A raw and unforgettable portrait of life in Arctic Alaska.

Beginning with his parents’ migration to the wilderness of Arctic Alaska and extending to contemporary struggles between subsistence living and sport hunting, Shopping for Porcupine provides an illuminating, unforgettable account of life in the far north.

Memories of an imaginary source of childhood surfeit; a grown man’s appreciation for his young daughter’s unfettered understanding of language; enlightened meditations on the permanence, severity, and grandeur of nature; and finally, elegiac warnings and stirring calls to action—taken together, these essays provide a revealing portrait of the author of the bestselling novel Ordinary Wolves, and of the land he so deeply loves.

Through it all we hear the voice of a true artist. The prose slows and rifles, then leapfrogs and pauses the passage of time, in a landscape unlike any other. Moving, alarming, and utterly beautiful, this collection will further establish Seth Kantner as one of the most original writers in America today.

This book features the largest published collection of Kantner's photography to date.

978-1-57131-301-1 * Milkweed Editions * $28.00 Hardcover


Praise, praise, praise...

"Shopping For Porcupine brings the searing honesty, lyric style, and raw emotional power we've come to anticipate from this home-grown Alaska prodigy." Nick Jans (author of The Last Light Breaking)

"One of the most beautiful books you'll ever read--truthful, raw, and lovely. The photographs make the sparse arctic Alaskan landscape monumentally visible and profound, while Kantner's writing imparts heroic dignity to the lives around him. From a childhood spent in a time when 'Frostbite was a way of life' to an adulthood fiercely lived, the tale of this man's life is original and funny, vivid and touching." Jonis Agee (author of The River Wife)

With Ordinary Wolves, Seth Kantner came streaking up out of the Arctic tundra like a blazing meteor in reverse. If it isn't the best novel to come out of Alaska so far, I don't know what is. Now, with his new collection of autobiographical vignettes and photographs, we get a closer look at the unique upbringing that informs that fine work. He brings us into the wildest scenes as only someone of this place can do. For all the popularity of the recent best sellers and hit movies about Alaska, Shopping for Porcupine comes from a place you haven't seen yet and can hardly imagine." Dan O'Neill (author of The Firecracker Boys)

See Kantner's stunning photographs and find links to his writing at http://kapvikphotography.com/index.htm