Jill Eikenhorst
We’re excited to announce that a Mountaineers Books title won the Outdoor Literature category in the 2014 National Outdoor Book Awards!
Small Feet, Big Land by Erin McKittrick (Mountaineers Books, September 2013) was named the winner of the Outdoor Literature category. This category is probably the most competitive genre of them all, making this a tremendous honor. Overall, one hundred and twenty-six entries were entered this year; 13 titles were selected as winners.
From the judges:
"Small Feet, Big Land is a beautifully rendered meditation of family, friendship, and the Alaskan outdoors. Erin McKittrick, her husband Hig, and their two children live in a 450-square foot yurt near Seldovia in Southcentral Alaska. No strangers to the rigors of wild country, McKittrick and Hig had previously set out on a remarkable journey on foot along the rugged Pacific Northwest coast, starting in Seattle and ending at the Aleutian Islands, the later stages of which she was pregnant with her first child. It was a journey with an uncertain outcome, but they made it, all 4,000 miles. In Small Feet, Big Land the couple is still undertaking adventures but this time with a toddler and a newborn baby in tow. They explore wilderness terrain, visit remote Arctic villages, and live for two months atop one of the world’s largest glaciers.
It is quite simply what exceptional outdoor literature is all about: an honest, perceptive, and graceful account of life close to nature.
Some of you might remember Erin and her family—husband Hig, toddlers Katmai and Lituya—from last fall’s author event tour by camper van, which took them from Seldovia, AK, down through SE Alaska by ferry, all over Washington state (with a stop at the Seattle Program Center) and down to Davis, CA. The tour was 35+ events total, bringing stories of wild Alaska to hundreds of people. If you didn’t get the chance to meet them, you can also learn about their remarkable adventures by visiting their website and through this Evening Magazine interview, which includes this gem:
“Their kids–two-and-a-half year old daughter Lituya and 4 year old son Katmai were exploring remote Alaskan wilderness before they could walk. And for all of you parents thinking 'Yeah, right, I can't even get my kid out the door.' These parents offer this:
'Sometimes I tell people it is actually just as hard for us to get out the door as anyone else, that's why we go for one or two months,' said Erin.
