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even tougher exams. | 0:00:00 | 0:00:05 | |
Now it's time for Meet the Author, with Rebecca Jones. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:08 | |
Eowyn Ivey had the kind of success with her first novel that most | 0:00:08 | 0:00:11 | |
authors can only dream about. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:12 | |
'The Snow Child' became a global bestseller and was shortlisted | 0:00:12 | 0:00:14 | |
for the Pulitzer Prize. | 0:00:14 | 0:00:17 | |
Now, four years later, she's back with her highly | 0:00:17 | 0:00:20 | |
anticipated second novel, 'To the Bright Edge of the World'. | 0:00:20 | 0:00:23 | |
Once again, it's set in Alaska - where Eowyn herself | 0:00:23 | 0:00:26 | |
was raised and still lives - and it tells the story | 0:00:26 | 0:00:29 | |
of a late-19th-century expedition into that beautiful, | 0:00:29 | 0:00:33 | |
but forbidding, wilderness. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:43 | |
Eowyn Ivey, before we start talking about the book, | 0:00:48 | 0:00:52 | |
I must just ask you about your name. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:54 | |
It's so unusual, where does it come from? | 0:00:54 | 0:00:56 | |
Well, in truth, my mom named me after a character from the Lord | 0:00:56 | 0:00:59 | |
of the Rings, Tolkien's books. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:06 | |
And, of course, this is long before the movies had come out. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:09 | |
So when I was a child, no-one ever recognised it. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:12 | |
Now people will say, isn't that from the Lord of the Rings? | 0:01:12 | 0:01:15 | |
Do you mind being named after a character from | 0:01:15 | 0:01:17 | |
the Lord of the Rings? | 0:01:17 | 0:01:18 | |
I actually really like it. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:19 | |
When I was younger sometimes, I wanted a more normal name. | 0:01:19 | 0:01:22 | |
You know, it drew a little more attention to myself that | 0:01:22 | 0:01:25 | |
I was uncomfortable with. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:26 | |
But now I'm really actually glad to have the name, I enjoy it. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:29 | |
Now, this book follows the international acclaim that | 0:01:29 | 0:01:31 | |
you received for 'The Snow Child', which brought you on to | 0:01:31 | 0:01:33 | |
the inevitable challenges of the second novel. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:35 | |
How difficult has it been? | 0:01:35 | 0:01:36 | |
You know, it was actually really exciting to write a new book | 0:01:36 | 0:01:39 | |
and try to kind of stretch my wings as a writer a little bit, | 0:01:39 | 0:01:42 | |
compared to 'The Snow Child'. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
It is hard when I let myself think about it, | 0:01:44 | 0:01:46 | |
because I didn't want to disappoint 'Snow Child' fans. | 0:01:46 | 0:01:48 | |
I wanted to give them another story that they would enjoy, | 0:01:48 | 0:01:51 | |
but I also wanted to try some different things. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:53 | |
But once I just sat down to write, you kind of forget about all that | 0:01:53 | 0:01:56 | |
and you're just involved with the stories. | 0:01:56 | 0:01:58 | |
So, 'To the Bright Edge of the World' is inspired | 0:01:58 | 0:02:00 | |
by a true-life story - a real-life expedition into Alaska | 0:02:00 | 0:02:03 | |
in the late-19th century by a man called Henry T Allen. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:06 | |
So tell us a little bit more about him and what he | 0:02:06 | 0:02:08 | |
was trying to achieve. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:09 | |
Sure. | 0:02:09 | 0:02:10 | |
It was actually when I was working at the Little Bookstore, | 0:02:10 | 0:02:13 | |
in Alaska, that I came across the original | 0:02:13 | 0:02:15 | |
expedition reports. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:16 | |
It was 1885, this very young lieutenant led an expedition | 0:02:16 | 0:02:18 | |
into the heart of Alaska. | 0:02:18 | 0:02:20 | |
And it's crazy to think at that time, which is relatively recent | 0:02:20 | 0:02:23 | |
in history, white Americans had never explored the | 0:02:23 | 0:02:24 | |
interior of Alaska. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:25 | |
So it was a very gruelling journey up an icy river, encountering | 0:02:25 | 0:02:28 | |
indigenous people who had never met white people before. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:30 | |
It was a great adventure really. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:36 | |
And your fictional hero is called Allen, but that's his first name. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:39 | |
So Allen Forrester. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:40 | |
You've borrowed the surname of the real-life character. | 0:02:40 | 0:02:42 | |
How much of your hero is that real-life character, | 0:02:42 | 0:02:45 | |
or have you reimagined him? | 0:02:45 | 0:02:48 | |
Really, the character is entirely fictionalised. | 0:02:48 | 0:02:51 | |
I wanted that freedom to just make the characters who they were | 0:02:51 | 0:02:54 | |
going to be on their own. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:56 | |
But I wanted to give a little homage to the lieutenant who had | 0:02:56 | 0:03:00 | |
actually done the expedition because I relied a tremendous amount | 0:03:00 | 0:03:03 | |
on his reports and his... | 0:03:03 | 0:03:04 | |
You know, there's a member of his expedition that kept diaries | 0:03:04 | 0:03:07 | |
and journals, and I was able to read those. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:09 | |
So the research all came from there and I owe | 0:03:09 | 0:03:11 | |
a great debt to that. | 0:03:11 | 0:03:12 | |
But the characters themselves, you know, my character is a colonel. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:15 | |
He's much older, has a different background, | 0:03:15 | 0:03:17 | |
he's very much his own person. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:19 | |
And you mentioned the diaries that Henry T Allen left behind. | 0:03:19 | 0:03:22 | |
Are they the first written accounts of native Alaskan people? | 0:03:22 | 0:03:26 | |
Not the first written accounts of native Alaskans in general | 0:03:26 | 0:03:28 | |
because the coast of Alaska had been explored extensively by Russians | 0:03:28 | 0:03:31 | |
and by white Americans. | 0:03:31 | 0:03:33 | |
But going into the interior, certain parts of it, | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
especially along what's called the Copper River, they really | 0:03:36 | 0:03:39 | |
are the first documented reports from there. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:42 | |
It seemed to me that one of the central themes of the novel | 0:03:42 | 0:03:46 | |
is change and what impact that this expedition is going to have | 0:03:46 | 0:03:49 | |
on the native people, and I wondered where you wanted | 0:03:49 | 0:03:53 | |
the reader's sympathies to lie? | 0:03:53 | 0:03:56 | |
Do you want them to lie with the explorers or with the natives? | 0:03:56 | 0:03:59 | |
Well, you know, it's interesting because I think as a writer, | 0:03:59 | 0:04:02 | |
I'm not really interested in offering an answer. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:03 | |
I'm more interested in asking the questions. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:05 | |
So I really want to present both sides. | 0:04:05 | 0:04:07 | |
I think in many ways, my colonel is a likeable man, | 0:04:07 | 0:04:10 | |
very honourable in a lot of ways, but what he's bringing | 0:04:10 | 0:04:12 | |
about is a tremendous amount of change for the people | 0:04:12 | 0:04:15 | |
who live there. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:16 | |
So I just wanted to raise those questions. | 0:04:16 | 0:04:18 | |
And really, I was interested in telling an adventure story, | 0:04:18 | 0:04:20 | |
but I felt like I had a certain responsibility to say - | 0:04:20 | 0:04:23 | |
what comes with this, then? | 0:04:23 | 0:04:24 | |
What are the long-term effects of exploration and colonialism? | 0:04:24 | 0:04:27 | |
So I wanted to at least ask those questions, I guess. | 0:04:27 | 0:04:30 | |
And there's a strong supernatural element to the novel as well. | 0:04:30 | 0:04:32 | |
Tell us a little bit more about that. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:35 | |
Sure, I kind of discovered as a fiction writer that what I love | 0:04:35 | 0:04:38 | |
to do is have fun with reality. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:40 | |
So I love the Alaskan landscape, setting stories there. | 0:04:40 | 0:04:42 | |
But with both 'The Snow Child' and this new book, I wanted to leave | 0:04:42 | 0:04:46 | |
room for the imagination and for the fantastical. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:48 | |
So there might be a couple of lake monsters thrown | 0:04:48 | 0:04:51 | |
in there along the way! | 0:04:51 | 0:04:52 | |
Yes. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:55 | |
The story is also about the young wife that the colonel leaves behind, | 0:04:55 | 0:04:58 | |
Sophie. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
How much of her story is based on real-life events as well, | 0:05:00 | 0:05:03 | |
or is she totally imagined? | 0:05:03 | 0:05:05 | |
Well, in ways, she's totally imagined, but very informed | 0:05:05 | 0:05:07 | |
by the time. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:09 | |
So I did a lot of research about the lives of explorers, polar explorers. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:12 | |
And because she has an interest in naturalism and taking | 0:05:12 | 0:05:16 | |
photographs, I did a lot of research about women who were doing that | 0:05:16 | 0:05:19 | |
at the time. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:20 | |
So there were women who were exploring with photography | 0:05:20 | 0:05:22 | |
and taking pictures of their families, but also in the nature, | 0:05:22 | 0:05:25 | |
and I was interested in letting a woman kind of explore that | 0:05:25 | 0:05:28 | |
new territory at the time. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:30 | |
Now, you've structured the novel as a series of diary entries. | 0:05:30 | 0:05:33 | |
There are maps, drawings, photographs, letters. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:35 | |
Why did you decide to write it in that way? | 0:05:35 | 0:05:39 | |
You know, I think in part, it kind of grew organically for me | 0:05:39 | 0:05:42 | |
just out of the research process because as I was doing research, | 0:05:42 | 0:05:45 | |
that's what I was discovering. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:46 | |
I was coming across these amazing sketches and reports | 0:05:46 | 0:05:49 | |
and military documents. | 0:05:49 | 0:05:51 | |
And it kind of is a fun feeling to be discovering and I wanted | 0:05:51 | 0:05:54 | |
the reader to have that feeling. | 0:05:54 | 0:05:56 | |
So I hope that every turn of the page, you're not really sure | 0:05:56 | 0:05:59 | |
what you're going to find on the next page, and then | 0:05:59 | 0:06:01 | |
the pieces kind of come together. | 0:06:01 | 0:06:03 | |
But it was challenging. | 0:06:03 | 0:06:04 | |
At times, I wondered, can I tell the story this way? | 0:06:04 | 0:06:06 | |
You have to struggle with suspense and plot when everything's | 0:06:06 | 0:06:09 | |
in first person like that. | 0:06:09 | 0:06:11 | |
Am I right, there's one photograph in there of your husband on a raft? | 0:06:11 | 0:06:15 | |
There is! | 0:06:15 | 0:06:16 | |
How did that come about? | 0:06:16 | 0:06:17 | |
There is. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:18 | |
So he and I did a raft trip together. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:20 | |
I was given a grant for research to float the Copper River, | 0:06:20 | 0:06:23 | |
which is the river that sort of inspired my fictional | 0:06:23 | 0:06:25 | |
Wolverine River. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:26 | |
So we spent about a week floating about 100 miles | 0:06:26 | 0:06:29 | |
on a little inflatable raft, the two of us, and I took a tonne | 0:06:29 | 0:06:32 | |
of photographs along the way. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:33 | |
And so as a part of the story, there's a brochure, | 0:06:33 | 0:06:36 | |
a fictional brochure, about coming to raft in Alaska. | 0:06:36 | 0:06:38 | |
And you're absolutely right, that's a picture of my husband! | 0:06:38 | 0:06:41 | |
How much do you think Colonel Allen Forrester | 0:06:41 | 0:06:43 | |
would recognise Alaska today? | 0:06:43 | 0:06:43 | |
Well, you know, it's funny because in parts - for example, | 0:06:43 | 0:06:46 | |
along the Copper River - there's parts that probably look | 0:06:46 | 0:06:49 | |
very much like it did when he was there. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:51 | |
But I think like every place, change and growth happens and that | 0:06:51 | 0:06:53 | |
brings in ways great opportunities and economic stimulus, | 0:06:53 | 0:06:55 | |
but it does come at a cost sometimes. | 0:06:55 | 0:06:58 | |
So every place, I think, struggles with growth and change, | 0:06:58 | 0:07:01 | |
and how to do that the best way for the people who live there. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
You live there, what is life like? | 0:07:04 | 0:07:07 | |
Well, I grew up there, so I'm probably a little biased! | 0:07:07 | 0:07:10 | |
But my husband and I very much love it. | 0:07:10 | 0:07:12 | |
Our lives haven't changed that much. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:14 | |
Even though I get to come and tour in the UK and do different things, | 0:07:14 | 0:07:18 | |
my day-to-day life at our home is very much as it always has been. | 0:07:18 | 0:07:21 | |
And we've got chickens and a garden, and, um... | 0:07:21 | 0:07:23 | |
Is it a wonderful place to write? | 0:07:23 | 0:07:25 | |
Because from, I suppose, my point of view, it would feel | 0:07:25 | 0:07:28 | |
like a place that's free from distraction. | 0:07:28 | 0:07:29 | |
Or is the view actually a total distraction? | 0:07:29 | 0:07:31 | |
I don't know! | 0:07:31 | 0:07:32 | |
Well, I do have a great view from my window and my office, | 0:07:32 | 0:07:36 | |
which is a little dangerous. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:37 | |
But, no, I do think... | 0:07:37 | 0:07:38 | |
Especially in the winter time. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:39 | |
We have a lot of dark in the winter, so I think that's where a lot | 0:07:39 | 0:07:43 | |
of creativity comes from from Alaskans, because you've | 0:07:43 | 0:07:45 | |
got this time that's very quiet. | 0:07:45 | 0:07:46 | |
So I do a lot of reading and writing in the winter. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:49 | |
And in the summer, it's a different kind of manic pace. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
Everyone's trying to get everything done while the daylight's burning | 0:07:52 | 0:07:54 | |
and you've got all this time to go fishing and to do your garden | 0:07:54 | 0:07:58 | |
and things like that. | 0:07:58 | 0:07:59 | |
And what about the next book, will it be set in Alaska? | 0:07:59 | 0:08:01 | |
You know, I can't really, at this point, imagine about writing | 0:08:01 | 0:08:04 | |
anyplace else because this is what I know. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:06 | |
And also, I feel like I'm interested in sort of some of the conflicting | 0:08:06 | 0:08:09 | |
ideas about Alaska. | 0:08:09 | 0:08:10 | |
I love it, but there's also hard things about it, so I'm | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
kind of interested in exploring that as a writer. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
So for now, I think that's my territory. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:17 | |
OK. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:18 | |
Eowyn Ivey, it's been great to talk to you. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:21 | |
Thanks so much. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:22 | |
Thank you so much for having me. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:26 |