the sun is a compass by caroline van hemert

It's an incredible piece of work from a new force in the world of non-fiction writing. The writing is powerful, honest and engaging. Not just a pure adventure piece, the book blends the science of ornithology seamlessly into the narrative, displaying the connections we have and the lessons we can learn from the migrating bird populations of this planet. You are there with them every step of the way, through all the physical and personal struggles a journey like this presents. Throughout the book, Van Hemert skillfully brings you into her and Pat’s intimate world of movement and survival. They rowed, skied, hiked, pack rafted and canoed from Bellingham, Washington all the way to the Brooks Range in the far north of Alaska-an epic journey that boggles the mind and fires the soul. In her page-turning, thoughtful and provocative book The Sun is a Compass (for which she won the 2019 Banff Mountain Book Competition: Adventure Travel), Van Hemert details an audacious six-month, 6,400-kilometre journey she and Pat carried out in 2012. Their wild, intentional lives can only be properly expressed on the fringes of this planet. This pair of Alaskan Renaissance people, highly accomplished in the fields of adventure, art and science, are outliers you’ll rarely find in any city. For speaking engagements and media, please send a message below.At the recent Banff Mountain Book and Film Festival, I was privileged to meet Caroline Van Hemert and her husband Pat Farrell. in creative writing.Ĭaroline offers engaging, multimedia presentations for keynotes and other events. With her husband and two young sons, she divides her time between a cozy home in downtown Anchorage and a remote, off-the-grid cabin near Haines, Alaska.

Her writing has been featured in the New York Times, Audubon, Outside, Washington Post, and more.

Along the way, she has been outsmarted by Cheeto-eating crows, stalked by predatory bears, charged by elephants, and humbled by 10-gram chickadees that shiver through winter nights. Caroline’s journeys, both personal and professional, have taken her from the pack ice of the Arctic Ocean to the swamps of the Okavango Delta. Winner of the Banff Mountain Book Award for Adventure Travel and cited as one of the best outdoor books of 2019 by Outside, Bustle, and Forbes, The Sun is a Compass is available now in paperback. Caroline Van Hemert is an author, adventurer, and wildlife biologist.

The sun is a compass by caroline van hemert