Ernestine Saankalaxt’ Hayes’ tenure as Alaska State Writer Laureate is lasting slightly longer than initially expected.<\/p>\n
Hayes, a University of Alaska Southeast professor and author of “Blonde Indian: An Alaska Native Memoir” and “The Tao of Raven,” was announced as the 2016-2018 Alaska State Writer Laureate in December 2016 and introduced at the Governor’s Arts and Humanities Awards in January 2017.<\/p>\n
[Ernestine Hayes’ favorite reads of 2018 and other artists’ favorites<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n When 2018 came to a close, there was no announcement of Hayes’ successor and no introduction of a new writer laureate at this year’s arts and humanities awards earlier this <\/a>month<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I’m not sure if I’m Laureate for a few extra months or if it’s more of a slight pause in the process,” Hayes told the Capital City Weekly via email. “It’s been an honor and a pleasure to serve as Writer Laureate, and I feel certain that serving as former Laureate will be just as fulfilling.”<\/p>\n While the Writer Laureate selection process is happening later than usual, it is in progress, and an announcement is expected in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n “The state writer selection process is underway and we should have an announcement for the media by March 30, 2019,” said Andrea Noble-Pelant, Executive Director for Alaska State Council on the Arts in an email responding to a phone call Tuesday. “It’s a little later than usual so the position will go from April 1, 2019-March 30, 2021.”<\/p>\n The State Writer Laureate program is a partnership between the state council on the arts and the Alaska Humanities Forum, according to the Alaska State Council on the Arts’ website<\/a>. The program is a direct descendent of the Poet Laureate program started by the Juneau Poetry Society in the 1960s.<\/p>\n