Memoir of life in North recounts wisdom gleaned from the region’s animals
Memories are more meaningful when shared, and not just for the person doing the sharing.
Though Joan Didion might have seen A Year of Magical Thinking as a way to process grief after her husband died, it was also a gift to others experiencing the same loss.
Many readers don’t know the grinding poverty at the heart of Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, but most can appreciate the pain of isolation that was a fixture of McCourt’s early years.
So it is with Laurie Sarkadi’s new memoir, Voice in the Wild (Verge, $24.95). I am not comparing her work to that of renowned memoirists such as McCourt or Didion. But the Yellowknife magazine editor and former northern correspondent for the Edmonton Journal has written a look back at 25 years of living in the Far North in a way that forges a connection. Though readers might not relate to every chapter, there is much to contemplate in Sarkadi’s beautifully rendered chronicle of career, motherhood, and marriage.
The book is broken into 12 chapters, each of which explores the author’s relationship with different animals that have helped her understand her place in the world. I am not a person who communes much with nature — the mountains hold little appeal for me unless there is really good trail mix involved. But we are all trying to make sense of the world, and to render less random the varied and puzzling experiences that populate life. Voice in the Wild is one way.
Sarkadi shares tough stories about her Northern experiences, including the time she broke a news story about a Northwest Territories judge who said sexual assaults were less traumatic for women in the North, who were mostly drunk and passed out. “A man comes along and sees a pair of hips and helps himself,” he said. The story lead to a disciplinary inquiry into the judge, at which Sarkadi was harshly judged for her coverage. This, and other events in Sarkadi’s life, left her stricken with stress and fear.
But by spending time in nature (she lives off-the-grid in the boreal forest near Yellowknife), Sarkadi came to “look upon animals, birds and insects as messengers providing clues to a deeper and more meaningful way to interpret my life and redirect my energies.”
If this strikes you as baloney, read no further. But if you, too, think answers lie in the natural world, know that Sarkadi is coming to Edmonton for a book launch on May 20 at 2 p.m. at Audreys Books (10702 Jasper Ave.). Voice in the Wild is also available at lauriesarkadi.com and at Indigo bookstores in Edmonton.
I asked Sarkadi to explain her philosophy. This interview has been condensed and edited.
Q What prompted you to write the memoir?
A It was inspired by my experience as a young mother. We had bought this house and I was living in this beautiful and remote space. Struggling with being massively in love with this little one, but still missing work. I read The Mother Zone, by Marni Jackson. I wrote to Marni and she suggested I read Sharon Butala’s book, Perfection of the Morning, inspired by living in isolation and being present in your surroundings with the animals and the birds. I decided that I wanted to write a combination of those two books, about mothering and being in nature, because they spoke to me powerfully and I hadn’t read anything like that myself.
Q Will your memoir appeal to people who aren’t living offthe-grid in a distant northern community?
A It’s been very popular here in the North, because there is not a lot of literature written here about here. But the reaction I’m getting from people in urban centres as well has been super positive. You might not have bears coming to your door in the summer time. But you will have the moon waxing and waning, and songbirds and butterflies. Anything living that’s part of your world can resonate with you if you understand your relationship with those creatures. It’s part of our DNA. We’re attached to our cellphones now, but that’s recent compared to our long history, and to how long we have been dependent upon nature for everything.
Q How has living in the North helped develop your philosophy?
A I’m attracted to the North and comfortable here because, more or less, the environment is working as it should. Sure, we have some large environmental issues. But because the entire population for the whole Northwest Territories is under 50,000 and there is no real manufacturing or big industry, ecosystems are still intact and large populations of animals can survive and interact. There is a balance that helps me to feel grounded when I am in that balance. Plus, it’s drop-dead gorgeous to look at all the time. It’s like living in a painting.
Q Memoir writing is very popular today. What’s your advice to others who might consider their experiences worth sharing?
A Everybody does have a story. Whether you’re able to write that story in a literary way that’s compelling, that’s different. Writing is a craft that you have to work very hard at, and this has been a ridiculously long time to spend writing a book.
Whether or not you ever publish a work, the act of writing is very therapeutic.
It helps you make sense of things and to move on. If you never process your problems, they get very stuck in one place. Grief and longing come out when you write, and you don’t have to carry that anymore. You’re lighter. Each thing you shed leaves you open to more and better experiences.