Books by Alaskans

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, October 2016; written by Tammy Dinsmore

October 1-8, 2016 is Alaska Book Week! Alaska Book Week was started in 2011 to celebrate Alaska’s authors. Many libraries and book stores across the state will have events or displays that showcase the diverse and multicultural stories of all things Alaskan.

The Ketchikan Public Library will be celebrating with a display of books written by Alaska’s authors. We have a wide variety of books in many different subjects and genres ranging from science and nature to cooking, poetry, travel, history, and the ever popular fiction.

In “Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods”, Christine Byl recounts her experiences of working summers in Denali National Park helping to build nature trails.

“Blonde Indian: An Alaska Native Memoir” by Tlingit author Ernestine Hayes tells the story of coming home to Southeast Alaska after a long absence. It is rich with native lore.

If cooking is of interest to you, “Winterlake Lodge Cookbook: Culinary Adventures in the Wilderness with Kirsten Dixon” is chock full of recipes and stories of cooking at the lodge. Broken down into seasons, most recipes include the use of locally grown and/or freshly picked ingredients. There are some outstanding pictures of the wilderness around them as well as pictures of some of the recipes.

In poetry, two books that may be of interest to you are Joan Kane’s “The Cormorant Hunter’s Wife: Poems” and Nicole O’Donnell’s “Steam Laundry: Poems”. Ms. Kane has Inupiaq Eskimo roots and her poems bring to life the Arctic and its people. A novel in poems, “Steam Laundry” is the true story of Sarah Ellen Gibson, the sixth woman to arrive in Fairbanks in 1903, smack dab in the middle of the gold rush.

We have several books by the more popular and well known Alaskan fiction authors, such as Sue Henry, Dana Stabenow, and John Straley. Also in our collection are some of the classics written by Margaret Bell.

New on the shelves is “To the Bright Edge of the World” by Eowyn Ivey. Known for her book “Snow Child”, Ms Ivey has written a historical fiction novel set in 1885. A Lieutenant Colonel sets out with his crew on an expedition to explore the Wolverine River in Alaska. He leaves behind his wife, Sophie in Vancouver. The story alternates between the Colonel and Sophie and tells of the struggles that each of them face during their time apart.

The few mentioned above are some of the many books we have that have been written by Alaskan authors. Come help us celebrate the talents of Alaska’s writers and check out a few books in the process!