Juneau author Linda Buckley will appear in Haines on Monday for a reading and on Tuesday for a book signing. The event will also feature food and live music.
The first event will be at the library at 11 a.m. Tuesday, where she will be reading from her children’s books; then, from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at The Bookstore, at 223 Main St. Buckley said she would try to read selections from her book “Made of Rain: Words from the Wilds of Alaska.” She will fit these readings in between accompaniment by musicians Slim & Curly and her book signing.
“It’s mostly a book signing, with music and treats by Haines-based bakery Costa Brava,” she said. “So people can come through, listen to music, browse and eat delicious chocolate chip cookies.”
The book consists of stories and short prose pieces, mostly created at her writing cabin in Tenakee Springs. The book is divided into four segments, one for each season on the calendar.
Buckley said there’s something in the book for everyone.
“I had a man tell me, ‘Oh, you know, I don’t read poetry.’ I said, ‘Well, why don’t you read my piece called “The Deer Hunt”?’ And he said, ‘You’re a deer hunter?’ So then he read it, and then he went, ‘OK, maybe I’ll buy the book,’” Buckley recalled.
Men like the deer hunt story, while children like the story about the seagull eating the starfish, she said.
The book is full of things that people in Alaska are familiar with — from orca whales to humpback whales bubble feeding. There are also many different moods — the seagull story is funny, while the story about dealing with her mother dealing with Alzheimer’s disease, while stuck in Alaska, has notes of tragedy, but has a redemptive ending.
This is Buckley’s first book signing in Haines, after doing book signings in Skagway and Juneau.
Buckely has self-published two other books aimed at children — “The Bear in the Blueberry” and “The Humpback in the Herring.” The books are about the interconnectedness of everything.
She self-published both books because she wanted control over them. But for “Made of Rain,” she worked with a publishing house. The book came out a few months ago through Wild Rising Press, out of Colorado.