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“Alaska changed my life.” It would be tough to find an Alaskan author who doesn’t share this sentiment with writer Kim Heacox. In his musings on restlessness, Heacox reflects on what happened when the small community of Gustavus became a second-class city. Governing yourselves, the community reasoned, was part of growing up. The paradox, as […]

Alaskan author Kim Heacox spoke last night in the season’s final “Wildlife Wednesday,” a multi-agency lecture series sponsored in part by Conoco Phillips. Hailing from Gustavus, population 440 or so, Heacox is one of Alaska’s most notable nature writer/photographers. His books include The Only Kayak and In Denali. Personable and sincere, Heacox read, with commentary,

It’s not a book, but it might as well be. The authors are many. Mushers racing to Nome are known to the world. But there were also indigenous people. Explorers. Prospectors. Railroad workers. Telegraph linemen. Last night I attended a kick-off function for the four-year celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Iditarod Trail. One

This quote, ostensibly spoken by the character playing Harper Lee in the film “Infamous,” made the rounds on a few writer listservs last week, generating a bit of discussion: “America is not a country where the small gesture goes noticed. We’re not a country like France where charm, something light or effervescent can survive. We

This weekend I finished The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls. It’s a mesmerizing read. Walls’ irresponsible, dysfunctional parents were, as her mother put it, “addicted to excitement.” Had they had more money, they would have run off to Alaska – it made her alcoholic father’s short list of escape routes. Reading the book

Talk about weather. We do it everywhere, especially in Alaska, where our weather is something of a novelty. Our seasons don’t jive with the tidy patterns learned in grade school. Winter begins early and ends late. Summer, fall, and spring sprint past in a blur. Outside my window, an icicle has fallen into our latest

Two days ago, BP and Conoco announced that they’re going to build a natural gas pipeline to haul Alaska’s gas to markets in the Lower 48. They emphasized that this was not a plan; it was a project that begins now – the Denali project. Alaskans know how much political wrangling wraps around this simple

American Idol for writers? Sounds like fantasy, but a new venture, WEbook, is giving it a spin. At the newly launched www.webook.com, writers can initiate either public or private collaborative efforts. Post your work on WEbook and you’ll have a shot at being published – not vanity publishing, but royalty-based. I haven’t checked out the

Alaskan author Debby Dahl Edwardson’s picture book Whale Snow tells the striking tale of a child and the whale spirit that unites his Inupiaq people. Here, Debby shares her thoughts on literacy, culture, collaboration, and inspiration. She also gives a preview of her novel Blessing’s Bead, slated for release in 2009. What have you learned

Where else but in Alaska would you find an ambitious publishing venture that bills itself as a cross between Ben and Jerry’s and Harley Davidson? Publisher Barbara Farris talks here about 40 Below Ink, which is preparing to launch its first books later this year.Tell us a bit about yourself and how you became involved