Pacific Northwest Reader Spotlight #5

Editors Note: As a run-up to the release of The Pacific Northwest Reader in early May, Gigi Little has been spotlighting essays found in The Reader on her blog ut omnia bene, and has graciously agreed to re-post these spotlights here on RLP.  The PNW Reader will only be available in independent bookstores, with proceeds benefiting the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.

Ladies and Gentlemen…

Meet Dinah!

She’s the star of a lovely essay in the forthcoming Pacific Northwest Reader, and when you read the essay, you’re going to fall in love with her.

And with the Alaska that you get to see as you walk along with Dinah and writer Annie Tupek.

Here’s a taste:

In this, the unfolding of winter, my thoughts return to the warm months, the endless summer days when the entire world is green and vibrant with life. When squirrels flick their tails and frolic through the trees, butterflies paint the air with their multitude of colors, and mosquitoes buzz and sting. I do not miss the mosquitoes.

This winter landscape, though snow-capped, is not dead. The life is hidden, resting, waiting for the midnight sun to return. Shrews tunnel under the snow; birds fluff up their feathers for warmth and stay close to their nests. There are probably a few moose in the area snacking on whatever succulents they can find, and a myriad of other creatures smart enough to stay out of the way of a human and her dog.

[I love the idea of life hiding and resting under that forever of snow. Beautiful.]

Annie Tupek was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago. She now resides in Fairbanks, Alaska with her husband and their adopted English Mastiff. Her short work has appeared in The First Line magazine (Spring, 2007), and the forthcoming horror anthology Courting Morpheus (Belfire Press, Spring 2010). As a buyer and office assistant at Gulliver’s Books, America’s northernmost independent bookstore, her reading addiction is well sated, though she often despairs that there are too many books and not enough time for reading.

You can check out her blog at www.annietupek.com/blog/