Midnight Sun Visiting Writers Series 

Mieke Eerkens

September 13, 2024

All Ships Follow Me, book cover.
Join us for an engaging evening with Dutch-American writer Mieke Eerkens, hosted by the Midnight Sun Visiting Writers Series. will read from her debut book, All Ships Follow Me: A Family Memoir of War Across Three Continents, a powerful narrative that intertwines her father’s childhood internment in a Japanese labor camp in Java during World War II with her mother’s experience in a Dutch children’s home following the arrest of her Nazi-allied parents. This memoir explores the complexities of war, identity, and family across generations. The event is free and open to the public.
 
This event is free and open to the public, and all are welcome to attend and explore this poignant piece of history. Join us in person on campus or online via Zoom. Don't miss this opportunity to hear from a remarkable author and connect with her compelling work!
Midnight Sun Visiting Writers Series presents Mieke Eerkens

Date: Friday, September 13th, 2024
Time: 7pm AKST
Location: UAF Schaible Auditorium
Zoom Link: https://alaska.zoom.us/j/81279830809

About the Author

Mieke Eerkens is a Dutch-American writer who grew up in Los Angeles. She earned a B.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University, an M.A. in English Literature from the University of Leidenin The Netherlands, and an M.F.A. in Nonfiction Writing from The University of Iowa. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, Catapult, Los Angeles Review of Books, Pank, Guernica, and Creative Nonfiction, among others. Her work has further been anthologized in Best Travel Writing 2011; Norton’s Fakes: An Anthology of Pseudo-Interviews, Faux-Lectures, Quasi-Letters, “Found” Texts, and Other Fraudulent Artifacts; Water’s Edge, and A Book of Uncommon Prayer, selected as a “notable essay” in Best American Science and Nature Writing, and has been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize. All Ships Follow Me, a book about her parents’ experiences in WWII and the inheritance of war trauma, was released in 2019 by Picador/Macmillan. She has taught Creative Writing at the University of Iowa, UCLA Extension’s Writers’ Program, Amsterdam University and Leiden University in The Netherlands, and currently teaches for the Iowa Summer Writing Festival and private workshops. She is currently working on a memoir about her younger years traveling with the circus.

Mieke Eerkens, courtesy of the author

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