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Home > Carolyn Kremers

Carolyn Kremers [1]

Listed as: 
Poet, Creative Nonfiction Writer
Public address: 
Fairbanks, AK
Alaska US
Email: 
cskremers@alaska.edu
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. In 2025, she will have a one-month residency at Storyknife Writers Retreat, where she will continue work on her cultural memoir about Buryatia. She lives in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Raised in: 
Denver, CO
Colorado
Website: 
https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/car… [1]
Prizes won: 

• Alaska Literary Award, 2023.

• "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.

Education: 
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Writers Retreats: 
Storyknife Writers Retreat
Vermont Studio Center
Prefers to work with: 
Any

Source URL:https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/carolyn_kremers

Links
[1] https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/carolyn_kremers