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Fungus essayist wins another $10,000
Sept. 29, 2004 — For those who think that literary and monetary rewards can’t coexist, pay attention to the tale of now two-time high-stakes essay contest winner Diane Brooks Pleninger. She won $20,000 for an essay last year, and another $10,000 this year.>>Story

Beckerman recalls Hunter S.
Expat Alaskan Marty Beckerman, whose career began as a rabble-rousing teen writer with the ADN’s Perfect World section, sounded like a statesman as he weighed in on his Web site after gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson’s death: “He was one of the American greats,” wrote Beckerman, “…an inspiration to millions, and a true friend of freedom. The world is poorer today.” In February 2003, Marty interviewed the gonzo journalist. Beckerman’s own gonzo star appears to be on the rise, with a book and movie in progress.

Outsider watch
Beirne tells tale of the trip that spawned a murder mystery
Lots of Outside writers claim to be inspired by Alaska. But not so may of them write murder mysteries as a result. Irish author Gerard Beirne recounts the trip that inspired The Eskimo in the Net. >>Story

Still brief …
• Texas’ Southwestern University is has invited Alaska writers Barry Lopez (essayist/nature writer and author of Arctic Dreams) and cultural anthropologist/nature writer Richard Nelson (Hunters of the Northern Ice) to speak at a symposium on Life in the Arctic February 12-13, 2004.

• On Sunday, Jan. 11 in the Juneau Empire, Ann Chandonnet reviews British author Isabel Colegate’s The Call of the Solitary Life: A Look at the Lives of Hermits. Of special note, she says, is : the unexpected inclusion of the tale of ill-fated Alaska traveler Chris McCandless.

• Longtime Anchorage Daily News columnist Mike Doogan announced his departure Tuesday, Jan. 20 , in a farewell headlined “After more than 2,000 columns it’s time to go do something else.” Nevertheless, he steeled himself to write two more, ending his tenure Tuesday, Jan. 27.

• Thursday, Jan. 22, in the Kenai Peninsula Clarion, reviewer Shana Loshbaugh gives a thumbs-up to an unusual memoir of military life in Alaska by former public affairs officer Sean Michael Flynn. Land of the Radioactive Midnight Sun: A Cheechako’s First Year in Alaska (St. Martin’s Press), chronicles Flynn’s time at Eielson Air Force Base. Loshbaugh terms it “A fresh look at Alaska and an enjoyable tale.”

• Thursday, Jan. 15, also from Shana Loshbaugh, a review of The Winterlake Lodge Cookbook (Alaska Northwest Books), by Rainy Pass lodge owner Kirsten Dixon. According to the review, Dixon is a Bush chef of exceptional pedigree; she has a degree from Cordon Bleu in Paris. The book includes essays as well as recipes.

• Sunday, Dec. 28 in the features section of the Anchorage Daily News, George Bryson writes about Nancy Lord and the years she spent devoted to research in preparation for Beluga Days.

• Seen in the Philadelphia Inquirer Saturday, Dec. 27, in the San Jose Mercury News Wednesday, Dec. 24, and surely elsewhere, former Anchorage Daily News sportswriter Lew Freedman writes for the Knight-Ridder newswire about the late outdoorsman Russell Annabel, a Tacoma native who made a career of Alaska adventuring (and writing about it). Lew puts a recently released five-volume collection of Annabel’s writings at the top of his list of 2003’s best adventure books. He also notes Four Against the Arctic, by David Roberts.

• Again from the ADN, theater reviewer Catherine Stadem writes in the Wednesday, Dec. 24 issue about the phenomenon of 24-hour plays in Anchorage.

• Judith Kleinfeld, author of the recently published Go For It! Finding Your Own Frontier wrote a comment piece in the ADN Friday, Dec. 26 .

• Mentioned in the Juneau Empire Friday, Dec. 26, a recently formed writers group will meet in that city January 3, with the focus being to listen to and share readings, as well as tips. Previous participants include Ann Chandonnet, Dr. Wally Olson and Nancy Ferrell. For more information, call 790-3038.

• Alaska state writer Anne Hanley highlights the work of Linda McCarriston in the Sunday, Dec. 28 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

• Randy Zarnke’s series on hockey in Fairbanks continues in the Sunday, Dec. 28 Daily News-Miner. Zarnke is author of the book, Fairbanks Hockey Pioneers.

• Also in the Sunday, Dec. 28 Daily News-Miner’s Heartland magazine, Fairbanks writer Shana Loshbaugh reviews Waking Samuel (Bloomsbury USA), the first novel by Homer writer Daniel Coyle, formerly of Chicago and a contributing editor at Outside magazine. The mostly glowing review concludes: “Coyle has the right stuff, and we Alaskans are privileged that an author of his caliber has chosen to live among us.” (Unfortunately, the first line of the review posted online is somewhat garbled; just ignore and plow ahead.)

• In the category Why Didn’t We Think of That? is Jake Halpern’s book Braving Home, a series of essays about people who live in seemingly unliveable places, like at the foot of a volcano, on a hurricane-beset island — and in Whittier. A recent interview with Halpern on NPR’s Living on Earth (Friday, Dec. 19) is fun on many levels. One nugget: To get to “remote” Whittier, Halpern takes a taxi from Anchorage.

• One must at least acknowledge the many mentions of the novel Drop City, ( T.C. Boyles; Farrar, Straus, Giroux), which, led by the recommendation of the New York Times Book Review, has found its way to many Best of 2003 lists this year. Though not written by an Alaska author, an Alaska setting is central.

• Featured in columnist Mike Doogan’s column Sunday Dec. 14, in the Anchorage Daily News: Homer author Nancy Lord, discussing her recently released book, Beluga Days.

•Writing in the Fairbanks News-Miner Tuesday, Dec. 16, Randy Zarnke, author of the book, Fairbanks Hockey Pioneers, recounts Mark Ringstad’s hockey memories from the 1930s. The article is one in a series.

• Also in the News-Miner, columnist Dermot Cole tells a charming story Tuesday, Dec. 2 (the link may die quickly) of a nine-year correspondence between Fairbanks librarian Greg Hill and Patrick O’Brian, author of the Aubrey-Maturin series on which the movie Master and Commander is based. O’Brian died in 2000.

• In the Juneau Empire Sunday, Dec. 14, Ann Chandonnet reviews the children’s novel Minuk (Pleasant Co.) , the fictional story of a 12-year-old Yup’ik girl set in the 1890s, written by Alaska author Kirkpatrick Hill. Chandonnet commends the book as an “excellent portrait of life in Alaska.” According to the review, author Hill now splits her time between Fairbanks and Ruby.

• In the Peninsula Clarion Thursday, Dec.4, Shana Loshbaugh reviews Go For It! Finding Your Own Frontier, the latest book by UAF professor and psychologist Judith Kleinfeld (Epicenter Press).

•The Los Angeles Times magazine cover story Sunday, Dec.14, was an in-depth look at the life and grisly death of “bear whisperer” Timothy Treadwell by ADN Outdoors editor Craig Medred. Treadwell was killed in October along with his girlfriend by a Katmai bear.

• In the National Review Online Wednesday, Dec. 17, writer Michelle Malkin comments on a correction prompted by the writing of New York Times reporter Charlie LeDuff, which she speculates amounts to a “Jayson Blair-like scandal.” The Alaska connection? According to the story, LeDuff’s only newspaper job before the Times was his (1990s?) internship for the Alaska Fisherman’s Journal.
—Compiled by Sonya Senkowsky

Archives

Dear AlaskaWriter,
Welcome to the AlaskaWriters Homestead, a home on the Web for writers from Alaska, and others who share Alaska’s pioneering spirit.

The site is in a constant process of revision — some of which you can see, but all of which keeps the site moving and growing. In fact, as of March 25, 2008, we have moved to new server space.

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