Brooks receives Contributions to Literacy in Alaska award

Each year the Alaska Center for the Book presents Contributions to Literacy in Alaska (CLIA) Awards. The awards recognize those persons and institutions who have made a significant contribution, in the battle for literacy, to the literary arts, or to the preservation of the written or spoken word in Alaska. Award winners have included librarians, teachers, writers, tutors and others dedicated to making the world a better place through the gift of language.

Regan Brooks is the founder of Story Works Alaska, an all-volunteer organization that provides storytelling workshops to several Anchorage-area high schools. Storytellers and coaches work with students on skills that transfer to reading, writing and public speaking. Story Works Alaska also encourages connections among students and their communities. A former high school science teacher, Brooks began the program in 2014 with support from Vik Patel of Arctic Entries and teachers Temperance Tinker and Rachel Kittoe of West Anchorage High School; more than 1,000 students have taken part since then.