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

Alaskan author Heather Lende writes with transparency, beauty, and a deep sense of truth. Her first book, If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name, is a remarkable tribute to the spirited Alaskan community of Haines. Here, Lende talks about both her first book and her latest venture, a collection of true stories from Haines

The doorbell rang the other day, just as the sun was sinking into evening. When I answered, I found a UPS truck driving away and a box of books on my doorstep. Inside were shiny new author copies of the sixth edition of Globe Pequot’s OFF THE BEATEN PATH: ALASKA. There’s good reason why this

Let’s say you’re here in Anchorage and it’s Sunday and you’re trying to be a true-blue All-American by cuddling up to your new TV and dialing in on the football event of the year. Thirty minutes into the game, you’ve had enough. Don’t despair. You’ll still have time to head to the Loussac Library between

ALASKAN AUTHOR INTERVIEW: JANE HAIGH I met Jane Haigh several years ago through my good friend Claire Rudolf Murphy. She’s a delightful person and an accomplished Alaskan author and historian. With Claire, Jane co-authored Gold Rush Women, Gold Rush Dogs, and Children of the Gold Rush. She’s also the author of King Con: The Story