Stories, Journalism & Vonnegut Bio Hank Nuwer
Grab a coffee and enjoy the story clearinghouse of Hank Nuwer with photos of Alaska and its wildlife by Malgorzata (Gosia) Nuwer.
You’ll find that I’ve added some finished and partially finished biography-in-progress of Kurt Vonnegut, “The Man in the Hole.”
Hank Nuwer’s Indiana University Press books on hazing. Podcast in The Culture
Podcast of “Weed in the Garden of Academe” with Hank Nuwer
Scroll down for archived Realalaskadaily stories.Thank you for reading. Got a compliment or gripe? Drop a line to Hjnuwer@Alaska.edu. Gosia and I want to keep this site ad-free. Trying to raise funds for last-minute research on my Kurt Vonnegut biography: “Kurt Vonnegut: The Man in the Hole. A Life of Reinvention.” (“Not authorized, but authentic scholarship”). Your donation would be so helpful: Hank Nuwer, PO Box 73446; Fairbanks, AK 99707-3446.
A Life-Changing Assignment
By Hank Nuwer Some of my best feature stories never appeared in print. That’s because the era from 1976 to 1992 — when I wrote every month — saw magazine and newspaper circulation numbers drop drastically. As a result, advertisers pulled out and many publications...
Christmas 2023: Remembrances of Christmas Past
Remembrances of Christmas Past By Hank Nuwer My recent role in Fairbanks’ “Miracle on 34th Street” as Kris Kringle has made this a particularly memorable Christmas season. With so many child actors and carolers in the play, the acting experience felt as if family...
The Gift of the Magi
The Gift of the Magi Hank Nuwer Christmas Day was both a special day and a day like any other for this professional writer. My wife Gosia and I are on a budget and so we exchanged gifts. I gave her “beautiful combs, pure tortoise-shell, with jeweled rims.” She gave me...
6 Months in Fairbanks: Guy Walks into a Bard
by Hank Nuwer My six-month anniversary starting work at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska occurs today. My cheechako moments still happen, and sourdough status still is far away. Like last Sunday when I went on a hike by myself near Angel Creek off Chena Hot...
Epitaph for a Writer
By Hank Nuwer John Carlson started as a copyboy in the 70s at Muncie’s evening paper. Years later, gruff World War II veterans like Dick Stodghill asked him to bring over a coffee. But jokes aside, at a newspaper with many good writers, John was the best wordsmith. He...
In praise of a lone elm
by Hank Nuwer Once upon a time, every hamlet in the American Midwest had an Elm Street. But around 1930, a blight came overseas from its origins in the Netherlands. Similar invasions of shade trees also destroyed that king of the forest, the American chestnut...
Another semester, another chance to act: so excited
Well, I am thrilled to share with you that I auditioned for the spring 2024 original play by UAF Professor Kaveline Torres. I tried out for two parts in the play: Fat Cat (with a Scottish accent) and The Professor (who is something of a scalawag and ladies man)....
Santa is in the holiday spirit
After performing Tues. morning for an audience of bussed-in schoolchildren, the cast sang a Christmas carol (with the kids) that raised the roof, and I (Santa) answered such sweet questions from the boys and girls. It looked like a fifth of the house or more had...
A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1975
One little confession: When I returned to acting onstage after nearly a half-century since I played Bottom in a Reno stage production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1975, all my performances of my one-man hazing-prevention plays were stage readings. I honestly did...