Alaska Center for the Book
Great Reads for Great Places
The Alaska Center for the Book is pleased to announce the selection of two books to represent Alaska at the 2026 National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. on August 22.
The Alaska Center for the Book is one of 56 Centers for the Book affiliated with the Library of Congress. Every year, the affiliated Centers for the Book select Great Reads from Great Places to represent their state at the annual National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.
2026 Selection for Adults:
Alaska Literary Field Guide,
edited by Marybeth Holleman, Nancy Lord, and Shaelene Grace Moler
(Mountaineers Books, 2026)
2026 Selection for Youth:
Alaska is for the Birds by Susan Ewing, illustrated by Evon Zerbetz
(Alaska Northwest Books, 2022)
“Visitors swarm our booth at the National Book Festival. They love learning about the state and our amazing books, authors, and illustrators,” said Patience Frederiksen, president of the Alaska Center for the Book. This year’s booth will be staffed by board members Robin Brooks and Amanda Andros.
When informed about the selection of the Alaska Literary Field Guide to represent Alaska, co-editor Nancy Lord said, “We are greatly honored to have our book chosen and shared at the festival. Our goal was to offer a taste of Alaska and its poets and artists, with hope that readers will be inspired to learn more about all of them and to consider how everything in our world connects to everything else.” Marybeth Holleman, another co-editor added, “This book is a love song to Alaska, and we’re delighted to sing its praises through so many different ways of knowing, seeing, experiencing.”
Visit the National Book Festival website for details about this year’s festival.
Links for the books:
Alaska Literary Field Guide: https://www.mountaineers.org/books/books/alaska-literary-field-guide-art-ecology-poetry
Alaska is for the Birds: https://www.evonzerbetz.com/alaskaisforthebirds
Alaska is for the Birds Activity Guide: https://www.susanewing.com/_files/ugd/541457_1f640379af364d1f8f3e990811d81d30.pdf
Links to author websites:
Alaska Literary Field Guide:
Marybeth Holleman: marybethholleman.com
Nancy Lord: writernancylord.com
Shaelene Grace Moler: shaelenegrace.com
Alaska is for the Birds:
Susan Ewing: susanewing.com
Evon Zerbetz: evonzerbetz.com
Congratulations to the Winners!
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 43rd UAA/Anchorage Daily News Creative Writing Contest.
This year more than 600 entries were submitted from classrooms an writing desks from Anaktuvuk to Wrangell and from writers ages 6 to 86. The list of winners and the full texts of the first-place winning entries for this year’s contest and previous contests can be found at LitSite Alaska here.
AMERICAN STORIES : READING ROAD TRIP ALASKA
Pack your parka and join PBS Books and the Library of Congress as American Stories: A Reading Road Trip heads to Alaska! Learn more at pbsbooks.org/readingroadtrip.
This episode explores Alaska’s rich storytelling tradition–from Indigenous oral histories to the works of writers like Jack London, Margaret Murie, Frederica de Laguna, and poet John Haines. We’ll also highlight contemporary voices who bring Alaska’s landscape, culture and history to life, including Velma Wallis, Michaela Goode, Dana Stabenow, Seth Kantner, and Nancy Lord.
Viewers will also discover must-see literary and cultural destinations, from the Alaska Native Heritage Center to Poems in Place and independent bookstores across the state.
We hope you’ll join us as we celebrate Alaska’s extraordinary literary heritage.
Click for link to Alaska Book List
Click here to view the Episode of American Stories, A Reading Road Trip: Alaska
Alaska Literacy and Literature Honored in 2025 Awards
Years of support for authors, reading, and language mark the five winners of the 2025 Contributions to Literacy in Alaska (CLIA) Awards from the Alaska Center for the Book.
Honorees are the Bright Lights Book Project, based in Palmer; Fairbanks author and literary critic David A. James; KYUK Public Media of Bethel; and Alaska Native language advocates Dr. Walkie Charles of Fairbanks and Yaayuk Alvanna-Stimpfle of Nome.
The CLIA awards are presented annually by Alaska Center for the Book, Alaska’s affiliate with the U.S. Library of Congress Center for the Book. Since 1993, the awards have been presented to more than 100 people and institutions making a significant contribution in literacy, the literary arts, or the preservation of the written or spoken word.
Founded in 1991, ACB is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization. It participates in the National Book Festival, Alaska Reads, Alaska Book Week, Reading Rendezvous, and other events.
Alaska Reads Program Announces Book Selection
Indigenous author Lily Tuzroyluke has been selected for the 2024-2026 Alaska Reads program, which brings Alaskans together through shared reading experiences.
Tuzroyluke is of Inupiaq, Tlingit, and Nisga’a First Nations descent; originally from Point Hope, she now lives in Anchorage. Her historical novel Sivulliq: Ancestor is set in 1890s Alaska, amid harrowing change for the Inupiaq people. The story is a tale of survival, of an Inupiaq family that survives a smallpox epidemic and the arrival of American whalers, and the Black whaler who shares part of their struggle.
Sivulliq: Ancestor has received wide literary praise since being published by Epicenter Press in 2023, and was selected for the Library of Congress Great Reads from Great Places. As the Alaska Reads author, Tuzroyluke will visit libraries and communities across the state through 2026.
Every two years, the Alaska Reads committee chooses a publication by a living Alaskan author. The author travels throughout Alaska discussing their work at book discussion groups, libraries, bookstores, museums and cultural centers, and through radio broadcasts and social media. Previous authors and their selected books include Ernestine Hayes, author of Blonde Indian; Nicole Stellon O’Donnell’s Steam Laundry; Heather Lende’s Finding the Good; and Paul Greci’s Surviving Bear Island.
Alaska Center for the Book, which coordinates the program, has partnered with the Alaska State Library, the Alaska Humanities Forum, and the Rasmuson Foundation to provide books and author travel.
Libraries interested in hosting Tuzroyluke can contact Lila Vogt at lilav@spenardak.com.
Vera Starbard Named New Alaska State Writer Laureate
The Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA), in partnership with the Alaska Humanities Forum, is pleased to announce Vera Starbard, T’set Kwei, as the new 2024-2026 Alaska State Writer Laureate. Starbard, a Tlingit and Dena’ina playwright, magazine editor, and Emmy-nominated television writer, brings a breadth of experience and a passion for storytelling to this prestigious role. MORE
Enjoy Alaska Book Week
(Even After It Has Passed)
Alaska Book Week is an annual celebration highlighting and promoting Alaska’s literary culture. You can find links to many of the virtual events that happened this year and in the past few years at the Alaska Book
Week website. The event is designed to raise awareness about the state’s rich literary heritage, showcasing established and emerging voices across Alaska’s diverse communities.
Throughout the week, events are held in various locations, including bookstores, libraries, schools, and online platforms, featuring book readings, author panels, workshops, and book signings. It’s a time when Alaskan stories, ranging from fiction and poetry to history and memoirs, take center stage. The event encourages participation from the literary community and the general public, fostering a sense of connection and pride in Alaska’s storytelling traditions.
The week’s themes often highlight the state’s unique landscapes, history, and cultural narratives, reflecting Alaskans’ spirit and resilience. It’s an opportunity for readers and writers alike to engage with the stories that define life in this vast and rugged region, strengthening the local literary community by providing visibility to creators and encouraging a love for reading.
This celebration highlights the work of Alaskan authors and plays a significant role in cultivating literary talent and fostering collaboration between artists and readers across the state. It’s a vibrant testament to how literature can reflect and shape a place’s identity.
Visit our Alaska Book Week website here to find out about the many events taking place this year and you will also find links to past years’ virtual Alaska Book Week events.
We were thrilled by the response to the 2023 Read Alaska Native Reading Challenge and are pleased to offer the activity as an ongoing reading activity. No deadlines. No entry forms. Just download the bingo cards for your age groups and use as a personal reading challenge or as a group activity. Cards, bookmarks, and resources can be found on the homepage for the Read Alaska Native project.
Click here to go to the Read Alaska Native Project homepage.
PICK. CLICK. GIVE
The Alaska Center for the Book is included in the Permanent Fund Dividend’s Pick.Click.Give. charitable contributions program. It’s a secure and easy way to make a donation to an organization that stimulates public interest in literacy through the spoken and written word. When you file for your PFD online, you will be given a chance to donate money from your PFD. When you do, please remember The Alaska Center for the Book.
Just check the box that authorizes the State to send your name, contact information and the amount you give when it sends contributions to an organization so we can recognize your support.
Thanks to all who contributed. Your help allows the Alaska Center for the Book to continue its programs, events and unique projects to support and build literacy in Alaska.
For more information click here: Pick. Click. Give.
Opportunities
The Alaska Native Arts Directory – The Alaska Native Arts Directory is an upcoming free online platform for all Alaska Native artists—no matter your medium or career stage. Whether you’re a visual artist, create customary arts or crafts, write, make music, act, are a storyteller, or a language speaker, this space is for you. The Directory will be designed to showcase your work, foster connections, and offer business development resources. An initiative of the Alaska Native Arts Foundation, the directory is currently being built, and we’re actively seeking artists to join.
Baby Raven Reads –Sealaska Heritage sponsors Baby Raven Reads, an award-winning program that promotes early-literacy, language development and school readiness for Alaska Native families with children up to age 5. Baby Raven Reads improves early literacy skills by translating cultural strengths into home literacy practices. Baby Raven Reads provides family literacy events, training for care providers, and professional development for early childhood educators. Included on the Baby Raven Reads page are lesson plans, audio resources, and information about purchasing books in the series! Visit www.akarts.org/studentseducators for more detailed information and other Student + Families + Educators resources.
Seeking Alaska Native Writers Calling all Alaska Native writers, poets, and content creators! We are seeking submissions for stories, poems, photo essays, and other creative works that center what Spring means to you from an Indigenous lens. This is a paid opportunity, and we would like to share your work with our community.If you’re interested, please contact Presley West at pwest@alaskanative.net. Haw’aa!
Hometown Reads is in Anchorage! A website dedicated to locating authors near you, Hometown Reads has a section for Anchorage. Sign up to have your book displayed and join the Facebook page to brainstorm ways to advertise and sell books locally. Check it out at https://hometownreads.com.
Youth Poet Laureate. You probably know that there is a United States Poet Laureate, but you may have never having heard of the Youth Poet Laureate. Here is a link to a excellent article from TheLilly.com that features a conversation with two Youth Laureates.
- The Alaska Native Arts Directory – The Alaska Native Arts Directory is an upcoming free online platform for all Alaska Native artists—no matter your medium or career stage. Whether you’re a visual artist, create customary arts or crafts, write, make music, act, are a storyteller, or a language speaker, this space is for you. The Directory will be designed to showcase your work, foster connections, and offer business development resources. An initiative of the Alaska Native Arts Foundation, the directory is currently being built, and we’re actively seeking artists to join.