During the pandemic some baked sourdough bread, others learned to knit or gardened. Author Mary Tony reflected on life deeply and compiled the stories of her childhood adventures of growing up near Chitina, Alaska into a memoir, Windswept: Chitina Alaska Childhood, illustrated by Pyrce Raphael (Fathom Publishing Company, 2024) and a companion book told from the perspective of the animals in the area, Windswept: Tales for Children, illustrated by Pyrce Raphael (Fathom Publishing Company, 2024). Her son, Pyrce Raphael illustrated both books and the creative team generously agreed to share their journey with Cynsations readers.
Author Mary Tony
Mary, I noticed you used a pen name for this title. Can you share what prompted that decision?
There are a number of women in Alaska with the same name as my birth name. I have been mistaken for others with the same first and last name. I began using a pen name of Aurora Hardy to avoid confusion, give other women with same name privacy and because I always thought a pen name was an adventurous idea.
What first inspired you to write for young readers?
My inspiration to write for young readers comes directly from my Alaska Native background. My heritage is passed on to me and my family through generations by storytelling.
I thank my parents for reading to me as a child. My mother could read, but my Yupik father could hardly read. One of my published short stories is the memory of my father when I was very young. Please try to picture a one room cabin in Alaska. I wanted my mother to read me a children’s books about Bambi the deer. My mother was cooking fry bread and told my father to read to me. My father was well known for his talent of telling of Native stories, but he had not been through school. He took me on his lap and turned the pages as if he was reading. The story was different from what I heard my mother read so many times before. I listened as my father told his version of the story. I will never forget how my father lovingly ‘wrote’ a story for me in that moment.
I learned from my mother to read when I was three because I was bored when my older siblings all went to school. I grew up writing in a journal and poems that were published in the Native newspaper. In Alaska during my childhood, an Inupiaq man, Howard Rock, was publisher of a statewide Alaska Native newspaper called Tundra Times. He received my submissions with encouragement and was a lifelong inspiration to me as a writer.
My reading and writing empowered me to be the first Alaska Native/Native American woman to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the University of Montana. My work in Forestry required technical science writing of reports which I enjoyed but dreamed of writing fiction.
I loved to read to my own two children after they were born. We read every children’s book we could find from the library. At that time, no children’s books were written by Alaska Native authors. I began to dream of writing books for indigenous children. I dreamed of writing books non-Native children could enjoy and see into our rich culture.
During the Covid-19 Pandemic, I did some serious thinking about life. I looked through my journals and papers and found the original version of Windswept: Chitina Alaska Childhood. I had written the memoir after my first child was born to share with future generations about what life was like for me growing up in Alaska. I thought of my grandchildren as they lived through the Pandemic and I decided to get the manuscript published so they could enjoy the stories and share them with their children. So, my inspiration for writing this book is from the tradition to keep the Native way of passing what I know to my grandchildren and all other young readers alive.
What was your initial inspiration for writing this book?
My initial inspiration for writing Windswept: Chitina Alaska Childhood and the companion children’s book Windswept: Tales for Children was the birth of my daughter. I grew up in the late 1960s and 1970s in Alaska. This time period was before the occurrence of two events that changed Alaska forever.
The first event was the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. A long term effect of the Act is that Alaska Native tribes now have programs for education, language classes and culture camps so there has been a revival of Alaska Native culture evolving over the last few decades. During my childhood, we all lived our culture and language while we subsisted off the land so that our way of life was still traditional. We didn’t talk about tradition or culture in the way people do today because we were busy living it on the land like our ancestors did.
The second major event that changed Alaska was the completion of the Trans Alaska Oil Pipeline in 1977. The Pipeline brought crowds of non-Native people to Alaska as well as big money and modern infrastructure. During my childhood before the Pipeline, life in Alaska was very simple and remote so that most everyone was self reliant and hard working. After the Pipeline was completed, life in Alaska became modern. Traditional Native ways became threatened by the influx of non-Native people who hunted, fished and over used the land with modern ways, such as airplanes, ATVs, and guns that destroyed the Native balance with the resources.
Native rights are fought over in courts and resources, such as salmon, are disappearing so that Natives can’t practice cultural ways of getting traditional food. Increasing numbers of Native families are moving to cities in Alaska and learn about the traditional ways by a summer culture camps or through school programs. I believe my books are important to retain the knowledge of the culture for students.
What were the challenges (literary, research, psychological, logistical) in bringing the text to life?
The first challenge of bringing the text to life was a technical one. The original manuscript had been typed on a typewriter. I had to figure out how to transfer the hard copy into a document to avoid retyping the original and changing its integrity.
The second challenge was finding a publisher. Alaska Native women, especially Yupik, have to face many difficulties. We lead grim statistics in suicide, domestic abuse, murders and so on. I summarize our experience in that we have little or no respect outside of our families or communities from the non-Native population. Yet we persist. We put up fish each year, take care of children with little or no money and provide strength and courage to our communities. I experienced rejections, some of which were racist, but persisted until I found Connie Taylor at Fathom Publishing in Anchorage, Alaska. Working with Connie on the books was fun!
A third challenge was deciding how the books would be illustrated. I had illustrated the original memoir and as I revisited the drawings, I felt they were too harsh and grim. The memoir consists of eleven stories from my childhood which were meant to be light hearted and whimsical. When I wrote the memoir, I had suffered through many painful changes, such as having to leave my land, family, and culture to attend boarding school. When I was absent from my village to get an education, all the Elders I grew up with passed away. No one was left who was familiar. I realized I had a deep sense of loss that needed to be healed.
My son had won several awards for his illustrations when he was growing up. He agreed to illustrate the books. As I watched him work, he brought to life the stories he had grown up listening to me tell in a fresh, whimsical and delightful way. I found a profound sense of healing and joy. To me, my son’s work is better than the classics I had grown up with such as Peter Rabbit, because he captured the true whimsy of the stories and the curiosity of Aurora as an Alaska Native child. I could see the care and love my son put into each drawing and I knew he had listened carefully to the stories and now loved the land in his own way. The lore was passed on! As I look at the illustrations, I feel healed and delighted.
What do you hope young readers will take away from this book?
I hope young readers will each take away a sense of strength from the books. Non-Native readers will hopefully get a glimpse into the life of a Native child and understand more about the Native relationship with the land and animals. The Native readers will hopefully see that there is a lot to be proud of and also have a sense of confidence in who they are as Natives. I hope all readers have a sense of adventure and love for the land and animals.
I hope young readers will realize that there was time in Alaska when Native children lived on the land and practiced their culture as every day life. I hope that readers can experience the close relationship with the land in all its seasons and the animals that I had as a child. I want to inspire the curiosity I share in the children’s companion with readers so that they read, learn and write about their own adventures. Native culture is based on the land of our ancestors. I grew up with such a love of the land, I want that to be passed on to my children, grandchildren and future generations.
I also hope that my memoir shares a sense of strength of Native spirit. When I was growing up, I watched Elders still doing extremely demanding physical work for food from the land. The Elders never complained or felt sorry for themselves, even though they suffered heartbreaking losses of loved ones and the changing of their lifestyle negatively by non-Native developers who arrived to get their wealth from ripping up the resources. The Elders calmly lived each day and shared the Native culture as much as they could to me.
As an unagented author, how did you identify your editor and connect the manuscript with the publishing house?
I wrote an historical fiction novel about a war between Alaska Natives and Russian occupiers in the 1700s. I felt it was timely to submit the story for publication because of current world events. It was accepted by Epicenter Press in Washington State before I dusted off Windswept Chitina Alaska Childhood. Epicenter Press does not publish memoirs or children’s books.
In addition, I wanted my memoir to be published in Alaska and readily distributed in Alaska. I called Connie Taylor at her publishing business in Anchorage. She listened very respectfully to my situation.
I was still feeling offended after being dismissed by a different company in a racially discouraging way when I explained that I wanted to publish my memoir. It was hard to explain to Connie why I thought my story mattered enough to be published when I had been told by the other publisher that I, as a Native woman, was a nobody. To the racist, my achievements as a Native woman had no place in Alaskan books. Connie was different.
Alaska is an extremely unique state. Connie had experience in the Alaska publishing market. She looked over my manuscript and agreed to publish it. We worked on editing in Zoom meetings. She suggested a children’s companion to the memoir. I wrote the fictional tales of the bear, mouse and moose for children based on the true stories in my memoir. My son and I are extremely happy with the books.
What advice do you have for beginning children’s-YA writers?
I advise beginning writers to write in two steps. The first step is to look inside at the child they were at the age they are writing for. What are their memories? What did the Elders teach them? What cultural traditions did they learn? What were their dreams? What impressed them most? Can they revisit the child they were and interact with the children they are writing for? I write from my inner child and it helps me put down words for children as if I were speaking with them on their own level.
For the second step, I would write about what I have experienced. I write from being a Native. I can easily share stories and traditions about berry picking or fishing for salmon to put up for the winter because that is what I know best.
As a mother and grandmother, I have come to realize that children are engaged and retain interest when they know the content you are giving them is genuine. What I write about is genuine because it is what I experienced. So I advise writers to draw on what they know so that they can give children genuine content.
Finally, I would encourage writers to be part of that tradition of passing of knowledge from generation to generation that is our Native way. We owe it to our future generations to give them our best so they can live a good life and carry on the Native way.
What would you have done differently?
I wish I would have understood that a writer gets reviews from other writers before the books are published. I would have loved to get reviews from Native people from my home village. More Alaska Native writers are making their mark on the publishing scene. Now that the books are published, I have received words of support from other Native writers which is encouraging. I wish I had been able to put the words of reviews on the cover!
As a member of a community under-represented in youth literature, what did your diverse perspective bring to your story?
As a member of an under-represented community, I feel my diversity has brought a fresh perspective, excitement and a crucial link between the past and the future generations. Growing up in Alaska is a unique adventure compared to childhoods in other areas of the country. Growing up as an Alaska Native girl on the land and knowing the Spirit of the land in all its animals, plants, seasons and places is a real gift. Every day was exciting and I am still always filled with curiosity to see what the land provides. Alaska Natives practice great respect for Elders and sharing among the tribal or village members. I share my experiences in these books with not only my children and grandchildren, but also with readers of other backgrounds.
I always share my admiration for the strength of Native women. I grew up listening to an example of an Ahtna woman’s strength. It was the 1930s and the woman’s husband was away working on the Copper River Railroad. The couple’s children were hungry and there was no money or even a store to buy food in the area. The woman took a plain kitchen knife and went to the family fishwheel about a mile through the woods and down the steep bluff to the river. She carried a heavy load of salmon home in a gunny sack. Evening was approaching. On the trail through the dense brush, the woman met a large black bear that attacked her. She killed the bear with the knife, stabbing it in the soft underside as it reared up to maul her. She picked up her precious salmon, hurried home and fed her hungry children. I have come to realize that we are all here because of the strength of our Native mothers and grandmothers.
I feel like my experience of growing up in Alaska is a bridge between Alaska Native generations who could not read to those who primarily learn by reading. I was always advised by my Elders to go to college and learn how to manage the Native corporation and the land. I followed the Elders’ advice and was the first Native woman to graduate in Forestry at the University of Montana, Missoula. The process of getting an education and degree means that I had to leave the land and Native lifestyle I grew up in. I returned to my land and found that the land has still welcomed me back. I feel this enduring Native closeness to the land is what my diverse perspective brings to my story of Windswept.
What are you working on next?
Last fall, I watched the White House Halloween Trick or Treat event on a video. First Lady Jill Biden was handing out children’s books for treats. I loved the idea! I sent both of the Windswept books to the First Lady and said I would be honored to have my books handed out at this year’s event! Although I haven’t heard from the White House, I keep writing!
My next work is a children’s book about my father’s service in the Alaska Territorial Guard. The Guards in western and northern Alaska were sometimes called Eskimo Scouts. Men as old at 70 or 80 and boys as young as 12 were recruited by the United States Army to be ‘boots on the ground and eyes on the borders’ of Alaska during World War II.
My father was still a boy when he was was signed up as a Guard member. The Guards trained with assigned arms and accomplished much intelligence gathering, rescue and support operations for the US Army. Japan had attacked Alaska in the Aleutians and was trying to find more areas to invade. Schools teach about Native American Navajo Code Talkers and their contribution to winning the war against Japan. My father was part of an Alaska Native Scout team that helped the war cause immensely too. He was an extremely able hunter, trapper, dog sled driver and knew his Native land thoroughly. I do not know of any children’s books that share this part of Alaska Native history. I want to honor my father’s unknown service and encourage readers to know the significance of their heritage to our country, the importance of learning from their Elders so that they are proficient on their land, and to be brave and proud of being Native.
In addition to the book about my father and the Eskimo Scouts, I plan on making it one of a series of children’s book about a number of Alaska Native heroes, such as Howard Rock who I mentioned earlier, Katie John, and so on. I have the rough drafts of the series in progress.
My historical fiction novel, The Ghost of the Kenai, is to be released in early 2025 by Epicenter Press for young adult and adult readers. I am also working on another historical fiction about a great chief. I grew up on the land and all around were old housepits from the chief’s expansive village. I listened to Elders’ tell about the chief’s greatness. The chief lived some 200 years ago, in prehistory, before the Russians arrived up the river, followed by the US Army scouts and prospectors. There are not many novels about the Alaska Native pre European Contact era. I hope to contribute this novel to change that.
I am also working on getting my books, Windswept: Chitina Alaska Childhood and Windswept: Tales for Children, translated into Alaska Native languages for use in schools that teach Native languages. Getting the books translated into Native languages, such as Ahtna and Yupik, is a very important dream for me. My hope is that children see a modern writer getting published in stories that reflect our past. I see the translated books as the best gift I can give children as a writer!
The Windswept books can be continued in a series. There is much more content and I hope to continue writing the adventures of Aurora, the Curious Girl of Windswept.
I also dream of writing movie scripts, musicals, plays and many more books set in the Pre European Contact time or modern period of Alaska Natives. In short, I have only just begun to write!
Illustrator Pyrce Paphael
What was your initial inspiration for illustrating this book?
My inspiration for the illustrations in Windswept: Chitina Alaska Childhood and Windswept: Tales for Children was the power of traditional oral storytelling that my mother shared with me as a child in telling me these true stories of her childhood and growing up in the wilds of Alaska. Being descended from both a Blackfeet Indian and Alaska Native heritage I drew upon the ancient storytelling traditions from both cultures and by sharing these story in visual ways I hoped to do my part in carrying on these traditions.
What were the challenges (literary, research, psychological, logistical) in bringing the text to life?
The number one challenge was the confidence to take on illustrating two books that held great importance to my mom and our family, having not done any major projects for a few years as well as working in basic mediums that were available to me. I have always been artistic, but had never been formally commissioned to do full illustrations for a widespread publication, let alone a children’s storybook that required a unique and marketable aesthetic, capturing both the fun and whimsical story elements as well as the spirit of each character.
What do you hope young readers will take away from this book?
My hope is that young readers will take joy and have fun in hearing the stories as I did in creating the illustrations recalling hearing these stories as a child myself and hopefully carrying the tradition of storytelling whether visually, orally or in writing that can be understood and crosses cultural divides.
What model books were most useful to you and how?
I have always fondly remembered the multitude of childhood books from my own adolescence. Many inspirations could be identified including Winnie the Pooh, Peter Rabbit and onto more modern stories such as The Berenstain Bears, Little Critters, Dr, Suess and many many more. However, throughout these treasured published works I recall very few if any classic books sharing the perspective of Native American or Alaska Native cultures from my childhood, which is changing now.
What advice do you have for beginning children’s-YA creators?
My advice to beginning illustrators is to believe in the story that you are conveying through images, and not allow personal doubt to hold back your work. To take chances and be bold in your creative decisions. Also to not allow what you might see as imperfect to stunt your creativity. There is such a thing as artist block, and it must be overcome. If the first rendition of an illustration is not what you are looking for then try try again.
What would you have done differently?
As an artist it is easy to get caught up in perfectionism, and I am certainly my biggest critic. I look at every piece of art I complete and can pick out micro details that I could have done differently. Specifically, I can think of various illustrations that needed more color or less, more shading or minute details within the image that could use some tinkering.
Cynsational Notes
Mary Tony, who writes under the pen name Aurora Hardy, grew up in a childhood home on the bluffs of the Copper River below the gaze of the Chugach Mountains. It was lovingly called Windswept.
Mary’s career started in Fairbanks with the publishing of two books and several poems. Her first novel, Terror at Black Rapids, published in 2004, dealt with thwarting a malicious terrorist attack near the famous river in the Alaska Range south of Fairbanks along the Trans Alaska Pipeline. Her second shorter novel, Ramona’s Gift, won the Tanana Chief’s Story Telling Award and the Mary Tall Mountain Fiction Award in 2007.
Pyrce Raphael is an award-winning illustrator. He has received awards from the US Department of Agriculture for a poster and by Nintendo for a video game character concept. Mary was thrilled when he agreed to illustrate the Windswept stories. His interpretation of the stories he had grown up listening to gave the book life. His whimsical illustrations are filled with delightful views.
Gayleen Rabakukk holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and an undergraduate degree in Journalism from the University of Central Oklahoma. She has published numerous newspaper and magazine articles, and two regional interest books for adults. She is represented by Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary Management.
She serves as board member for Lago Vista’s Friends of the Library and also leads a book club for young readers at the library. She’s active in Austin SCBWI and has taught creative writing workshops for the Austin Public Library Foundation. She loves inspiring curiosity in young readers through stories of hope and adventure. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter.