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Laureli Ivanoff, Inupiaq author, on "Living in Relationship with Land, Water, Plant and Animal Kin"

Laureli Ivanoff is known for her colorful descriptions of life in Rural Alaska that help people understand the Native way of life.
Photo by Jenny Irene Miller, courtesy of the Alaska Center for the Book.
Laureli Ivanoff is known for her colorful descriptions of life in Rural Alaska that help people understand the Native way of life.

Laureli Ivanoff is an Alaska Native writer, who has caught the eye of national publications like the New York Times, High Country News and Outside Magazine, where she is known for her rich descriptions of life in Rural Alaska.

Ivanoff recently received a 2024 prestigious James Beard award for her pieces on subsistence foods. The award recognized her for several articles that include "A Meal of Many Seasons,” “Good Ice,” and "Subsistence Abundance.”

Ivanoff will read from her work this Friday night at the Anchorage Museum

Carol Sturgulewski, one of the organizers for this Friday’s event, says Ivanoff’s talk is timely, because of the resurgence of interest in unresolved Alaska Native hunting and fishing rights.

“She is an Alaskan voice that is being heard around the country, with her reflections on the relationship between people and the land –and water and plants – and animals, weather and community," Sturgulewski said. "She does a beautiful job. People are hearing from her on a national basis, and we need to hear from her.”

Sturgulewski serves on the board of Alaska Center for the Book, one of the organizations co-sponsoring Ivanoff’s presentation to observe Alaska Native and Native American Heritage Month.

Ivanoff is an Inupiat who grew up in the Norton Sound community of Unalakleet. She honed her writing as a broadcast journalist and in columns for the Anchorage Daily News. She most recently took a job as executive director of Native Peoples Action to advocate for Indigenous hunting and fishing rights.

Ivanoff has said she hates the word “subsistence,” because “it’s far too shallow for what this lifestyle gives.”

Some of the works she plans to share on Friday will shed light on her efforts to widen understanding of subsistence living, which she says "is so much more than just getting food."

  • "A Bear Hunt Illuminates the Complexities of Marriage"
  • "An All-Lady Seal Hunting Crew."
  • A piece from a book she is working on about the museum's current exhibit, "How to Survive."

Her presentation,"Living in Relationship with Land, Water, Plant and Animal Kin," will be followed by a question and answer session moderated by Francesca DuBrock, the museum's chief curator.

Ivanoff's reading will be held on Friday at 7:00 p.m. on the second floor of the museum in the Smithsonian’s Arctic Studies Center.
 

Rhonda McBride has a long history of working in both television and radio in Alaska, going back to 1988, when she was news director at KYUK, the public radio and TV stations in Bethel, which broadcast in both the English and Yup’ik languages.