Please bring poems with you and/or a few pages of prose to share with the group. You may also want to bring a favorite poem by another poet, or a favorite passage of prose. Also please bring a book of contemporary poetry to share with others. We'll have various times to exchange these books, so you'll have some wonderful (and unexpected) reading material while you are at the lodge. And do introduce yourselves here!
If one of you begins by starting a post, the others can "comment," adding your own introductions.
Best wishes,
Carolyn
Hello Carolyn, and fellow writers heading to Tutka Bay. I'm sitting at my writing desk in Denali Park this morning, giving the editing of my memoir one more push before heading south to Anchorage and Homer. I'm thrilled to be joining you all for the retreat.
ReplyDeleteI split my time between Anchorage and Denali, where my husband Mark and I keep our team of twenty-eight sled dogs. We have a handler who lives here full time with our huskies. Mark and I spend at least half our time here in the park, maybe more. This week the tundra is in full fall glory, the snow level is creeping lower on the mountains, and we've run the dogteam in front of our four wheeler several times. The new season is almost here!
The last week has been a busy time. A professional photographer from Vermont stayed with us over Labor Day—she's working on a book about deep bonds that connect old dogs and their humans. My daughter and son in law passed through, on their way to an adventure on the far end of the park. Meanwhile my manuscript (my first ever) is due to my editor in three short weeks, for the first go-around. My school fundraising business is in full tilt...and I'm eager to welcome Wendy Willis—poet and fellow MFA graduate—to Alaska tomorrow. Together we'll meet you on Friday.
As a memoirist I'm looking forward to my introduction to poetry—okay I'll admit to a few fears. I feel grateful to work with Carolyn and all of you. I'm drawn to writing stories about interacting with other species—how seeing ourselves in the context of other creatures offers insight into what it means to be human. My highest hope in this retreat is to gain some confidence and skill to broaden my writing into the more activist conservation discussion—about what's at stake and how we share the burden of saving this planet for other species in addition to our own.
Thanks to 49 Writers for making this weekend possible and safe travels everyone. See you soon!
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to our time together. This will be a real adventure for me as I make my way up there from San Diego. I am not sure how the surf will be in Alaska? Honestly, it will be difficult to leave my three little ones, 3, 6, 8, but I am longing for forests and mountains, and to be with other writers, and of course the opportunity to meet our hosts, and Carolyn Forche.
I have been working as a professor at San Diego City College for the past 15 years, and this Spring will be my first ever sabbatical! This trip is hopefully the start of something new for me—I need it.
I am incredibly thankful that in 2012, my first book of poetry came out, and I have had so much fun in that whole process…but since then, I have had a hard time doing any new writing. This needs to change!
I am currently working on a collaborative project with the artist Randall Hasson where we are combining poetry, art, and calligraphy. I am also continuing my work on writing about my time in Israel and the Jewish-American experience. I am extremely interested in seeking the redemptive stories that rise up out even the most difficult situations.
There is more about me here if anyone is interested, but I am really looking forward to meeting you all. It is extremely humbling! http://www.pw.org/content/chris_baron_0
Hi, all:
ReplyDeleteThank you to Debbie and Chris for jumping in on the introductions. I read through everyone's bio with excitement and humility, and I can't wait to match faces with the accomplishments.I am very much looking forward to joining my friends Debbie and Linda and all of you this upcoming weekend.
My first book of poems, Blood Sisters of the Republic, came out in 2012. I have recently finished a new manuscript that is out and about, so now I am in the waiting/revising phase, which is a little tedious. To keep the train moving, I am now working on several strands of new poems. I also write essays, mostly on the intersection of art and civic life.
Otherwise, I am a lawyer who currently is serving as the executive director of a non-profit working to improve democratic governance and the mother of three tremendous kids. We all live--along with my husband David (the poet, David Biespiel) and two big dogs--in a rambly old house across from a less rambly but equally old park in Portland, Oregon.
Like Debbie, I am fearful for the future of the Republic (and the planet), but I am faithful in the belief that artists and writers are the truth-tellers and often the visionaries of the alternatives.
That is most certainly enough from me! I so look forward to seeing you all.
Wendy
I am so excited to meet such a diverse and accomplished group. And to dip my toe into the waters of poetry for the first time since a wonderful MFA poetry workshop with Arlitia Jones in fall 2007 (which John McKay will remember).
ReplyDeleteAs many of you know, all things 49 Writers more or less consume my life but this fall is the season when I turn back to my own creative writing.
Linda
Hi All—I’ve just come back from a Baldy Road walk with my daughter and our two dogs. My husband is off hunting. My daughter is about to go off to college. My older boys are off doing research and teaching. I’m driving down to Homer sometime tomorrow so I don’t have to rush, and can go to Carolyn’s Homer talk and have dinner with a Homer friend. I am very much looking forward to meeting you all on Friday.
ReplyDeleteI came to Alaska from Chicago almost thirty years ago, quitting my law job to write poetry in a cabin in the woods. Which I did, publishing some, winning a prize or two, and giving readings. I also became interested in indigenous issues, here, and became involved in helping to sort out subsistence and sovereignty knots, as a lawyer. I tried to write about these, moving a bit into journalism and creative non-fiction. Then, in addition to accumulating babies in our semi-rural setting, my husband became a state judge. For the last fifteen-plus years, in the interests of supporting both the fact and appearance of judicial impartiality, I have mostly avoided overt political expression, throwing myself into parenting aware kids--above all my own three, but including hosting village Alaska Native kids, and a dozen foreign exchange students, and traveling as much as possible, especially in third world countries.
Now, in addition to renewing my commitment to poetry, I have started working on a memoir (or creative-nonfiction something, or maybe I will in the end call it fiction) in the context of my Eastern European heritage, immigration, generational memory, and what is happening right now in the Ukraine. To keep my butt in the chair, I have started an MFA with the Institute for American Indian Arts. I read Carolyn’s first book, "Gathering the Tribes", just about the time I started law school. I still have that volume. I have long admired both Carolyn’s writing and her politics. I hope there’s still time for me to make a small mark of my own on the poetry and politics page.
Mary
So lovely to hear from and about all of you.
ReplyDeleteI'm leaving Anchorage for Homer early in the morning (squee!).
So eager to meet you all.
Dawnell