Campfire Stories Volume II: Tales from America's National Parks and Trails

by Dave Kyu, Ilyssa Kyu, J. Drew Lanham (Foreword by)

Overview

A lively, thought-provoking collection of essays and poems that represent diverse perspectives on national parks and trails. — Kristen Rabe ― Foreword Reviews

• Features stories from Grand Canyon, Everglades, Olympic, Glacier, and Joshua Tree National Parks and the Appalachian and Pacific Crest National Scenic Trails
• Includes a diverse range of writers

Inspired by America’s beloved national parks, Campfire Stories Volume II is a collection of modern prose, poetry, folklore, and more, featuring commissioned, new, and existing works from a diverse group of writers who share a deep appreciation of the natural world. While the original Campfire Stories captured many historic tales reflecting the first 100 years of the National Park Service, this completely new collection, focused on five different parks (plus two long-distance trails), depicts the parks as we know and experience them today.

Contributors represent a range of rich and diverse voices, including from the BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities. Award winners such as Lauret Savoy, Rae DelBianco, and Terry Tempest Williams; newer voices including Derick Lugo, Rosette Royale, and Ed Bok Lee; and even a poet laureate, Rena Priest—all share their unique perspectives on our national parks and trails. These new campfire stories revel in each park’s distinct landscape and imaginatively transport the reader to the warm edge of a campfire ring.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781680515503
Publisher:	Mountaineers Books, The
Publication date:	03/21/2023
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	429,816
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dave Kyu is a socially-engaged artist, writer, and project manager. Born in Seoul, South Korea and raised in the United States, he explores the creative tensions of identity, community, and public space in his work. He has managed public arts projects for the Mural Arts Program, Asian Arts Initiative, and the City of Philadelphia. His own creative projects have found him commissioning skywriting planes to write messages 10,000 feet over Philadelphia, and doing everything Facebook told him to do for a month. His writing has been published in Generocity, the Artblog, and the Philadelphia Citizen.

Ilyssa Kyu is a design researcher at frog, a global creative consultancy, and the founder of Amble, a sabbatical program for creative professionals to take time away with purpose in support of nature conservancies. She has a degree in Industrial Design and previously worked as a designer at the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability at the City of Philadelphia, and as a UX designer and design researcher at creative studios in and around Philadelphia. As a facilitator, convener, researcher, and strategist, she applies design-thinking to find clarity in the chaos and unconventional, creative ways of solving problems.

Editorial Reviews

These "campfire stories" remind us what a treasure we have in our National Parks. And the diversity of the voices showcased by the editors, along with an appendix of community organizations that support each of these parks, show that these wild areas are not just about scenery, but about people.

Natural History - Laurence Marschall

This volume brings together nature writing at its finest.... These stories will indeed make for fascinating campfire entertainment, but they will also leave their readers lying in their tent, contemplating big issues and the part they play in their unfolding.

Big Sky Journal - Marc Beaudin

A lively, thought-provoking collection of essays and poems that represent diverse perspectives on national parks and trails.

Kristen Rabe

A thoughtful, varied collection of writing.

BookRiot - Jaime Herndon

Give yourself the gift of delving into these stories. Immerse yourself in a gorgeous panoply of experiences from people who love, and let themselves be changed by, America’s wild places.

Montana Naturalist - Allison De Jong

Both witty and tender…. Choosing and editing their writers, introducing these parks and trails, the Kyus are so at home with each other and the reader, so personable and warm with their words, that already I welcome the travel book they will themselves write one day.

Appalachia - Elissa Ely

The layout is great, the art is wonderful, very cohesive throughout. I really can’t recommend it enough.

Exploring Washington State Podcast - Scott Cowan

Certain to have an immense appeal for readers with an interest in travel writing and outdoor adventures. A fun and informative read from cover to cover, "Campfire Stories Volume II" is an extraordinary anthology.

Midwest Book Review

A must inclusion for your camping trips or for just enjoying nature.

Manhattan Book Review - Aron Row

A rich collection, looking at national parks from many worldviews, and not glossing over the historical and systemic issues embedded in the park system.

The Nature Conservancy's Cool Green Science - Matthew L. Miller

Ilyssa and Dave Kyu are proving that campfire stories can contain happy endings, speak to important issues, and center the perspectives of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ people with their “Campfire Stories II: Tales from America’s National Parks and Trails.

425 Magazine - Joanna Kresge