Connotations

As the Island Institute’s programs grew, we wanted to chronicle the ways in which the ideas highlighted in Symposium discussions and the work of our Resident Fellows fostered a language of community and place, and to share those ideas with a wider audience. To those ends, in 1993 we began publishingConnotations, a small literary journal that we could send to Institute members and colleagues in and outside of Alaska.

Connotations is published semi-annually, and features poetry, essays, and stories related to the Institute’s mission, written by participants in our programs. In making selections for each issue,we have been reminded of the remarkable diversity among program participants, and have been honored to publish important new voices alongside the work of nationally-recognized writers.

Winter 2013

Memogram: Marjorie Gellhorn Sa’adah, Amore, Siblings: Ann Staley, The Great Arch, The Hand Held; ...

Summer 2013

Introduction: John Straley, Big City Vignettes: Ed Ronco, Downtown Ravens: Laura Kaltenstein, Wild Onions: Melissa ...

Fall 2012

Presilience: Of Eggs & Baskets: Kathleen Dean Moore, Up Here: Rebecca Hartwell, Chilkat Style: Daniel Lee Henry, Predawn / ...

Spring 2012

Getting Perspective: Katey Schultz, Drowned Trying: Janée Baugher, Blink / Sustenance: Peggy Shumaker, Ruth / shrapnel shards ...

Spring 2011

The Field Marker: Alice Pung, I Find and Name the Lost Child: Sheila Nickerson, What Seas, What Shores?: Kate Lidfors ...

Fall 2011

Refugia of the Imagination: Kathleen Dean Moore, Steelies: Rebecca Conrad Lawton, Remnant / Newsies / At This Moment: Carlos ...

Summer 2010

Run to Cadiz: Yvonne Mozée, Cool / Blue Black: John Straley, The Americans: lê thi diem thúy, Grown Children: Stefani ...

Winter 2009/2010

Prelude to Care / Watering Guadalupe's Rose: Jerry Martein, Three Prose Poems: Vivian Faith Prescott, Old Stories from the New ...

Spring/Summer 2009

Myth, Poetry and the Land: Gary Snyder, The Old Hackleman Place, An Obituary: Ellen Waterston, Learning the Grammar of ...

Spring/Summer 2008

On Natural Beauty Alison Hawthorne Deming The "Commons" Sense of John Wesley Powell William deBuys The Life and Death of a ...

Winter 2008-2009

Black Friday Invitation: Eva Saulitis, The Death of Darwinism: Christopher Preston, Gears / Pieces: Annette ...

Fall/Winter 2007

Thank You for the River: Mathilde Walter Clark, Strange Orange World: Tom Dreyer, Half Children: Jaed Muncharoen Coffin, A ...

Spring 2007

The Necessity of Beauty: Tom Jay, An Understated Sacredness: Rina Swentzell, Pursuit / You Can't Have It All: Barbara ...

Fall 2006

Nonviolence is Jihad: Rabia Terri Harris, La Luz: Joanne Mulcahy, Moon Variations / Water Histories / Ode to an Egg: Melanie ...

Winter 2002-2003

The Promise of Freshness: On Poetry, Politics, and Place: Christopher Merrill, Beyond, Behind the Totems; January 2003, Sitka ...

Spring / Summer 2005

Maysie: Stefani Farris, Photovoltaics / Nowhere Else / If I Could: Mary Mercier, Timber: Mark Tredinnick, After the Aleut / ...

Winter / Spring 2002

Springtime in the Country / Prayer for Our Woods Before Logging / Fine Weather / Any Dog: Dana Wildsmith, Iron Man: Nan ...

Summer 2000

The Third Raven: Susan Yoder Ackerman, Happy Stories / Because You Asked Me...: John Straley, Broken/Unbroken Places: Helen ...

Spring 2001

Raven Woman: Migael Scherer, Findling: Lessons from the Glaciers of Alaska: Kim Heacox, And Suddenly Nothing Happened: Eva ...

Fall 1999

There is a Season: Vernita Katchatag Herdman, Diamond Diary: Ellen Bielawski, Swimmer / Letters to Cynthia / Primigravida / ...

Spring 1999

Hunger: Joanne Mulcahy, Song for Solstice / Nightwatch Off Aleutian Shores / The Return of Geese: Louise Gallop, An Interview ...

Summer 1998

Prometheus Moth: Kathleen Dean Moore, Something Drives Up: Gary W. Hawk, Looking East: James H. Drury, Early Spring / An ...

Summer 1997

Reading Artifacts: Ursula Franklin, E. U. Washburn's Story: Uncle Abe: David Lee, Ways of Seeing, Ways of Knowing: Gary ...

Winter 1997

Deep Dreaming on Qikiqtaruk: Dan Henry, Come Out Gentle Voice: Martha Demientieff, Profligate: Jean Anderson, A Politics ...