Cold Weather Pens
Cold Weather Pens is a newsletter for Alaskan writers, by an Alaskan writer. It is hosted on Substack and is active between the months of September and April. In these months, I post a monthly Letter from Lauren, which includes:
My personal reflections as a writer and working artist in Alaska, with an emphasis on what is unique, wonderful, or challenging about creating here
Penmanship: Opportunities to support writers in Alaska or to be in community with other Alaskan artists
Open Flames: Opportunities to grow as a working artist (grants, fellowships, residencies, and more)
Fire Starter: Questions designed to encourage reflection about writing practices
In the coming years, I plan to expand Cold Weather Pens’ offerings to include features such as Fireside Chat (a community of writers who will explore, together, the questions posed by Fire Starter each month), Cold Weather Visionaries (essays from Alaskans about their visions for the future of writing in our state), and Pen Pals (essays from writers outside of Alaska reflecting on how books by Alaskan authors or songwriting by Alaskan musicians have impacted their own work and lives).
If you are an Alaskan writer or musician seeking resources and inspiration, and if you want to think deeply about the role of writing in our state, I welcome you to read and subscribe to Cold Weather Pens.