On summer solstice 2000 the first edition appeared of a new Alaska-published periodical dedicated to poetry. In a publishing world containing many literary journals, Ice Floe was unique in that it focused on poems written in several languages by authors living in northern latitudes. In any given issue of the twice-a-year magazine, you might find poems in Icelandic, Inupiaq, Finnish and any number of Russian Native dialects, as well as in English.
The non-English poems came with translations. The verse enjoyed an elegant, eye-pleasing layout. None of the poems were facile. Contributors ranged from newbies to Nobel laureate Harry Martinson.
Sarah Kirk and Shannon Gramse, the Anchorage couple who founded and published Ice Floe (originally "Ice-Floe;" "The hyphen was a mistake," said Kirk) were specifically looking for writing that would foster a sense of intellectual community among northerners.
It wasn't so much international in outlook as "supra-national," Gramse said, "a different kind of globalization."
Ice Floe struck an instant chord with literati living in nations that skirt the Arctic Circle. Alaska State Writer Laureate Alice Hanley called it "a cultural adventure."
Norwegian professors Roald Larsen and Jostein Greibrokk extolled the publication's democratic platform. "The journal invites submissions from anyone that writes poetry," they wrote, noting that this brought a lot of unworthy material over the threshold. But, "(Among) the masses of textual rubble, worthy voices have made themselves heard. Our experience from Norway shows, for example, that 'the unknowns' are responsible for almost half of the Norwegian submissions to the journal. ... (It) seems there are many people who write poems for their own pleasure... that through Ice Floe have gained a new kind of recognition."
In a Daily News column, Kenai anthropology professor Alan Boraas wrote, "This little journal reaffirms the Northern perspective that we have lost in recent years. ... Each issue is a kind of cultural geography. Maybe (Gramse and Kirk) can ignite in us the pride and promise of our destiny as a Northern people in a Northern land."
A number of rising Alaska poets received international exposure through Ice Floe, including Joan Kane, Anne Coray and Joseph Enzweiler. But well-known writers like former state poet laureates John Haines and Tom Sexton also contributed work.
Last year a Norwegian composer asked Sexton's permission to use a poem he found in Ice Floe for the lyrics of a song. "I was amazed," Sexton said.
The reach of Ice Floe was impressive, but Kirk and Gramse were even more impressive to the poets they published.
"Too many journals are about the editor," Sexton said. "You can tell from a brief talk with Sarah and Shannon that they love poetry and are dedicated to publishing a quality journal."
No one doubted the quality of Ice Floe, but the product was always a difficult labor of love, financed largely by the pair themselves with occasional grants.
The money was only part of the effort. More grueling was the fact that they were doing everything; soliciting manuscripts, working with editors in other countries, corresponding with poets, making the selections, dealing with translations, entering the copy. Kirk says she would often read the poems out loud while typing them in.
The editorial duties were easy compared to the business side, keeping a handle on the myriad details of actual publication and distribution. "I spent thousands of hours at the post office mailing packages overseas," Gramse recalled.
By 2006, now married and ready to start a family (daughter Frances will turn 2 this January), they decided it was time to let the dream languish. "It never broke even and was a lot of work," said Gramse.
The final edition of the journal came out on winter solstice of that year.
But Ice Floe was not to remain in the freezer of history for long. The University of Alaska Press, previously dedicated exclusively to the publication of non-fiction scholarly papers, history and research, began the process of expanding its mandate. Located in Fairbanks, UA Press provides publication to all branches of the state's university system.
"A few years ago, the board approved us taking on some new areas," said Director Joan Braddock, "including children's literature, poetry and even, conceptually, fiction."
The first books in the literary poetry series featured the work of Sexton and another former State Writer Laureate, John Straley. But there was the feeling that more needed to be done.
"We were very familiar with Ice Floe," said Managing Editor Elisabeth Dabney. There was strong interest in reviving the forum, but UA Press wasn't prepared to take on a magazine. "I proposed we do it as a book series, as a way for us to fill a literary niche missing in Alaska."
And who would do the work of winnowing through piles of "textual rubble" and making the selections? There was no doubt in Dabney's mind that it should be the two people who had lovingly self-published Ice Floe for seven years.
"They had the expertise and camaraderie with editors across the north, in Canada, Russia, Scandinavia, a circumpolar network that we really wanted to keep intact," she said.
"We've got a system set up for doing production and distribution, so it was a perfect partnership," said Braddock.
Ice Floe's birth parents, who retain editorial control of the project, couldn't agree more. "They're doing the business, and we're doing the artistic stuff that we really want to do," said Kirk. "All we have to do is put it in order."
Initial plans call for four editions to come out one per year, starting in 2010. The first volume will include some previously published work, but the editors are looking for more.
The new "Ice Floe" -- now in book form -- will also be UA Press' first e-book venture. "I'm not sure how well poetry is served by being made even more ephemeral than it already is," said Gramse. "But I'm kind of excited by the idea of someone in Helsinki downloading a poem from 'Ice Floe' onto their Nokia phone and reading it while going to work on the bus."
While the editors say they never published anything they didn't like themselves, they're paying special attention to the poems that will appear in the new volume -- a task made easier by being liberated from the nuts and bolts of paying expenses and overseeing the printing.
"We want it to be really, really good," said Kirk.
"This is a great validation of the seven years we spent doing it on our own," Gramse said.
Find Mike Dunham online at adn.com/contact/mdunham or call 257-4332.
By MIKE DUNHAM
mdunham@adn.com