Alaska Literary Award, 2023
Fairbanks
Carolyn Kremers, a multifaceted talent in the literary world, seamlessly blends her roles as a poet, nonfiction writer, dedicated teacher, and lifelong musician. Her academic journey is marked by a rich tapestry of accomplishments: a BA in English and Honors Humanities from Stanford, a teaching certificate from the University of Illinois Chicago, a BA in Flute Performance from Metropolitan State College of Denver, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Carolyn’s literary contributions are diverse and profound. Her works include the memoir “Place of the Pretend People: Gifts from a Yup’ik Eskimo Village,” the anthology “The Alaska Reader,” and her poetry collection “Upriver,” which was a finalist for the 2014 Willa Award for Poetry.
Her educational impact is equally impressive. Carolyn designed and implemented the MFA creative nonfiction program at Eastern Washington University and spent many years teaching at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Her international experience includes serving as a Fulbright Scholar at Buryat State University in Ulan Ude, Russia, in 2008-09 and 2015-16. In 2019, she expanded her linguistic horizons with a Kathryn Davis Peace Fellowship from Middlebury College to study Russian.
Carolyn’s current literary endeavors include “Out There Solo,” a blend of poetry and short nonfiction, and a cultural memoir, “Time and a Blue Khadak: Russia’s Buryatia and the Heart of an American.” She resides in Fairbanks, where her creative and academic pursuits continue to flourish. Her website is https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/carolyn_kremers.