Tom Kizzia: author of "Wake of the Unseen Object"

Homer-based author Tom Kizzia is most well-known for his best-selling 2013 book Pilgrim’s Wilderness, which was chosen by the New York Times as the best true crime book set in Alaska. Kizzia moved to Homer in the mid-70s where he took over the Homer News. In the early 80s, he was hired by the Anchorage Daily News and while working for that paper he wrote a series of stories under the title, "North Country Journal.” That project required Kizzia to travel to small Alaskan villages off the road system and report back. In 1991 he expanded some of those stories into his first book, The Wake of the Unseen Object: Travels through Alaska’s Native Landscapes.  In 2021 the book celebrated its 30th anniversary and was reprinted by the University of Alaska Press. We are discussing that book today. Tom will be back later this year to discuss Pilgrim’s Wilderness and his most recent book Cold Mountain Path, for which he was named 2022 Historian of the Year by the Alaska Historical Society. 

This interview was recorded via Zoom.