angeles and Albuquerque. He is a recipient of a Rasmuson Award for literary work … Read More

Allison Warden

Performing Arts, 2013 Anchorage Allison Warden is an Inupiaq performance artist and rapper, whose passion is helping young people explore their own culture… and find their voices and their place in the world. She doesn’t pretend to speak for all Inupiaq – she says they’re not all as weird as she is. Allison raps under the name AKU-MATU. She teaches, performs, writes and raps all over … Read More

Nicole Stellon O’Donnell

Connie Boochever Award, Literary Arts, 2013 Alaska Literary Award, 2016 Fairbanks Nicole Stellon O’Donnell’s first collection, Steam Laundry, won the 2013 WILLA Literary Award for Poetry. Her poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Passages North, Beloit Poetry Journal, The Women’s Review of Books, Zyzzyva, and other literary journals. Her essays and commentaries appeared in the Anchorage … Read More

Erin Coughlin Hollowell

Connie Boochever Award, Literary Arts, 2013 Alaska Literary Award, 2014 Homer Erin Coughlin Hollowell is a poet and writer who lives at the end of the road in Alaska. Prior to landing in Alaska, she lived on both coasts, in big cities and small towns, pursuing many different professions from tapestry weaving to arts administration. She earned her MFA from the Rainier Writing Workshop at … Read More

Susanna Mishler

June 30, 2015

2014 Alaska Literary Award Anchorage Susanna J. Mishler’s poems have appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, The Iowa Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Mid-American Review, Kenyon Review Online, and elsewhere. Her first collection of poems, Termination Dust, was published by Red Hen Press/Boreal Books in 2014. Susanna holds an MFA in Poetry from The University of Arizona in Tucson, where she … Read More

Frank Soos