Marie Zhuikov—Meander North

MEANDER NORTH
Marie Zhuikov
Nodin Press, November 21, 2022, $19.95
ISBN-13: 9781947237476

Zhuikov reports:

This book arose from my personal blog, Marie’s Meanderings. I’d been writing a weekly blog since 2013 -- so long that I ran out of free space at WordPress. I needed to decide whether to pay for additional capacity or stop writing about life in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin.

One night, during a bout of insomnia, I came up with the idea of making a book out of my favorite entries, enabling my blog to “earn its keep.” Unlike some of my other middle-of-the-night ideas, I remembered this one the next morning. A few days later, I drafted a proposal and am thankful that Nodin Press in Minneapolis thought that a book was a good idea, too.

Although I knew I would be working with an editor at Nodin Press, I didn’t trust my own powers of review because I was so familiar with the stories. I hired a member of my fiction writing group, Lacey Louwagie, who is a professional editor. I think that pushed my book up a notch. Meander North earned a silver Midwest Book Award in the nature category for 2023.

My essays, arranged by season, cover a range of outdoorsy and community-based reflections, from an insider’s view of Duluth’s Christmas City of the North Parade, to a spring-cleaning trip to the local dump, to a description of a lawn-mower race.

In my day job, I’m a senior science writer for Wisconsin Sea Grant. I also manage the Sea Grant blog. Although I try to keep the topics separate, sometimes they overlap. In my book, “That Time I Organized a Sea Lamprey Taste Test” describes a work project that I publicized by holding a dining experience for notable community members. “Saving a Sky Rat” takes readers through the adventure of capturing a wounded ring-billed gull at my office and discovering the cause of its malady, thanks to Sea Grant research. Then there was the time the inventor of the Post-It Note visited the office.

All of the stories display my love for my home state, Minnesota, and its seasons and traditions. A grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council helped underwrite this book’s publication.

Contact info:

• MarieZhuikov: 218-348-7133, mzhuikov@msn.com, http://www.mariezwrites.com/, @MarieZhuikov, mariezhuikov
• Book: https://itascabooks.com/products/meander-north, http://www.mariezwrites.com/meander-north.html

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Banner image adapted from original photo by Marie Zhuikov.

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