Join us for an exciting evening with acclaimed author and trail worker Christine Byl as part of the Midnight Sun Visiting Writers Series. Byl will delve into her novel Lookout, which spans decades in the life of a Montana family, and discuss her non-fiction book Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods, reflecting on her time with National Park Service trail crews in Montana and Alaska. Her fiction and essays have appeared in The Sun, Glimmer Train Stories, Crazyhorse, and more. Christine also teaches writing for 49 Writers, serves as a senior affiliate editor for Alaska Quarterly Review, and works as a writer-in-residence in underfunded schools. Join us at 3 p.m. for a special craft talk before the public reading. Free and open to all!

About the Author

Christine Byl is the author of the novel Lookout, recipient of a Montana Book Award Honor, and short-listed for the Center for Fiction's 2023 First Novel prize; and Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods, a book about trail crews, tools, wildness, gender, and labor, shortlisted for the 2014 Willa Award in nonfiction. Her prose has appeared in Glimmer Train Stories, The Sun, Crazyhorse and Brevity, among others; she has been a Breadloaf Fellow, a recipient of multiple Rasmuson grants, and the Alaska Literary Award in 2015. Christine has worked as a professional trail-builder for 28+ years. She lives with her family in Interior Alaska on the homelands of Dene' people.