DEB VANASSE 

Deb’s first novel, the Junior Literary Guild selection A Distant Enemy, was published by Penguin/Lodestar in 1997.  Her tenth published book, Lucy’s Dance, is scheduled with the University of Alaska Press for 2011 release.  With an undergraduate degree in English and a master’s degree in the Humanities with a literary emphasis, Deb taught high school and college English for twenty years.  An Alaskan for over thirty years, her to-do list includes applying for membership in the Pioneers of Alaska.  She’s convinced the teaching of writing sharpens her attention to precision and depth in her own work.  In 2009, she joined blog forces with Andromeda Romano-Lax at www.49writers.blogspot.com, and in 2010, she became one of the founding Directors of 49 Writers, Inc.  Deb lives in Anchorage and retreats to a cabin near the Matanuska Glacier whenever she gets a chance. Her author website is www.debvanasse.com.

ANDROMEDA ROMANO-LAX

Born in 1970 in Chicago, Andromeda Romano-Lax worked as a freelance journalist and travel writer before turning to fiction. Her first novel, The Spanish Bow (Harcourt, 2007), was a New York Times Editor’s Choice and was translated into 11 languages.  Her second novel, The Detour, enlarges upon themes introduced in her debut novel, including questions about the role of art – and the promise of love – during wartime. Among Romano-Lax’s nonfiction works are ten travel and natural history interpretive guidebooks to Alaska and Mexico, as well as a travel narrative, Searching for Steinbeck’s Sea of Cortez: A Makeshift Expedition Along Baja’s Desert Coast (Sasquatch Books). She lives in Anchorage, Alaska with her husband and two children, and is a founding Director of 49 Writers, Inc. She is the recipient of grants from the Alaska Council on the Arts and the Rasmuson Foundation, which named her a 2009 Artist Fellow. A life-long student, she is currently pursuing her MFA at Antioch University in Los Angeles. Her official author website iswww.romanolax.com.

MICHAEL CATOGGIO

Michael Catoggio holds a Masters in Library Science from the University at Albany – State University of New York.  He has over thirty years of professional experience in librarianship and education.  Highlights include:  Branch Coordinator, Alaska Court System Libraries; Alaskana Librarian, Anchorage Public Library.  Director, East Greenbush (NY) Community Library; and Assistant Professor of Library Science, University of Alaska Anchorage.  

CHERILYNN STONE

Cherilynn is a long-time Alaskan, now raising her five children here.  A lifelong entrepreneur, she's been in the Internet marketing industry for 11 years. Since 2009, she has been speaking, teaching and training on Internet Marketing, Social Media, Blogging, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), E-mail Marketing and more. The strategies she teaches offer people highly effective, extremely inexpensive avenues to build relationships worldwide. Using customized systems of blogging, social media and e-mail marketing, they are able to dominate search engines with a powerful online presence thus establishing and broadening their reach.

STEVE ALMOND

Award-winning short story writer and essayist Steve Almond is the author of ten books, including Booksense Nonfiction Book of theYear Candyfreak, God Bless America, and Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life.  He is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe, and he has served on the faculty at several universities and conferences, including Tin House and Sanibel. 

KELSEA HABECKER

Kelsea Habecker has an MFA in poetry from Bennington College. Her book of poems, Hollow Out, was selected by US Poet Laureate Charles Simic for publication by New Rivers Press in 2008. 

KATEY SCHULTZ

Katey Schultz grew up in Portland, Oregon and most recently lived in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. She is spending 2010-2012 traveling across the United States as Writer-in-Residence for various arts organizations. Her fiction has received five awards in the past two years, including the Linda Flowers Literary Prize, Press 53 Award for Short Story, and the Greensboro Short Fiction Award. Her short stories have appeared in Fiction Daily, River Styx, The Outlet, Calyx, Cold Flashes Anthology, Flash Fiction Magazine, and more. Her nonfiction has appeared in Oregon Quarterly, The Nature Conservancy Newsletter, and Generations. Since graduating from the Pacific University MFA in Writing program, she has received writing fellowships from Jentel Foundation, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Madroño Ranch, and served as Writer-in-Residence for Interlochen Center for the Arts, Weymouth Center, and Fishtrap. Katey is also editor of TRACHODON, a dinosaur of a little magazine. 

JOHN MCKAY

John McKay is an Alaska attorney who has represented Alaska and national media organizations, including print and broadcast news media, authors, photographers, publishers, filmmakers and others on copyright, libel, privacy, access to government, and related issues for over 30 years. He has taught Media Law for over 25 years at UAA, and has presented workshops on copyright issues for numerous groups including national conferences of Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) and National Federation of Presswomen, the Alaska Bar Association, Alaska Press Club, Alaska Broadcasters Association, and others. In 2007 McKay received the Alaska Press Club's inaugural First Amendment Award, and has an MFA in Creative Writing & Literary Arts (poetry) and a master’s degree in journalism.

DAVID VANN

David Vann was born in the Aleutian Islandsand spent his childhood in Ketchikan, Alaska. For 12 years, no agent would send out his first book, Legend of a Suicide, so he went to sea and became a captain and boat builder. Legend of a Suicide has now won 10 prizes, including the Prix Medicis for best foreign novel in France, the Premi Libreter for best foreign novel in Spain, the Grace Paley Prize, a California Book Award, and the L’Express readers’ prize (France).  His novel CaribouIsland was a national bestseller and read on the BBC and selected by the Danish book club. His new novel, Dirt, will be published by HarperCollins in May 2012. Acurrent Guggenheim Fellow and former Wallace Stegner Fellow and NEA Fellow, he has taught at Stanford, Cornell, FSU, and is currently a professor at the Universityof San Francisco. Website: www.DavidVann.com

MATTOX ROESCH

Mattox Roesch’s first novel, Sometimes We're Always Real Same-Same (Unbridled ’09), was named one of the best books of 2009 by Booklist and New West. His short fiction has appeared in numerous publications and anthologies, including The Sun, Narrative Magazine, The Missouri Review, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. Matt received his MFA from Warren Wilson College. He currently lives with his wife and daughter in Unalakleet, Alaska. His website is www.mattoxroesch.com. 

DEBBIE LAFLEICHE

MORE FACULTY FROM PREVIOUS TERMS: Melinda Moustakis, Jenna Schnuer, Bill Sherwonit, Sandy Klevin, David Marusek, Dana Stabenow, Cindy Dyson, Brett Dillingham, John Morgan, Marybeth Holleman, Kim Rich, Bruce Hale, Leslie Hsu Oh.  

He has taught writing workshops at colleges and universities, and spoken at national conferences of writing, publishing, and literacy organizations. On top of that, Bruce has visited elementary schools across
the country, from Hawaii, to Kansas, to Pennsylvania. (You’d never guess he loves to travel.)