Carolyn Kremers

Poet, Creative Nonfiction Writer

Fairbanks, AK
Alaska US

Author's Bio

Carolyn Kremers writes literary nonfiction and poetry, and is a dedicated teacher and lifelong musician. Her books include Place of the Pretend People: Gifts from a Yup'ik Eskimo Village (memoir), The Alaska Reader: Voices from the North (anthology), and Upriver (poetry). Upriver was a finalist for the 2014 Willa Award in Poetry, from Women Writing the West. Kremers designed and implemented the MFA creative nonfiction program at Eastern Washington University in Spokane and also taught for many years at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Her piece, "John Haines and the Dream Place," was named a "Notable" essay in Best American Essays 2012. Recent awards include First Place essay and Grand Prize in the 2021 Alaska Version 3 Creative Writing Contest (for "Field Trip to the Future -- Fairbanks, Alaska"), and the 2021 Andy Hope Literary Award from Cirque magazine (for the long poem, "The Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain: Fifteen Motets"). Kremers has been a guest writer in Alaska, Idaho, Michigan, Washington, and Russia; artist-in-residence at Gates of the Arctic National Park and Denali National Park; and writing resident at the Vermont Studio Center. For ten months in 2008-09 and again in 2015-16, she was a Fulbright Scholar at Buryat State University in Ulan Ude, Russia. In 2019, she received a Kathryn Davis Peace Fellowship from Middlebury College to continue studying the Russian language. In 2023, she was honored to receive an Alaska Literary Award for her writing. She lives in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Publications & Prizes

Creative Nonfiction

Anthologies:
Denali Climate Anthology (National Park Service, 2015)
,
Denali National Park Artist-in-Residence Catalog (National Park Service, 2012)
,
Cold Flashes: Literary Snapshots of Alaska (University of Alaska Press, 2010)
,
Holding Common Ground: The Individual and Public Lands in the American West (Eastern Washington University Press, 2005)
,
A Gradual Twilight: An Appreciation of John Haines (CavanKerry Press, 2003)
,
A Road of Her Own: Women's Journeys in the West (Fulcrum, 2002)
,
The Roadless Yaak (Lyons Press, 2002)
,
Pass/Fail (Red Sky Books, 2001)
,
Under Northern Lights: Writers and Artists View the Alaskan Landscape (University of Washington Press, 2000)
,
American Nature Writing 1999 (Oregon State University Press, 1999)
,
American Nature Writing 1997 (Sierra Club Books, 1997)
,
The Wilderness of Vision: On the Poetry of John Haines (Story Line Press, 1996)
Books:
Place of the Pretend People: Gifts from a Yup'ik Eskimo Village (softcover edition, with Afterword) (Alaska Northwest Books, 2011)
,
The Alaska Reader: Voices from the North (Fulcrum, 2005)
,
Place of the Pretend People: Gifts from a Yup'ik Eskimo Village (hardcover edition) (Alaska Northwest Books, 1996)

Poetry

Anthologies:
Ice Floe: New and Selected Poems (University of Alaska Press, 2010)
,
A Whole Other Ballgame: Women's Literature on Women's Sport (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997)
,
Last New Land: Stories of Alaska Past & Present (Alaska Northwest Books, 1996)
Book:
Upriver (University of Alaska Press, 2013)
Journals: ,
Alaska Women Speak
,
Cirque
,
Ice-Floe
,
Northern Review
,
Runner's World
Prizes won: 

• "The Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain: Fifteen Motets" (a long poem) received the 2021 Andy Hope Literary Award from Cirque magazine and was nominated by Cirque for a Pushcart Prize.

• "Field Trip to the Future -- Fairbanks, Alaska" was chosen as First Place essay and received the Grand Prize in the 2021 Alaska Version 3 Creative Writing Contest.

• Upriver was a Finalist for the 2014 Willa Award in Poetry, from Women Writing the West.

• "John Haines and the Dream Place" was named a "Notable" essay in Best American Essays 2012.

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Raised in: 
Denver, CO
Colorado
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Apr 15, 2024