Mike Holloway becomes the adopted grandson of elders Johnny and Sarah Frank. What he learns in Gwich'in Country marks his life forever. He becomes a renowned orthopedic surgeon working with the Peace Corps and at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage. (Note: there are sound gaps during the discussion period.) This is an extraordinary event! Joining Mike for readings is his companion and wife, Margie Gibson.

In Canyons and Ice, Kaylene Johnson recounts the wilderness adventures of Dick Griffith who, for over six decades, journeyed across Alaska, Canada, Mexico, and the American West. This event focuses on Dick's walks through arctic Alaska. Kaylene Johnson is author of five books about Alaska including her memoir A Tender Distance: Adventures Raising My Son in Alaska. This event was recorded in december 2013. Another event, October 2015, has also been recorded which focuses on Dick...

John Tippets presents Heart of Courage: The Gillam Plane Crash and the Amazing True Story of Survival in the Frozen Wilderness of Alaska. This is the amazing true account of the 1943 Gillam plane crash in the wilderness of southeast Alaska. Based on the first-hand descriptions of his father, the 5 passengers endured sub-zero temperatures and scarce food for 29 days until a dramatic rescue saved them

Leigh Newman, author of the memoir "Still Points North", and Sherry Simpson, author of "Accidental Explorer" and associate professor in the UAA MFA Program, discuss being raised in Alaska and the role Alaska played in shaping their adult lives.

Midnight Sun Arctic Moon is the story of Mary Albanese’s life when she came to Alaska at age 22 in 1977. Instead of becoming a rural Alaskan school teacher she obtained her master's degree in Geo-sciences from UAF. Her adventures as a geologist-- mapping and naming unexplored areas of Alaska--are captivating and exciting .

Dan Bigley and journalist Debra McKinney are co authors of Beyond the Bear, the story of Dan’s brutal bear attack and dramatic rescue. Written with respect for bears, the book describes the extraordinary life Dan has lived after surviving 5 surgeries, being a father and living with blindness. Besides the fascinating details, Debra McKinney’s unusual gifts that capture the core essence of people are well illustrated.

Dr. Nancy Sydnam is a retired family physician who has been practicing in Alaska since the 1950s and has helped bring over 1000 Alaskan babies into the world. Sideways Rain is about her experiences providing medical services out on the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands, working with both telemedicine and the physicians assistants and nurse practitioners. Dr. Nancy Sydnam is an emphatic observer of human nature. In journal entries, letters and poems she writes with deep affection about the...

The life story of J. Holger Christensen as told to Vaughn Sherman, takes us from his birth in 1906 at Nome to a high seas career rising from ordinary seaman to master mariner. His adventures as a deck officer in the Aleutian Islands and the Bering Sea and his reminiscences about maritime life in Puget Sound during 1930's and 1940's make this book unforgettable!

To Russia with Love is the story of Vic Fischer's extraordinary life, Historic figures fill his memoir and included remembrances of his parents-- the American journalist Louis Fischer and Russian writer Markoosha Fischer--and childhood friends who end up at opposing sides of the front during WWII. Vic Fischer's life in Washington, D.C., the writing of the Alaska Constitution, his personal dreams and beliefs make this book simply fascinating.

Howard weaver's talk was organized by the Alaska Press Club and hosted at the UAA Campus Bookstore. Journalist Howard Weaver was born in Anchorage and began writing for the Anchorage Daily News in 1967. He worked as a police reporter, court reporter, legislative correspondent, daily columnist, managing editor. He led the Anchorage Daily News to Pulitzer Prizes--in 1976 for coverage of the Alaska Teamsters Union during construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline and in 1989 for coverage of...

Colleen Mondor learned to fly at age eighteen and has degrees in aviation, history and northern studies. Her book, The Map of My Dead Pilots, is based on her experiences as lead dispatcher at a Part 135 (commercial) air carrier based in Fairbanks. "The 'Company' had bases in multiple bush locations and flew single-engine, multi-engine and twin turbine aircraft carrying everything from scheduled passengers and mail to convicts and sled dogs. There were incidents and accidents, moments of...

Writer Steve Kahn is a lifelong Alaskan and former hunting guide who lives a subsistence based lifestyle in Lake Clark, Alaska. His writings can be found in the anthologies Wild Moments and Crosscurrents North. In The Hard Way Home: Alaska Stories of Adventure, Friendship, and the Hunt, he shares intimate stories of his life throughout Alaska. From author Karsten Heuer, "Blood-stained and brisk one moment, reflective and reverent the next, these stories remind us of the riches that await...

Twenty years after the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef, sixty-two men and women share personal stories of what they saw, how they reacted, and how they coped with North America's worst tanker oil spill...Reliving their experiences are fishermen, Native villagers, biologists, environmentalists, sociologists, Exxon executives, the governor, mayors, journalists, workers who washed oily rocks even the skipper of the ill-fated ship. The Spill is co-edited by Stan Jones, a founding member of...

Willie Hensley is known in Alaska as being a founder for the Northwest Alaska Native Association, NANA Corporation, Alaska Federation of Natives, and having been a member of the Alaska State Legislature for ten years. His beautifully written memoir, Fifty Miles from Tomorrow, incorporates the richness of Inupiat culture and traditions. those that permeate time and place. This book is more than one person's story but the story of Alaska and how people have coped with drastic changes....