Eowyn Ivey Meet the Author

even tougher exams.

Now it's time for Meet the Author, with Rebecca Jones.

Eowyn Ivey had the kind of success with her first novel that most

authors can only dream about.

'The Snow Child' became a global bestseller and was shortlisted

for the Pulitzer Prize.

Now, four years later, she's back with her highly

anticipated second novel, 'To the Bright Edge of the World'.

Once again, it's set in Alaska - where Eowyn herself

was raised and still lives - and it tells the story

of a late-19th-century expedition into that beautiful,

but forbidding, wilderness.

Eowyn Ivey, before we start talking about the book,

I must just ask you about your name.

It's so unusual, where does it come from?

Well, in truth, my mom named me after a character from the Lord

of the Rings, Tolkien's books.

And, of course, this is long before the movies had come out.

So when I was a child, no-one ever recognised it.

Now people will say, isn't that from the Lord of the Rings?

Do you mind being named after a character from

the Lord of the Rings?

I actually really like it.

When I was younger sometimes, I wanted a more normal name.

You know, it drew a little more attention to myself that

I was uncomfortable with.

But now I'm really actually glad to have the name, I enjoy it.

Now, this book follows the international acclaim that

you received for 'The Snow Child', which brought you on to

the inevitable challenges of the second novel.

How difficult has it been?

You know, it was actually really exciting to write a new book

and try to kind of stretch my wings as a writer a little bit,

compared to 'The Snow Child'.

It is hard when I let myself think about it,

because I didn't want to disappoint 'Snow Child' fans.

I wanted to give them another story that they would enjoy,

but I also wanted to try some different things.

But once I just sat down to write, you kind of forget about all that

and you're just involved with the stories.

So, 'To the Bright Edge of the World' is inspired

by a true-life story - a real-life expedition into Alaska

in the late-19th century by a man called Henry T Allen.

So tell us a little bit more about him and what he

was trying to achieve.

Sure.

It was actually when I was working at the Little Bookstore,

in Alaska, that I came across the original

expedition reports.

It was 1885, this very young lieutenant led an expedition

into the heart of Alaska.

And it's crazy to think at that time, which is relatively recent

in history, white Americans had never explored the

interior of Alaska.

So it was a very gruelling journey up an icy river, encountering

indigenous people who had never met white people before.

It was a great adventure really.

And your fictional hero is called Allen, but that's his first name.

So Allen Forrester.

You've borrowed the surname of the real-life character.

How much of your hero is that real-life character,

or have you reimagined him?

Really, the character is entirely fictionalised.

I wanted that freedom to just make the characters who they were

going to be on their own.

But I wanted to give a little homage to the lieutenant who had

actually done the expedition because I relied a tremendous amount

on his reports and his...

You know, there's a member of his expedition that kept diaries

and journals, and I was able to read those.

So the research all came from there and I owe

a great debt to that.

But the characters themselves, you know, my character is a colonel.

He's much older, has a different background,

he's very much his own person.

And you mentioned the diaries that Henry T Allen left behind.

Are they the first written accounts of native Alaskan people?

Not the first written accounts of native Alaskans in general

because the coast of Alaska had been explored extensively by Russians

and by white Americans.

But going into the interior, certain parts of it,

especially along what's called the Copper River, they really

are the first documented reports from there.

It seemed to me that one of the central themes of the novel

is change and what impact that this expedition is going to have

on the native people, and I wondered where you wanted

the reader's sympathies to lie?

Do you want them to lie with the explorers or with the natives?

Well, you know, it's interesting because I think as a writer,

I'm not really interested in offering an answer.

I'm more interested in asking the questions.

So I really want to present both sides.

I think in many ways, my colonel is a likeable man,

very honourable in a lot of ways, but what he's bringing

about is a tremendous amount of change for the people

who live there.

So I just wanted to raise those questions.

And really, I was interested in telling an adventure story,

but I felt like I had a certain responsibility to say -

what comes with this, then?

What are the long-term effects of exploration and colonialism?

So I wanted to at least ask those questions, I guess.

And there's a strong supernatural element to the novel as well.

Tell us a little bit more about that.

Sure, I kind of discovered as a fiction writer that what I love

to do is have fun with reality.

So I love the Alaskan landscape, setting stories there.

But with both 'The Snow Child' and this new book, I wanted to leave

room for the imagination and for the fantastical.

So there might be a couple of lake monsters thrown

in there along the way!

Yes.

The story is also about the young wife that the colonel leaves behind,

Sophie.

How much of her story is based on real-life events as well,

or is she totally imagined?

Well, in ways, she's totally imagined, but very informed

by the time.

So I did a lot of research about the lives of explorers, polar explorers.

And because she has an interest in naturalism and taking

photographs, I did a lot of research about women who were doing that

at the time.

So there were women who were exploring with photography

and taking pictures of their families, but also in the nature,

and I was interested in letting a woman kind of explore that

new territory at the time.

Now, you've structured the novel as a series of diary entries.

There are maps, drawings, photographs, letters.

Why did you decide to write it in that way?

You know, I think in part, it kind of grew organically for me

just out of the research process because as I was doing research,

that's what I was discovering.

I was coming across these amazing sketches and reports

and military documents.

And it kind of is a fun feeling to be discovering and I wanted

the reader to have that feeling.

So I hope that every turn of the page, you're not really sure

what you're going to find on the next page, and then

the pieces kind of come together.

But it was challenging.

At times, I wondered, can I tell the story this way?

You have to struggle with suspense and plot when everything's

in first person like that.

Am I right, there's one photograph in there of your husband on a raft?

There is!

How did that come about?

There is.

So he and I did a raft trip together.

I was given a grant for research to float the Copper River,

which is the river that sort of inspired my fictional

Wolverine River.

So we spent about a week floating about 100 miles

on a little inflatable raft, the two of us, and I took a tonne

of photographs along the way.

And so as a part of the story, there's a brochure,

a fictional brochure, about coming to raft in Alaska.

And you're absolutely right, that's a picture of my husband!

How much do you think Colonel Allen Forrester

would recognise Alaska today?

Well, you know, it's funny because in parts - for example,

along the Copper River - there's parts that probably look

very much like it did when he was there.

But I think like every place, change and growth happens and that

brings in ways great opportunities and economic stimulus,

but it does come at a cost sometimes.

So every place, I think, struggles with growth and change,

and how to do that the best way for the people who live there.

You live there, what is life like?

Well, I grew up there, so I'm probably a little biased!

But my husband and I very much love it.

Our lives haven't changed that much.

Even though I get to come and tour in the UK and do different things,

my day-to-day life at our home is very much as it always has been.

And we've got chickens and a garden, and, um...

Is it a wonderful place to write?

Because from, I suppose, my point of view, it would feel

like a place that's free from distraction.

Or is the view actually a total distraction?

I don't know!

Well, I do have a great view from my window and my office,

which is a little dangerous.

But, no, I do think...

Especially in the winter time.

We have a lot of dark in the winter, so I think that's where a lot

of creativity comes from from Alaskans, because you've

got this time that's very quiet.

So I do a lot of reading and writing in the winter.

And in the summer, it's a different kind of manic pace.

Everyone's trying to get everything done while the daylight's burning

and you've got all this time to go fishing and to do your garden

and things like that.

And what about the next book, will it be set in Alaska?

You know, I can't really, at this point, imagine about writing

anyplace else because this is what I know.

And also, I feel like I'm interested in sort of some of the conflicting

ideas about Alaska.

I love it, but there's also hard things about it, so I'm

kind of interested in exploring that as a writer.

So for now, I think that's my territory.

OK.

Eowyn Ivey, it's been great to talk to you.

Thanks so much.

Thank you so much for having me.