Two Southeast Alaskans were the recipients of the 2017 Alaska Literary Awards and the 2017 Connie Boochever Fellowships by the Alaska Arts and Culture Foundation, in partnership with the Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA).
Vivian Faith Prescott, a poet in Wrangell, was selected for the Alaska Literary Award. She was one of five from a pool of 42 applicants. She will receive $5,000. Prescott will be the 2018 featured writer of Tidal Echoes, the regional literary and art journal of Southeast in Alaska. Her works include “Sludge,” “Slick,” and “The Dead Go to Seattle.”
The Alaska Literary Awards recognize and support writers of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, playwriting, screenwriting, and mixed genres. Quality of the work submitted is the primary consideration in determining who receives the awards. The annual Alaska Literary Awards are made possible by Peggy Shumaker and Joe Usibelli through their donation to the Alaska Arts and Culture Foundation administered by the Alaska State Council on the Arts, stated a press release.
Christy NaMee Eriksen, a spoken word artist in Juneau, was selected for the Connie Boochever Fellowship and will receive $2,500. Eriksen owns Kindred Post, a neighborhood post office and gift shop, and is a founder of the Woosh Kinaadeiyí Poetry Slam.
The purpose of the Connie Boochever Artist Fellowship is to recognize and support Alaska emerging artists of exceptional talent. The Connie Boochever Fellowship was established to honor and reflect the spirited passion of the arts Mrs. Boochever consistently demonstrated, and to further the message she championed throughout her life: That the arts are important to the citizens of Alaska and worthy of significant support from individuals, businesses and corporations, stated a press release.
