Dana Stabenow Launches Campaign to Establish Storyknife Writers Retreat

Mystery author Dana Stabenow has launched a campaign to raise $1 million to build Storyknife Writers Retreat, Alaska's only retreat for female writers and only the second residency of its kind in the world.

Stabenow says that the first thing that her writing ever earned her was a residency at the Hedgebrook Farm retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island, Washington. "It was the first time anyone ever acted like writing was a real job," she adds. The author's vision for Storyknife is to pass that gift on to a new generation of female writers.

Stabenow is probably best known as the author of the "Kate Shugak" mysteries set in Alaska, though she has also written a second series set in the state featuring tropper Liam Campbell.

The proposed retreat takes its name from the English translation for the Yupik word yaaruin or "storyknife". Traditionally, Yupik girls would use yaaruin made from wood, bone, antler or ivory, to carve stories in snow and in riverbanks to amuse and instruct their younger siblings.

"I came across mention of storyknives in one of the early explorer diaries and I couldn't rest until I knew more," Stabenow says. "As a traditional Alaska Native vehicle for storytelling, it is the perfect metaphor for what we hope to accomplish at Storyknife. I'm hoping we get a lot of Alaska Native women writers applying for residencies at Storyknife, too."

For more information about the program, including ways to support it, visit Storyknife.org.