Let Skagway inspire You

May 30-June 2, 2018

Let Skagway inspire You

May 30-June 2, 2018

Let Skagway inspire You

May 30-June 2, 2018

Let Skagway inspire You

May 30-June 2, 2018

Let Skagway inspire You

May 30-June 2, 2018

Let Skagway inspire You

May 30-June 2, 2018

Let Skagway inspire You

May 30-June 2, 2018

Let Skagway inspire You

May 30-June 2, 2018

“Exploring the Frontiers of Language”

2018 Keynote Speaker

Click on each author for a short biography.

2018 Faculty Members

Click on each author for a short biography.

Organizing Faculty

Panel Discussion Topics 2018

2018 North Words Panel Topics

Real and Fake Facts: Should journalists, memoirists, and essayists share the same standards, and what should those standards be?

What makes a detail “telling”, and where does it best fit on the page?

Whose Life Matters? What is the writer’s role in moving readers toward intercultural understanding and empathy. Can anyone write across outside their cultural setting successfully? What does it take to do that?

What goes into making a great character come alive on the page?

Let’s talk about discipline. What kind of discipline do you need to really be a writer of books?

What is the role of hope in storytelling? How much happiness, how much sadness goes into a story? How do you judge?

Getting heard. Finding a home, or an audience for your writing? Is the game really rigged for the well connected or the college elite?

Plus something to do with animals and music with Ray Troll, workshops led by Emily Wall and Frank Soos, and consultations!

Faculty Publications

Alaska/NW Faculty 2018 Selected Works

ERNESTINE HAYES

www.ernestinehayes.com

• Blonde Indian, an Alaska Native Memoir

• The Tao of Raven

COLLEEN MONDOR

www.chasingray.com

• The Map of My Dead Pilots: The Dangerous Game of Flying in Alaska

FRANK SOOS

• Early Yet (stories)

• Unified Field Theory (stories)

• Bamboo Fly Rod Suite (essays)

• Double Moon: Constructions and Conversations (collaboration with artist/wife Margo Klass)

• Unpleasantries (essays)

RAY TROLL

http://www.trollart.com

• Cruising the Eternal Coastline: West Coast Fossils from Baja to Barrow (with Dr. Kirk Johnson, forthcoming)

• Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway (with Dr. Kirk Johnson)

• Planet Ocean (with Brad Matsen)

• Sharkabet

• Rapture of the Deep

• Something Fishy This Way Comes

WILLY VLAUTIN

www.willyvlautin.com

• The Motel Life (novel)

• Northline (novel)

• Lean On Pete (novel)

• The Free (novel)

• Don’t Skip Out on Me (novel due 2018)

EMILY WALL

www.emily-wall.com

• Liveaboard (poetry)

• Freshly Rooted (poetry)

• Breaking Into Air:  Birth Poems (due 2018)

North Words Writers Symposium Schedule

May 30-June 2, 2018


Wednesday, May 30

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM   – Registration & Author Consultation Sign-up
Westmark Inn Lounge – 3rd & Spring

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6:00 PM – 8:00 PM  – Opening Reception
Westmark Inn Lounge – 3rd & Spring


Thursday, May 31

6:45 AM – 7:55 AM  –  Early Bird Workshop with Emily Wall
Skagway Public Library – 8th & State

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8:00 AM – 9:00 AM  –  Continental Breakfast & Late Registration

Sign up for consultations, participant readings, & train ride/trail write

AB Hall – 2nd & Broadway

8:30 AM – 9:00 AM  Welcome!  –  Announcements & Introductions

AB Hall – 2nd & Broadway

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Thursday Morning Panels at AB Hall

9:00 AM – 10:15 AM  –  Real and Fake Facts:

Which, if any, standards should journalists, memoirists, and essayists share?

Panel: Pico, Colleen, Ernestine, Frank

What does the reader think?

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10:30 AM – 11:15 AM –  Which Lives Matter?

The writer’s role in moving readers toward intercultural understanding and empathy.

Panel: Ernestine, Emily, Dan

Navigating the landscape of cultural ethos

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11:30 AM – 12:30 PM – Top Ways to Build Great Characters

(and a few to avoid)

Panel: Frank, Willy, Colleen

Intimate profiles of imaginary friends

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11:30 AM – 1:00 PM  –  Book Signing: Pico Iyer

Skaguay News Depot & Books – across Broadway from AB Hall

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12:30 PM – 2:00 PM  – Lunch On Your Own!

List of local restaurants/menus at Skagway Visitor Center in AB Hall or visit www.skagway.com

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2:00 PM – 3:00 PM   –  Writing Workshop with Frank Soos

Skagway Public Library – 8th & State

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2:00 PM – 3:00 PM   –  Art and Music as Storytelling with Ray & Willy

Ray Troll and Willy Vlautin (on guitar)

followed by

3:15 PM – 4:15 PM  –  Book Signing: Ray Troll and Willy Vlautin

at Skaguay News Depot & Books

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 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM  –  Faculty & Staff Consultations

AB Hall or other arranged locations
Half-hour sessions with faculty and staff; sign up Wednesday-Thursday at registration 

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 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM  –  Dine out on your own in Skagway!

List of local restaurants/menus at Skagway Visitor Center at AB Hall or visit www.skagway.com

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7:00 PM – 9:00 PM   –  Faculty Readings
National Park Service Visitor Center Auditorium – 2nd & Broadway


Friday, June 1

8:00 AM – 8:30 AM –  Continental Breakfast & Announcements
AB Hall

8:30 AM – 9:15 AM  –  Body to Mind, Body to Mind, Do You Read You?

Led by Special Guest(s) at AB Hall

Reflection, Breathe, Release

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Friday Morning Panels at AB Hall

9:30 AM – 10:30 AM   –  In Search of the Telling Detail

What is it? Where does it fit?

Panel: Ray, Frank, Pico

Considering the space between showing and telling.

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9:00 AM – 10:30 AM  –  Book Signing:  Ernestine Hayes, Colleen Mondor and Emily Wall
Skaguay News Depot & Books

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10:45 AM – 11:45 AM  –  The Role of Hope in Storytelling – AB Hall
Panel: Emily, Colleen, Willy, Ernestine

How does a writer evoke hope without being maudlin, contrived, or preachy? Do you want to leave your readers happy or sad? How do you judge?

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10:30 AM – 12:00 Noon –  Book Signing: Frank Soos and Daniel Henry
Skaguay News Depot & Books

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11:45 AM – 1:00 PM  Lunch on your own!

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Friday Afternoon Sessions at Presbyterian Church Sanctuary – 5th & Main

1:00 PM – 3:00 PM  –  Participant Readings 
Individual readings of no more than 6-8 minutes

Sign up with Daniel Henry on Thursday morning

——– ——–

3:15 PM – 4:15 PM  –  Getting Heard: Finding an Audience 
Somewhere out there, an audience waits for you
Panel: Colleen, Ray, Willy, Katrina

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Evening Hoedown Schedule

 5:15 PM  –  Van/Shuttle Pickups for ride to Alderworks in Dyea
Pickup locations: Sgt. Preston’s (6th & State) and White House (8th & Main)

6:00 PM – 8:15 PM  –  Hoedown at Alderworks!
Hosted & Sponsored by Alderworks Alaska Writers & Artists Retreat (1 West Creek Rd)

BBQ by the cabins, music by Jess & J Dot

8:15 PM  –  Vans/Shuttle departs Alderworks for Skagway
Drop off locations: 8th & Main and 6th & State

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9:00 PM  –  Out of Book at Skagway Brewing Co.

Foosball & Boilermakers (if you dare)

Led by Katrina, Jeff, and Dan.


Saturday, June 2

Morning Train Ride and Trail Write Schedule

– PASSPORTS REQUIRED – SIGN UP ON THURSDAY –

Hosted & Sponsored by White Pass & Yukon Route and Packer Expeditions

7:20 AM – Buses Depart to Train Station
Pickup locations: White House (8th & Main) and Sgt. Preston’s (6th & State)

7:40 AM – Board White Pass & Yukon Route RR

8:30 AM – Disembark Train at Laughton Glacier Station

Entire party will then hike 1.5 miles on an easy trail to a U.S. Forest Service cabin, where our hosts, Packer Expeditions, will have a lunch for us. The group will then break in two. You will have a choice of a guided hike for another mile over moderate trail to the toe of Laughton Glacier, or you may stay on the cabin grounds for a Writing Session with Daniel Henry.

2:00 PM – Hike back from cabin to Laughton Glacier Station (arrive by 3:15 pm)

3:30 PM – Board WP&YR southbound train for return to Skagway

4:30 PM  –  Shuttle departs Train Station for Skagway hotels or you may walk (drop off locations: 8th & Main and 6th & State)

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Evening Keynote Banquet Schedule

 5:45 PM  – Shuttles depart Skagway hotels for closing banquet at Poppies Restaurant

Pickup locations: White House (8th & Main) and Sgt. Preston’s (6th & State)

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM  – Closing Banquet with Keynote by Pico Iyer
Poppies at Jewell Gardens (on Klondike Hwy. left after Skagway River bridge)

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9:00 PM  –  Saturday Night in Skagway!