Visiting Writers, Locations and Leadership
Meet Our Tongass Mist Writing Headlining Retreat Writers, Class Teachers, Guest Authors,
And the magic behind Tongass Mist Writing; Founder and CEO Ruth Underhill
Ruth Underhill
Tongass Mist Writing
Founder and Organizer
Ruth Underhill founded Tongass Mist Writing in 2019, inspired by her first year in Sitka, Alaska. She is grateful to live in and share Tlingit Aáni with writers and guests to Southeast Alaska; the unceded lands of Tsimshian, Tlingit and Haida Alaska Native peoples. Ruth's vision for Tongass Mist Writing is to create a catalyst for creative community which is safe for everyone, influenced by Tongass rainforest awe and a force for good in the world through the voices empowered to write in our community relationships, classes, events and retreats. Ruth went to writing school at Vermont College of Fine Arts where she earned her MFA in writing in 2019. She is a registered nurse who spent twenty years working as an inpatient nurse across nine states, as a staff and contract nurse, staff nurse and manager, preceptor and educator. Most of Ruth's nursing career was dedicated to perinatal health of women and infants. She also spent two years in geriatric nursing, a space full of elders with great stories! Ruth grew up on three continents . She spent her early childhood Chicago, Illinois. Her family worked with international schools in Yemen and Kazahkstan for the latter ten years of her childhood. She is a Midwesterner on the outside with a deep rooted love of her other childhood homes in The Land of Sheba and on The Silk Road. Her loves for culture, identity and value of place is rooted in her exposure to community identities around the world and the U.S.A. She believes in the universal power of story and the common ground of people everywhere which creates community across racial, gender, religious, political, age and various other identity and ability differences. When Ruth is not creating community for other writers, she can be found scribbling in her own notebooks and composing essays about the intersection of wilderness awe, travel, healthcare, an expat childhood and war. Ruth leads the weekly writing circle for Tongass Mist Writing each Monday morning 11am-Noon AKST on Zoom and teaches other classes. She organizes community events such as hospital staff mental health art events, generative writing cafe strolls, writing workshops in Southeast, Alaska and more. Ruth provides editing and writing coach services through Tongass Mist Writing as well as serving at the Library Director in Tenakee, Alaska and teaching for writing for the University of Alaska Southeast in Sitka.
Amy Butcher
Amy Butcher is an award-winning essayist and the author of two books, including, most recently, Mothertrucker (Little A, 2021), a hybrid work of memoir and literary journalism that interrogates the realities of female fear, abusive relationships, and America’s quiet epidemic of intimate partner violence set against the geography of remote, northern Alaska. The book earned critical praise from Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, The Wall Street Journal, Good Morning America, CBS News, The Chicago Review of Books, The Oxford Review of Books, Booklist, and others, and early excerpts were awarded an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council. "[Mothertrucker] is a rattling good story...shot through with poignant insights," wrote The Wall Street Journal, and Kirkus Reviews called it "a searching and deeply empathetic memoir" and "a sobering reflection on verbal and psychological abuse [that] honors the healing power of female friendship and questions the nature of divinity beyond its constricting patriarchal manifestations.” Publisher’s Weekly called the book "tender and gripping," writing, “[Mothertrucker] explores myriad issues with nuance and grace, including Indigenous rights, violence against women, religious hypocrisy, and environmental concerns.” Her first book, Visiting Hours (Blue Rider Press/Penguin-Random House, 2015), earned starred reviews and praise from The New York Times Sunday Review of Books, NPR, The Star Tribune, Kirkus Reviews, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and others. Excerpts of her new book were awarded an Individual Excellence Award by the Ohio Arts Council. Additional essays have been featured on National Public Radio and the BBC, anthologized in Best Travel Writing, awarded grand prize in the Iowa Review Award as judged by David Shields, and been awarded notable distinctions in the 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021 editions of the Best American Essays series. Her essays have appeared in Granta, Harper's, The New York Times "Modern Love," The New York Times Sunday Review, The Washington Post, The Denver Post, The Iowa Review, Lit Hub, Guernica, Gulf Coast, Fourth Genre, and Brevity, among others. She earned her MFA from the University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program and is the recipient of Colgate University's Olive B. O'Connor Creative Writing Fellowship in nonfiction as well as grants and awards from the Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, the Academy of American Poets, the Ohio Arts Council, Word Riot Inc., and the Stanley Foundation for International Research. She is an Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Denison University and teaches annually at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival and the Sitka Fine Arts Camp in Sitka, Alaska. She splits her time between Columbus, Ohio and Alaska.
Rita Banerjee
Rita Banerjee is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and Director of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. She is editor of Disobedient Futures (University Press of Kentucky, Forthcoming) and CREDO: An Anthology of Manifestos and Sourcebook for Creative Writing (C&R Press) and the author of the poetry collection Echo in Four Beats (Finishing Line Press), which was nominated for the 2019 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize at the Academy of American Poets, named one of Book Riot’s “Must-Read Poetic Voices of Split This Rock 2018”, and was selected by Finishing Line Press as their 2018 nominee for the National Book Award in Poetry. Banerjee is also the author of the novella “A Night with Kali” in Approaching Footsteps (Spider Road Press), and the poetry chapbook Cracklers at Night (Finishing Line Press). Her dissertation The New Voyager: Theory and Practice of South Asian Literary Modernisms is available through ProQuest. She is the co-writer of Burning Down the Louvre, a forthcoming documentary film about race, intimacy, and tribalism in the United States and in France. She received a 2021-2022 Creation Grant from the Vermont Arts Council for her new memoir and manifesto on female cool, and one of the opening chapters of this new memoir, “Birth of Cool” was a Notable Essay in the 2020 Best American Essays, and another chapter from her new memoir, “The Female Gaze,” was a Notable Essay in the 2023 Best American Essays. https://ritabanerjee.com/about/
Chanel Dubofsky
Chanel Dubofsky, has taught writing for Lilith, Vermont College of Fine Arts (where she earned an MFA in Fiction in 2015) and online. He non-fiction writing on reproductive health, religion, and pop culture can be found in New York Magazine, Mashable, and others. She appears in the documentary My So-Called Selfish Life, about the choice to be childfree, and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Brendan Jones
Raised in Philadelphia, Brendan Jones attended Columbia and Oxford Universities, and teaches creative writing at University of Alaska, Irkutsk Technical University in Russia, and Stanford University, where he was a 2013-15 Wallace Stegner Fellow. He has published work in The New York Times, The Guardian, Washington Post, GQ, Smithsonian, Patagonia, Ploughshares, Fine Woodworking, National Fisherman, Adventure Journal, Narratively, The Seattle Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Narrative Magazine, and recorded commentaries for NPR. His novel The Alaskan Laundry, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, won the 2017 Alaskana prize, was recognized by Oprah and nominated for the Center of Fiction debut prize. He recently returned from Siberia, where he spent a year with his family as a Fulbright Scholar. His novel Whispering Alaska, published with Penguin/Random House in October 2021, received a starred review from Booklist, and won the 2022 Green Earth Book Award for Young Adult Eco-lit. He lives in Sitka, with his wife and three daughters, one dog, and three to six chickens.
Heather Lende
Heather Lende Heather Lende’s latest honor is an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Alaska, Anchorage for significant contributions to literature and public service. She earned a B.A. in history from Middlebury College and an M.F.A. in creative writing from UAA. Lende is the author of bestselling and critically acclaimed memoirs, including Find the Good, If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name, Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs and Of Bears and Ballots. Her books focus on her experiences and observations in Haines, Alaska. She was also the Alaska Writer Laureate 2020- 2024.
Ksm Lx'sg̱a̱n
Ruth Hollows
Ksm Lx'sgan (Ruth Hollows) As a Chilkat weaver, artist, and teacher, and writer, I am very fortunate to seek and understand a Tsimshian perspective on our ceremonial blankets. I seek to recover and understand my people's history and protocols of Chilkat weaving by investigating the words and recollections of first language Sm'algyax speakers. It has been my honor to travel as a guest of Kitsumkalum to la̱xyuubm Tsimshian, Tshimshian land, early this month and begin building relationship with communities and elders. I experienced so much joy and healing, both from sharing what I have learned since reconnecting to Tsimshian language and ceremonial art and from receiving language, song, and ceremony. I do sometimes pause weaving to weep for the relationships I might have had, for the language our children might have had, for the connection our elders might have experienced, for the community that might have been. Then, I began to weave my hopes for the future. May this journey bring healing to all our ancestors and all of our children as much as it brings healing to us.
Elizabeth Mayorca
Elizabeth Marquis~Mayorca received an MFA in Creative Nonfiction and Poetry from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU, where she received the Rod Marriot Playwriting Award. Her poem “A rock shaped like a house, found in the mountains,” was the 1st prize winner of The Poets for Human Rights Award. “Sewing in Syria” was published in New Monologues for Women by Women, through Heinemann Drama. Her plays have been produced at New York University, the State Theater in Austin Texas, and Golden Thread Productions in San Francisco. With her sister Francesca Greene, she created Sister Symmetry a book of original poetry and paintings. She edited and wrote the introduction and afterward for Sea of Images (The Collected Poems of Walter John Hawver: Soldier-Patriot-Poet). Most recently her essays were published in Ovunque Siamo, New Italian-American Writing, Adelaide Literary Journal, and Maine Review. She is writing a book about her relationship with her New York-born Calabrese grandmother and the myths of motherhood passed down from her ancestors. Elizabeth has taught for Hugo House in Seattle and Tongass Mist Writing in Sitka, Alaska. You can find her at www.ElizabethMayorca.com
Melissa Matthewson
Melissa is the author of Tracing the Desire Line, from Split/Lip Press (2019). Her nonfiction has appeared in Guernica, AEON, Literary Hub, The Rumpus, Oregon Humanities, Longreads, Mid-American Review, Bellingham Review, River Teeth, Terrain.org, American Literary Review, and Catapult among other publications. She teaches in the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program at Eastern Oregon University. You can find her at melissamatthewson.com and check out her dynamic list of publications here! https://melissamatthewson.com/publications/
Megan Okkerse
Megan Okkerse is a candidate for an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is trained in the Amherst Writers & Artists writing workshop method and has taught both on her own and for Charlotte Center for Literary Arts, Kindred: Charlotte, Noda Yoga, and Open Heart Searchery.
Shauna Potocky
Shauna is a familiar friend to Sitka. She has attended prior Tongass Mist Writing events in Sitka, visited Sitka as the July 2024 Sitka Conservation Society Artist in Residence on the Pony Farm where she wrote poetry inspired by Tlingit Aàni awe and created paintings likewise inspired. You can learn more about Shauan at https://www.seasmokearts.com/bio/ Interested in learning more about Sitka Conservation Society? Check out their beautiful homepage at www.sitkawild.org/ourstory
Mira Ptacin
Mira Ptacin is a literary journalist, memoirist, New York Times best-selling ghostwriter, editor, and professor of creative writing. She is the author of the award-winning memoir Poor Your Soul (Soho Press, 2016), which was named a best book of the year by Kirkus Books, where it received a rare “starred” review. She’s also the author of the genre-blending book of feminist history, memoir, and ethnography, The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna (Liveright-W.W. Norton, 2019), which the New York Times lauded as the best book to read during a pandemic. Mira’s writing frequently appears in the New York Times, New York Times Book Review, Vogue, Poets and Writers, Harper’s, Tin House, LitHub, and more. She received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, where she was editor-at-large of their literary magazine, LUMINA. Mira lives on Peaks Island, Maine, and is currently working on her next book. MiraPtacin.com
Jennifer Pun
Jennifer is a film & television producer. Her producing credits include the award-winning tween series How To Be Indie, the Canadian Screen Award-nominated feature Fall and the cult horror The Void. Most recently, she produced the wilderness thriller Cascade (Netflix Canada Top Ten) starring Sara Waisglass (Ginny & Georgia). When not producing, she is writing. Jennifer holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Art. Her focus is short stories and her work can be found on Numero Cinq, Past Ten, and in the short story anthology Modern Metamorphoses: Stories of Transformation among others.
John Roedel
John Roedel is a comic who unexpectedly gained notability as a writer and poet through his heartfelt Facebook conversations that went viral and became an Amazon best-selling book titled, Hey God. Hey John. He is the author of five books—Hey God. Hey John, Any Given Someday, Untied: The Poetry of What Comes Next, Remedy, and his latest work, Upon Departure, which explores through poetry the concept of our grief as a natural wonder that terraforms the landscape of our world in increments. Offering a sincere and very relatable look at his faith crisis, mental health, personal struggles, perception of our world, and even his fashion sense, He teaches at universities and retreat centers across the US, blending his trademark comedy with creative exercises, journaling, dialogue, and introspection to help people fearlessly embrace and share their personal stories.
Basmah Sakrani
Basmah Sakrani is a Pakistani-Canadian writer whose narratives explore displacement, diaspora and loss. She is a 2024 Veasna So Scholar in Fiction, and a finalist for the 2023 Kinder/Crump Short Fiction Award. Her work has also appeared in Best Small Fictions 2022, The Baltimore Review, Split Lip Press, Past Ten, and other journals. Basmah works in advertising in New York City. You can follow her on Substack https://basmah.substack.com/
Ruth Van Reken
Ruth E. Van Reken is a second generation adult TCK and mother of 3ATCKs. She speaks nationally and internationally on issues related to global family living. She is co-founder of Families in Global Transition. In addition to her memoir Letters Never Sent about years spent in boarding school, Ruth is co-author of Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds.
Robert D. Vivian
Robert Vivian is a professor of English and creative writing at Alma College in Michigan. He is the author of four novels as well as two essay collections, Cold Snap as Yearning and The Least Cricket of Evening, all available from the University of Nebraska Press, as well as the collection of dervish essays, Immortal Soft-Spoken, and All I Feel Is Rivers.
Sue William Silverman
Sue William Silverman is an award-winning author of eight works of nonfiction and poetry. Her new book, forthcoming Jan. ’24, is Acetylene Torch Songs: Writing True Stories to Ignite the Soul. Her previous book, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences, won the gold star in Foreword Reviews Indie Book of the Year Award and the Clara Johnson Award for Women’s Literature. Other books include Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey through Sexual Addiction, made into a Lifetime TV movie; Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You, which won the AWP Award; and The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew. She teaches at the low-residency MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. www.SueWilliamSilverman.com
Rhonda Zimlich
Rhonda Zimlich facilitates writing workshops, teaches writing at American University, and contributes to a lively literary community along the eastern seaboard (as a recent transplant from the Pacific Northwest). She is a reader for The Maine Review and guides writers and creative folks through Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. She also hosts one-off workshops with specific topics such as accessing your emotional story and world-building. Lately, Rhonda is obsessed with the book Wonderworks, by Angus Fletcher. Rhonda has published several short stories and essays while completing her novel manuscript Raising Panic, a coming-of-age tale about two young girls who witness the 1978 PSA crash in San Diego, California. She is currently working on a memoir about running eight marathons after her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
