Imagine
SouthcentralAlaska lit by
firelight and the amber glow of oil lamps.
A place without concrete cities, xtratufs and duct tape, where Russian
is still the common language and the handful of resident Americans are for all
intents and purposes foreigners in a strange land. This world once existed, but has been
virtually forgotten amid seven decades of Cold War propaganda and modern-day
Alaskans’ obsession with the gold rush and statehood.
Southcentral
firelight and the amber glow of oil lamps.
A place without concrete cities, xtratufs and duct tape, where Russian
is still the common language and the handful of resident Americans are for all
intents and purposes foreigners in a strange land. This world once existed, but has been
virtually forgotten amid seven decades of Cold War propaganda and modern-day
Alaskans’ obsession with the gold rush and statehood.
Kris Farmen’s new novel Turn Again brings
this world back to life through the words of Aleksandr Campbell, a man of mixed
Russian, Dena’ina Athabascan, and American heritage. His story, told to anthropologist Rebecca
Ashford from his prison cell as he awaits his execution for a double homicide,
paints a nineteenth-century world that is both instantly recognizable and starkly
alien.
this world back to life through the words of Aleksandr Campbell, a man of mixed
Russian, Dena’ina Athabascan, and American heritage. His story, told to anthropologist Rebecca
Ashford from his prison cell as he awaits his execution for a double homicide,
paints a nineteenth-century world that is both instantly recognizable and starkly
alien.
Farmen, a
novelist, essayist and historian with degrees in anthropology and archaeology,
will discuss the process of crafting Turn
Again from personal inspiration and historical research, and how he used
both to breathe color into a world of sepia-tone photographs and create a novel
ofCook Inlet in the 1880s. Join us for his reading and craft talk tonight from 7 – 8:30 pm at the Great Harvest Bread Company in Anchorage. Fresh cookies, too!
novelist, essayist and historian with degrees in anthropology and archaeology,
will discuss the process of crafting Turn
Again from personal inspiration and historical research, and how he used
both to breathe color into a world of sepia-tone photographs and create a novel
of