Picture of Sherry Simpson

Professor/Chair Creative Writing and Literary Arts

M.F.A., University of Alaska, Fairbanks

B.A., University of Alaska, Fairbanks

afss3@uaa.alaska.edu

Simpson is the author of The Way Winter Comes, (Sasquatch Books, 1998) the inaugural Chinook Prize winner from Sasquatch Books. Her work is described by Kirkus Reviews as "A profoundly considered, lyrically wrought, refreshingly hands-on survey of the disappearing frontier in America's wildest state." She has been a Bakeless Nonfiction Scholar at Bread Loaf. She has published essays, columns, articles and book reviews in a variety of literary journals, anthologies, magazines, and newspapers. Most recently a series of short essays she wrote appeared in a photographic book on Glacier Bay National Park. She is working on two books: A Nuisance to Myself and Others: Minor Adventures in Postmodern Exploration and In Search of the Last Undiscovered Place.

When not exploring her own connection to the land, she accompanies wildlife biologists as they tag bears threatened by massive clear-cut logging in Tongass National Forest, use radio telemetry to track the ubiquitous moose, and cruise alleys behind fast-food restaurants to puzzle over the behavioral eccentricities of ravens.

The Way Winter Comes   
Cover of The Way Winter Comes     A profoundly considered, lyrically wrought, refreshingly hands-on survey of the disappearing frontier in America's wildest state. This debut won the inaugural Chinook Literary Prize, dedicated to literature about the Pacific Northwest. Simpson (Journalism/Univ. of Alaska), a two-time contributor to the Sierra Club's Best American Nature Writing anthology, turns a poet's eye on the wild Alaska she obviously cherishes. But it's her objectivity and intellectual curiosity that distinguish the eight pieces, which mix personal essays with reportage.   

Glacier Bay National Park   
Book cover of Glacier Bay National Park     Glacier Bay National Park brings alive an area rich in wildlife and adventure. The pages are filled with the whales, eagles and bears of Glacier Bay. The book does more than just show you the scenery of the region; it takes you through a history and cultural lesson on the area. The photos tell the story of the Tlingit Indians, who once inhabited the area's bays and still consider Glacier Bay their spiritual core.   

Alaska's Ocean Highways   
Cover of Alaska's Ocean Highways    

Alaska's Ocean Highways is an armchair adventure in which photographer Mark Kelley takes readers 3,700 miles through the famed Inside Passage, across Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet, and on to Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula en route to the remote Aleutians. Among thousands of islands and fjords, Kelley captures colorful images of the people and cultures, mountains and glaciers, and a vast array of wildlife.