Former Sitka-based wilderness ranger Mary Emerick will read from her novel The Geography of Water 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 13, at Old Harbor Books. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)
Novelist Mary Emerick spent seven years (2002-2009) as a back country kayak ranger in the Tongass National Forest. Her debut novel The Geography of Water is a mystery/coming-of-age story set in the watery landscape of Southeast Alaska. Emerick will read from her book at 6:30 this evening (Thurs 4-13-17) at Old Harbor Books. Emerick’s second book, Fire in the Heart (due out this September from Arcade), is a memoir of her days fighting wildfires in the 1990s, when it was rare to see women on fire lines. Emerick says her agent is currently shopping another book manuscript, about her years in Sitka as a kayak ranger. “I still have a lot to say about those days,” Emerick says, “and all the interesting people who went with me on the trips.” Emerick works for the US Forest Service as a recreation planner for the Washington office based in Joseph, OR.
