49 Writers Active Voice Podcast

Shauna Potocky is a poet and painter who spent a decade as park ranger in Yosemite National Park. She is now a devoted resident of the community of Seward, Alaska. Along with the Kenai Peninsula, it is the inspiration for her second collection of poems and artwork, Sea Smoke, Spindrift and Other Spells. On a visit to Juneau she talked with host Katie Bausler about poetry, community and the value of sharing art. We're releasing this podcast just in time for National Poetry Month 2025. Shauna’s poetry card is full this month with readings and appearances in Sitka April 10th and 12th  and the annual Seward Poetry Festival April 21-26. Please subscribe and follow the 49 Writers Active Voice podcast on Apple, Spotify and 49writers.org. And help spread the word by liking it on podcast platforms or sharing with friends and family. This conversation was recorded at KTOO Juneau. Music by Liz Snyder and Alex Kotlarz.  .

Katie’s guest Josh Fortenbery plays live tracks and reflects on the writing of his debut album. Southeast Alaska grown and produced, No Such Thing as Forever is getting strong reviews in Americana circles from across the country to across the pond. Fortenbery’s songwriting is informed by both his immediate and the greater human family. “I’m just trying to be honest about my grief, anxiety, and carelessness, and hope that resonates with people,” he says. “I’m trying to remember what ties me to the folks I love and folks I’ve never met.” Josh is a member of the Muskeg Collective, a team of Alaskan string band leaning singer songwriters and musicians uplifting each other's writing and playing. Please subscribe and follow the 49 Writers Active Voice podcast on Apple, Spotify and 49writers.org. And help spread the word by liking it on podcast platforms or sharing with friends and family. This conversation was recorded at KTOO Juneau. Music by Liz Snyder and Alex Kotlarz.  .

Katie's guest for this episode is Kate Troll, author of a memoir with an unusual focus. It chronicles, as she entered her seventies, meeting two siblings for the first time. And how these discoveries both challenged and strengthened her newfound family and her relationships with the siblings she grew up with. All in Due Time, A Memoir of Siblings, Genealogy, Secrets and Love, can be found at bookstores in Alaska and online.  Please subscribe and follow the 49 Writers Active Voice podcast on Apple, Spotify and 49writers.org. And help spread the word by liking it on podcast platforms or sharing with friends and family. This conversation was recorded at KTOO Juneau. Music by Liz Snyder and Alex Kotlarz.  .

In this episode, host Katie Bausler chats with Lucian Childs, author of Dreaming Home, a powerful collection of six linked short stories on the outing of a gay teenager by his younger sister, his father’s violent reaction and how that trauma ripples through the course of four decades. The stories, set in Texas, the San Francisco Bay Area and Florida, deftly weave issues like conversion therapy, Queer Youth homeless, combat veteran PTSD, and the AIDS pandemic. Since its summer 2023 release Dreaming Home has made the best books lists of the New York Times, The Globe and Mail, LAMBDA Literary Review and more. Please subscribe and follow the 49 Writers Active Voice podcast on Apple, Spotify and 49writers.org. And help spread the word by liking it on podcast platforms or sharing with friends and family. This conversation was recorded at KTOO Juneau. Music by Liz Snyder and Alex Kotlarz.  .

In her debut album, Sisters of White Chapel, Alaskan writer and musician Annie Bartholomew brings a fresh approach to traditional folk music, channeling the under told stories of some of the working women of Alaska's Gold Rush. And as she tells 49 Writers Active Voice producer and host Katie Bausler, sex work was the only choice for many women in late 19th century mining towns. Bartholomew wanted to know more about their lives. So she wrote an album of short stories. A few of the haunting and catchy tunes are featured in this episode, kicked off by Bartholomew's adaptation of The Cuckoo, with her on Clawhammer banjo. Please subscribe and follow the 49 Writers Active Voice podcast on Apple, Spotify and 49writers.org. And help spread the word by liking it on podcast platforms or sharing with friends and family. This conversation was recorded at KTOO Juneau. Music by Liz Snyder and Alex Kotlarz.  .