Holy Land - Paperback

by Sandra L. Kleven (Author)

This gritty, passionate, monolog provides a dramatic introduction to Bethel, Alaska -- the hub of the 54 village, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The speaker is a Native man, who can see into the heart of the "helper" from Outside -- while bearing his own terrors. "A writer myself, I related to this piece about Bethel, Alaska, because I lived there myself as a social worker in 1968-69 and experienced some of what is described in Holy Land. I was surprised when I read it, because I'd thought it would be poetic in the beautiful sense (crystalline imagery, geese in flight, ice) so was almost breathless when I caught the voice, the tone, the depressed, angry Yupik man educating the lower 48 newcomer, in such rough, raw, violent and absolutely tragic subjects, as well as capturing the cold, the ice and its dangers and the underpinning of guilt because we outsiders come with such good intentions and then we leave. Amazing! LOVED the shorter piece at end too, the ramps for villages and towns whose disabled would never go out in snow or mud to use them. Absolutely true--misguided government do-gooders of whom I was once one." Gretchen Brinck, MSW

Author Biography

Sandra Kleven is the editor of Cirque, a literary journal. She is a poet, filmmaker and essayist. Her work has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Oklahoma Review, Topic Magazine, Praxilla and Stoneboat, f-zine and the anthology, Cold Flashes: Literary Snapshots of Alaska. In 2012, two of her poems were nominated for the Push Cart prize. She recently won the F'Air Words prize in poetry. Kleven's book for children, The Right Touch, was the winner of a Benjamin Franklin Award. She's been awarded two Celebration Foundation grants in support of her creative work. Kleven has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Alaska/Anchorage. Her second children's book, Talk About Touch, came out in 2012. Kleven claims affinity for Alaska, where she lives with her husband, and Washington State where she was born.