49 Writers Active Voice Podcast Katie Bausler

Acclaimed author Melinda Moustakis on her debut novel, Homestead. In this first 49 Writers Active Voice Podcast taped LIVE, we go back in time to the last years before Alaska became a state, and the tumultuous relationship of unlikely homesteaders. Inspired by the story of the author's grandparents, Homestead was reviewed "absolutely remarkable" by the Historical Novel Society. And "spare, exquisite, tough and lovely" by the New York Times. Pre-book signing chat with host Katie Bausler followed by audience questions. Recorded March 21st, 2023 at Hearthside Books along Gastineau Channel in Juneau, Alaska!

Tommy Orange on his commended debut novel "There, There", which tells the intertwining stories of Native Americans en route to a pow wow in Orange's hometown of Oakland, California. He discusses what to expect from the highly anticipated sequel, the current reckoning of the past genocide of Native Americans, white supremacy and the quest for hope versus hate. Since its 2018 publication,"There, There" has been placed on academic reading lists and a TV series based on the book is in the works. "There, There" has been honored with many awards, including the American Book Award. PEN/Hemingway judges deemed it, "as acutely attuned to our cultural and political condition as it is to the indelible legacy of violence that brought us here."

Linnea Lentfer reads passages from and discusses her debut novel. "Hold the Tide" is told by a young girl who like Lentfer, is raised hunting deer and gathering berries in remote and wild Southeast Alaska. Unlike the author, her protagonist grew up in a prior century, the child of a shunned and threatened single mother. Lentfer began writing her book when she was 12, the same age as her narrator. "Hold the Tide" was published as she graduated from high school and began college. "More than a page-turner, more than a great read, this is a significant and beautiful book about the courage of women in a cold, but life-graced land." -Kathleen Dean Moore, Author, "Earth's Wild Music"

Ohio author Bonnie Proudfoot discusses and reads passages from her debut novel with Active Voice host and producer Katie Bausler. Goshen Road is told through the alternating voices of a working class family in rural Appalachia over the course of a generation. The book holds stories of a far from easy life in a time of societal transition in one of the most culturally rich and misunderstood parts of the United States.

"Last year felt like we were all going through a bunch of rainy days," Erin Heist told Active Voice host Katie Bausler. When the pandemic shut down life as we know it, this Alaskan singer-songwriter had a ready outlet, a songwriting project complete with an online writing group and deadlines. The result is her debut recording, Another Rainy Day, a collection of songs of "grit, loss, and redemption," recorded, mixed and produced with her cousin, producer and DJ Patrick Troll.

Emily Wall is a poet and professor of English and Creative writing at the University of Alaska Southeast. Our conversation was recorded on a mild day in April 2021 on the patio of her family home overlooking Gastineau Channel in Douglas, Alaska.