CROSSCURRENTS

Because books aren’t just for reading, the Crosscurrents onstage conversations unite authors and audiences through lively, moderated discussions on questions pertaining to art, culture, and science as illuminated by writers and their work. Our thanks to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Bookstore, the Copper Whale Inn, and KSKA radio for their helping in funding and promoting this series.

FANTASTIC, HISTORIC, UNCONVENTIONAL:
CROSSING LITERARY FICTION BOUNDARIES
Eowyn Ivey and Andromeda Romano-Lax
February 22, 7:00 to 8:30 PM
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Auditorium

Debut author Eowyn Ivey (The Snow Child) joins Andromeda Romano-Lax (The Spanish Bow, The Detour) for an onstage conversation about their internationally published novels and their approach to fiction as Alaskan writers. What draw one author to set her fiction in Alaska, while another chooses historic Europe as her backdrop? Which comes first - story or genre, setting or character? How can an imaginary story set decades ago hold up a mirror to the present? Where do fact and fiction meet, and what role does research play? Romano-Lax's novels have been described as "evocative and lyrical," "vivid and heartbreaking," while Ivey's The Snow Child has been dubbed "an enchanting, transporting tale" and "a remarkable accomplishment."

PAST CROSSCURRENTS EVENTS

MELINDA MOUSTAKIS AND FRANK SOOS
Fictional Truth
Oct. 14, 201 7 p.m.
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Auditorium

In what ways is fiction both timeless and changing?  In the age of information, do stories still matter? To what extent is Alaskafiction coming into its own? As part of AlaskaBook Week (Oct. 8-15), join Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction winners Melinda Moustakis (Bear Down Bear North) and Frank Soos (Unified Field Theory, Early Yet) for an onstage conversation about the status and future of fiction both in Alaskaand beyond.   A question and answer session and book-signing will follow.  There is no charge for 49 Writers and museum members; a $5 donation is suggested for non-members.

DANI SHAPIRO
Writing Memoir:  Exposure and Betrayal
August 31, 2011 7 p.m.
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Auditorium  

Best-selling author Dani Shapiro (Devotion, Black and White, Slow Motion) joins Sherry Simpson (The Accidental Explorer, The Way Winter Comes) for an onstage conversation about the truths and misconceptions that surround memoir writing.  Can a rich, dramatic story be paralyzing in its telling?  If the writer leaves something out, is she being evasive?  What is the writer’s responsibility in truth and fact versus memory?Simpson will moderate this lively discussion with reference to Shapiro’s work, including her recent memoir Devotion, a national bestseller and Today Show “Best Winter Book,” described by Publisher’s Weekly as “absorbing, intimate, direct and profound.”A question and answer session and book-signing will follow.  There is no charge for 49 Writers and museum members; a $5 donation is suggested for non-members. 

Co-sponsored by the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Bookstore and the Copper Whale Inn.

SUSAN ORLEAN
To Tell the Truth: Writing People and Place
Friday, April 1, 2011   7 - 8:30 p.m.
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Auditorium

Nationally-acclaimed author and frequent New Yorker contributor Susan Orlean joined Alaska journalist Julia O’Malley for an onstage conversation about people, place, and truth in writing.  How does one capture the extraordinary within the ordinary?  Which places make the best stories?  In what sense are all stories journeys? O’Malley moderated this lively discussion with reference to Orlean’s books The Orchid Thief, The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup, and My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who’s Been Everywhere.   A question and answer session and book-signing followed.  

Co-sponsored by the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Bookstore, the Alaska Travel Industry Association, and the Copper Whale Inn.

New Yorker author Susan Orlean (The Orchid Thief) in an onstage conversation with local writer Julia O'Malley at our April 1 Crosscurrents event at the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Auditorium.