Zombies, North Korea\u2019s threats, a rogue virus: the end of the world may not be upon Juneau at the moment, but the community is discussing what has happened and what might, inspired by \u201cStation Eleven,\u201d a post-apocalyptic literary novel by Emily St. John Mandel. Juneau Public Libraries, the Alaska State Library, and Egan Library at the University of Alaska Southeast have ordered hundreds of copies and are giving them away for free as part of The Big Read, an National Endowment for the Arts program for which JPL received a $15,000 grant.<\/p>\n
So far, the program has been popular.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere at our three public libraries, we ordered 200 books, and we already handed them out,\u201d said Beth Weigel, programming and events coordinator for JPL. \u201cWe just ordered another 200, and (as of the end of September) we\u2019re already through the first two boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The state library ordered the same amount, and UAS has been handing them out to attendees of new student orientations as well as giving them away to interested readers, she said.<\/p>\n
One of the first major events around The Big Read was a thought-provoking 49 Writers Crosscurrents panel at the Alaska State Museum on Sept. 29. It brought poet Joan Naviyuk Kane, playwright Vera Starbard Bedard, and novelist Don Rearden to Juneau to discuss \u201cStation Eleven,\u201d its themes, and their application to Alaska.<\/p>\n
As all of the panelists pointed out: the end of the world may seem to the characters of \u201cStation Eleven\u201d like it hasn\u2019t happened before \u2014 but it has, for indigenous peoples around Alaska (and the world), who were decimated by diseases brought by Russians and Europeans. Natural disasters even today can also be an apocalypse to those who survive them.<\/p>\n
Kane, who is I\u00f1upiaq with family from King Island and Mary\u2019s Igloo, and Starbard, who is Tlingit and Dena\u2019ina, exemplify a theme of the book, Rearden pointed out: that art and survival are intertwined.<\/p>\n
Rearden, whose novel \u201cThe Raven\u2019s Gift\u201d features a post-apocalyptic Alaska, said that the apocalypse is \u201cperhaps not as frightening in Alaska, because people know how to survive\u2026 they have already done it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starbard read from \u201cOur Voices Will Be Heard,\u201d a powerful play about generational trauma and child sexual abuse performed by Perseverance Theatre in 2016. She is currently Perseverance\u2019s writer-in-residence.<\/p>\n
Kane read from \u201cLegend,\u201d a poem about apocalyptic events I\u00f1upiaq people have survived, among them \u201ca year of two winters\u201d:<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026No<\/p>\n
Animal stirs in the noiseless<\/p>\n
Quick of a year of two winters,<\/p>\n
But marrow:<\/p>\n
Gristle of a bloated fish, roots<\/p>\n
Split and cached, skin torn<\/p>\n
From the hull of a boat<\/p>\n
Long withdrawn from water,\u201d she read.<\/p>\n
Juneau\u2019s participation in the program, Weigel said, is modeled after UAS\u2019 several years of participation in the \u201cOne Campus, One Book\u201d program, coordinated by public services librarian and associate professor Jonas Lamb.<\/p>\n
Future events include free films at the Gold Town Theatre, a drawing workshop, a reading of King Lear, and a Juneau Symphony concert, among many others.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe selected \u2018Station Eleven\u2019 as our NEA Big Read title because we see it as a story to inspire conversations about survival, be it physical, emotional, or cultural, while acknowledging, as Mandel writes, that mere \u2018survival is insufficient.\u2019 To be resilient in the aftermath of traumatic events, we need art in many forms to express hope and as a path to healing\u201d Weigel has written.<\/p>\n
For more information about The Big Read in Juneau, as well as a list of upcoming events, go to https:\/\/bigreadjuneau.org\/.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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