Juneau, Alaska (KINY) – Saturday afternoon was the return of the author meet and greet with authors across Southeast joining to discuss their work in education, including Alaska State Laureate of the year Heather Lende.
Catherine Schleck talked about an author meet and greet that took place Saturday afternoon at JDHS’s library.
“We have an author meet and greet with local authors. Most are from Juneau. We have two others, one from Haines and one from Gustavus. I just moved here about two months ago. I am a reading and equity specialist for the school district as is Sheila Keller. She helped to plan this event with me as well. She is a longtime Juneau School District employee and so she had a lot of the local knowledge to help bring these authors in. We worked with Hearthside Books as well. I liked making connections. One of the authors is in the U.S Coast Guard, and my husband is in the U.S Coast Guard, that’s why we moved here. It’s nice to make new connections and promote our local authors.”
She remarked on the author’s meet and greet being restricted for the past few years.
“From my understanding, this conference takes place somewhere in the state of Alaska every year and it actually this is the first time in three years since before COVID that it’s taken place. So it used to be the Alaska Cross-Curricular conference. And now they’ve changed it with more of a STEAM focus. So that’s science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. So we have invited the authors here to the Alaska STEAM conference and this event is sponsored by ASLA, the Alaska State Literacy Association. They wanted to have a presence here at the STEAM conference and we tried to kind of focus on authors and illustrators or any type of writer anyone who is kind of a naturalist. Educators at the conference could come in and talk with authors, maybe learn how they could use their works or use strategies that they use through the writing process or creative process in their classrooms.”
Heather Lende, the Alaska State Writer Laureate talked about receiving her award and her writing.
“I’m from Haines and I’m the current Alaska State Writer Laureate. I’m here for the STEAM conference because my books, some of them are used in teaching in high schools here in Southeast and around the State.”
Lende commented on how it felt to receive the award for her body of work.
“It was surprising and wonderful. And I feel, really like I am here, just representing the diverse, inspiring Alaska writing community. Lots of Alaska authors and books that translate to education. And also I think having stories about the place where you live, and things that are familiar are really important for young people growing up in a place that is as unique as Alaska.”
Lende said what inspired her to begin writing.
“I started writing again, because of the place. I was living in Haines as a young mother, almost 40 years ago, and I started volunteering at the radio station. And then I started working at the radio station. I learned to write for radio and to speak for radio. And that same voice has carried me through columns and essays and books. It’s intimate, one and one, and I thought if I had the courage to speak into a mic, I could get some words down on paper.”
The radio station Lende mentioned is KHNS Radio in Haines.
Lende summarized her four books.
“The first one is called ‘If You Lived Here, I Know Your Name’, which was about me coming from the East Coast, finding a home in Haines, and working with the local paper writing obituaries. The second one is ‘Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs’ and that book followed ‘If You Lived Here.’ I had a bad accident and was run over by a truck. Got better thanks to my community, in many ways, and family and faith. And the third book is called ‘Find the Good Life Lessons From a Small Town Obituary Writer.’ I’ve written about some 400 obituaries for the Chilkat Valley News over the years. The most recent one is Of Bears and Ballots, An Adventure in Small-Town Politics.’ I was on the Haines Borough Assembly from 2016 to 2019.”
Lende concluded with a message to students.
“I observed what I saw, what I heard, what I lived and wrote it down. That’s a good message for kids. If I can do it, then they can.”
Above: Heather Lende with her most recent book, ‘Of Bears and Ballots.’ Below: Sarah Asper-Smith holds her new book, ‘I Would Teach You to Fly.’
Another author, Sarah Asper-Smith, talked about her children’s book trilogy, giving an update on her most recent book.
“My new book is called ‘I Would Teach You to Fly’. It was illustrated by my husband, Mitchell Watley, and written by me, Sarah Asper-Smith. It’s the third and I’m calling the end of the ‘I would Tuck You In’ series which started with ‘I Would Tuck You In’. The trilogy started 10 years ago and it’s a lovely book to read to your little one, with some added facts about animals to make the parents less bored too.”
Asper-Smith said the public can find her books during First Friday in December, Juneau’s annual gallery walk.
“You can find the books in most book-stores in town, but especially Alaska Robotics, downtown on Front Street. They’re going to have a First Friday for us in December, and we’ll be selling all the books, prints by Mitch, and I bet there will be good snacks. Also, my book ‘Have You Ever Seen A Smack of Jellyfish?’ is sold exclusively at Alaska Robotics.”
Above and below: Conor Sullivan said his book ‘Fishing The Wild Waters’ details his experience as a fisherman, in four years’ time of fishing from Hawaii, Alaska, and New England, and connecting nature through different cultures. Below: Jim Fowler and Susi Gregg-Fowler, have published 8 books together. Here they stand with their book ‘Who Lives near a Glacier?’ and many first-draft illustrations.
Above: Tim Spengler recently self-published his book ‘Boojum Tree’. Spengler lives in Juneau but his book takes place in California, where he lived. Below: ‘Luna’s Big Oxcident’ is a children’s book about a real muskox who recovered from an injury at Palmer’s muskox farm, written by P.T Custard and illustrations by Amanda Rose Warren. Custard said that Luna is now 20 years old and still thriving.
