Here’s a sneak peek at the cover of my newest novel A Horse Named Sky. The art is by the very talented Kirbi Fagin. Can’t wait to see what she does with the interior art. The book will be published September 5th, 2023.
I just received the most amazing news and on my birthday too! A Whale of the Wild is now a New York Times Bestseller! I’m so proud of this story and of Lindsay Moore’s brilliant illustrations that do so much to bring the tale to life. It was first published in the depths of the pandemic, September of 2020, when my home was shrouded in wildfire smoke. And yet people found my story and loved it and shared it with others. When the paperback edition went on sale we were in the thick of the Delta wave. Still people found my story. And now after all this time, when people were out there thinking about what book they wanted their child to have this holiday, they thought of Vega and Deneb and the Orcas of the Salish Sea. I could not be more thrilled. I hope a legion of eager readers grow up to be wayfinders and defenders of the ocean.
Many thanks to my agent Fiona Kenshole of The Transatlantic Agency who never gave up on these stories and has represented them around the world with vigor and warmth. My thoughtful and savvy editor Virginia Duncan has been a dream to work with as has the whole team at HarperCollins. Most of all thanks to the booksellers and librarians and teachers who work so hard to bring books and children together in the most challenging environment of my lifetime. Thank you!
It’s with sorrow and also great pride that I bid farewell to a wild wolf who captured the hearts of wildlife watchers everywhere with his strength and determination, and inspired me to write A WOLF CALLED WANDER. When OR 7 was a pup in the Imnaha Pack in northeastern Oregon, wolves were only recently returned to my home state, and we had much to learn about wild wolves and many questions about how they would survive. When OR 7 dispersed from his pack in search of a mate he fired the imagination of the world with his persistence–eventually finding a wolf in southwestern Oregon where none had been seen in more than 80 years.
He and his mate founded the Rogue pack. (Sorry to disappoint Star Wars fans, it was named for the Rogue River watershed where they live.) The pair went on to have pups year after year. Those pups are founding members of California’s first wild wolves in more than a century, the Lassen and Shasta packs. OR 7 has not worn a collar in several years and was last seen on a trail camera in the fall of 2019. His mate has been seen on trail cameras this spring but not OR 7 so he is missing and presumed dead at this point. He was 11 years old, more than twice the average life span for a wild wolf. His Rogue pack continues to thrive and his pups and grand-pups will raise their voices in Oregon’s forests for generations to come.
There is plenty to celebrate about the progress wolves have made in OR 7’s lifetime. Wolves have slowly but steadily increased over the last decade. There are now 22 known packs in Oregon and the known population of wolves has increased 15% in the last year. In response the Department of Fish and Wildlife has hired more wolf biologists and concentrated grant money and public education toward the goal of managing livestock to co-exist with wolves. Those efforts are paying off as there are 43% fewer losses of livestock in 2019. Here is a link to a wolf encounter with an ODFW intern in the summer of 2019. It has good information about meeting wolves in the wild. I hope our future contains many more beautiful and peaceful wolf encounters like this one.
Sources: https://dfw.state.or.us/wolves/docs/oregon_wolf_program/2019_Annual_Wolf_Report_FINAL.pdf, and https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-wolf-population-up-but-famous-or-7-may-have-died/
Just when you thought book award season was over, I’ve just learned that LAST OF THE NAME has been nominated for the Children’s History Book Prize, by the NY Historical Society. I’m delighted to be recognized along side three other beautiful works of non-fiction. And more than that I’m grateful that organizations like the NYHS are drawing attention to historical fiction which can be a challenge to publish.
I’m thrilled to announce that I have a companion book to A Wolf Called Wander coming out next year. A Whale of the Wild will be a fall title with Greenwillow. The illustrator will be Lindsay Moore who wrote and illustrated the magnificent picture book The Sea Bear. Here we are researching by kayak in the Salish Sea. You can read all about the deal in this Publisher’s Weekly interview.
I am very grateful to the team at Andersen Press who had such vision for my book, and to our brilliant illustrator Mónica Armiño and to Greenwillow who have made a beautiful home for my stories. And most of all I’m grateful to my Portland writing community, my writing partners Amy Baskin, Nora Ericson, Michael Gettle-Gilmartin, Cheryl Coupé, Barb Liles and Cliff Lehman. And most of all thank you to my agent Fiona Kenshole for her acumen, determination, enthusiasm and kindness.
