Alaska Poetry.com
A New Site for AlaskaPoets
Alaska Poetry and Writing Groups.
Please support this site by donating and /or purchasing some of the merchandise from the links below.This site is presented by Steven Robert Heine. Heine is a disabled poet in his 70'. He was crippled in a fall several years ago and suffered a stroke in 2023. Your support will help cover costs of this site and provide more frequent updates.
The Alaska Poet Laureate position was created in 1963. The position is chosen by the Alaska State Council of the Arts.The current Alaska Poet Laureate is Frank Soos.
(See link below for more details about him).Former Alaska Poet Laureates:Margaret Mielke (1963-1965)
Oliver Everette (1965-1967)
John Haines (appointed 1969)
Ruben Gaines (appointed 1973)
Sheila Nickerson (appointed 1977)
Richard Dauenhauer (appointed 1981)
Joanne Townsend (appointed 1988)
Tom Sexton (appointed 1995)
Richard Nelson (appointed 2000)
Anne Hanley (2002-2004)
Jerah Chadwick (October 2004-September 2006)
John Straley (October 2006-September 2008)
Nancy Lord (October 1, 2008-September 2010)
Peggy Shumaker (October 1, 2010-September 2012)
Nora Marks Dauenhauer (October 10, 2012-October 2014)
Kim Barnes (April 2004-2006)
Anthony "Tony" Doerr (July 2007-July 2010)
Brady Udall (July 1, 2010-June 20, 2013)
More information about about Alaska Poet Laureate Frank Soos can be found on The Alaska Writers Directory. This site also has information on many other Alaskan writers.
This government site, known as SLED is a great resource for ALL Alaskan writers. Included in the site is a very complete ‘digital archives’.
**The Fairbanks Arts Association **presents an annual Statewide Poetry Contest in April. The contest is open to both adults and students. For information on this very exciting project, please see the link above.
The Alaska State Council on the Arts provides grants to Alaska writers and Writing Groups. Details about their grants and application information can be found on the Alaska State Council on the Arts ASCA website.
The Alaska Writers Guild is open to all writers across Alaska, with regular meetings available in these three regions - Anchorage, Mat-Su, and Interior. The Alaska Writers Guild provides support for Alaskan writers through conferences, contests, keynote speakers and agent and publishing representatives. Currently the AWG has a 2020 conference scheduled for Friday, September 25th and Saturday September 26th. Please see the link above for conference updates.
The Alaska Center for the Book is best described in their own mission statement: “The purpose of the Alaska Center for the Book is to stimulate public interest in literacy through the spoken and written word, central to our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. The Alaska Center for the Book will act as a catalyst to bring together Alaskan readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators, parents, scholars, radio and television broadcasters, public and private sector leaders, among others, to promote and build an informed and literate citizenry vital to a strong democracy. The Center for the Book will serve as a partner and supporter of programs, events and unique projects which celebrate the richness and diversity of language.”Among the many projects of the Alaska Center for the Book, is an exciting project to place poems by Alaska poets in State parks throughout the State. See link above for details.
The Alaska Folk Music and More organization puts on yearly Festivals throughout the State. For those who love folk music (as much as this writer) this is an exciting project. There is nothing quite like enjoying original live music. Check the site above for the calendar of events.
LitSite is a production of The University of Alaska in Anchorage. It is dedicated to preserving history, folk history and family histories from all over Alaska. The site provides a digital archives as well as resources for writers and teachers. You can read the rave reviews that readers give the site by clicking on the link.
What follows are links to purchase tee shirts and merchandise, many designed by Steven Robert Heine. Proceeds will be used to support this site,
Steven Robert Heine is an American poet and author. He has spent much of his life supporting poetry projects and events. He is the author of 8 volumes of poetry. In 2011 he was seriously injured in a fall that left him in great pain and almost unable to walk. He suffered a stroke in 2023. Heine receives no disability and relies on a small pension and retirement income. He is no longer able to make public appearances.
We hope you will consider purchasing some of the merchandise in the links below. Many are original tee-shirts and merchandise created by Steven Robert Heine.
Thank you!&&&&&&&&&&&
I have exciting news for you. I have spent many weeks researching web hosts and providers and written an article that I think will save you time and money on creating your own website. I have even included information on where to buy inexpensive domain names. The following are links for web hosts and resources. the full article follows below. I invite you to use the suggested sites to set up your own poetry or writing web site.
Bluehost. Bluehost offers pretty much all services. Design is through Wordpress. Plans: ‘Basic’, $7.99 per month. Allows one website and one included domain. ‘Plus’ $10.99. Allows unlimited number of websites. ‘Choice Plus’, $14.99 per month. Allows unlimited number of domain and some extra services, such as domain privacy. For an ecommerce site, you will want to use ‘Woocommerce’, plans run from $13.99 (for one store) to $17.99 (for unlimited stores.
Bluehost is a full-service provider with all the tools you could ask for and good support. They even sell They even sell domain names. I have used Bluehost for several years.
A2 Hosting. Drag and drop platform for building with A2 software. Plans include ‘Startup’ $2.99 per month (one website), ‘Drive’ $4.99 (unlimited websites), and ‘Turbo-boost’ for $9.99 per month, (unlimited sites).
Siteground. Wordpress hosting. Plans include: Startup, $3.95 per month, allows one website, GrowBig, $5.95 per month, allows unlimited websites, and GoGeek, $11.95 per month, unlimited websites and more features. (no free domain with account).
Hostinger is one of the biggest webhosting companies on the internet. They provide ‘drag and drop’ as well as cloud hosting and Wordpress. Plans include: ‘Single Shared’ $2.15 per month (allows one website, ‘Premium’ $3.49 per month (allows unlimited websites), and ‘Business Shared’ $7.95 per month (allows unlimited websites and many other features. Premium and Premium and Business plans also come with a fee domain name. It is easy to see why Hostinger is so popular. And yes, I really like this hosting service.
i Page. Wordpress hosting. ‘WP Starter’ $9.49 per month (billed yearly). ‘WP Essential’ $12.49 per month. Good for selling online. iPage provides a number of choices of shopping carts.
Webflow: I’ve included Webflow in this list because it uses a unique interface. It is not a Webflow in this list because it uses a unique interface. It is not a Wordpress site. It may take some time to learn and get used to the Webflow user design tool. Keep in mind that ALL website designers are an interface to move the html code.
NameCheap. Dot.coms start at $8.88 per year. Hosting plans are $2.88 per month to $8.88 per month. NameCheap has their own ‘drag and drop’ builder. NameCheap is a good site to save money on domain names.
Domain.com has domains starting at $9.99 per month and also provides hosting plans starting at $3.75 per month.
Malwarebytes provides reasonably priced virus protection. Please see the link above for details.
Web Hosting Article.
Web Hosting Article
Magnificent 7seven Reviews.
Webhosting
I have exciting news for you! I have spent months creating this article which will not only help you to create your own poetry or writing website, but it can save you money and time. I have reviewed **many ** web hosts and even some domain sellers. Some of these are affiliate links; meaning there is no additional cost to you above what the web hosts charge, but if you purchase products or services from them you will help support my money.Please pay close attention to what you are paying for domain names. I have listed three inexpensive domain registrars. Most hosting companies will sell them to you and many provide a domain free with your paid account.You may be looking at creating a website and don’t know where to start. OR you may have a product or book and don’t know how to create a website to sell it. Then this blog is a great place to start! I have reviewed many webhosts from CARRD to Zyro. I think you will find the following suggestions useful.As recently as a few years ago, most sites provided access to the programming language of the website, or html. This allowed you to make changes to the programming and see how that reflected on your website. Fortunately, knowledge of html is no longer necessary. (You may still find it helpful to learn what the basic elements of html are, in case you need to insert a link in your site or see the code for your site).
Please note: I was not paid by any of the companies listed below to promote their sites. I did find it interesting to research what they have to offer and list some of the main points to consider. And yes, these are affiliate links but they have all been researched.1. What is the cost of a website?
Many hosts can get you started for free! OR with a very monthly rate for the 1st year. Cost is usually listed as a ‘monthly cost’ provided you pay for a whole year at a time. IE: if the cost is $20.00 per month, you may be required to pay $240.00. Make sure you get a plan that fits your needs. Usually you can upgrade to a more expensive plan as your needs grow.2. What is the platform the ecommerce site uses? Generally, sites use either Wordpress or what I call, a ‘House’ software. Wordpress is in my experience a platform that requires an intermediate level of computer savvy. You will do better when you put some time into working with it and develop a ‘feel for it’. ‘House’ software is unique to the webhost site you are using. Most are ‘plug and play’. Like any application, you just have to get comfortable moving around in them. Each has some unique features. When you go to the webhost, you will see samples of web pages. When you like the look... go for it!3. If you are going to be selling products through your site, you will need to know what bank does the ecommerce site use? This is extremely important. It is great you made a sale on your website, but how do you get the customer’s payment into your bank account? You want banking tools that your customer will feel comfortable ordering with, AND you want banking tools that will give you access to your money. While many sites use PAYPAL, some use other financial tools.4. How many domains can I use on one account? If you have several domains, you will want to host them all in the same place. If you have different stores selling different products, you may want to use more than one site. Ecommerce sites vary from one domain per account to ‘unlimited’ domains.5. What kind of stats will this ecommerce site provide? You may want to look around to see how much traffic you are getting and where people are seeing your site. (You may be surprised to note how many people in other countries are viewing your site).6. How good is the technical support from this ecommerce site? You don’t want to wait days for a question to be answered. A good test or response time is to ask the Web host a question as ‘a potential client’ to measure response time.7. Does this vendor sell domain names and for how much? And will they provide me with a free domain name with my order?8. What is the difference between shared web hosting and a dedicated server?’ The answer is, that a dedicated server is a server used by no other sites and thus those sites can’t impact the server or slow it down. Dedicated servers are quite a bit more expensive per month. Most websites should be fine running on shared hosting.
We will try to answer those questions. You can click on the link provided to get Common Website Terms you should know:
Html: hypertext markup language. This is the actual programming code. No matter which programming tool you are using, whether it be **Wordpress ** a sitebuilder, that interface is adjusting the html as you move and change features.
CSS: cascading style sheets. This refers to how you website is presented in the programming.
When you have purchased hosting and are ready to build a website on the hosting server, you must put your domain on that hosts server. You do this by putting in the code numbers for that server into your domain names. Both the hosting provider and your domain seller will explain to you how to do this.VPS Hosting: ‘virtual private server hosting’. VPS hosting acts similar to a private server with more flexibility than shared hosting. Most new users will only need shared hosting.Domain names: this is VERY important, when purchasing a domain name, pay little attention to the initial price of the domain name. What is important is the renewal cost. I have seen domain registers that charge very little for the initial price but upwards of $30.00 per year to renew. Most paid hosting plans give you one free domain name with the purchase of a plan. Beyond that, you will need to go to the market to buy additional names.
Steven Robert Heine is a West Coast poet & author. He has spent his life promoting poetry; serving as founder for many poetry contests. He has many friends in Alaska. He is the author of fifteen books, including poetry, history and his own short auto-biographies. His books can be found on Ebay, Amazon and Amazon KIndle.
Heine was crippled in a fall in 2011 and now makes very few public appearances.