About Anne
I’m originally from Boston, which you would know immediately if you could hear me speak. I was graduated from Mt. Holyoke College, got married to Owen and we immediately headed west. When we reached the Pacific Ocean, we headed north, finally stopping on a hill outside Fairbanks, Alaska. From my front window overlooking the Tanana Valley, I can watch the sun set behind Denali in the winter months.
On my way to Alaska, I acquired an MFA in Film Writing from UCLA and worked as a staff writer at Westways Magazine. My articles and stories have appeared in The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, Yale Alumni Magazine and Ranger Rick.
I was named Alaska Writer Laureate 2002 – 2004, the only playwright - so far - to be so honored. My plays have been produced in Alaska, California, Massachusetts and Kentucky. I’m a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.
Since 2008, my play The Winter Bear has been produced in over 50 cities, towns and villages all over Alaska. I served two terms on the Board of the Alaska Humanities Forum and I am a founding member of the Looking Glass Group Theatre, which has produced over 100 ten-minute plays by Alaskan writers since its founding in 1999.
My husband, a retired pulmonary physician, and I came to Alaska for a one-year adventure over 40 years ago. We stayed to raise two sons. Now we have in addition two accomplished daughters-in-law and four spirited granddaughters. The adventure continues! I feel privileged to live so close to wilderness in a place where Alaska Native culture infuses every aspect of life with respect for the natural world.
In this episode of Northern Soundings, public radio host Robert Hannon interviews Anne Hanley
Anne Hanley's resume. (PDF)
