In December, beloved mystery writer, Sue Grafton passed away. A #1 New York Times-bestselling author, Sue Grafton published in twenty-eight countries and in twenty-six languages—including Estonian, Bulgarian, and Indonesian. Books in her alphabet series, beginning with A is for Alibi in 1982 and most recently, Y is for Yesterday, are international bestsellers with readership in the millions. Her 25 novels featuring the private eye Kinsey Millhone established the hard-boiled female detective as a viable alternative to the males who had dominated the genre.

From The Guardian on January 3, 2018, “Sue Grafton’s influence on writers was immense, not only through Millhone but also on a personal level. The crime writer Meg Gardiner, a big fan, said: ‘With every page I wished: Kinsey Millhone, be my friend. Beyond that [she] showed me how a female series heroine could work … I thought: Yes. Give me more. And let me learn to write fiction that aspires to be as good.’”

Dana Stabenow thought that a wonderful way to honor Sue’s dedication to the written word and women writers would be to raise the money to name a cabin at Storyknife Writers Retreat after her. At this time, the funds for the other five cabins have been pledged or donated. This is the last cabin to name (though we have many other opportunities to name a part of Storyknife after an inspirational woman in your life), and it would be fabulous to have it commemorate a writer whose strong heroine inspired so many.

To that end, we’ve set up a dedicated fundraising page to the campaign to raise $50,000 to name a cabin for Sue. If you are one of those millions who love Sue Grafton and Kinsey Millhone, please consider donating to help us reach the goal of building Sue’s Cabin, not just to honor her memory, but to provide a place for women writers to create their own novels, essays, and poems to inspire generations to come.

Donate here, and thank you for helping make Storyknife a reality for women writers everywhere. Please share with everyone who might want to take part.

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As of January 22, 2018, funding has been secured or pledged for five of the six cabins that will comprise the Storyknife Writers Retreat. Each of the cabins will be named for an Alaskan woman of distinction. There is one more cabin that is available for support. Donations in the amount of $50,000 give the funder naming privileges. If you think that you might like to name a cabin after a woman who has made an incredible impact in your life or the lives of others, now would be a good time to contact us!

Last May, the final funds for the main house were secured. Former Alaska Writer Laureate, Peggy Shumaker and her husband Joe Usibelli matched and doubled the donations of one hundred and twelve people. The main house will be named after Homer writer and poet, Eva Saulitis.

In its first two years of operation, Storyknife has been able to offer five women month-long residencies in which to devote their time solely to writing. When the entire residency is built, it will be able to offer at minimum 42 women residencies each year.

We are in the middle of the adjudication for this year’s residencies. There were 97 applications for 3 spaces! Every applicant has hopes and dreams for her writing. How we wish we could award time to all of them. Any help you can give us to cross the finish line at funding the entire infrastructure and building cost would be most joyously welcomed. And thank you again, to all of the people whose generosity has brought us this far!

It’s October, which means that the Frederica Cabin is empty for the first time in four months. Since June 1, there has been a woman writer sitting at the desk, looking out at Mt. Iliamna, and writing her heart out.

Mairéad, Megan, Bea, and Ruby. Four gifted women who have been gifts for Dana and I this summer at Storyknife. And just this Friday, we received word of another gift. The Atwood Foundation has awarded Storyknife a grant for $50,000.00 to be used to build one of the cabins.

This cabin will be named after Evangeline Atwood, a third-generation Alaskan, who fought for statehood, organizing the group “Operation Statehood.” In 1950, she started the Anchorage League of Voters and then the Alaska Statehood Association, with a mission of bringing a favorable popular vote on statehood by informing the public of the pros and cons of territorial status vs. statehood. In addition to authoring seven books about Alaska, Evangeline was instrumental in establishing the Alaska World Affairs Council, the Parent-Teacher Council in Anchorage, and the Cook Inlet Historical Society.

One of the most difficult parts of running a nonprofit is asking for support. Sure, we believe in the mission; it’s pretty easy to tell you that we believe that women’s stories matter in the world, more than ever. We’re just starting out, and so we’re just developing the track record of putting our shoulders to the wheel to make that mission come true. So far, five women have had the opportunity to spend a month listening to the words bubble up under the vast Alaska skies. In the future, we will be hosting a minimum of 47 women each year. Think of the novels, poems, essays, stories around the dinner table, walks along the path that looks out over Iliamna. Season after season of women listening the sandhill cranes and rain on the roof, projecting their stories on the drift of fog off the ocean or the far snowy peaks of the Alaska Range.

This is what stands between us and putting Dana’s full vision of gift of Storyknife into the hands of all those women writers, money. We need to raise the $100,000 for two more cabins, and another $400,000 to put in the infrastructure, furnishings, and some site work. We need folks who are willing to commit to donating a bit each year that might pay the chef for her time making rhubarb cobbler, or for potatoes at the Farmer’s Market for the dinner table, or for electricity to keep that desk lamp burning into the early morning while the words spill out on the page.

We are so grateful that the Atwood Foundation will help us closer to helping women trust their stories and make the connections that will fuel their writing lives forever. Won’t you join us as well? You can be part of the Mount Iliamna Founders Circle, or you can be sustaining donor who gives just a bit each month (we can bill your credit card monthly), or you can give whatever is comfortable. There is no amount that won’t go directly into building and running Storyknife. You can be part of the vision where women’s stories matter.

Summer is slipping past us. At Storyknife, we’ve been hosting a new writer in residence each month. In June, Mairéad Byrne stayed in the Frederica cabin and drafted new poetry. July found Megan Donnelly there writing up a storm. Bea Chang drove up the Al-Can from Seattle for her residency in August. We have one more residency in September with Ruby Hansen Murray.

Needless to say, Dana and I have been busy. In addition to residents, we’ve been working with the folks who surveyed and staked out the building pads for the main house and the six cabins. Today, they are starting to put the driveway in and the infrastructure so that we can build next year. We’ve been writing grants and raising funds.

We are still glowing about the generosity of all people who donated to make Eva’s House a reality. After the fundraiser closed, we received a check in the mail from Thomas Clarke, a childhood friend of Eva’s. He understood that the donation-matching was over, but wanted to add his contribution to help in any way. We were so touched that we reached out to Thomas and his mother Sylvia to find out more about their connection with Eva.

Thomas wrote, “Eva and I attended school together, from kindergarten through graduating from Silver Creek Central High in 1981 together.  I cannot remember not knowing her!” He recounted that she was independent, thoughtful, unconventional, intelligent, nonconformist. This certainly sounds like the Eva we knew as an adult. He concluded, “Eva valued the old European values of family, honesty, loyalty and respect for others taught by her parents through the way they lived.”

Sylvia Clarke, Thomas’s mother, was good friends with Eva’s mother, Asja. She recalled, “Eva came back to Silver Creek to do a reading in our local library from one of her books.  I contacted the high school librarian who arranged for Eva to lecture to the creative writing classes while she was here.  We made a beautiful display of her works in the school library. The students loved her.  The evening reading in the public library was well attended.” Eva’s friends know of her enjoyment of making traditional Latvian bread. Sylvia wrote, “I learned to make their Latvian black bread with them (Eva and her sister, Mara) in their Mom’s kitchen.  Asja would always say ‘knead it harder, longer’ to Eva, Mara & me.  Their father said, ‘No one will need braces;  the black bread will make strong, straight teeth.’”

We hope that Eva’s spirit of generosity and respect for others will live on in the main house dedicated to her memory. Thank you Thomas for donating towards building it and to the one-hundred and ten other people who donated as well. And a most sincere thank you, again, to Peggy Shumaker and Joe Usibelli for donating $2 for every $1 raised in that campaign. Because of the vision and benevolence of all you, Storyknife is moving forward.

We still have a ways to go, so if you want to join the amazing people listed on our “Support” page, please feel free to donate through Paypal or send a check. Even though summer is slipping through our hands, the foundation we’re building for Storyknife is solid, and we need your help!

PS. YES! That is earth-moving equipment on the Storyknife lot!!!!

Iliamna on a winter day.

It’s been a cold and icy winter here in the Homer, but we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to bring Storyknife together. More than ever, women’s stories matter! Our writing can change the world.

A reminder of IMPORTANT DATES:

APPLY:

January 27 is the deadline for applications for the 2017 residency period of June, July, August, and September. The link is: https://storyknifewritersretreat.submittable.com/submit. The application process is straight-forward and your writing sample is the most important part. Please apply and pass this information along to any women writers you know that could use a month to concentrate on their work. Let Storyknife give you the time and space to craft your words.

SUPPORT:

February 14 is approaching, and we’re still trying to raise the funds to build the main house of Storyknife to be named after Eva Saulitis. Peggy Shumaker and Joe Usibelli have been so generous to match your donations two dollars for ever one you donate! We’ve made great strides toward raising the money for Storyknife, but we won’t get there without your help. We’re in a new year, and all of your donations will be tax deductible. Please consider donating either by sending a check to Storyknife at our PO Box 75, Homer, AK 99603 (be sure to write “Eva’s House” on the comment line) or through our digital portal on generosity.com.

When we look out over the rolling snow-covered hillside that faces Cook Inlet, with the mountains and the volcanoes in the background, we believe in the power of this place. We believe in the power of women’s voices. Do you believe in that as well? Would you be willing to be a real part of this place? We hope so.

Join us!

View from Storyknife courtesy of Kim Rogers, inaugural Storyknife resident

There are people whose lives touch yours, who are like a light along the path, a light you can follow. For me, and for so many other people, Eva Saulitis was that light. An incredible scientist, teacher, friend, writer, and genuinely generous person, Eva was one-of-a-kind. In January this year, when she died from breast cancer, grief swamped the little town of Homer, Alaska, and the waves traveled outward. Many of those mourning had never met Eva in person. They had been touched by Eva’s grace and grit, all packaged in the beauty of her writing.

There are many ways to remember Eva. For me, I remember the camaraderie of knowing each morning that the two of us were writing in our journals at the same time, looking out at the mountains across Kachemak Bay. Others remember moments in Eva’s class or in a workshop at the Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference. Others still are connected to Eva through the words she left behind, most poignantly in Becoming Earth which was published this August. I am excited to tell you of one more way for Eva’s legacy to live on.

We’d like to name the main house of Storyknife “Eva’s House.” To do so, we’re going to try to raise $250,000 by Valentine’s Day in 2017. To help us along, Peggy Shumaker and Joe Usibelli have offered to match your donations two-for-one. So, until we reach our goal of $250,000, they will be basically tripling your donation.

Here’s how to donate and triple your dollars:

• Go to our fundraising page. Generosity.com is an off-shoot of Indiegogo for non-profit organizations. You can donate securely through their page. The take 3% plus 30 cents per donation, which is comparable to PayPal.
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• OR send us a check so that the entire amount goes into the fund – make it out to Storyknife and send it to PO BOX 489, Homer, Alaska 99603. Please write Eva’s House on the memo line so that we know what fund to credit.

Then watch this page for updates on the funds raised. Please share this on social media, through email, and word of mouth. Women’s stories are important, now more than ever. Let’s make Eva’s House and Storyknife happen!