Author: Angela Gonzalez

2025 Alaska Native Book Fair

Indigenous authors featured at 5th annual Alaska Native Book Fair
Celebrating and encouraging reading, writing, and creativity

Anchorage, AK (Updated April 11, 2025) – More than a dozen Indigenous authors will be featured at the Annual Alaska Native Book Fair on April 18, a social and literary event that brings together published authors, aspiring writers, and Alaskans of all ages to celebrate Indigenous storytelling and learn about publishing. 

What: Alaska Native Book Fair
Date: April 18, 2025
Time: 12 – 4 p.m. — Free Admission
Where: Cook Inlet Tribal Council, 3600 San Jeronimo Dr., Anchorage, AK

At this year’s book fair, people can meet and talk with Iñupiaq James Dommek, Jr., author and narrator of the hair-raising survival audiobook Midnight Son; Indigenous author Lily Tuzroyluke, who wrote the gripping Iñupiaq historical novel Sivulluq: Ancestor; and Dena’ina Athabascan Annie Wenstrup, author of The Museum of Unnatural Histories, and the 2025 winner of the Whiting Foundation poetry prize for exceptional new writers. 

Feel free to chat with other participating authors: Beverly Sims (Our Fur-fathers of Southwest Alaska: Kalmakoff, Kameroff, Kamkoff), Aurora Hardy (Windswept: Chitina, Alaska Childhood), the Atwaters (How Raven Got His Crooked Nose), Katherine Gottlieb (His Hand Upon Me), Miranda Miller (Muddy Paws + Messy Trucks), Maria Williams (The Alaska Native Reader), Joni Spiess (Mittens and Mukluks! Winter in Alaska), Sharon Kay (Learn to Weave an Attu Basket), Holly Miowak Guise (Alaska Native Resilience: Voices from WWII); and Caitlyn Elias (The Other Side of the River: An Alaska Native Story by Elias Kelly). Books by the featured authors and other Indigenous writers will be for sale at the event. Guests are welcome to bring their own books for autographs.

PBS’ Molly of Denali will be there from noon-2 p.m.

The event will also host a panel of three Alaska Native writers discussing their memoirs as works in progress. The writer’s panel will be from 2-3 p.m., and will be live streamed over Facebook at www.facebook.com/events/808704001306061/.

In telling their personal stories, these authors hope to inspire others to write the story of their own lives. Panel moderators will be Rhonda McBride of KNBA, and Joaqlin Estus, a retired journalist. Panelists are: 

  1. Emil Notti, Alaska Federation of Natives president in the years leading up to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA)
  2. Sam Kito, Jr., a Japanese-Tlingit elder and lobbyist who was interned in a concentration camp during World War II.
  3. Cynthia Notti, who has a middle grade book on the  influenza pandemic in the works and is contributing to her father Emil’s biography.

 Update: Watch the panel discussion here: https://vimeo.com/1076816422?share=copy

The free event will also feature door prizes.

“The Alaska Native Book Fair is a great time for people to meet published authors, to learn about developing your own writing skills, to get autographs, and to visit with people who love to read,” said Kristel Komakhuk, Chair of the 2025 Alaska Native Book Fair.  “It’s also a reminder of the powerful role of storytelling in keeping our Indigenous traditions and heritage alive.” 

Sponsored by: Alaska Native Media Group, Atwood Foundation, Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Talking Circle Media, FSBO System, Alaska Center for the Book, University of Alaska, Anchorage School District Indigenous Education, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Calista Education and Culture, Anchorage Equal Rights Commission, Aleut Corporation, Marie Matthews, and others.

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Alaska Native Book Fair 2024

AWARD-WINNING AUTHORS FEATURED AT 5th ANNUAL ALASKA NATIVE BOOK FAIR EVENT

Award-winning Alaska Native authors Velma Wallis and Lily Tuzroyluke will be featured at the 5th Annual Alaska Native Book Fair on April 19, a literary event that brings together published authors, aspiring writers, and Alaskans of all ages to celebrate indigenous storytelling and learn about the world of publishing.

The event will include a panel of Alaska Native authors who have written memoirs, including Wallis (“Raising Ourselves” and “Two Old Women”), Katherine Gottlieb (“His Hand Upon Me”), and Carlton Smith (“Roots Tree Totem”).   In telling their personal stories, these authors hope to inspire others to write the story of their own lives.   Twelve published Alaska Native authors will attend the event and will also be offering their books for sale, including children’s illustrated books, Alaska Native history, autobiographies, and fiction.   

“This is an opportunity for new authors to learn about developing their writing skills and for experienced authors to share their unique perspectives with other writers. It’s also a fun time to purchase some wonderful Alaskan books and chat with the authors, as well as leaders in our Native community,” said Roberta Miljure, Chair of the 2024 Alaska Native Book Fair.  “Storytelling is a part of our Alaska Native culture. It’s a powerful and healing way to keep our indigenous traditions and heritage alive.”

The free event, from 12 to 4pm at the CIRI Building, will also feature raffled door prizes and will be livestreamed over Facebook at www.facebook.com/events/808704001306061/.  The writer’s panel will be from 2-3pm.  Participating authors include: Velma Wallis, Lily Tuzroyluke (“Sivulliq: Ancestor”), Willie Hensley (“Fifty Miles from Tomorrow”), Katherine Gottlieb, Carlton Smith, Ethan Atwater, Barbara Atwater, Bev Sims, Yaari Walker, Phyllis Adams, Maria Williams and Tiny Devlin (represented by Jack and Jackie Devlin). Guests are welcome to bring books for signed autographs.

Alaska Native Book Fair
April 19, 2024
12 – 4pm — Free Admission
CIRI Building: 725 E. Fireweed Lane, First Floor, Anchorage, AK

Sponsored by:  Alaska Center for the Book; Alaska Native Media Group; Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium; Alaska Pacific University; Atwood Foundation; ASD Indigenous Education; Best Beginnings; CIRI; Talking Circle Media; UAA Native Student Services.

Update: The Alaska Native Book Fair was held on April 19 with the following authors who joined us.

  • Velma Wallis: Three Old Women; Raising Ourselves
  • Katherine Gottlieb:  His Hands Upon Me: The True Story of an Alaska Native and Her Fight to End Abuse
  • Tiny Devlin, represented by Jack and Jackie Devlin:  Tiny’s Stories: An Athabascan Family on the Yukon River
  • Barbara and Ethan Atwater, children’s books:  Walter’s Story How the Owl Got its Crooked Beak 
  • Bev Sims; older audience, Our Forefathers of Southwest Alaska
  • Yaari Walker
  • Phyllis Adams, children’s books  The Gingerbread Moose, Alaska Boots for Chelsea
  • Willie Hensley, high school age, Fifty Miles from Tomorrow 
  • Maria Williams.  1 to 4 pm
  • Lily Tuzroyluke, Sivulliq
  • Carlton Smith

Alaska Native Book Fair

Several non-profit and educational organizations are holding an Alaska Native Book Fair Sept. 13, 2019 to promote reading, writing, and knowledge of Alaska Native cultures. We’ll have author and poet readings at noon and 4 p.m. Participants can visit with published Alaska Native authors and illustrators and buy autographed books. Young ones can draw and write their own books. The event is free and open to the public. Please feel free to share information (PDF file) about the event.

Date: Sept. 13, 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Location: Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Administration Building
Atrium, 4000 Ambassador Drive (near Elmore and Tudor in Anchorage, AK).

To get a taste of the 2018 Alaska Native Book Fair, watch for a video of panel discussions on 360 North on your local public television station.

Alaska Native Book Fair sponsors include the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Alaska Pacific University, Atwood Foundation, Best Beginnings, and the Alaska Native Media Group, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization created in 2015.

The Alaska Native Media Group’s mission is to:

  • Encourage and promote Alaska Natives in all fields of media and journalism
  • Strive for fair, accurate and relevant representation in reports on rural and urban Alaska Natives
  • Promote public understanding of Arctic issues and the history, culture and issues of Alaska Native peoples
  • Connect Alaska Natives who work in media and journalism by sharing ideas and concerns
  • Engage all people interested in our endeavors.

For more information, please call (907) 258-4686, or email jmestus50@gmail.com. Thank you.