Great Lakes Literary History
The Great Lakes have inspired generations of authors. With wide-open spaces and endless landscapes to explore the region offers the perfect setting for reflection and creativity. For some, the wilds of the Great Lakes provide the setting for their characters and stories. In The Tale of Halcyon Crane, Wendy Webb (who is from Minneapolis, MN) has her protagonist Hallie return to a remote Great Lakes island to dig deeper into family secrets.
Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior, and its famous shipwreck diving spots, serves as the setting for A Superior Death. Nevada Barr's novel places park ranger Anna Pigeon, who literally dives into a mystery far under the surface of Lake Superior. Moving a bit West, across Lake Superior, we find Duluth, Minnesota as the setting for Brian Freeman's The Cold Nowhere. Moving back up to the US/Canada boundary waters, Terri Reed's Danger at the Border, features Dr. Tessa Cleary solving environmental mysteries.
The Made in Michigan Writers Series produced a story quite grounded in the Great Lakes. The Lake Michigan Mermaid: A Tale in Poems tracks a young woman's search for guidance, while exploring themes of redemption, friendship, and the mythical. Accompanied by wonderful illustrations, this book shares the life-giving power of water. Award-winning author Gloria Whelan penned Once on This Island to take place on Mackinac Island during the war of 1812. The book earned Whelan a Great Lakes Book Award in 1996.
Another winner of the Great Lakes Book Award, and a New York Times Notable Book, Rich Cohen's Lake Effect paints the coming of age story of Jamie Drew (AKA Drew-licious) who grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan. With a wink and a nod, The Chocolate Pirate Plot, follows a chocolate homage to pirates onto the waves of Lake Michigan, only to see JoAnna Carl's whimsical buccaneers take a darker turn.
Finally, Lake St. Claire, which lies between Lake Huron and Lake Erie, provides the setting for Jeffrey Eugenides hit novel, Middlesex. At an all-girls' school in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Calliope Stephanides follows her passion for a chain-smoking classmate.
Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior, and its famous shipwreck diving spots, serves as the setting for A Superior Death. Nevada Barr's novel places park ranger Anna Pigeon, who literally dives into a mystery far under the surface of Lake Superior. Moving a bit West, across Lake Superior, we find Duluth, Minnesota as the setting for Brian Freeman's The Cold Nowhere. Moving back up to the US/Canada boundary waters, Terri Reed's Danger at the Border, features Dr. Tessa Cleary solving environmental mysteries.
The Made in Michigan Writers Series produced a story quite grounded in the Great Lakes. The Lake Michigan Mermaid: A Tale in Poems tracks a young woman's search for guidance, while exploring themes of redemption, friendship, and the mythical. Accompanied by wonderful illustrations, this book shares the life-giving power of water. Award-winning author Gloria Whelan penned Once on This Island to take place on Mackinac Island during the war of 1812. The book earned Whelan a Great Lakes Book Award in 1996.
Another winner of the Great Lakes Book Award, and a New York Times Notable Book, Rich Cohen's Lake Effect paints the coming of age story of Jamie Drew (AKA Drew-licious) who grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan. With a wink and a nod, The Chocolate Pirate Plot, follows a chocolate homage to pirates onto the waves of Lake Michigan, only to see JoAnna Carl's whimsical buccaneers take a darker turn.
Finally, Lake St. Claire, which lies between Lake Huron and Lake Erie, provides the setting for Jeffrey Eugenides hit novel, Middlesex. At an all-girls' school in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Calliope Stephanides follows her passion for a chain-smoking classmate.
Award-winning book editor and indie publisher, Philip Martin, is based in Milwaukee, WI and helps aspiring authors tell their stories. His experience includes three years as acquisitions editor for The Writer Books (affiliated with The Writer magazine), producing books for professional writers on craft and career advice. In this capacity, he edited essays and book-length works by prominent and successful authors.
He has also edited and produced nonfiction and fiction titles for adults and young readers. His first book produced, Threshing Days, won the 1989 Banta Award, a top literary prize from the Wisconsin Library Association. Subsequent titles have won various indie-press awards, including the national Benjamin Franklin Award (two times for nonfiction) and the Small Press Book Award (for fiction); other projects were finalists for Minnesota Book Award, Great Lakes Book Award, and other honors.
The Great Lakes region offers us myriad opportunities for peace and reflection. The Northwoods of Wisconsin, the spectacular Straits of Mackinac, the Thousand Islands Archipelago on the St. Lawrence all give us the space and the environment needed for true idleness. In order to become an observer of the world, one must come out of the world for a time, only to return and see it with fresh eyes. This is the secret of sacred idleness.
He has also edited and produced nonfiction and fiction titles for adults and young readers. His first book produced, Threshing Days, won the 1989 Banta Award, a top literary prize from the Wisconsin Library Association. Subsequent titles have won various indie-press awards, including the national Benjamin Franklin Award (two times for nonfiction) and the Small Press Book Award (for fiction); other projects were finalists for Minnesota Book Award, Great Lakes Book Award, and other honors.
The Great Lakes region offers us myriad opportunities for peace and reflection. The Northwoods of Wisconsin, the spectacular Straits of Mackinac, the Thousand Islands Archipelago on the St. Lawrence all give us the space and the environment needed for true idleness. In order to become an observer of the world, one must come out of the world for a time, only to return and see it with fresh eyes. This is the secret of sacred idleness.
