Stories and poetry that celebrate the urban wilderness interface in Alaska through the lens of LGBTQ writers is brought together in a new anthology called Building Fires in The Snow. Authors and editors Lucian Childs and Martha Amore helped bring it all together.
AMORE: Pretty much immediately I saw it would be a lot of work and so I turned to my old friend Lucian and asked him if he would be interested in co-editing the collection.
CHILDS: I had to think about 20 seconds before I said yes because, we are literary artists and so that’s the tool that we can use to bring the stories of LGBTQ people out there. And so we just didn’t feel that those stories were being told and one of the things that people crave so much is to see their lives on the page. They wanna see their lives on the stage or on the screen. And so I thought it was a great project. And our goal was to try to create a patchwork, complete view of the Alaskan queer community, which is really quite diverse and quite vibrant.
TOWNSEND: The collection of stories as we’ve just been discussing is from members of the LGBTQ community but you said in part of the writing that the stories relate to concerns that all Alaskans share. Flesh that out a little bit for us.
AMORE: The reason that we say this book is of interest to any Alaskan is because it really, each piece really transcends the specificity of somebody’s articular lifestyle and really gets to other issues that are just more universal human issues. And of course, they’re all works based in Alaska. So really anyone who’s interested in literature and lives in Alaska will appreciate this book very much.
CHILDS: I think our lives have become more integrated with the general community and we now don’t feel the need to live in specific neighborhoods. We’re out in our workplaces. We have a broad spectrum of friends. And so what I say when I think about this book is this book is actually a portrait of Alaska, but it’s told through the lens of the LGBTQ community. So you have stories about two roommates who’re clearing a wasp’s nest out of an attic or two women trying to find a place to rent, which is a situation that does go to the core of being queer in a state that is not always accepting.
TOWNSEND: You’ve had events in several communities in the state and a panel discussion in Anchorage. What have the conversations been like? What’s been the reception and what’s the temperature in Alaska for the issues that you’re raising?
AMORE: We’ve been really touched at the outpouring of support here in Alaska. Every community we’ve been to has had great events and we’ve had amazing audiences. Gosh in Homer, we had a really interesting discussion that ranged from pronouns for transgender people through to the craft of writing. It just ranged from politics to literature and back again.
CHILDS: I was really gonna talk about Fairbanks cause that’s most recently in mind. We just got back from there last weekend and the thing that really amazed me were the number of young people. We had reached out to the Gay Straight Alliances at the high school and the university and we had a lot of young people. And the one that really touched me was a young transgendered man who came with his mom and they sat right in front. And he came up with his book and we asked him, “What’s it like for you to live here?” And I was amazed to find that he felt very accepted in his high school so it was very heartening to see that it really does feel like a new day in terms of how LGBTQ people are in Alaska.
Tomorrow evening at the Anchorage Museum there will be a reception at 5 p.m. and a 49 Writer’s event starting at 7 that will feature discussion and stories from the new LGBTQ anthology called Building Fires in the Snow.
Lori Townsend is the chief editor, senior vice president of journalism and senior host for Alaska Public Media. You can send her news tips and program ideas for Talk of Alaska and Alaska Insight at ltownsend@alaskapublic.org or call 907-550-8452. Read more about Lori here.
