Maia Nolan-Partnow (née Maia Nolan) is an Anchorage, Alaska-based writer, blogger and editor whose work has appeared in the Anchorage Daily News, the Anchorage Press, and Portland Magazine. From 2009 until 2011 she was a full-time editor at Alaska Dispatch, Alaska’s online news site, working with the news team that won the 2011 Best of the West award in Breaking News Reporting for coverage of a 2010 plane crash that killed five on board including former Sen. Ted Stevens, as well as 2010 Alaska Press Club awards for investigative reporting and public service and the Howard Rock Tom Snapp First Amendment Award for coverage of Alaska’s 2010 U.S. Senate race.
Maia’s writing has been called “witty” and “quirky” by political journalist Eric Boehlert, who discussed her treatment of the 2008 presidential election in his book Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet Changed Politics and the Press. In 2008, Maia received a Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Award to complete her first novel and was named Alaska’s top blogger by PurpleStates.tv, which selected her to represent the state in its 50/50/50 project. “8 Stars of Gold,” a play Maia co-wrote with Ryan Conarro in celebration of Alaska’s 50th anniversary of statehood, premiered at Perseverance Theatre in April 2009, and was presented on the mainstage at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in June 2009.
Maia has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Portland and a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Whether sizing up the excesses and shortcomings of other people’s weddings or of various Palins popularizing reality TV, Maia Nolan analyzes and criticizes wittily without ever crossing the line to mean-spiritedness. That’s not easy.
– Samantha Bennett, judge, 2010 Alaska Press Club Awards
Maia’s blog www.ownthesidewalk.com couples insightful political commentary with personal stories, which make Maia not only an excellent pundit for Alaska but also a compelling character. She caught our eye with her consistently excellent writing, her ability to make us smile with her humor, and her compassion and caring for our most northerly state.
– Cynthia Farrar, Executive Producer, Purple States
While conducting interviews around the state for Perseverance Theatre’s latest production, “8 Stars of Gold,” co-playwrights Ryan Conarro and Maia Nolan found that although Alaskans may defy simple categorization, one word that definitely does not describe them is “dull.”
“There are an infinite number of fascinating people in the state. Everyone is a character,” Nolan said.
– “A theater of place,” Juneau Empire, April 3, 2009
The playwrights (Ryan Conarro and Maia Nolan) cleverly conceive of delivering the information almost as if documenting their own research process … the play has a real-life, documentary feel that encourages the audience to become a part of living history.
– “8 Stars” draws audience into living history,” Juneau Empire, April 10, 2009
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